Curious about accrediation and school I'm interested in....

[vaughnpereira]

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Well, I'm really interested in attending South University in Knoxville, TN but they are not accredited (and possibly could never be...) If I were to be accepted to this school would I be right in assuming it would be a possible high-stakes gamble in attending/spending a small fortune on attending here?

I know things can happen at any moment and I still have a little while before applying but I like to try and get all of my things in order way before I actually must follow through with them.

I realize this forum may not be the best place to ask this but if I talk with the school they will just tell me what they think I want to hear. I want "inside" info if that is even possible from someone on here (or privately from the school itself).

If it shouldn't be a public matter (at this point in time) could someone please PM me with any information they may have attained?

Thanks in advance.

 

[EBT12]

According to their website: On June 27, 2011 the School of Pharmacy was notified that the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE) Board is requiring further preparation before granting Pre-Candidate Status to our School of Pharmacy.

Honestly, I would think long and hard about attending a school that is having difficulty gaining pre-candidate status. I am a P4 student at a newer school that only recently graduated their first class and gained full accreditation. Having said that, the Dean has developed other very successful pharmacy programs (NAPLEX pass rates well above the national average, strong research program, etc). In addition, the program was added to a university that already had other doctorate level programs, such as medicine and PhDs. Knowing all that, I was comfortable attending this university. I personally would not be comfortable attending a university that was having a difficult time attaining pre-candidate status.

 

[vaughnpereira]

My thoughts exactly... It really sucks for me because it's only about 1.5 hours from home, in-state tuition, and it's a beautiful school...

I'm just hoping things change within the next year...

 

[PumpkinSmasher]

My thoughts exactly... It really sucks for me because it's only about 1.5 hours from home, in-state tuition, and it's a beautiful school...

I'm just hoping things change within the next year...

I would be worried about quality of the faculty, rotation sites and ability to get a job in a saturated market when you are graduating from a brand new and unneeded program. Even if you are going straight to retail, you want a quality education for your money.

 

[vaughnpereira]

I would be worried about quality of the faculty, rotation sites and ability to get a job in a saturated market when you are graduating from a brand new and unneeded program. Even if you are going straight to retail, you want a quality education for your money.

Well, of course those are things to consider. Just was researching schools and found out that they weren't accredited.

 

[Digsbe]

I am going to attend Lipscomb and they are currently in their candidate status awaiting approval once their first class graduates in May of this year. During my interview they said if accredation fails there are options to transfer your courses to other schools so that you may earn your PharmD and not be at a total loss. If you are thinking of attending a TN pharmacy school I would recommend Lipscomb (although I do have a bias 😀) If your heart is set on Knoxville you might want to contact their offices to see if they have a transfer program in the event that they fail to become accredited.

 

[vaughnpereira]

I am going to attend Lipscomb and they are currently in their candidate status awaiting approval once their first class graduates in May of this year. During my interview they said if accredation fails there are options to transfer your courses to other schools so that you may earn your PharmD and not be at a total loss. If you are thinking of attending a TN pharmacy school I would recommend Lipscomb (although I do have a bias 😀) If your heart is set on Knoxville you might want to contact their offices to see if they have a transfer program in the event that they fail to become accredited.

Good information. Thank you.

 

[gmuskie]

You can always apply and use your interview to really feel out the school. I interviewed a a school that was waiting for their 1st class to graduate to be accredited and raised questions about their ever-changing curriculum and how their rotations were going to be worked. I felt like they were really honest and wanted to talk about what had worked and what hadn't.

 

[MustLoveDrugs]

My thoughts exactly... It really sucks for me because it's only about 1.5 hours from home, in-state tuition, and it's a beautiful school...

I'm just hoping things change within the next year...

Just one point of clarification - South University is not a state school, so there is no such thing as in-state tuition.

 

[vaughnpereira]

Just one point of clarification - South University is not a state school, so there is no such thing as in-state tuition.

You are right, my bad. I just was meaning staying in-state.

 

[ADN1226]

Like the other posters said, its worth an interview, then re-evaluate.

I would still be very cautious. The only reason I choose to attend a new school as their first class is because the school has a well known pharmacy residency program and is a known graduate school (medical, nursing, PT, OT). And going through the accreditation process thus far (were graduating this year) we've never had an issue with ACPE. However as the first class, my class definitely had problems with some professors, classes, kinks that needed to be worked out. I believe that the lower classes (P1, 2, 3) have received a better education with some early classes than the P4's; only a few and I haven't found it to be a hindrance during APPEs but still, I would've preferred to be taught properly back then. Nonetheless, would I attend there again? Definitely. We have many advantages that outweigh the problems we had - advantages that were noticeable when I interacted with other APPE students from well established schools. However, this is a well established health professional program with a large hospital prior to adding a pharmacy school with no problems going through the pre-candidate; candidate status.

I would be cautious of any program that has had problems with attaining any ACPE status throughout the process.

 

[vaughnpereira]

I see your point. We will see how it plays out over the next year.

 

[Chris co2012]

...

 

[vaughnpereira]

...

Did you have something to add?

 

[Chris co2012]

Did you have something to add?

Check your PMs.

 

[confettiflyer]

I don't even believe that a school is able to enroll students without gaining pre-accreditation status. Feel free to apply, but you physically can't spend any money on tuition until that status is in place, so you'd only be out an application fee and possibly a deposit (assuming they don't refund it).

I believe this safeguard was put into place after the HICP scandal in 2004.