Contemplating on which school to go to...any advice will help!

[jscho]

I have a dilemma on which pharmacy school to go to. I am deciding between three schools...Thomas Jefferson (Philadelphia), Northstate (Sacramento), and UH-Hilo. UH-Hilo appears to be the "safest" choice (UH-Hilo is going for candidate status, Jefferson has its pre-candidate, and Northstate is pending for pre-candidate status). Location-wise, however, Northstate in Sacramento is most desirable and to me, location is very important. Jefferson was the lone school out of the three that I actually had the chance to see during the interview since the Hilo and Northstate had their interviews at a different location. I was strongly considering Northstate at first since I believed their chances of not getting accredited was slim to none based off the credentials of their faculty members and from past U.S. pharmacy schools failure rate (I believe only that one school in Hawaii got shut down out of the ~100 pharmacy schools in the U.S.). But when I asked around my older friends and family members, they told me that I should go to Hilo since Hilo has the "best chance" of getting accredited. Do you guys believe its worth the gamble (not even sure if i should call it a gamble) to go to a location much much more desirable, as in MUCH closer to home...or is it a better choice to go to a less desirable place (location-wise) for 4 years just to be on the safe side? Any advice is appreciated! Thanks

Oh and money is not too much of an issue, they are all similar in tuition anyways...

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[mrblah]

money should be a issue, students contemplating CA northstate can't get federal loans until they gain pre-accred. status, which may be cutting it really close to the start of classes in the fall, which may leave you scrambling for loans or having to resort to private loans.

As for the other two schools, it really is up to you and whether you like the location, faculty, student body, and curriculum they are offering.

 

[IrishRxMan]

I have a dilemma on which pharmacy school to go to. I am deciding between three schools...Thomas Jefferson (Philadelphia), Northstate (Sacramento), and UH-Hilo. UH-Hilo appears to be the "safest" choice (UH-Hilo is going for candidate status, Jefferson has its pre-candidate, and Northstate is pending for pre-candidate status). Location-wise, however, Northstate in Sacramento is most desirable and to me, location is very important. Jefferson was the lone school out of the three that I actually had the chance to see during the interview since the Hilo and Northstate had their interviews at a different location. I was strongly considering Northstate at first since I believed their chances of not getting accredited was slim to none based off the credentials of their faculty members and from past U.S. pharmacy schools failure rate (I believe only that one school in Hawaii got shut down out of the ~100 pharmacy schools in the U.S.). But when I asked around my older friends and family members, they told me that I should go to Hilo since Hilo has the "best chance" of getting accredited. Do you guys believe its worth the gamble (not even sure if i should call it a gamble) to go to a location much much more desirable, as in MUCH closer to home...or is it a better choice to go to a less desirable place (location-wise) for 4 years just to be on the safe side? Any advice is appreciated! Thanks

Oh and money is not too much of an issue, they are all similar in tuition anyways...

If you're worried about the school's status, you can check out ACPE's website and see if there are any problems with the progression of the school. The difference of Pre-candidate and Candidate status is for pre-candidate the school is allowed to accept students and begin teaching and candidate means the graduates can sit for the NAPLEX. If the school gets candidate status in the second year of actual classes like mine, they are more than ahead of the game. If they get it in the third year, they are still OK b/c they haven't graduated anyone yet. I'm not sure about the fourth year, but they still haven't graduated anyone yet.

As for Hawaii, from what I heard, they weren't playing by the rules and that's why they lost accreditation.

Are any of your older friends and family pharmacists? If not, with all due respect, they wouldn't be familiar with the process or what it takes to get accredited.

 

[PharmDee2Bee]

money should be a issue, students contemplating CA northstate can't get federal loans until they gain pre-accred. status, which may be cutting it really close to the start of classes in the fall, which may leave you scrambling for loans or having to resort to private loans.

As for the other two schools, it really is up to you and whether you like the location, faculty, student body, and curriculum they are offering.

A little revision to that. CNCP needs to be fully accredited to get any kind of federal aid, so you probably won't see any government money until after they graduate their first class. From speaking with David Carroll awhile back, they're still having trouble finding lenders for private loans because most lenders, I'm assuming, will find it risky to loan hundreds of thousands to a group of 80 students in any given class year to a school that can be there one day and gone the next. As in, there is not that established accountability that you would get with a fully accredited institution.

I didn't apply to UH, but I did get into CNCP and Jefferson. Needless to say, I will be attending Jefferson. From the financial aid side of it, though Jefferson pharmacy is brand new, the actual university itself has been around since 18something. They grant federal and private loans to incoming students because they are an accredited instituion, whereas CNCP has just the pharmacy school and would have to wait until that program is grant accreditation.

 

[Sparda29]

I would say Jefferson is the safest choice. They have an established medical school so I'd say its safe to assume that they get their accreditation.