LECOM versus Nova Southeastern Pharmacy Program

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.
G

golddagger

Full Member
7+ Year Member
Joined
Sep 12, 2016
Messages
37
Reaction score
2
Points
4,531
  1. Pre-Pharmacy
Members do not see this ad.
Hello all,
I have been accepted to both school recently but I have a hard time which school should I attend. I paid LECOM the matriculation fees but in few days after NSU also is requiring the matriculation fees to be paid.
I need help deciding which school best fit me. I was told that NSU is better than LECOM and there is lots of bad talking about LECOM.
Do both school provide the same quality of education? I like small campus. NSU seems a little bit more expensive and bigger campus. I honestly do not want to waste another $1000 for matriculation fees if they are the same in terms of quality of education.
How is the classes at LECOM? has anyone attended lecom before? What are you experience? Will you do it again at lecom or will you choose different school?

I appreciate all advice?
 
Just go to whichever is cheaper. LECOM has a terrible reputation (I heard you dress up for class, all classes mandatory, assigned seats, and it's osteopathic) but at least it's a 3 year program. I've never even heard of Nova Southeastern.
 
golddagger said:
Hello all,
I have been accepted to both school recently but I have a hard time which school should I attend. I paid LECOM the matriculation fees but in few days after NSU also is requiring the matriculation fees to be paid.
I need help deciding which school best fit me. I was told that NSU is better than LECOM and there is lots of bad talking about LECOM.
Do both school provide the same quality of education? I like small campus. NSU seems a little bit more expensive and bigger campus. I honestly do not want to waste another $1000 for matriculation fees if they are the same in terms of quality of education.
How is the classes at LECOM? has anyone attended lecom before? What are you experience? Will you do it again at lecom or will you choose different school?

I appreciate all advice?
Click to expand...

I just graduated in FL, no jobs. 40% of my 2016 class, jobless. I am preparing to take another MPJEs to move around. Considering Alaska or middle of nowhere. It is super super super tough...Friend got CVS position, they treated him like a robot, he made two stupid mistakes, he was fired in eight days. We are as disposable as toilet papers.

As I see that there is no celestial power to change your mind about looking for another career. Then, I would look at the cheaper option of the two. Rent in South Florida is expensive. Also, central Florida is less saturated than the south, so maybe if you are able to get the connections and get lucky, you might get something lined up. Zero guarantees. Known fact from friends that went to UF.

Right now, I am looking at 230,000 in debt. I see things with a very different set of glasses than when I started pharmacy school. I wish I had taken a different path.

Never ever ever drink the "pharmacy school kool-aid", they want your money. Period."

Good luck.
 
Last edited:

Members do not see ads. Register today.

PharmerIsMe said:
I just graduated in FL, no jobs. 40% of my 2016 class, jobless. I am preparing to take another MPJEs to move around. Considering Alaska or middle of nowhere. It is super super super tough...Friend got CVS position, they treated him like a robot, he made two stupid mistakes, he was fired in eight days. We are as disposable as toilet papers.

As I see that there is no celestial power to change your mind about looking for another career. Then, I would look at the cheaper option of the two. Rent in South Florida is expensive. Also, central Florida is less saturated than the south, so maybe if you are able to get the connections and get lucky, you might get something lined up. Zero guarantees. Known fact from friends that went to UF.

Right now, I am looking at 230,000 in debt. I see things with a very different set of glasses than when I started pharmacy school. I wish I had taken a different path.

Never ever ever drink the "pharmacy school kool-aid", they want your money. Period."

Good luck.
Click to expand...

Two stupid mistakes?
 
Amicable Angora said:
Two stupid mistakes?
Click to expand...
Yup:

1: Dispensed 30 pills instead of 90. Doc handwriting instructions were written in martian language
2: Denied to dispense control to a patient that had a heavy history of controls use. Patient super sick, lots of meds, transfer to other store. Pharmacy lost one of the best customers. They tweak it around to find him faulty for questioning the appropriate.

Next stop, he's out. He could have fought the 2 with the board, but he though it was not worth it.
 
PharmerIsMe said:
Yup:

1: Dispensed 30 pills instead of 90. Doc handwriting instructions were written in martian language
2: Denied to dispense control to a patient that had a heavy history of controls use. Patient super sick, lots of meds, transfer to other store. Pharmacy lost one of the best customers. They tweak it around to find him faulty for questioning the appropriate.

Next stop, he's out. He could have fought the 2 with the board, but he though it was not worth it.
Click to expand...

