TX RX: TAMUK vs Texas Tech COP

[larkbird]

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For all those Texas pharmacy school students out there or pharmacy hopefuls, I'm curious about your opinions on these two schools in particular:
TAMUK Rangel & Texas Tech COP

I had previously only been offered admission at TAMUK, and I was pretty happy about the offer since I liked what I saw of the campus/program during the interview. Recently, I was offered admission at Texas Tech COP. (I'm waiting on the letter that will announce the campus location.)

For students @ TAMUK or Tech:
What factors helped you decide which school to attend?
How do you feel the program prepared you for retail/clinical pharmacy, respectively?
Do you feel that you've made the connections through TAMUK/Tech to land a job after graduation? (Opportunities outside of Texas?)

For anybody:
What is your opinion on the two schools?
(Or Texas pharmacy schools in general.)

TAMUK:
+: opportunities in retail pharmacy (ex. private pharmacists, etc.)
-: newer school/less well-known, location

Tech:
+: emphasis on clinical pharmacy*, location (I'm from the DFW area.)
-: rigorous course load

*I have up to this point been mostly interested in retail pharmacy, but with all the talk about saturation in the job market and the push for more clinical pharmacists I may have to reconsider.

 

[pharm B]

First thing's first. Our school is not the TAMUK COP. It's a mouthful, but we are the Texas A&M Health Science Center, Irma Lirma Rangel College of Pharmacy. 😉

I didn't look into Tech too much, so I can't really compare the schools, but I can tell you that I really liked the interview I had at A&M, and many of the faculty members are still just as nice even after they've already taken our money!

Your positives: we've met all of the "suggested" ACPE guidelines that aren't yet mandatory for other schools (but should be eventually), and our NAPLEX passing rate was pretty high (I heard we had a high average score, too, but have not seen that info yet).

My understanding is that our first graduating class had a decent Match rate, and I heard the same about our P4's this year.

The not-positives:

Location. Kingsville stinks. It's just how things are. It's tiny and remote, so no premium professors want to move there (so more distance learning). You also have limited opportunities to do things you might in a bigger city. (i.e., no crazy big hospitals, etc). Most of our service learning events involve things like blood pressure screenings at the local grocery stores, etc.

New school. The kinks are still being worked out here and there, but we have some awesome staff members who are dedicated to making this the best program it can be.

Insight:

Not all pharmacy schools set up their IPPE hours the same way. For us, during our P2 year, we go to school M-Thurs, and then go to an IPPE site on Fridays. This makes our summers before and after P2 year available for paid internships. Some schools require you to do IPPE rotations during the summer.

In a nutshell, while someone is working in a hospital for a few weeks over the summer for no pay (IPPE), I get to work in one for 2.5 months with pay. 😍

I have nothing against any of the other schools of pharmacy. I'm proud of TAMHSC and the COP. It won't happen in the next year, but I'm really pushing for a Dual-degree or certificate program to be established.

Hope that helped!

 

[ShadowRX]

First thing's first. Our school is not the TAMUK COP. It's a mouthful, but we are the Texas A&M Health Science Center, Irma Lirma Rangel College of Pharmacy. 😉

I didn't look into Tech too much, so I can't really compare the schools, but I can tell you that I really liked the interview I had at A&M, and many of the faculty members are still just as nice even after they've already taken our money!

Your positives: we've met all of the "suggested" ACPE guidelines that aren't yet mandatory for other schools (but should be eventually), and our NAPLEX passing rate was pretty high (I heard we had a high average score, too, but have not seen that info yet).

My understanding is that our first graduating class had a decent Match rate, and I heard the same about our P4's this year.

The not-positives:

Location. Kingsville stinks. It's just how things are. It's tiny and remote, so no premium professors want to move there (so more distance learning). You also have limited opportunities to do things you might in a bigger city. (i.e., no crazy big hospitals, etc). Most of our service learning events involve things like blood pressure screenings at the local grocery stores, etc.

New school. The kinks are still being worked out here and there, but we have some awesome staff members who are dedicated to making this the best program it can be.

Insight:

Not all pharmacy schools set up their IPPE hours the same way. For us, during our P2 year, we go to school M-Thurs, and then go to an IPPE site on Fridays. This makes our summers before and after P2 year available for paid internships. Some schools require you to do IPPE rotations during the summer.

In a nutshell, while someone is working in a hospital for a few weeks over the summer for no pay (IPPE), I get to work in one for 2.5 months with pay. 😍

I have nothing against any of the other schools of pharmacy. I'm proud of TAMHSC and the COP. It won't happen in the next year, but I'm really pushing for a Dual-degree or certificate program to be established.

Hope that helped!

I second this.

I would definitely search the forums for things about both COP's. You'll find some interesting stuff about both, especially for one (not gonna say which though 😉 )