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?