Does *where* you go matter?

Today, if you graduate from a "better" school, you have better chances of getting into specific fields of pharmacy where you make less money, but may enjoy your job more. Pharmacists are so scarce today that retail pharmacies would hire a chimp if he had a PharmD. However, who knows what will be in the future. I think if you graduate from a strong pharmacy program, you would be making a better investment of yourself for yourself. If that's not important to you or if money is the strongest drive for you, then I would say that for the current times it does not matter where you graduate from.

 

No, since there is a shortage in most areas. Just make sure the school is fully accredited. NAPLEX test really shows how you stack up against all candidates / graduates across the US.

 

It depends. When I was at the residency showcase two weeks ago, they informed me that it does matter where you went to pharmacy school in order to land competitive residencies. If you are looking to go into retail pharmacy, you will have no problem find a job regardless of school affiliation. If you are interested in clinical pharmacy, you may want to be picky with your options and choose a school who focuses on this discipline. Also consider a schools alumni base, as alumni often will look more favorable on a graduate of their pharmacy school when hiring. Lastly, national recognition (prestige) is important when competing for attractive clinical positions.

 

I think they should implement the old California board equivalent. I've heard of pharmacists complaining that NAPLEX standards have been lowered to bare minimums. Virtually every school now has 90+% pass rates.

Schools matter in curriculum structure, emphasis, and quality of rotation sites if that's important to you for future residency/clinical advancement. But like what's been said above about school choice, aiming for retail/community practice won't likely affect you at all. Most of the pharmacy shortages are happening in the rural areas - you'd be surprised how the urbanized areas where everyone wants to live actually has competition. I don't know how pharmacies hire, but at least in the future, I'm banking on UofM's reputation to hopefully get me a slot in where I'd like to work. They better considering how much hell they put us through

 

the pass rate should be high... i mean having all those loans and not being able to get licensed hurts. The thing is GPA, NAPLEX score from pharmacy school, etc should be included as a factor in terms of getting into more competitive fields... not so much for retail.

 

Exactly, but the NAPLEX I don't think would help differentiate PharmD quality. Like you said, you'd have to look at extraneous factors. That's also not to say that just because you didn't go to a good school you won't be an excellent clinician - they're just mostly trends in reputation.

 

It doesn't have to be fully accredited because new schools don't get the full accreditation until after they graduate their first class.

 

Just because a school graduates a class, doesn't mean they are automatically accredited either.

 

Yeah, but if they have Candidate status, it is pretty much a closed case that they will get the full accreditation unless some sort of disaster happens.

 

How do you think mercer stacks up to what you just said? I'm just wondering.

 

I've heard the same about the school mattering as far as competitiveness for residencies is concerned. It really is a question of what you want to do when you graduate. If you want to go work retail of staff immediately after pharmacy school then it probably doesn't matter all that much, assuming you learn what you need to learn during school. IMO it really only becomes an issue when applying for post-graduate programs.

 

Mercer is a very clinical program, which is one of the reasons I chose them. They are also one of the most established pharmacy schools in the country, with one of the largest alumni bases. They informed me that schools ranked in the top 40 are more clinically oriented. I asked specifically about Mercer at the residency showcase, and all informed me that Mercer was a top school whose graduates usually have an in-depth knowledge of clinical pharmacy.

 

Antimony, did you go to a residency showcase in Atlanta? How can I find when and where they have another showcase in my area (any links)? Knowing that I have to give up my seat at Mercer to someone else (since I chose another school) makes me sad for a while because I know Mercer is a very good school and focuses on clinical pharmacy which is also my future goal.

 

American Society of Health System Pharmacists had their midyear in Orlando this year, that is where I visited the residency showcase.

PharmRX77 : As long as you are going to an established school (OSU, UM, UNC, UF, UT, UGA, etc), I am sure you will receive a clinically oriented curriculum also.

 

Thanks!

 

Yes it is matter. I would go to the school where tuition is cheap.

 

The only true quality differential is how long ago school started offering PharmD program. Schools which are new or only switched to all-PharmD when it became mandatory tend to have more issues with their rotations, and rotations are the only thing that really does make a difference in a pharmacy student's education. Classroom study is good but only goes so far. Rotations you have done are what will make or break your chances most of the time.

 

Mmm. I agree with the above post. During my application and interview process, I noticed a difference between the career outcomes of students graduating from newer schools and more well-established schools. Pharmacists who graduated from newer schools tend to pursue community pharmacy and those who came from older schools tend to pursue different fields. Either way, community pharmacy was always the predominant outcome due to the high demand for retail pharmacists. So if you want to go into retail, going to any pharmacy school is ok. But if you want to go into something like industry, a place like Rutgers is a good place to go because they offer fellowships in that field.

I think anyone can pursue any field of pharmacy no matter which school you attend. But I think it's easier to reach it if the school offers more connections. Overall, I think it comes down to what you will make of it.

 

totally agree!