UNC Chapel Hill vs UCSF

[bofan]

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I'm currently trying to decide between UNC Chapel Hill and UCSF. I know that academically both schools are good choices for clinical pharmacy, but other than that I'm having a hard time deciding between the two. Do any current students from either school have input that might help? Thanks so much!!

 

[Passion4Sci]

I'm currently trying to decide between UNC Chapel Hill and UCSF. I know that academically both schools are good choices for clinical pharmacy, but other than that I'm having a hard time deciding between the two. Do any current students from either school have input that might help? Thanks so much!!

I don't go to either but I'd like to point out the geographical difference. Where do you see yourself practicing after you graduate? While both schools will deliver a first-rate education in pharmacy, at UCSF you'll make contacts on the west coast and at UNC you'll make contacts on the east coast. Networking is increasingly crucial for new graduates in our profession, so that should be forefront on your mind.

 

[SHC1984]

If you are an NC resident go to UNC, if you are a CA resident go to UCSF. If you are neither,then go to UCSF. I personally prefer living i San Fransciso over Chapel Hill...(I am from NC and it's BORING!) Out of state tuition for both schools are quite expensive though. Good luck! 🙂

 

[rxlea]

Consider cost of living and where you want to practice. Also, it's hard to find intern spots in Cali right now. If I had that choice, I would pick UNC. Same top notch education/opportunities minus the insane cost of living in SF.

 

[Passion4Sci]

Consider cost of living and where you want to practice. Also, it's hard to find intern spots in Cali right now. If I had that choice, I would pick UNC. Same top notch education/opportunities minus the insane cost of living in SF.

No problem with intern sites for UOP >🙂

Not everyone lives in SF. You can get a cheap enough place to live somewhere in the east bay and take BART (which is pretty sweet).

Where you want to practice is definitely the most important thing. Oh yeah, and OOS tuition, that's something to be frightened of. LOL!

 

[dnguyen401]

UCSF, because California rocks 😎

 

[2411t]

Is it true that CA is giving out IOU's for tax returns? Anyways, stop being pretentious! jk I envy your situation.

 

[Passion4Sci]

Is it true that CA is giving out IOU's for tax returns? Anyways, stop being pretentious! jk I envy your situation.

Ha ha ha!! I actually got back $98 from the state of CA 😀

 

[monkieez]

don't get ahead of yourself and first find out where you get in (since i seriously doubt you have heard anything from ucsf, of course correct me if i'm wrong). then you get do the heavy thinking/decision making. unless you havent applied yet, then the obvious answer is apply to both. good luck

 

[hanhuang]

I would pick CA.... NC is a pretty boring place to be..

 

[wmw]

my advice is to compare the programs very carefully, both of those have some unique aspects to them then check tuition as a tiebreaker.

a friend of mine calculated an aggregate score for his schools, weighting variables like cost, location, quality of program, etc. according to importance to him and then rated each variable for each school from 1-10. after crunching the numbers he came up with a number for each school and he picked the school with the highest number. I believe he had something like 10 variables he used, you might give that a try if you really cannot decide on your own.

 

[nrsair]

Chapel Hill is definitely not boring as others have contended. Like music? Best town for indie rock in the country according to Rolling Stone and the RBC arena is 20 minutes away. Like the outdoors? San Fran probably has us beat, but camping/hiking/boating is <20 minutes away. World class climbing, cycling, kayaking and surfing (all of which are club sports here) are between 3-4 hours away. Like to get drunk? There are about 30 bars within 10 minutes of campus and a decent club scene in Raleigh. Like sports? We've got two of the best college rivalries in the country, every intramural and club sport ever, pro basketball, football and hockey within 2 hours. If you're a guy... southern girls. Enough said. It just comes down to whether you want the big city/small(er) town feel. I don't even like it here as much as many of my friends but I could go on.

I don't know UCSF's curriculum very well, but at UNC you can rotate at UNC and Duke hospitals... two of the top 20 teaching hospitals in the country. Wake Forest is top 40 and is 1.5 hours away.

 

[bofan]

Chapel Hill is definitely not boring as others have contended. Like music? Best town for indie rock in the country according to Rolling Stone and the RBC arena is 20 minutes away. Like the outdoors? San Fran probably has us beat, but camping/hiking/boating is <20 minutes away. World class climbing, cycling, kayaking and surfing (all of which are club sports here) are between 3-4 hours away. Like to get drunk? There are about 30 bars within 10 minutes of campus and a decent club scene in Raleigh. Like sports? We've got two of the best college rivalries in the country, every intramural and club sport ever, pro basketball, football and hockey within 2 hours. If you're a guy... southern girls. Enough said. It just comes down to whether you want the big city/small(er) town feel. I don't even like it here as much as many of my friends but I could go on.

