Baltimore suffers largely from an image problem. Its certainly not as bad as it is made out to be.
Restaurants: Jack's Bistro, Woodberry Kitchen, Pazo, Ouzo, Fleet Street, and on and on.
Nightlife: Federal Hill, Harbor East, Fells Point, Mt Vernon, Canton, several breweries and brewpubs, and one of America's top bars to visit for their selection (Max's)
Recreation: The Chesapeake Bay, the harbor, countless state parks and lakes, two hours from the beach, two from the mountains. Not to mention all the social sports in the various inner city parks (think kickball)
Performing Arts: Hippodrome, Centerstage, Everyman Theatre, several orchestras and symphonies, Baltimore Rock Opera, the Creative Alliance
Museums: Baltimore Aquarium, Science Center, Visionary Arts Museum, The Walters, Baltimore Museum of Art
Music: Pier 6, Rams Head, First Mariner are the big venues with many, many smaller ones. Fed Ex field (for the really big acts) and Merriweather Post Pavilion are also not far so the selection of acts is pretty strong
Sports: Camden Yards and M&T Bank are a few blocks from campus
Easy proximity to Washington DC and Philadelphia, and to some extent, New York.
If there is one thing lacking, its a good selection of clubs/dance venues for when you want to get your Avici on. Baltimore is a bar city, not the glitz of DC, San Fran, Miami or New York. Good thing DC isnt that far away!
And I didn't even broach the subject of every possible professional avenue for a pharmacist. Every pharmacy school boasts an affiliation with a great hospital (UMB has Maryland and Hopkins and the VA), but not every pharmacy school is in the midst of managed care, industry, advocacy and government research and regulatory agencies. Some can boast relationships with some, but no school has a relationship with all. If you want a full service education, one stop shopping to showcase your talents and seek every opportunity to be more than your average pharmacist... then the answer is obvious.
