I go to a state school, and all the admins and profs think the school is pretty hot. Year after year, they increase the class size, because they think our U.S. News and World report ranking will somehow shield their grads from the over-saturated market. But recently, I've been checking out residency programs, and notably, many current residents of these programs are grads from [insert private pharmacy school that opened 2-3 years ago here]. I've also noted that a number of clinical pharmacists at the hospitals I've applied to are grads from the newly opened private schools as well.
"Our state school is the best. You are MUCH more competitive than grads from those other private schools." Har. Har. Har.
Although I obviously don't have a basis for comparison on didactics, I will say that some of my school's profs were BAD at teaching. What the school excels at above everything is really its rotation sites. They've basically monopolized all the good sites, and the private unis don't have near the diversity of sites that my school does.
It also depends on the area. Residency programs that are located in more rural areas, or in cities that are far away from the big state schools or immediately in proximity to the private school are more likely to have a higher percentage of pharmacy grads from the smaller, private pharmacy schools.
With that being said, if you can choose between the state school and the private one, I would choose state. It definitely doesn't mean everything, but I do think it gives you a leg up on the competition. Also, if you can stay in-state, your tuition will be cheaper. Pharmacy school loans these days are nothing to sneeze at.
