going to a non-accreditated pharmacy school

[tyty1111]

Advertisement - Members don't see this ad

Hi everyone,

I'm so confused right now about what I should do. I got accepted into this one non-accreditated pharmacy school. They have the candidate status right now, and they will change to accreditated status very soon after the voting on July. I don't know whether I should study here or stay home one year, retake the PCAT, and apply to other schools. I only took the PCAT once and didn't well prepared. I really like this school, but at the same time I have some concerns about the disadvantages of going to a newly founded pharmacy program. Currently, my family is pressured me to choose the second option, which is stay home for one year. (Sorry, I should make the decision myself, but sometimes, it's hard because of our cultures that I can't make my own decision). They told me that if I choose to go to this school, after I graduate, employer can say that since the pharmacy program is newly founded, it's not very competitive with students who graduated from schools that are founded long time ago. And the wage will also be affected. I know my family is worried about me, and everything that they told me make sense, but my concern is how much of these information that they giving me is true. Please give me some advices or suggestions. By the way, I have great GPA and I think my activities are pretty good. And this is the only school that I got accepted.

Thank you so much!!!

 

[BidingMyTime]

Since you didn't get accepted to any other schools, you are taking a big risk in assuming that you can get accepted into any others next year. Maybe you could bring up your PCAT scores, but that probably wasn't the only reason you didn't get accepted.

The biggest risk with an unaccredited school....is that the school never gets accreditation. That happened recently with a school of pharmacy in Hawaii. If that happens, they you are left with a bunch of debt and either no degree or a worthless degree. Yes, employers probably will think higher of established schools, at least until your new school has a change to establish itself & secure its reputation--it's something to consider, but I don't think this should be your biggest concern in this situation.

Honestly, in your situation, I think I would look into a different career. The fact that no other pharmacy school accepted you, except for an unaccredited school, means you are a borderline candidate anyway. Pharmacy school is too expensive to get into without being 100% sure you can do the work. I am not a risk taker, and the risk of going to an unaccredited school is one I wouldn't want to take on.

 

[Shimmery]

From my understanding, if you graduate and everything goes without a hitch, your school will be accredited and will receive Full Candidate status.

After that, in the "real world", as long you have a degree and pass your exams, no one will care where you graduated from.

 

[Shimmery]

The biggest risk with an unaccredited school....is that the school never gets accreditation. That happened recently with a school of pharmacy in Hawaii.

Recently? This happened way back in 2005-2006.

 

[BidingMyTime]

Recently? This happened way back in 2005-2006.

Considering that its the only pharmacy school I've heard of in the last 50 years that didn't get their accreditation, yes I would consider 9 years ago recent.

 

[Dred Pirate]

personally I would wait a year - the odds of them not getting accredited are low - but if they don't you are screwed for the rest of your life and have a huge hole to dig out of. Also, this is coming from someone who does hiring at a hospital (and not some large well known hospital). We do look at what school you went to if you have less than 5 years experience or so. And yes, I would penalize you for going to a new school because I know you likely only went there because you didn't get into a more established school. FWIW I did not go to some highly rated school, a pretty much middle of the road place.

 

[BMBiology]

If you are absolutely sure you want to do this, I would go this year. Don't wait. The job market is going to get worse and worse every year.

 

[Wheresmyaricept]

Hi everyone,

I'm so confused right now about what I should do. I got accepted into this one non-accreditated pharmacy school. They have the candidate status right now, and they will change to accreditated status very soon after the voting on July. I don't know whether I should study here or stay home one year, retake the PCAT, and apply to other schools. I only took the PCAT once and didn't well prepared. I really like this school, but at the same time I have some concerns about the disadvantages of going to a newly founded pharmacy program. Currently, my family is pressured me to choose the second option, which is stay home for one year. (Sorry, I should make the decision myself, but sometimes, it's hard because of our cultures that I can't make my own decision). They told me that if I choose to go to this school, after I graduate, employer can say that since the pharmacy program is newly founded, it's not very competitive with students who graduated from schools that are founded long time ago. And the wage will also be affected. I know my family is worried about me, and everything that they told me make sense, but my concern is how much of these information that they giving me is true. Please give me some advices or suggestions. By the way, I have great GPA and I think my activities are pretty good. And this is the only school that I got accepted.

Thank you so much!!!

If they have candidate status, they typically have their stuff together and will get accredited. The only school in recent history that hasn't was that disaster in Hawaii--which never got candidate status if I recall correctly.

