MCPHS vs. Mercer

[deleted390966]

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I'm deciding which school I should attend next year. I prefer hospital and clinical pharmacy to retail. Quality of education is important to me and of course, I want the school to prepare me really well for the future job market.
I'm most interested in learning more about:
- the curriculum
- rotation sites
- safety & security in the area (are security escorts available?)
- the cost of living on campus
- where past graduates were hired (if you know).
I hope some of you - especially current students at either schools - will share some insights on either or both schools.

I'm an older student so MCPHS Worcester 3-year curriculum appeals to me. However, with this schedule, I may not be able to work as an intern. The impression I got during the interview was the school was nice, state-of-the-art facilities, nice people, etc. The downside is the school's distance to the airport (an hour driving).
One thing I'm most concerned with is - if you could help shed light on this - the attrition rate at MCPHS. What is the cut-off for passing?

Mercer 4-year program is well-known, but requires 1500 hours of internship. Some students said internship was hard to find. During interview, I didn't like the "feel" of the school that much.
What I liked:
- solid curriculum (?)
- a bit closer (about 40 minutes) from the airport
- warmer weather

Thoughts?

 

[SHC1984]

Mercer only requires their students to find 500 intern hours on their own. The other 1000 hours is built into their program and will be provided by the school. However, it is very diffcult to get an internship in Atlanta because the city is very saturated. There are 3 pharmacy schools in Atlanta and not enough places to work, so finding those 500 hours is pretty hard. I had to go 1.5 hrs outside of Atlanta to get an internship this summer and it sucked.

Mercer is on a block schedule. The classes overall are not bad, however I feel that Mercer does NOT do a very good job at teaching pharmacokinetics. It's covered very briefly and then never mentioned again. Personally if I was a patient I would rather not let any Mercer students calculate my PK doses because of that. Other than bad PK the program is pretty solid in all other areas.

I don't know anything about the other school though. Good luck. 🙂

 

[deleted390966]

@SHC: Thanks. Could you also comment on the safety & security in the area, and where graduates were hired? And, do you live on campus?

 

[SHC1984]

@SHC: Thanks. Could you also comment on the safety & security in the area, and where graduates were hired? And, do you live on campus?

I am not sure about the area in general, but I would say Mercer Campus is pretty safe overall...I leave the library at 10 or 11PM sometimes and I never was attacked before...knock on wood. LOL...I can't comment a lot on safey b/c I don't live on campus.

I am not sure where most graduates were hired at but a lot of students had to move out of Atlanta to get jobs. Getting a job in Atlanta is very diffcult. If you want to live in Atlanta it will be a uphill battle trying to get a job here.

Overall, it is pretty diffcult to get a job in pharmacy, but that has nothing to do with which school you attend, so I won't comment on that any further.

I just recommend another pharmacy school if you are interested in PK.

 

[xsc614]

I'm deciding which school I should attend next year. I prefer hospital and clinical pharmacy to retail. Quality of education is important to me and of course, I want the school to prepare me really well for the future job market.
I'm most interested in learning more about:
- the curriculum
- rotation sites
- safety & security in the area (are security escorts available?)
- the cost of living on campus
- where past graduates were hired (if you know).
I hope some of you - especially current students at either schools - will share some insights on either or both schools.

The MCPHS curriculum is pretty intense, obviously, as it is an accelerated program. The first 2 semesters consist of 7 classes each and you are either in class or on rotations year round.

MCPHS has alot of connections as far as rotation sites, and the school places you for all your IPPE and APPE rotations. Also, in Massachusetts they require 1500 intern hours, all of which are covered by the school. You would need to do paid intern hours on your own if you plan to be licensed in a different state though. Each states laws vary on how many hours they will accept from rotations.

The cost of living is pretty expensive, I'm not sure exactly as I commute from home but I believe the rates are available on the school website. The school has a good security system with several staff on 24/7 and I believe escorts are also available.

If you really want to get done in 3 years it is worth going here... but if you have the extra year it is probably worth looking into other programs, as MCPHS Worcester leaves you with very very little free time for leisure or working as an intern.

Attrition rate I'm not sure on the exact percentages but the # of students to completely drop out among any of the students in the 3 year program was in the single digits this year. You must maintain a 2.2 cumulative GPA to advance each semester, and have no F's (even if you get good grades in everything else and meet the 2.2 cutoff, you still cannot proceed to the following semester with the F). From what I have seen/experienced, if you put the appropriate amount of time and work in, you will not have to worry about this.

Hope this helps

 

[AmericanDesi]

Where do you plan to work afterwards? I think it helps to go to a school in an area that you plan to work as you build networking through rotations and school. Let me tell you, New England area is completely saturated. Finding a job right now is very tough for me being an MCP student from the West coast.

 

[owlegrad]

Where do you plan to work afterwards? I think it helps to go to a school in an area that you plan to work as you build networking through rotations and school. Let me tell you, New England area is completely saturated. Finding a job right now is very tough for me being an MCP student from the West coast.

May I just say, I love your sig?

