not progressing to P1

[philapharm7]

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So I came to USP (a 0 + 6 school) but after a few things happening in my personal life I screwed up in a few classes (passed the required courses, got the required cum GPA, but just missed the required math/science GPA) and now I'm not progressing into third year (first professional year).

Because USP sucks, they didn't tell me until a few weeks ago what their decision was, so its too late to transfer to another pharmacy school for next year. I'm pretty sure I'm switching my major to Pharmaceutical Sciences. Now I'm kind of curious as to whether I should plan on getting my BS in PharmSci and then going back to get my PharmD or if I should get my BS and then either my MS or PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences since pharmacy is starting to lose the demand it previously had. Not to mention that there are so many pharmacy schools opening now. I know I could go to another school and get in (as all my academic advisors keep reminding me), but I don't want to give up the prestige of getting my PharmD from a respected school that's been around for awhile.

So what is your advice?

 

[Kirbypuff]

So I came to USP (a 0 + 6 school) but after a few things happening in my personal life I screwed up in a few classes (passed the required courses, got the required cum GPA, but just missed the required math/science GPA) and now I'm not progressing into third year (first professional year).

Because USP sucks, they didn't tell me until a few weeks ago what their decision was, so its too late to transfer to another pharmacy school for next year. I'm pretty sure I'm switching my major to Pharmaceutical Sciences. Now I'm kind of curious as to whether I should plan on getting my BS in PharmSci and then going back to get my PharmD or if I should get my BS and then either my MS or PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences since pharmacy is starting to lose the demand it previously had. Not to mention that there are so many pharmacy schools opening now. I know I could go to another school and get in (as all my academic advisors keep reminding me), but I don't want to give up the prestige of getting my PharmD from a respected school that's been around for awhile.

So what is your advice?

I interviewed at USP, and I questioned all the interviewers, "What is the attrition rate of your accepted pharmacy students?" A couple of them nervously dodged the question. The answer is 30%. 300 students advance to the professional phase and a little over 200 students graduate. As soon as I got my answer, I stopped "performing" on the interview---I mean, I remained polite, but I totally stopped trying to say anything that would impress them. Honestly, what's the point of trying so hard to get into USP's pharmacy program if they're going to let you down during the program? I think an acceptable attrition rate is 5% at most. Clearly, they're doing SOMEthing wrong to not care about their students that much.

My advice is to flee from USP. What's the point of working your butt off to get into the pharmacy program if there is a 30% chance that you can't graduate?

 

[pinkpillowzz]

For whoever posted right above me: The reason attrition rates for a school are high is the fact that students are incapable of progressing towards graduation. Don't be scared of an attrition rate.

For the person who posted first, who wants advice: Pharmacy is a great field. It's not going anywhere. SDN is the only place where I ever see people being afraid that robots are going to take over pharmacy, or that we'll never have jobs, or that salaries are going to go down, yada, yada, yada.

Work towards getting really good grades now, and apply to another pharmacy school. If you want to be a pharmacist, do it. For me, my mom had ALS when I was in pharmacy school, she died while I was in pharmacy school, and my fiance broke up with me when I was in pharmacy school. Don't let that personal **** get in the way of you doing what you have to do. That's my advice.

 

[IWantTheGenetic]

You don't want to give up the prestige of getting my PharmD from a respected school? Huh? What's so prestigious about a pharmacy school that has formulas to predict the number of students that are going to drop out each year? Furthermore, do you think employers care about which school you went to or even what your GPA was? If you want to work retail, you only need two things: a license and a pulse. If you want to work hospital, you need a license and experience working IVs. If you want to go into a residency, you need to have served on the board of some type of pharmacy organization.

My advice: go get a PhD in pharma-whatever. The job market sucks for Pharm.D. and is only going to get worse with the recession and the mom-and-pop pharmacy schools.

Look on the bright side: now you won't have to pay $43,935 for your sixth year at USP🙂

 

[Sparda29]

For whoever posted right above me: The reason attrition rates for a school are high is the fact that students are incapable of progressing towards graduation. Don't be scared of an attrition rate.

For the person who posted first, who wants advice: Pharmacy is a great field. It's not going anywhere. SDN is the only place where I ever see people being afraid that robots are going to take over pharmacy, or that we'll never have jobs, or that salaries are going to go down, yada, yada, yada.

Work towards getting really good grades now, and apply to another pharmacy school. If you want to be a pharmacist, do it. For me, my mom had ALS when I was in pharmacy school, she died while I was in pharmacy school, and my fiance broke up with me when I was in pharmacy school. Don't let that personal **** get in the way of you doing what you have to do. That's my advice.

Don't be scared of an attrition rate? If there's a high attrition rate, it means that the school isn't doing everything they can do to prevent a student failing out, and that they are after your money.

For example, here at Touro, you need a 2.0 to stay in the program, but even if you drop below 2.0, you are given a semester to improve. If you get an F in a course, you get remediation from the instructors to make sure you learn what you need to know before progressing to the next semester.

 

[Kirbypuff]

Don't be scared of an attrition rate? If there's a high attrition rate, it means that the school isn't doing everything they can do to prevent a student failing out, and that they are after your money.

For example, here at Touro, you need a 2.0 to stay in the program, but even if you drop below 2.0, you are given a semester to improve. If you get an F in a course, you get remediation from the instructors to make sure you learn what you need to know before progressing to the next semester.

Thank you! 👍

 

[CopToEM]

Don't be scared of an attrition rate? If there's a high attrition rate, it means that the school isn't doing everything they can do to prevent a student failing out

That, or the school isn't as stringent on admissions as it should be. I don't know anything about USP - just a general observation.

 

[CopToEM]

Don't be scared of an attrition rate? If there's a high attrition rate, it means that the school isn't doing everything they can do to prevent a student failing out, and that they are after your money.

For example, here at Touro, you need a 2.0 to stay in the program, but even if you drop below 2.0, you are given a semester to improve. If you get an F in a course, you get remediation from the instructors to make sure you learn what you need to know before progressing to the next semester.

This is the way it should be. I don't consider this babysitting - everyone has issues and there should be protections in place to help you take care of those issues. I've always heard good pharmacy schools are more concerned that you are improving and truly trying than they are with your overall performance. Obviously, there's a point where they can no longer allow you to continue, but that point shouldn't be so soon as the OP has stated.

 

[Sparda29]

I mean after 1 year, we have only lost 2 students. One went back home to take care of a sick family member, and the other one I think wasn't into pharmacy anymore or grades, I don't know.

I wouldn't count the first person into the attrition rate since the student was able to transfer into a pharmacy program closer to home. That makes it a 1.5% attrition rate.

 

[UTCowboy]

There's a difference between a 0+6 program having a high attrition rate and a 2+4 program having a high attrition rate. In undergrad, you'll see a lot of people drop out of a difficult major and it's no different in a 0+6 pharmacy program.