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I've done quite a bit of research on the concept of three-year pharmacy schools. What exactly is the benefit of a three-year school? It seems to me that the only benefit for students is to graduate a year early. While that is a noble goal and all, there seems to be a lot of cons involved with a three year school, like....
In light of these cons, what are the educational benefits by going to a three-year school other than the ability to graduate a year earlier?
- Sub-Standard Education: It seems to me that many of the three year schools have adopted an Integrated Sequence model for teaching physiology, medicinal chemistry/pharmacology and therapeutics. Almost all three-year schools operate on the quarter system, with the exception of USN and some others. It seems to me that in order to keep up with the schedule, a lot of important material is left out. Thus, students are left with the highlights of important material instead of knowing the intricate details.
- Faculty: Ive went and looked at many of the three-year school websites and noticed that many of the pharmacy practice professors are young and just out of their residency. I am not saying that having young professors is a bad thing, but when you have the majority of your professors coming off of their residency into your classroom, this could be a problem. The one good thing is that they will be quite familiar with concepts they learned in school. However, the bad thing is that these people will not be able to write a good test, and will not accept the fact that they dont. This is where it is good to have experienced pharmacy practice faculty on staff.
- Burnout Factor: It seems to me that this is a major issue among students and faculty members that doesnt seem to happen as much at traditional schools. The students suffer burnout for the fact there is no breaks except for the week off here and there. Faculty suffers burnout from the fact they must publish in order to keep their job. Its hard to do that when you have classroom responsibilities all year long as well as maintaining their practice site responsibilities.
- Organizational Activity: It seems to me that this is something that is a constant challenge at most 3 year schools due to time constraints. It also doesn't help that the attitude of most students is to put in their three years and get out. That is not a good breeding ground for people that want to get involved.
In light of these cons, what are the educational benefits by going to a three-year school other than the ability to graduate a year earlier?