 

[BelleMD2B]

I think there are pros and cons to every school. If you plan to stay in the Atlanta area, it might be a little difficult, but that is to be expected with any saturated area.

That being said, I am a P1 and I had absolutely zero problems getting an intern position, and neither did MANY of my fellow classmates. Of course, this could be a different situation when we graduate, but as of right now, there have been no issues landing internships for us. Going outside of Atlanta 1.5 hours is absurd, in my opinion. Did you wait until the last minute to find something?

I am a non-traditional student with a little more "life experience" so I don't have the same views as SHC1984. In my opinion, every person that graduates should not be thrown a job just because they have been awarded a degree. I mean, how dare you have to compete against others?!?! Being slightly facetious, only slightly 🙂

Let's see, I like the curriculum at Mercer. The block schedule has been great so far. It is fast and focused, but in my opinion, there is time to get it done, and still have somewhat of a life.

The campus is safe. There is public safety/campus police patrolling 24 hours a day. Chamblee is not a bad area of Atlanta. Most people live off campus, but those that live on really enjoy it. The apartments are nice, and the ease of rolling out of bed and walking across the campus to class is priceless. If I were single, I would strongly consider living on campus. Not sure the cost of the apartments though.

Mercer has a great name nationally. The program is solid and well respected. So, it might be a good choice for you if you planned to move after graduation.

I do think Mercer has quite a few pluses for someone that wants to practice outside of the retail setting:
- ACT - think of it as early residency practice...The Advanced Clinical Track has you "interview" with various hospitals. And if you match, you do all of your APPEs at that one site. Great segue way into a residency (although, not a guarantee, of course).
- Alternative APPE options - international, humanitarian, PHS/IHS
- Mercer has GREAT relationships with the hospitals in the area. Pharmacy is such a small, small world. The relationships the school has with various institutions is extremely important.

What other questions do you have? I would be happy to answer as much as I can (from a P1)...clearly, I cannot speak on Pharmacokinetics. But then again, it could just be one perspective that was previously mentioned.

 

[BrownSugar83]

Thanks for the info BelleMD2B...I will be attending Mercer in the fall! All the great things you have to say about there program makes me feel even better about chosing Mercer!!

 

[BelleMD2B]

Thanks for the info BelleMD2B...I will be attending Mercer in the fall! All the great things you have to say about there program makes me feel even better about chosing Mercer!!

Congratulations!
Hopefully you will come, enjoy, and get involved...TONS of opportunities to get involved!

@PhoenixFire, that's something else beneficial to someone wanting to potentially do a residency. There are sooooo many options for anyone to participate. And the school strongly urges/supports involvement.

 

[AmericanDesi]

Ha thanks,and yours too...The sarcasm one(obvi)..

 

[BenJammin]

Most of this information about what they teach and what they don't teach is almost irrelevant. Mercer's NAPLEX passing rate is 6% higher than MCPHS in Boston. That's pretty significant, statistically speaking.

 

[Farmercyst]

Moved to prepharm due to school choice topic

 

[owlegrad]

Most of this information about what they teach and what they don't teach is almost irrelevant. Mercer's NAPLEX passing rate is 6% higher than MCPHS in Boston. That's pretty significant, statistically speaking.

I would need to see the p value.

 

[deleted390966]

Thanks to all who replied.

Does Mercer place you in rotations or do you have to contact the preceptors by yourself?

@xsc614: Could you name some rotation sites that MCPHS has, please?

Also, in Massachusetts they require 1500 intern hours, all of which are covered by the school. You would need to do paid intern hours on your own if you plan to be licensed in a different state though. Each states laws vary on how many hours they will accept from rotations.

I'm confused... Could you explain this further, such as, even after you've done 1500 required intern hours, those are not paid hours and therefore may make it difficult for you to find a job in specific areas??

Most of this information about what they teach and what they don't teach is almost irrelevant. Mercer's NAPLEX passing rate is 6% higher than MCPHS in Boston.

Well, the school we're talking about is MCPHS Worcester.

 

[SHC1984]

Thanks to all who replied.

Does Mercer place you in rotations or do you have to contact the preceptors by yourself?

.

Mercer places you in rotations for you. IPPE and APPE are all placed my Mercer. However, you are responsible for finding an intern job and getting 500 intern hours by yourself.

 

[SpartanLaser]

Cut off for passing in MCPHS Wor is a 2.2 GPA. However, if they see you struggling but there is improvement (aka you got a ton of Ds on the first tests but then you start to get Bs), they will keep you. However, you cannot pass a course unless you have a 59.5 or higher and they will make you retake the class the following year if you fail. Fail twice and you're out but it's very rare to see that happen. I talked to the P2 class and only 1 or 2 ppl actually fail out of 300+ people. Most of the people leave due to family issues rather than attrition due to the high amounts of older folks with family issues/obligations.

The one thing is that the pharmacist job market is pretty saturated here in Massachusetts. If you want a job here, GET A PAID INTERNSHIP asap and make the connections. Expect to work on weekends and school on weekdays.

 

[deleted390966]

At both schools, we were told we need to have cars to attend rotations throughout the curriculum. I want to know how far we're expected to commute...