Question About 3-Year Programs

[Glycerin]

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To any of you in a 3-year program:

What is that really like? I understand that you don't get any summers off, but you must get some time off, no?

 

[jdpharmd?]

We get about 5-6 weeks off per year (total). Our largest break is during our second year, and is about 5 weeks long (at once!). I'm REALLY looking forward to it.

 

[Caverject]

JD's program is very similar to mine as well. I get 4 weeks off in the fall of the second year as well as a whole quarter dedicated to roatations. (which I count as time off since Im doing something I love to do) We get about 6 weeks off per year. (1 week between quarters and 2 weeks for christmas)

 

[28657]

Originally posted by FutureRxGal
To any of you in a 3-year program:

What is that really like? I understand that you don't get any summers off, but you must get some time off, no?

I'm really excited that I'm attending a 3 year program. I think the fact that you're constantly going to school makes it easier to transition from semester to semester. And so far the breaks have been long enough that no one seems to be burnt out....yet. Like JD said, during our first quarter of second year we get 5 weeks off and the other 10 weeks we have one hospital and one retail rotation. What's cool is that you get to pick which of the three five week sessions for when you want your break.

 

[jdpharmd?]

Originally posted by AmandaRxs
What's cool is that you get to pick which of the three five week sessions for when you want your break.

I'll take them ALL! Thanks.

 

[MALA]

I hope to get into a 3 yr accelerated program and wondered about that myself too. 6 weeks of time off is amazingly good-I'm more excited about it now.
After you get out of school and work F/T, you'll never see 6 weeks of vacation time-2 or 3 if you can negotiate well.
I think I'm almost looking forward to quitting my job and going to school F/T again!

 

[28657]

Originally posted by jdpharmd?
I'll take them ALL! Thanks.

I can "pose" as JD for one of your rotations during my break for the right price $$$$$. I'm sure no one will notice.

 

[dgroulx]

3 year programs sound like a good way to go. I kinda wish I had gone that way. We only get 2.5 weeks off in between semesters, though we get the entire summer off between years 1 & 2 and 2 & 3. We're also required to go to school the summer in between years 3 & 4.

Only having 2 years to go instead of 3 sounds really nice right now.

 

[WVUPharm2007]

Screw that, I'll take my 3 months off.

 

[jemc2000]

I would love a 3 year program, but that is not an option for me. But at least that gives me two summers to work and get more on-the-job-training before choosing a permanent job.

 

[28657]

Plus you can think of it this way....it's like going to school for free. Let's just say 3 years of $25k tuition = $75k loan debt.
Get a job one year earlier than a 4 year institution = $75-90k. Pay that loan off!!

 

[WVUPharm2007]

Plus you can think of it this way....it's like going to school for free. Let's just say 3 years of $25k tuition = $75k loan debt.
Get a job one year earlier than a 4 year institution = $75-90k. Pay that loan off!!

That's some expensive ass tuition. I only pay like $7k/year. Where do you go?

 

[jdpharmd?]

Originally posted by WVUPharm2007
That's some expensive ass tuition. I only pay like $7k/year. Where do you go?

7k/year for pharmacy school is the cheapest tuituion I've ever heard of. Even state schools are frequently 10k+/year. AmandaRxs and I both go to Midwestern-Glendale. It's cheaper than Midwestern-IL, UofP, Hawaii, etc. I'll admit that it's a lot of tuition, but I guess that's what loans are for.

Edit: Yeah, it's like 8k/year at WVU, but it's 21k for out of state students. 21k*4 years=84,000. 25k*3 years=75,000, plus a job an entire year earlier. So it's much cheaper for me to go to a private 3-year program than attend a public school as an out of state student.

 

[Caverject]

Originally posted by jdpharmd?
7k/year for pharmacy school is the cheapest tuituion I've ever heard of. Even state schools are frequently 10k+/year. AmandaRxs and I both go to Midwestern-Glendale. It's cheaper than Midwestern-IL, UofP, Hawaii, etc. I'll admit that it's a lot of tuition, but I guess that's what loans are for.

