Northeastern Bouve - opinions?

[cherry_fishing]

Hi,

Any opinions about Northeastern's Bouve school's PharmD. program? I know they are noted for having a good "co-op" program, but I never got to visit their campus so never got to speak w/ their students directly. So if anyone can give some advice, I'll really appreciate it.

Also, transfer students are NOT guaranteed University housing, so I'm not sure if I should pay the $400 deposit to apply for it. Is it worth it?

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[astevens]

Ok- so what I'm saying id my opinoin only, take it or leave it.

Northeastern was my 1st choice (out of 8) until the interview. I found the head of the pharm. school to be pretentious and he kept goingon about how they don;t want to produce "normal" pharmacists who just work, but rather leaders who will want to get invilved in policy. He also mentioned that he felt the strength of the school was the amount of research the prof did. Maybe its just me and my small liberal arts school background, but I feel teachers who can teach are more important than those who can do research. I din't enjoy the school, but to each, their own. Gool luck making a decision
astevens
(ps. I got accepted there, so this is not one of those bitter screw the school comments)

 

[cherry_fishing]

Thanks for the feedback, astevens. I'm still waiting for more schools, but I got accepted to Temple & Northeastern so far. I really didn't like the neighborhood Temple was in, so I was happy Northeastern is in Boston. But perhaps I should visit the school first before making the final decision then.

 

[teadrop]

I'm a student at Northeastern University just finishing up my 5th year. In May I will start my rotations.

Although the course work has been difficult (as pharmacy school is in general) I've really enjoyed the Northeastern experience.

The best thing about Northeastern, in my opinion, is the great location in Boston. I love it and I feel like all of Boston is my campus. The coop program is also very good and gives students the opportunity to test out different areas of pharmacy that they might be interested in.

No school is perfect but I feel that the faculty are knowledgable and great teachers, especially once you are in your 4th and 5th years. There is a lot of focus on clinical pharmacy, and students who will be going on to residencies will be very well prepared.

Yes, a lot of the faculty do research and there are a lot of opportunities to get involved in research projects if you are interested in that and motivated. If you are not (like me) you can just happily delete every email you get and there is no harm done.

The school itself has a lot of great opportunities, clubs, activities to get involved in (if you have time after studying/researching/working part time, etc).

The pharmacy school also offers an extensive list of rotations for the 6th year, as well as opportunities to set up your own rotations of your choosing.

One thing I wish I had considered more before I came here is that it is a year round school. After your freshman summer, you have no more summer vacation ever. It's kind of depressing when all of your friends are home for the summer and you are stuck in classes, but that is the price we pay for the coop program. However, the coop program not only gives you experience in a variety of areas, but also prepares you to interview, etc. Overall I think it is worth it.

 

[cherry_fishing]

Thank you so much for replying, teadrop!! It's really great getting an insider's perspective on the school. I'm accepted as a transfer, so I will be entering as a Year 3 student. I'm glad to hear the faculty is good b/c it's hard to do well in class when you have a bad professor.

I'm also glad there's focus on clinical pharmacy b/c that's what I am interested and want to go into. I'm not much into research either.

About the co-op program, I'm looking at the curriculum (http://www.bouve.neu.edu/downloads/susan/PharmD_WEB.pdf), and there's 2 co-ops in Yr 3 & Yr 4. Do you know if we can opt-out of the co-op's? Would I be able to take Yr 3 Summer courses during Yr 3 Spring (when a co-op is)? How flexible is the curriculum?

Also, is there Compounding courses? I want to practice in New York (where I'm now) afterwards and the NY Licensure exam has a big compounding part, so I would really want a program that offers courses in compounding.

Where do we do the rotations for Yr 6? Is rotations the same as co-op? I want to work part-time while in school, do you think that's possible with the course workload?

 

[teadrop]

I work part time about 8 hours a week, that is all I could handle and still have a social life. However, my friend works about 20 hours a week. That is not the best idea in my opinion but she can do it and it really depends on the individual.

The coops are mandatory in the pharmacy program. I believe now the requirement is that you do one hospital coop, one retail, and one of a area of your interest. If jobs run out though, you might get a repeat of hospital or retail. I know one person worked it out so they got to go abroad for one coop, but I think that is rare.