#1 Somewhat understandable.
#2 Could have been easily avoided.
 
Niosh said:
That would really scare me. 97% of my class was employed by September 2015
Click to expand...
Yup, baad. And the ones that got jobs, are doing 30 max floater, many times driving like 100 miles a day or more.

bulldog1123 said:
Dang how did you pay the 20k off the 250k so quick without a job?
Click to expand...
Have not paid anything, eating noodles and water for four years, plus had some savings used up paying tuition.

Amicable Angora said:
#1 Somewhat understandable.
#2 Could have been easily avoided.
Click to expand...
Avoided?...Based on FL law, supposedly, no one can interfere with your pharmacist professional judgment. Well, if you do not own the store, you can throw that out of the window, apparently. Actually, the tweaking story he told me is beyond belief, but I think he did right. Next time the board would show up with some form of complaint about filling everything for everyone without exercising judgment, bam his license would be on some sort of disciplinary action easily...Just spoke with him over the phone, he is working a part time job at the mall ice cream store while applying madly and broadly. No BS. We did some intel regarding who was going to take his position, guess what, they got a girl from a&m university, next week.
 
PharmerIsMe said:
Yup, baad. And the ones that got jobs, are doing 30 max floater, many times driving like 100 miles a day or more.


Have not paid anything, eating noodles and water for four years, plus had some savings used up paying tuition.


Avoided?...Based on FL law, supposedly, no one can interfere with your pharmacist professional judgment. Well, if you do not own the store, you can throw that out of the window, apparently. Actually, the tweaking story he told me is beyond belief, but I think he did right. Next time the board would show up with some form of complaint about filling everything for everyone without exercising judgment, bam his license would be on some sort of disciplinary action easily...Just spoke with him over the phone, he is working a part time job at the mall ice cream store while applying madly and broadly. No BS. We did some intel regarding who was going to take his position, guess what, they got a girl from a&m university, next week.
Click to expand...

Usually if a patient has been on medications for an extended period of time, you leave them be. It's kind of how you can generally override most interaction warnings if a patient has been taking that drug for several months/refills and you've talked to them about it.
 
ldiot said:
Just go to whichever is cheaper. LECOM has a terrible reputation (I heard you dress up for class, all classes mandatory, assigned seats, and it's osteopathic) but at least it's a 3 year program. I've never even heard of Nova Southeastern.
Click to expand...
You live in Miami and have never heard of Nova Southeastern University?
 
Merrem_Covers_Sinusitis said:
As someone not from Miami, is Nova Southeastern a very big pharmacy school down there?
Click to expand...
Nova is a very large for-profit university in Broward county. The campus has a high-school, undergraduate, graduate, medical, pharmacy, nursing and who knows how many other programs. It's expensive but the campus is very nice. I can't speak to the quality of education there, although one of my friends was a graduate and a very talented pharmacist. I was just surprised because it's very well known in the region and only 30 minutes away from Miami.
 
I knew about Nova over 5 years ago, and that's speaking as someone from out of state. If you were around before that, you'd likely have heard about some probation problems they were running into.
 
PharmerIsMe said:
I just graduated in FL, no jobs. 40% of my 2016 class, jobless. I am preparing to take another MPJEs to move around. Considering Alaska or middle of nowhere. It is super super super tough...Friend got CVS position, they treated him like a robot, he made two stupid mistakes, he was fired in eight days. We are as disposable as toilet papers.

As I see that there is no celestial power to change your mind about looking for another career. Then, I would look at the cheaper option of the two. Rent in South Florida is expensive. Also, central Florida is less saturated than the south, so maybe if you are able to get the connections and get lucky, you might get something lined up. Zero guarantees. Known fact from friends that went to UF.

Right now, I am looking at 230,000 in debt. I see things with a very different set of glasses than when I started pharmacy school. I wish I had taken a different path.

Never ever ever drink the "pharmacy school kool-aid", they want your money. Period."

Good luck.
Click to expand...

Lots of jobs out in California, but do you want to do cpje?
Good luck!
 
PharmerIsMe said:
Yup:

1: Dispensed 30 pills instead of 90. Doc handwriting instructions were written in martian language
2: Denied to dispense control to a patient that had a heavy history of controls use. Patient super sick, lots of meds, transfer to other store. Pharmacy lost one of the best customers. They tweak it around to find him faulty for questioning the appropriate.