Edit: Yeah, it's like 8k/year at WVU, but it's 21k for out of state students. 21k*4 years=84,000. 25k*3 years=75,000, plus a job an entire year earlier. So it's much cheaper for me to go to a private 3-year program than attend a public school as an out of state student.

Hence the reason I was considering WVU, but thats state resident rate!

 

[Rainbow]

Anyone knows if Albany is a good pharmacy school to go to (accelerated program - 3 years yahh)

 

[Heyyyyy]

I would also recommend people to apply to 3-year program(actually 2.9yrs or less depending on the school). Here at lecom. the first year, you are in school all year long(sept-to-sept) with 1-2week breaks in between semesters/terms. The first term of your second year(sept-to-dec), you do intermediate rotation which means no school!!!!. Then, you come back to school for 3 more terms(jan-to-sept). Finally, your last year(sept-to-june, 9months long) you do your clinical rotations which means no school!!!. So basically, you are in school for about 1.9years with the remaining year spent on rotations. what about you guys in 3-year programs? what is your program like?

 

[ckv34l]

Can you finish your rotations in a different state if you want to?

 

[28657]

I'm pretty sure most schools offer out of state sites. Especially if they're located in a rural area (or probably the new Hawaii school?) without enough rotation sites for their students.
Midwestern University offers out of state and a couple of European rotations to military bases in England and Germany.

 

[pharmDguy]

yea...I was also wondering about Albany's 3yr option...seems like no one on the board know's or speaks much about this school. If anyone has an idea..what are the typical acceptance rates or any other info would be helpful. The website doesn't provide much info as to how competitive admissions is..and only mentions the pre-reqs

 

[Motiv8]

I got into Albany's three year program last year. However, l lost all respect for the school when it sent me a letter stating that my admission was withdrawn because I didn't send in the deposit money (this was four weeks before the deposit deadline). It just seemed like an institution that gave little respect to students and more respect to money. Also, they don't have an interview process, and their admission counselors seem apathetic towards the admission process.

Again this is my viewpoint of Albany Collge of Pharmacy.

 

[Rainbow]

Motiv8, in the acceptance letter they give you a specific deadline for the deposit. I don't think they give us more than 2-3 weeks to send in the money. However, when I got accepted, I mailed my deposit a few days after the deadline but I emailed the admission councelor saying so and everything was ok. When you say 4 weeks before the deadline, did you mean the deadline they state on the admission brochure?

I talked to one person living in NY and who's going to Albany this year. According to her, it's one of the finest school in the northeast. Again it's one person's opion. My friend has been doing some research about that school and couldnt find any useful information. One undergrat at Albany commented that school s*ck. But it's undergrat and might be different for college of pharmacy.

Anyone out there knows anything else, please post.

 

[pharmDguy]

thanks for the helpful info...please keep more coming...such as gpa's....do they want/require letters of reccomendations...also is it a better idea to apply early decision..would that enhance chances of acceptance...any and all further info on this school will be helpful and ver appreciated.....

 

[Rainbow]

Hey PharmDguy, are you from NY? If you are, shouldnt you know about this school better than this person from the West coast

I don't think the accelerated program at ACP has early decision b/c it's just for high school students (correct me if I am wrong) and to get in the accelerated program, you need to have or will have B.S degree (again, please correct me if I am wrong). However I do think that apply early will help somehow. They say first letter of acceptance is sent out on Feb 1, I got mine a couple of day before that date, and the school starts in the middle of May. So no matter how early you apply, you are not gonna know before Feb 1, but apply before this date definately enhance your chances of acceptance.

ACP does not require supplimental application, letter of rec. nor application fee (I love this part ) which makes people wonder a bit about how good this school is because I am wondering right now.

About GPA, no idea, could not find stats anywhere. My acumm. GPA is about 3.6 or 3.7 (don't remember ) and the science GPA is higher than that. But I know one girl whose GPA is barely 3.0 and did not get in and I think one SDN member who has 3.25 GPA did not get in either.

Anyone knows anything else, please help us out.

