Attending a pharmacy school that just got FULLY accredited?

The main advice I’ve gotten re: avoiding schools with candidate or precandidate status has boiled down to two things: risk and reputation.

Risk: By choosing to go to a school that is not yet fully accredited, you risk them not being accredited by the time you graduate. The school will tell you it’s an unlikely possibility, and that may be true, but it is possible nonetheless.

Reputation: I don’t mean this to sound snooty like, “If it’s not ranked top 5, it’s not worth it,” or whatever, but more like you don’t know if they are adequately preparing their graduates for their profession because they have no graduates. If I understand correctly, a school with precandidate status means they currently have no pharmacy students and are looking to accept their first class. A school with candidate status currently has pharmacy students, but no graduates yet. A school without full accreditation cannot tell you their NAPLEX/MPJE pass rates, residency match rates, etc. because they have no data. What if you find out after enrolling that their class of 2018 only had a 75% NAPLEX pass rate? This is another risk, and not one worth taking IMO.

 

This is a better decision. If they're not accredited by the time you enroll it's not worth it. The rank itself is not important but like capri said, knowing things such as what graduates from the school are doing, NAPLEX pass rates, residency match rates, etc. is important.

 

The real risk isn't just with accreditation of WCU, it is with the job market saturation. California is already extremely saturated, yet we still have 5 or so schools that have not even graduated their first class; imagine how the job market will be then. Are you willing to fight in the Hunger Games to land a job to hopefully pay off $200k+ in student loans within your lifetime?

 

ATTENTION STUDENTS SEEKING ADVISE ON THIS PHARMACY PROGRAM!

Since they got their accreditation, the entire program has been negatively impacted. The professors specially in P2 (year 2) are terrible. Not only do they not teach, but they do not care when half the class fails. I have friends in P1-P3 and all of them are complaining about the program. I am not sure why they lost their compassion after accreditation but guess what? Accreditation can be easily lost. Also when students drop out or transfer to other schools how would that reflect on them? Its bad enough LA has expensive housing for students, this school will not help you in any way. My friend in p2 had her advisor tell her that she emailed him more than once on the same topic therefore to refer to the form and not address the issue at hand. There are plenty of great pharmacy programs in the area. Please do not waste your time and money and go this this pharmacy program. You are risking being kicked out with a huge loan. I personally know 5 students that are trying to start the transfer process now. They will lose a lot of students, money, and their reputation if they don't clean up their act. I am currently in another graduate program and i am so thankful i didnt choose the west coast route. That is why when i hear the stories from students, i compare to how wonderful my program is and it is unfair for students not to be aware before choosing that school. To maintain a level of professionalism, I have not included any names. The school's mission should be pay 200k to teach yourself!

 

Just choose a different career. Pharmacy isn't worth it anymore.

 

With the saturated market in California, employers are likely to hire only UCSF, USC or UCSD graduates if there were positions open, unless they were hiring based off of their alma mater. Many residency programs are already taking this approach and not even bothering with screening/interviewing candidates from 3rd tier schools.

The concept of going to a new school because it is ‘accredited’ means nothing for job prospects—matter of fact, it is a negative double whammy for you because you neither have the brand name institution nor the alumni network to backdoor you into a job when you graduate. So good luck cold applying for jobs if you go to a school like WCU when all you end up with is having gone to a top 1000 institution and $300k+ in loans after you graduate.