Next stop, he's out. He could have fought the 2 with the board, but he though it was not worth it.
Click to expand...
Are you sure he was fired because of these two mistakes? . We makes those types mistake a lot at Cvs
 
ldiot said:
Just go to whichever is cheaper. LECOM has a terrible reputation (I heard you dress up for class, all classes mandatory, assigned seats, and it's osteopathic) but at least it's a 3 year program. I've never even heard of Nova Southeastern.
Click to expand...
they have 4 years and 3 years program. I am going to 4 years program.
Don't you think Nova is more expensive than Lecom?
 
PharmerIsMe said:
I just graduated in FL, no jobs. 40% of my 2016 class, jobless. I am preparing to take another MPJEs to move around. Considering Alaska or middle of nowhere. It is super super super tough...Friend got CVS position, they treated him like a robot, he made two stupid mistakes, he was fired in eight days. We are as disposable as toilet papers.

As I see that there is no celestial power to change your mind about looking for another career. Then, I would look at the cheaper option of the two. Rent in South Florida is expensive. Also, central Florida is less saturated than the south, so maybe if you are able to get the connections and get lucky, you might get something lined up. Zero guarantees. Known fact from friends that went to UF.

Right now, I am looking at 230,000 in debt. I see things with a very different set of glasses than when I started pharmacy school. I wish I had taken a different path.

Never ever ever drink the "pharmacy school kool-aid", they want your money. Period."

Good luck.
Click to expand...
Hello,
thanks for your reply.
are you saying pharmacy does not worth trying or a bad career choice? I have heard that from some other people but I don't know why.
What other health care professional out there might be considering? Just help me think. I know there is Chiropractic and Osteopathic medicine.
 
I don't want to hijack this thread, but this is yet another example of what I was talking about in my other thread. According to PharmerIsMe, 40% of his class is unemployed, and even those who managed to get jobs are working for 30 hrs/week as floaters for terrible chains like CVS. He even admitted that he would've done something else if he had known how bad the job market was going to get.

... But I guess PharmerIsMe is in his situation because he just didn't spend enough hours working as an intern every week?
 
Last edited:
golddagger said:
Just help me think. I know there is Chiropractic and Osteopathic medicine.
Click to expand...
I have so much I want to say to you but it's very late and I'm going to bed. Someone else tackle this.. if not I'll be back tomorrow.
 
golddagger said:
Hello,
thanks for your reply.
are you saying pharmacy does not worth trying or a bad career choice? I have heard that from some other people but I don't know why.
What other health care professional out there might be considering? Just help me think. I know there is Chiropractic and Osteopathic medicine.
Click to expand...

Chiropractic is a quack profession. There's MD, PA, NP, dentistry... all okay options. Many old timers look down on osteopathic... times are changing but it is what it is and the fact is osteopathic is less competitive.

If you don't know why people tell you stay away from pharmacy maybe you should actually try working in one before you go 6 figures into debt and trap yourself into a lifetime career. It really is that simple... and it really is amazing that people shell out that kind of cash without taking the effort to work as a tech for at least a few months. It's as easy as walking into the first pharmacy you see and asking if they are looking to hire. It's exactly what I did and was hired on the spot with no interview. It's just a matter of doing it so get it done. The frustrations of working in retail cannot be explained, they have to be experienced. Personally I'm task oriented and efficient so it plays well to my strengths... but nobody working in a chain pharmacy is going to tell you that they look forward to going to work and many are miserable.
 
Last edited:
quickpic007 said:
Lots of jobs out in California, but do you want to do cpje?
Good luck!
Click to expand...
Yes, my friend, I am planning to take the CPJE now that I have the NAPLEX knowledge fresh in my brain. Even though, the CPJE is way harder than the NAPLEX, it is not a 6 hours test. I am like a bull, right now. I will take the CPJE and pass. Period...What it bothers me and for what I have read, is that it is a pain in the derriere the whole paperwork thingy, and it takes time. But yes, I have read about jobs in rural areas paying good. So most likely I am heading west in the near future. I am taking advantage of the score transfer option which I still have active.

ancienbon said:
Are you sure he was fired because of these two mistakes? . We makes those types mistake a lot at Cvs
Click to expand...
Yes, EXTREMELY sure, and that is why hit us hard. We want to believe that he just had a bad supervisor and other supervisors are not like that. But, it was a fact.

golddagger said:
Hello,
thanks for your reply.
are you saying pharmacy does not worth trying or a bad career choice? I have heard that from some other people but I don't know why.
What other health care professional out there might be considering? Just help me think. I know there is Chiropractic and Osteopathic medicine.
Click to expand...
Well, career is subjective. If you see pharmacy from the point of view, where you like to read about medicines, interactions, indications, side effects, etc. Then, it is all good. However, you can still do all of these activities on your own using google in your free time, and you do not have to pile thousands dollars in debt. But, the fact is that in the real world pharmacy is practiced somehow different, and if you think for a second about monetary compensation for your efforts, then, think super hard before jumping in. Jobs are next to impossible to get in areas where you would probably like to live.