There are schools that opened recently have graduates that are getting residencies and jobs in retail just like the rest of the country.

 

[Dred Pirate]

I would not go to pharmacy school now and I wouldn't have gone to a new school even 6 years ago. Not worth the debt with the lack of jobs.

When I graduated my class was the first class without sign on bonuses. Don't be part of the first class without jobs waiting when you graduate

when did you graduate (6 years ago?) - sign up bonus around here died 7 years ago. Good thing I got my 30k sign up bonus for the first three years

 

[Jibby321]

I have friends who graduated in 2010 and 2011 who got 10K sign on bonuses. But I haven't heard of any since.

 

[Dred Pirate]

I have friends who graduated in 2010 and 2011 who got 10K sign on bonuses. But I haven't heard of any since.

I know somebody who did get 5k for relocation expenses last month - but even those are rare now days

 

[BMBiology]

Sign on bonuses are used to force you to stay with the company longer than you wanted. They are not used to entice you to work for the company.

 

[clerkmaxwell]

Dang, guess yalls never heard about the upstart COP that took a sheit in Paintsville, KY around 2011. Midway College School of Pharmacy. Hard to believe the ACPE actually denied a school accreditation. From a old news piece:

"In particular, “the ACPE made it very clear that their concern was the inexperience or no experience shown by the dean and the young faculty,” the minutes state. In addition, “the PCAT scores for the applicants who applied to the School of Pharmacy were extremely low. At least 57% of students that applied to the School of Pharmacy were below average on their PCAT scores.”

Read more: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/...shows-dangers-assumed-quick-fix#ixzz35bjbPKA6
Inside Higher Ed

 

[Amicable Angora]

Hi everyone,

I'm so confused right now about what I should do. I got accepted into this one non-accreditated pharmacy school. They have the candidate status right now, and they will change to accreditated status very soon after the voting on July. I don't know whether I should study here or stay home one year, retake the PCAT, and apply to other schools. I only took the PCAT once and didn't well prepared. I really like this school, but at the same time I have some concerns about the disadvantages of going to a newly founded pharmacy program. Currently, my family is pressured me to choose the second option, which is stay home for one year. (Sorry, I should make the decision myself, but sometimes, it's hard because of our cultures that I can't make my own decision). They told me that if I choose to go to this school, after I graduate, employer can say that since the pharmacy program is newly founded, it's not very competitive with students who graduated from schools that are founded long time ago. And the wage will also be affected. I know my family is worried about me, and everything that they told me make sense, but my concern is how much of these information that they giving me is true. Please give me some advices or suggestions. By the way, I have great GPA and I think my activities are pretty good. And this is the only school that I got accepted.

Thank you so much!!!

If your GPA is truly great, and you flopped on the PCAT, then you are wasting your own potential by not taking the PCAT again and applying to more schools.

 

[Amicable Angora]

Dang, guess yalls never heard about the upstart COP that took a sheit in Paintsville, KY around 2011. Midway College School of Pharmacy. Hard to believe the ACPE actually denied a school accreditation. From a old news piece:

"In particular, “the ACPE made it very clear that their concern was the inexperience or no experience shown by the dean and the young faculty,” the minutes state. In addition, “the PCAT scores for the applicants who applied to the School of Pharmacy were extremely low. At least 57% of students that applied to the School of Pharmacy were below average on their PCAT scores.”

Read more: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/...shows-dangers-assumed-quick-fix#ixzz35bjbPKA6
Inside Higher Ed

Thanks for sharing this, I was wondering what happened to Midway.

 

[oldstock]

Dang, guess yalls never heard about the upstart COP that took a sheit in Paintsville, KY around 2011. Midway College School of Pharmacy. Hard to believe the ACPE actually denied a school accreditation. From a old news piece:

"In particular, “the ACPE made it very clear that their concern was the inexperience or no experience shown by the dean and the young faculty,” the minutes state. In addition, “the PCAT scores for the applicants who applied to the School of Pharmacy were extremely low. At least 57% of students that applied to the School of Pharmacy were below average on their PCAT scores.”

Read more: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/...shows-dangers-assumed-quick-fix#ixzz35bjbPKA6
Inside Higher Ed

wow

 

[trailerpark]

I read the whole article. They wanted a pharmacy school to boost the economy. Had nothing to do with a need for pharmacists... In fact they originally planned a Osteopathic medicine school, but someone stole that idea so they settled with pharmacy.