The schedule is really not very flexible. Classes are often offered only one time a year in the later years of the program. If you fail a class it is possible that it would put you back a year, depending on if they would let you make it up in another way or if it was offered again. There are a lot of required classes, and since the school is year round there is no free summer to take extra classes of your choosing. Once you get in you are on pretty much the same track as your entire class (about 120 ppl now for that year I think?) and you will have all the same classes as them except for the few electives that are built into the schedule which you may choose.

I am not sure if there is an elective compounding course, but there is not a LOT of it in the curriculum. The only time I remember compounding was in pharmaceutics lab, which lasted about a half of a semester. I heard that if someone was from NY a way to get out of taking the NY compounding exam one could work in MA for a year, and then reciprocate their license to NY. By doing this they no longer have to take the wet lab, but the downfall is that they must work out of NY for a year. If you are really interested in compounding there are some very good coop sites that are retail compounding pharmacies. I know someone that had a coop where all she did was compound.

Rotations are different from coop. Coop is paid work. During rotations in the 6th year you pay tuition to the university and work on rotations for no pay. This is because we are supposed to be students on rotations and really learn from our preceptors, and on coop you are considered just an employee. There are 7, 6 week blocks for rotations. You get one block off. You go to different site for each block and learn and work there. Rotation sites include internal medicine in hospitals, intensive care units, ambulatory care sites, retail sites, managed care sites, regulatory care sites, compounding sites, and many more. You have the opportunitiy to set up up to two out of state rotations of your choosing.

I hope that helps! Really I'm just procrastinating practicing for my Pharmacoeconomics presentation tomorrow which will be my last day of Northeastern classes ever!

 

[cherry_fishing]

Can you also tell me how the Housing options are like? I want and need a single (bad roommate experience), but how likely would I get that if I'm a transfer student? Also, how are the dorms like? Are there kitchens and bathroom within the dorm rooms themselves? Are they relatively new, clean, safe, etc?

Also about the co-op's, are there many options for out-of-state co-ops? I wonder if you can find jobs on your own and make them your co-op?

How does reciprocating licenses to another state work?

Congrats on finishing classes, teadrop!!! Must be a relief, huh? After so many years of working so hard. So next year, you start your rotations, huh? Do you get this summer off?

 

[teadrop]

Actually I start rotations on May 8, so no summer off, but at least classes are over!

Yes, you can set up out of state coops, they are very good about helping you work that out if you want to. I think you can find a site you like and set it up through the school or the coop advisors can call a CVS/Walgreens/Brooks representative from that area and get the ball rolling for you.

The dorms here are VERY nice. They are always building new ones left and right, but the new buildings (west village, davenport) are more like apartment buildings than dorms and are great places to live. There are a lot of singles available, I think you would be able to get one provided you got your application for housing in on time. There are also a limited amount of studios available, but those usually go to seniors with the best housing lottery numbers. Almost all of the dorms (except freshman...which you wouldn't be in) have their own bathroom in the apartment and a nice kitchen, cabinets, etc. The newer dorms all have AC. They are very safe, there is a sign in desk in the main lobby and people must swipe their husky card (northeastern student card) and can only gain access to a building if they live there. You can sign in up to 3 of your friends/family at any time provided they bring a photo id so the swiper can record their name. There is laundry in the buildings and snack machines, and usually a hang out/lobby area with a TV, study room, sometimes a pool table (west A and E definitely have them). I would recommend West Village apartments, they are awesome. I have lived in them for years. They are a 3-10 minute walk from any building on campus,and right on campus so they are very safe. Davenport I have never lived in, they are in a slightly more shady area of Boston a bit further away (10 min walk?) but the rooms there are bigger than in WV I believe (WV room size is decent though). If you are specifically interested in different dorms than that, ask and I can tell you what I know. Some of the older dorms are not great, have mice problems, etc (for example, Burnstein and Rubenstein...not sure on the spelling of them).

I don't know a lot about reciprocating...just that it is an option. You can switch your license from one state to another so you would not have to take the NAPLEX over again, just the state law exam.