Honestly, you should pick a career that you would see yourself only doing EVEN if you receive ZERO compensation. And, you would not care where to live. In this case, you would be super happy if they tell you one day "hey we will pay you 10,000 a year, to live in Barrow, AK, doing what you love".

For me, it hasn't paid off, because I saw it sort of like an investment/career satisfaction type of thingy. So far, I finished the education component, but no remuneration, that is why I am not happy.

PAtoPharm said:
I don't want to hijack this thread, but this is yet another example of what I was talking about in my other thread. According to PharmerIsMe, 40% of his class is unemployed, and even those who managed to get jobs are working for 30 hrs/week as floaters for terrible chains like CVS. He even admitted that he would've done something else if he had known how bad the job market was going to get.

... But I guess PharmerIsMe is in his situation because he just didn't spend enough hours working as an intern every week?
Click to expand...

Yes, I did. But the pharmacy intern to pharmacist offer do not always correlate in states packed with pharmacists and much less in desirable locations. They told me that I could continue working as a pharmacy intern, but no pharmacist jobs, and no guarantees that in the future something will open. I am still getting some hours, but I did not go to pharmacy school to be an intern forever. So for me I am jobless. Plus, I never thought the job market was going to be that bad in the whole state of FL!, IT IS crazy bad.
 
PharmDsoflo said:
What COP did you attend? Did it help you and fellow graduates land jobs?
Click to expand...
University of Iowa COP. They had the typical career day and other stuff. They also had a pretty big focus on residency too. I want to say nearly 50% of my class went into a residency.
 
I am currently in my second year at NOVA COP.

I think its a good program. I have learned A LOT since I started, and I had no experience coming in. In my first year, I got a job at publix, so combined with the schooling and working weekends, I rarely see a drug I've never seen (in retail you see a lot of the same drugs, ACEI's, ARBS, metformin, sulfonylureas, etc).

The program has a heavy emphasis on CLINICAL knowledge and all of our professors are experts in the particular subject they teach. For example, when we learned dyslipidemia, we were taught by a ambulatory clinical pharmacist who specialized in dyslipidemia.

Class is generally not mandatory, but there are sometimes when you have to be in classes for quizzes and such, so it fits my busy schedule. The teachers are generally relatively laid back.

I can't complain about the program, except that it's expensive but thats another story and close to as expensive as NOVA.

My gripe is really with retail pharmacy. What they are doing at publix is just ridiculous. The hours are being cut, my pharmacy manager works several hours with no technician or intern in a busy store. The district managers only care about metrics & numbers. They don't care about their pharmacist, which in turn means they don't really care about the patients either, but again, this is a whole other story
 
I guess it really depends on the person but when I was on rotation with a student from LECOM, they didn't seem to be very knowledgeable of anything. I mean I don't think I'm all that smart but those student knew almost nothing.
 
Hulkbuster333 said:
I guess it really depends on the person but when I was on rotation with a student from LECOM, they didn't seem to be very knowledgeable of anything. I mean I don't think I'm all that smart but those student knew almost nothing.
Click to expand...

This was my experience as well. I was a mediocre student at best but YIKES the one LECOM student who I shared a rotation with stunned me with his complete lack of ability to have any kind of meaningful topic conversation with. It may just have been the student though, he was also unprofessional in other ways besides just a knowledge/performance gap.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

B
Pharmacy managers: First day at a long-term care pharmacy
Replies
0
Views
1K
bigpilllilpill
B
N
Any resource recommendations for Texas pharmacy law?
Replies
1
Views
139
jackmont
J
I
Career Change to Pharmacy
Replies
9
Views
4K
lord999
lord999
R
Thinking of leaving pharmacy school
Replies
7
Views
5K
gracefuldoc
G
WildWing
[Announcement] 2025 Walmart Community Pharmacy Scholarship
Replies
0
Views
2K
WildWing
WildWing
Top Bottom