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The purpose of this post is to give pre-pharm students a glimpse of what the Nova Southeastern College of Pharmacy is all about. You will not get this version from your interview team at NSU.
Firstly, I am not here to bash NSU. I am simply trying to forewarn students to help them make a better decision about thier education. I would like to give you an accurate tour of this college. My affiliation as a student will remain anonymous.
I will start off with admissions. If you are anything but a hispanic female/male, please do not bother applying here. The class make up is misrepresented in every statistic I have seen published. That is not to say there are not other ethnic groups present, but there is clear favor and in my opinion (discrimination) taking place. NSU's way to get around discrimination is to have a very small percentage of other ethnic groups. If you take a look at the class roster, it is astounding. Another large and disturbing amount of staff here are not even citizens of the US.
Moving on, a very large and disturbing majority of classes here are taught by teleconference.....from Puerto Rico. Most of your teachers are going to be from Puerto Rico, and you will never see them besides for on a projected screen. The teleconferenced classes are CONSTANTLY cutting in and out, and causing problems with audio, and video feed.
Just this morning a class was canceled due to problems with video feed.
This is not an effective teaching method. Good luck with exams....since all of the materials must be sent to Puerto Rico or other locations for grades, this means there are at least 4 or 5 carriers between the time you actually get your grade. Scary. When you actually DO get a live professor, they usually have massive issues with losing staff - so be prepared to sit out in the hallways or have very bad issues of crowding.
Tests: Due to high staff turnover, your tests will usually be running late. There are never enough seats, so mass confusion ensues. They are late to get extra chairs, so you will end up sitting on the ground before they can seat you for an EXAM.
Student Research: Absolute joke. The "student research labs" are abandoned. They are left in deplorable conditions, and in several cases in clear violation of OSHA standards. Chemicals from 1985 are sitting in these labs, acids are sitting in the same locations as flammables, broken fume hoods, poor ventilation, unlabled chemicals, ect. Recently, one student was forced to call the firedepartment and the whole building was evacuated because of a faulty CO2 canister that had the potential to explode. She was relocated AGAIN due to unknown chemical vapors being emitted from the lab. Much of the research equipment is broken and/or from the 1980s. The rat labs are just sad. 5/6 rats in one bin at a time is just wrong.
After visiting thier research labs, I was afraid for my own health. Ask for a chance to go inside one of the labs if you are at the interview....when you go down the hallway, you will notice that this entire area is empty. There are very questionable things going on in this school.
All in all, you will most likely get through. You may graduate and recieve your PharmD. But the school is a joke. The faculty are a joke. They have tried to cut down on as many professors as they possibly can so they they get more $$$$, in addition to increasing class size with a large number of international students. The video conferencing is rediculous, and good luck understanding your professors. Please think about how much money you are shelling out for your education. I truly feel sorry for students that put out this much money, and get absolute incompetence from faculty in return.
Firstly, I am not here to bash NSU. I am simply trying to forewarn students to help them make a better decision about thier education. I would like to give you an accurate tour of this college. My affiliation as a student will remain anonymous.
I will start off with admissions. If you are anything but a hispanic female/male, please do not bother applying here. The class make up is misrepresented in every statistic I have seen published. That is not to say there are not other ethnic groups present, but there is clear favor and in my opinion (discrimination) taking place. NSU's way to get around discrimination is to have a very small percentage of other ethnic groups. If you take a look at the class roster, it is astounding. Another large and disturbing amount of staff here are not even citizens of the US.
Moving on, a very large and disturbing majority of classes here are taught by teleconference.....from Puerto Rico. Most of your teachers are going to be from Puerto Rico, and you will never see them besides for on a projected screen. The teleconferenced classes are CONSTANTLY cutting in and out, and causing problems with audio, and video feed.
Just this morning a class was canceled due to problems with video feed.
This is not an effective teaching method. Good luck with exams....since all of the materials must be sent to Puerto Rico or other locations for grades, this means there are at least 4 or 5 carriers between the time you actually get your grade. Scary. When you actually DO get a live professor, they usually have massive issues with losing staff - so be prepared to sit out in the hallways or have very bad issues of crowding.
Tests: Due to high staff turnover, your tests will usually be running late. There are never enough seats, so mass confusion ensues. They are late to get extra chairs, so you will end up sitting on the ground before they can seat you for an EXAM.
Student Research: Absolute joke. The "student research labs" are abandoned. They are left in deplorable conditions, and in several cases in clear violation of OSHA standards. Chemicals from 1985 are sitting in these labs, acids are sitting in the same locations as flammables, broken fume hoods, poor ventilation, unlabled chemicals, ect. Recently, one student was forced to call the firedepartment and the whole building was evacuated because of a faulty CO2 canister that had the potential to explode. She was relocated AGAIN due to unknown chemical vapors being emitted from the lab. Much of the research equipment is broken and/or from the 1980s. The rat labs are just sad. 5/6 rats in one bin at a time is just wrong.
After visiting thier research labs, I was afraid for my own health. Ask for a chance to go inside one of the labs if you are at the interview....when you go down the hallway, you will notice that this entire area is empty. There are very questionable things going on in this school.
All in all, you will most likely get through. You may graduate and recieve your PharmD. But the school is a joke. The faculty are a joke. They have tried to cut down on as many professors as they possibly can so they they get more $$$$, in addition to increasing class size with a large number of international students. The video conferencing is rediculous, and good luck understanding your professors. Please think about how much money you are shelling out for your education. I truly feel sorry for students that put out this much money, and get absolute incompetence from faculty in return.
REALLY!
