Does it matter what pharmacy school you go to?

[pharmboy27]

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Hi,

I got into two ranked pharmacy schools that I want to go to. Does it matter where I go, especially if I want to go into the pharmacy industry. One of the schools is in the top 5 and the other is in the top 20. The reason why I am considering the top 20 is because it is closer to my home, but I do not want that to heavily hurt my chances in the future.

 

[jokersmiles]

USNEWS ranking of pharmacy programs:

"All the health rankings are based solely on the results of peer assessment surveys sent to deans, other administrators and/or faculty at accredited degree programs or schools in each discipline. All schools surveyed in a discipline were sent the same number of surveys.

Respondents rated the academic quality of programs on a scale of 1 (marginal) to 5 (outstanding). They were instructed to select "don't know" if they did not have enough knowledge to rate a program. Only fully accredited programs in good standing during the survey period are ranked. Those schools with the highest average scores appear in the rankings."

As you can see, rankings are not based on graduate employment rate, board passing rate, research strength, or residency matching. Ranking is only based on a survey.
Nobody cares what school you go to, the only thing that matters is who you know and making sure you have less debt.

 

[Amicable Angora]

If one school is closer to the pharmaceutical industry or has active connections, you want to make that the priority. Otherwise, you would also prioritize the cost of attendance. If you would save significant money by staying at your house, and both schools have no immediately connection to industry, I would go the route of saving money. You are lucky in that your lesser ranked school is still extremely well ranked, so you are in a good spot no matter what you end up doing.

Although the rank of a school is not a major factor for consideration now, I do believe that it will become a significant deciding factor in the future. What happened to law school could very well happen to us with tiering of schools. Unfortunately, there will be a separation from "5" to "20". Fortunately for you, this will not be more important than the connections your school offers to the pharmaceutical industry or the cost of attendance. That being said, I tell you this because often times people change their minds in school, and you may end up deciding you want to work in a clinical setting or apply for residency, for example. Depending on how high your ambition is, the rank of your school could become a factor if you went and applied to certain internships (ex: FDA rotations) or decided you wanted to pursue "research" for example.

 

[exiangwsu]

ranking will be important when the field is saturate .......However, Degree in rarely matter in biotech industry. There r plenty of directors, managers graduating from low tier college, with bachelor, climbed up the corporate ladder because their connection, communicate skill and work ethic.U will also see plenty of ivy league PHD works as research associate, which struggles at the "bottom" tier of company. Working experience and communication are keys when you climbed ladder in the industry. Degree only can get your foot in the doors.

 

[exiangwsu]

ranking will be important when the field is saturate .......However, Degree in rarely matter in biotech industry. There r plenty of directors, managers graduating from low tier college, with bachelor, climbed up the corporate ladder because their connection, communicate skill and work ethic.U will also see plenty of ivy league PHD works as research associate, which struggles at the "bottom" tier of company. Working experience and communication are keys when you want to climb ladder in the industry. Degree only can get your foot in the doors.

 

[DrDrugs2012]

To anyone who says ranking dont matter, you're wrong... with caveats.

First, once you have a job as a pharmacist no one cares about your education. This is true in all fields. They care about your experience. Before your first job, there are some situations in which it matters.

If your objective is to be one of the 7 in 10 in community retail pharmacy, it does not matter unless you are trying to get a job outside of the region in which the school is located. Employers will take anyone but they will prefer students from schools with whom they have a positive experience.

If you are applying for residencies, it 100% matters. Some programs simply eliminate all applicants from schools below a ranking cutoff. Should it be this way? No. Is it reality? Yes. It's the same reason why even the dumbest Harvard grad still gets a job but the smartest grad from a small, unknown liberal arts school might not. Name means something. If it didnt, no one would bother to rank in the first place.

The rest of the occupations within pharmacy go by a different set of rules. Some schools have specific value. For example, USP, Rutgers and MCP have long history of strong placement within the pharmaceutical industry. You can make the connections you need at those schools.

And never forget, graduate school is 50% about what you know and 50% about who you know. Network, network, network.