Pharm school rankings - US news

www.westernu.edu/pharmacy/
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"Each year, U.S. News ranks professional-school programs in business, education, engineering, law, and medicine. These rankings are based on two types of data: expert opinions about program quality and statistical indicators that measure the quality of a school's faculty, research, and students. These data come from surveys of more than 1,200 programs and some 11,000 academics and professionals that were conducted in fall 2008.

As you research course offerings and weigh different schools' intangible attributes, U.S. News's rankings can help you compare programs' academic excellence. It's important that you use the rankings to supplement—not replace—careful thought and your own inquiries."

http://www.usnews.com/articles/educ...e-calculate-the-graduate-school-rankings.html

Depending on their exact formula, certain aspects of a school such as research funding probably makes the school rank higher even if it has little or no effect on the curriculum for pharmacy students.
 
The last sentence should say it all, OP.

Take what you know from US News' report, (Which is admittedly not much) and compare it to other sources of data. Students, graduates, and the like will most assuredly offer you a better picture than US News.

That said, it's pretty much agreed upon here that, for now, a Pharm.D is a Pharm.D., so I doubt it makes much of a difference at all if they are ranked or unranked.
 
Members don't see this ad :)
These rankings have little to do with actual school rankings...

Expert Opinions = Yeah - there is absolutely no room for bias here.
Statistical data = While this is a better method of analysis - they adjust the statistics based upon the previously mentioned expert opinions.

Specifically - The formula for the statistical data (plural???) is weighted based upon consultant data. Math can be used to express anything - and it this case, it being used to form a public opinion without precise disclosure.

Feel free to use these rankings - but understand that they are opinions - At best, they are biased interpretations of the current state of education - At worse, they are gross misrepresentations of factual data.

Its interesting - Probation status (past) apparently has no influence on ranking...
 
Just keep in mind that those ranking primarily represent the quality of research, and it's overall funding. I personally think that they should take into account and include the percentage of students that pass the NAPLEX exam once they get out of school. That would be a great way to measure a school. And if that was the case, Western University would be ranked..
That being said it's better to take these ranking as a grain of salt, if anything...
 
good points discussed above.

Yea, NAPLEX pass rates should be one of the strongest indicators of how good a pharmacy school is.
 
AKN said it best. These rankings are based on $$$$$$$. It all has to do with the amount of money for research the school attracts. The logic is the school with the most research money = attracts the greatest professors = the smartest people are in turn instructing and mentoring the pharmacy students which actually ='s screw teaching I can't wait to get back to my lab. Obviously there is some truth in rankings but people put way to emphasis on it. #3 bitches!!!! just kidding.....
 
These rankings are bias. A lot of the top schools are institutions that have been around for a long time, they have build up their reputation. Like someone else said, it's accounts $$$$. Some of the ranking doesn't even make sense. So don't take these things to heart. Just look at successful pharmacists around you and ask for their opinions and experiences. Only they can really help you determine if that school is good or not.
 
Thankfully, as of now, rankings don't matter as much for the field of pharmacy. People care more about where you went for your JD or MBA than PharmD. Generally, the "best" places to get your pharmacy degree is from the large state schools that are well known like UT, UCSF, UNC, etc.

Unfortunately we don't have an official ranking system that tells us the true quality of a program. If you're anal about that, then check out the Board Passage rates for each school. And the older the school, the better.
 
trailrider400 said:
AKN said it best. These rankings are based on $$$$$$$. It all has to do with the amount of money for research the school attracts. The logic is the school with the most research money = attracts the greatest professors = the smartest people are in turn instructing and mentoring the pharmacy students which actually ='s screw teaching I can't wait to get back to my lab. Obviously there is some truth in rankings but people put way to emphasis on it. #3 bitches!!!! just kidding.....
Click to expand...


HAHAHA

:thumbup:

:)
 
inquirer89 said:
Generally, the "best" places to get your pharmacy degree is from the large state schools that are well known like UT, UCSF, UNC, etc.
Click to expand...
Why are large state schools "best" places to get PharmD degree?
 
^Because state schools are well-known and receive lots of funding. I mean look at the top 10 of the US News Rankings for pharmacy, they're all large state universities. We have no Harvard or Princeton. So the next best thing would be University of Kentucky or University of Florida for example, as opposed to the lesser known private schools or smaller public schools (if it wasn't for pharmacy, would you know where Campbell is lol?). Plus, the large state schools are pretty good at academics anyway.

Or think of it this way. Average Joe knows about the USC Trojans. Again, I am not saying that the smallest private school is the worst...because a pharmD is still a pharmD...but in terms of prestige then try to stick with your state's program. Cheaper too.
 
State schools also have a lot of connections with local industry and hospitals, etc. Your chances of receiving a post-graduate residency/internship are much, much greater coming from a long-standing public university like UCSF or UCSD than, say, Cal Northstate.

Not to mention they're much cheaper...
 
How dare you?

All schools everywhere are equal.
 
Those rankings are just bad. The only way to know what's what is to get into the real world and be around graduates of different schools.

We already have an accurate rating system on the big-boy forum. It's a three tiered system. "Decent", "Sketchy, but still ok", and "completely sketchy". It actually works better than the US News scale.
 
WVUPharm2007 said:
Those rankings are just bad. The only way to know what's what is to get into the real world and be around graduates of different schools.

We already have an accurate rating system on the big-boy forum. It's a three tiered system. "Decent", "Sketchy, but still ok", and "completely sketchy". It actually works better than the US News scale.
Click to expand...

So, want to tell us which schools fit into which category?
 
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