 

[pharmDguy]

hehe..thanks...for all the info...and you're pretty much right about everything...but acceptance into the accelerated (3yr program) is only for transfer students...and students from hs would have to follow the traditional (0-6)...also ...a B.S. is not "required" but at least..I beleive 83 credits is out of which a good 18 have to be humanities electives and 15 have to consist other than the science pre-reqs.....and from what it sounds like....it seems as if they are only looking at GPA..being that you got accepted and yours is so high..and the people you mentioned who got rejected..theres weren't as high as your...or did you have other extra ciriculars....or did you hand in letter of reccommendations even though they werent required???......plus the people that didn't get accepted...did they get rejected..due to applying late???...and perhaps even not fulfilling the pre-reqs (again 83 credits as opposed to the usual 60--63)????......

 

[Leah27]

I completly agree... ACP administration and organization SUCKS. My friend went there and had bad experiences all through. I applied there, and recieved a rejection this December before they even recieved my fall grades. Because I had a competitive application, this makes me believe they filled all their slots with early decision and simply collected more applications to get the $50 each. They are a money-grubbing institution with no care or respect for their students. They also refused to send me information and pamplets through the mail when I sent them a written request. They sent me an email with a link to their poorly organized and information lacking website and said "We do not send information through the mail". Not to mention, they advertised for faculty positions on MOnster. com ... I saw it! What respectible academic institution does that!? I am glad I wasn't accepted... who would want to be a part of that.. be it 3 year program or not!

 

[Leah27]

I was agreeing with motiv 8

 

[dontworry]

I will be starting Albany Pharmacy this summer with the accelerated program. I dont know the acceptance rates though. I do think they go mostly by GPA since an interview isnt required. I was accepted with an overall GPA of 3.75 but lacking the science courses. So they allowed me to take my science courses at the local community college. I already have a BA in psy from SUNY Albany so i have the liberal arts courses. I needed to take bio 1 & 2, chm 1&2, physics 1&2- algebra, organic 1 &2, microbio and calc 1. The accelerated program is 3 years including summers. I havent had a problem with the admissions staff. I did apply early decision. I know a few ppl at the local comm college that are also going to go there, about 7 or so. Sorry i dont have more info for people. The school is located in downtown albany, which isnt very nice. There isnt much of a campus either. One of my main reasons for attending ACP is the location. I already have a life here and it would be too difficult to relocate out of state. I have heard that they encourage more clinical work as well. In a few months im sure i will have more to say.

 

[2005pharmD]

Hey guys,

I know this an old thread; I read all the comments, but there was nothing about the load of materials that need to be covered/studied at any one time compared to a regular 4 year PharmD program. In terms of material load in each given semester, how do the accelerated 3 year programs compare to the regular 4 year programs? Do they require more studying? is the curriculum "busier"? One might think that naturally a 3 year program will be more demanding; but since they are year-round, I'm not sure if that balances it out in comparison with the 4 year programs with the summers off.

Appreciate your comments.

 

[dgroulx]

Hey guys,

I know this an old thread; I read all the comments, but there was nothing about the load of materials that need to be covered/studied at any one time compared to a regular 4 year PharmD program. In terms of material load in each given semester, how do the accelerated 3 year programs compare to the regular 4 year programs? Do they require more studying? is the curriculum "busier"? One might think that naturally a 3 year program will be more demanding; but since they are year-round, I'm not sure if that balances it out in comparison with the 4 year programs with the summers off.

Appreciate your comments.

I'm in a 4-year program, but still have to attend one summer. I end up with 2 summers off. If you subtract those 2 semesters off of my last year, then it's a 3-year program. So, the course load is going to be equivalent between the 2 programs, you just don't get the summers off to work & make money.

 

[rxgal8]

I'm in a 4-year program, but still have to attend one summer. I end up with 2 summers off. If you subtract those 2 semesters off of my last year, then it's a 3-year program. So, the course load is going to be equivalent between the 2 programs, you just don't get the summers off to work & make money.

I got to a 3-year program where we have school for two summers. So, the material and work load should be the same as a 4-year program. We get a month off in December and August, and a week off in March and April. So that's when most students work if they don't want to work during the semesters.