LECOM or ALBANY????

[shaq786]

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What would be your choice?

LECOM or ALBANY

Would you consider school reputation for your decision? LECOM is the new kid on the block while Albany has been around for ages.

Cost wise: LECOM 1st year tuition was less, and the cost of living is also less in PA than in NY.

LECOM seems to care more about its applicants by looking at grades, letters of recommendation, and has a demanding supplemental application (essays). While ALBANY only has wants a 100.00 application fee, and only looks at grades(No letters of rec. required).

Feel free to also list any other reasons for justifying your descision to go to one or the other.

 

[TennisBoy78]

I called both, and to me, Albany is the better school by far. That said, I don't agree with their application procedure. On the surface, no letters of recommendation, no PCAT, and no interview requirement may be enticing, but they only look at grades, nothing else. If your grades are not super high, cross out Albany. One girl in my class has a 3.9 GPA and got into Albany, but she does not have a degree and no pharmacy experience at all. I asked Albany if they consider the fact that one may have a degree or pharmacy experience. Their answer: NO. In essence, Albany only looks at grades.

Funny thing is that I asked them (since they only look at grades) if they could assess my chances on the spot if I told them my GPA. Their answer: Apply and we can tell you (in essence, give us $100 now).

Although my GPA is higher than average, I felt uncomfortable applying to a school in which ONLY the GPA is considered because I feel that they only want school nerds in their class.

LECOM is newer, not as organized, and living in Erie is a bit cheaper than living in Albany (and more snow days being on Lake Erie). Your chances may be better at LECOM, but I've also heard that they strongly want people with degrees. No degree means your chances drop tremendously.

 

[RXlecom07]

LECOM isn't that concerned w/ their applicants having a degree. In fact, I knew people who had a masters in micro and LECOM told them they needed to take some stupid class like econ or psych in order to meet their pre-reqs before they could get in. Overall I'd say its half and half people w/ degrees vs just 2 or 3 years of undergrad.

 

[TennisBoy78]

LECOM was a school I previously considered, and I extensively read former posts on this website through searching. The impression that I got was that although you could still get into LECOM without a degree, a degree is highly favored there, so ceritus paribus, one with a degree will be chosen.

 

[G0T2PS]

I applied to Albany last year near deadline. I asked the person about my chances which I felt was nil at that time.. but they looked briefly over my PharmCAS to say that I have a chance and acted like I really had one. They told me to mail $100... and within a week after taking my $100 they responded with a rejection.

I feel Albany lacks refinement when dealing with applicants and taking their money like that.

 

[honeykrown]

Well i've been to both schools ( i have travelled around a lot and can give u info on 3other schools)

well Albany doesnt look at only GPA, what also help is that they look at the courses u've taken and use it to determine your GPA. e.g if u hav a degree, depends on what type of degree you have, they would look at your courses and see if they are hard or not and make a determination. When i went in the summer, a student told me he had a 3.3 GPa was an ED apllicant but got pushed to the regular decision before being chosen. He loved the school. Its pretty small with also a small bookstore. School of law is directly beside it. they have a new apartmetn building they built for their students. and 4 students could rent four room and pay it together. And albany is relatively cheap. with mostly students staying around the school. Also classess start very early in the summer ( May 31st)


On the other hand Lecom seems to be in teh middle of a residential area ( i would classify it as middle class. With just a buildign and parking at the back (not that much parking space i woul say. If you do ot have an interview, u cannot enter. Imagine driving 6hrs to get to the school just to be turned down because we didnt have an interview. We didnt take the tour and we were given visitors pass just to sit in the lobby. Heard different complaints (from the students) come to the receptionist at the entrance. I've checked living expenses around the school and trust me it isnt cheap> they have a big mall liek 5-10miles from the school (thats the only fancy thing i see about it. And i heard they take practically anybody with a 3.0 GPA, dont know what criteria that was based upon.

But my choice would be Albany and u could always apply there.

 

[Glowwyrm]

LECOM isn't that concerned w/ their applicants having a degree. In fact, I knew people who had a masters in micro and LECOM told them they needed to take some stupid class like econ or psych in order to meet their pre-reqs before they could get in. Overall I'd say its half and half people w/ degrees vs just 2 or 3 years of undergrad.

I think that's the same with pretty much any pharmacy school. They have certain prereqs that you must take before you start going to their school regardless of what degree(s) you have already obtained.

 

[Glowwyrm]

On the other hand Lecom seems to be in teh middle of a residential area ( i would classify it as middle class. With just a buildign and parking at the back (not that much parking space i woul say. If you do ot have an interview, u cannot enter. Imagine driving 6hrs to get to the school just to be turned down because we didnt have an interview. We didnt take the tour and we were given visitors pass just to sit in the lobby. Heard different complaints (from the students) come to the receptionist at the entrance. I've checked living expenses around the school and trust me it isnt cheap> they have a big mall liek 5-10miles from the school (thats the only fancy thing i see about it. And i heard they take practically anybody with a 3.0 GPA, dont know what criteria that was based upon.

According to this website, LECOM had over 2,000 applicants last year. Given the number of applicants, I would think that having a 3.0 GPA is definitely not someone's ticket to guaranteed acceptance.

 

[shaq786]

After doing some research, Albany is definitely a cheaper and affordable school thats for sure. More so than LECOM. Heck its even more cheaper than the pharmacy school thats within my state. Go figure.

Few more questions if anyone knows:

1. Hows the social scene down there?

2. Does Albany have rolling admissions? They should have gotten my application a few days ago. Or are they going to wait until the 03/01 deadline before they start mailing out decisions?

3. Do you think there educational standards are up to par with other institutions? Afterall their application process seems to be on a lower tier from the commentary I read on this board. I dont want to practice pharmacy in NY but would rather practice here in GA. As long as this school can push me to that level and get the most out of me in preparing to pass the naplex and become a pretty good pharmacist, I'll be happy.