Can you also tell me how the Housing options are like? I want and need a single (bad roommate experience), but how likely would I get that if I'm a transfer student? Also, how are the dorms like? Are there kitchens and bathroom within the dorm rooms themselves? Are they relatively new, clean, safe, etc?

Also about the co-op's, are there many options for out-of-state co-ops? I wonder if you can find jobs on your own and make them your co-op?

How does reciprocating licenses to another state work?

Congrats on finishing classes, teadrop!!! Must be a relief, huh? After so many years of working so hard. So next year, you start your rotations, huh? Do you get this summer off?

 

[cherry_fishing]

May 8, huh? Wow, that's really soon. Enjoy the rest of April while you can!

Northeastern is sounding better and better. Plus, I'm looking thru their website and the campus looks beautiful. So the admin of the school is pretty good about helping students too? I went to NYU for my BA and a lot of the admin there were really horrible (housing didn't care about you, financial aid was blurry, advisors seem relucant to advise you, etc). After NYU, it would be really nice to attend a school w/ a real campus.

Thanks for all the info on housing!!! West Village sounds great. The only reason for dorming is to be close to campus anyway. When I visit NEU, I'll make sure I check out the WV dorms. And I'm glad to hear there's apt style housing. I visited friends who had traditional style and it seems really inconvienent to have to share 1 bathroom w/ your whole floor. I've always had my own bathroom in my dorms, so I'll definately opt for apt style.

Where are you starting your first rotation?

 

[cherry_fishing]

Hope you don't mind me asking so much, teadrop, but how is the student body of the PharmD. program? Competetive or helpful towards each other?

What about the classrooms, labs, building? Is it technologically modern and relatively new?

Are classes mostly held in a few buildings? Can you tell me which buildings these are? I'm thinking of visiting NEU soon, so I want to check them out. Thanks for all your feedback!

 

[teadrop]

I think the student body would depend on your individual class. My class was pretty friendly in my opinion, of course there are always going to be some competetive people.

The classrooms are pretty nice once you get to the third year or so of the program. In your first two years you'll be taking more general classes like Chemistry, Bio, Organic, Physics and these are in larger lecture halls in buildings like Richards, Hurtig, maybe Churchill. If you choose electives that have a smaller amount of people you'll be placed in smaller rooms. The newer buildings have much more comfortable seating (Shillman, Behrakis) and you might have a lot of classes in these 2 buildings in the later years. The nicest classrooms by far in my opinion are in Shillman (which are always the ones they show on tour, ha ha). Those rooms have cushioned seats, nice slide projectors, lots of desk room, etc. Behrakis isn't bad either, I know our class spent crazy amounts of time in 10 BK, which is in the basement of BK. It's a pretty decent room, but you'll definitely be sick of it before you graduate!

The library is pretty decent but it is always really packed around finals time. There is comfortable seating in there which is nice. I would say the school is pretty technologically advanced. The campus is really nice for a school in the city. They take a lot of effort to make it feel "campusy"...sometimes too much ha ha! I don't know how many times I've joked with my friends about "there goes our tuition dollars, right into that bunch of tulips over there," etc... They are constantly planting and replanting flowers and doing things to beautify the campus.

Hope you don't mind me asking so much, teadrop, but how is the student body of the PharmD. program? Competetive or helpful towards each other?

What about the classrooms, labs, building? Is it technologically modern and relatively new?

Are classes mostly held in a few buildings? Can you tell me which buildings these are? I'm thinking of visiting NEU soon, so I want to check them out. Thanks for all your feedback!

 

[cherry_fishing]

Yea, I can't believe how expensive NEU tuition is... But at least it's being used for the good of the students. But it'll be better to have lower tuition than more tulips, huh?

I know Pharmacy schools don't have rankings, but do you know what's the reputation of NEU Bouve's PharmD. program? Good, bad, mediocre, who cares b/c it'll all end in the same degree?

For rotations, are there Faulty that oversees you? Like, do you work under a Professor of NEU while on rotations or is it under whoever's in charge (not necessarily a faculty) in that location?