I don't know UCSF's curriculum very well, but at UNC you can rotate at UNC and Duke hospitals... two of the top 20 teaching hospitals in the country. Wake Forest is top 40 and is 1.5 hours away.

Thanks very much for the insight. I was wondering though how easy is it to do rotations at Duke and Wake Forest? I'd imagine that a lot of people would want to do rotations there. Thanks!

 

[hanhuang]

Thanks very much for the insight. I was wondering though how easy is it to do rotations at Duke and Wake Forest? I'd imagine that a lot of people would want to do rotations there. Thanks!

very very very hard.. it depends on your luck...

 

[nrsair]

very very very hard.. it depends on your luck...

I guess it's dependent on what region they stick you in right? If you sign up for a hospital rotation and you get the Triangle AHEC, you'll be at Duke, UNC or WakeMed, in the Winston-Salem (were I'm from!) AHEC you'll be at Wake Forest (Baptist Hospital) or Forsyth, maybe some other smaller ones. The hospitals in Charlotte aren't slouches either- they're very highly regarded. Having said that, those three areas are probably the most popular for rotations so yes- it'll be kind of a crap shoot whether you can rotate there or not. I'll be married by then so I really hope I'll be able to get mine done in the Triangle or at least Winston so I can live at home.

 

[prepharmwithquestions]

I'm currently trying to decide between UNC Chapel Hill and UCSF. I know that academically both schools are good choices for clinical pharmacy, but other than that I'm having a hard time deciding between the two. Do any current students from either school have input that might help? Thanks so much!!

What school did you choose in the end? I am in the exact same position as you but I don't know what to do!
I want to stay/ eventually work in california BUT i already have debt from undergraduate it would be difficult to have even more debt piled on!

 

[Dalteparin]

What school did you choose in the end? I am in the exact same position as you but I don't know what to do!
I want to stay/ eventually work in california BUT i already have debt from undergraduate it would be difficult to have even more debt piled on!

If you want to stay in California, go with UCSF. Both are excellent schools, but UCSF will help you build a network in California. And congrats on getting accepted to such great programs!

 

[prepharmwithquestions]

If you want to stay in California, go with UCSF. Both are excellent schools, but UCSF will help you build a network in California. And congrats on getting accepted to such great programs!

Thank you for responding!!!!!
as a pharmacist do you think I'd be at a disadvantage if i went to UNC vs. UCSF?

Or that the job market is so saturated it doesn't really matter which school I go to and it's better just to save what I can?

 

[Dalteparin]

Thank you for responding!!!!!
as a pharmacist do you think I'd be at a disadvantage if i went to UNC vs. UCSF?

Or that the job market is so saturated it doesn't really matter which school I go to and it's better just to save what I can?

Go to whichever school you can graduate from with the least amount of debt.

 

[Pharmd = Phake Doctor]

Thank you for responding!!!!!
as a pharmacist do you think I'd be at a disadvantage if i went to UNC vs. UCSF?

Or that the job market is so saturated it doesn't really matter which school I go to and it's better just to save what I can?

50K/year with expensive housing at UCSF or 20K/year with dirt cheap housing at UNC.

I would go with UNC unless you can commute from home to UCSF.

Plus if you want to go home, you can be that A-student in pharmacy school and land a residency at a California institution. Remember, get pharmacy intern/tech experience while in school as a part-time/PRN worker, ace the exams, and build a rapport with the professors. That will allow you to get a ticket back to Cali.

Cali being a tough, competitive job market, I don't think it will matter which school you go to. What you need is competitive stats that will land you a residency.

Unlike the red states/trump country, I think the California hospitals actually require a residency to get a pharmacist job.

 

[prepharmwithquestions]

So even if I do go to school in California it wouldn't necessarily help me get a job 🙁
Just a good residency I see
Man this is hard ;_;

thank you again for your through response!

 

[Pharmd = Phake Doctor]

I might have made a mistake. Are you instate in California? Then tuition for UCSF will be 37K, so it might be cheaper than going out-of-state to UNC (42K for out of state.) You may be able to get instate tuition at UNC, but depending on the school, you may have to pay out-of-state tuition for one year before they make you an instate resident

Talk to the schools, and find out what the tuition and total living expenses will be before you decide anything.

 

[prepharmwithquestions]

yea i'm in state for cali but gaining resident status for north carolina is relatively easy! so I crunch the numbers and with cost of living I am looking at a 64,000 debt difference with unc being cheaper but then with my grants the difference could be 25,000 but my grants have to hold up for four years.

🙁