UOP v. USC

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Maeby

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  1. Pharmacist
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So i found out that I got into UOP today! yeah! but i am still waiting to hear from usc, and was hoping I could get some feedback about the two schools.

uop- one yr less, closer to home for me, cost of living is less, the faculty seem to care about the students more, way less money, but in the middle of no where
usc- good alumni base, has a lot to offer, students seem happier, same say it's a better school

Any advice/opinions will be appreciated. thanks!
 
Congratulations!!! It must feel nice to know that you'll be attending pharm school next year at the very least! GL with USC.

I don't know if this helps, but when I went to the usc workshop, the student that was giving me a tour said most of the students he knew liked being able to do most of their pharmacy experience hours (required to take board exam) during their free summers. He said he knew some uop students who had trouble fitting in these hours with their school work since they do not have much of their summers off.
 
I got rejected from UOP...NEXT

lousy writing sample so it was expected
 
By the way congratulations Maeby! YAY
 
Being a Californian myself who has lived in LA and Sacramento area, I would definitely choose USC in a heartbeat. You just can't compare Los Angeles to Stockton as a city.

PRO's of USC: night life, busy developed city, things to do, nicer weather, a REAL university campus feel with great sports teams, and full summers off to enjoy everything I just listed. 🙂

CON's of USC: 1 extra year, cost of living higher, tuition I think is a bit higher, extra year of living expenses, and LA TRAFFIC!!.

With all that being said, if money is the deciding factor for you, UOP is definitely the place to go. You're literally in and out before you know it. But if you are looking to have a life outside of school and enjoying your weekends, USC should be a no brainer.

Congrats and good luck. I wish I had choices like this. 🙂
 
AHH I'm jealous!!

Congratulations eddie269!!

I would choose UOP, but i'm a bit biased because I have family I could live with in Stockton.
 
Seles3 said:
I got rejected from UOP...NEXT

lousy writing sample so it was expected
Click to expand...

Seles, sorry about your rejection. I'm surprised. UOP actually rejects interviewers? I thought everyone that interviewed just got put on the waitlist.

Well..at last you're in somewhere right? You still have chances with USC and Western. 🙂
 
Swanchick84 said:
Seles, sorry about your rejection. I'm surprised. UOP actually rejects interviewers? I thought everyone that interviewed just got put on the waitlist.

Well..at last you're in somewhere right? You still have chances with USC and Western. 🙂
Click to expand...

Oh oops I was put on hold!

I did way better on the Western and USC writing samples so we'll see...

Congrats to Maeby again!
 
Lol... I go to UoP as an undergrad, but I wanted to go to USC.

Stockton is what you make of it. There are parties every weekend at the fraternities and the dorms are magnificent. However, the city itself is quite dull with nothing much to do. BUT I never do anything anyone, so I'm complacent.

I wished I'd had applied to SC lol.
 
thanks for all the input! For all I know, i might not even get into usc, so it might not matter...

sorry to hear that you put on hold, Seles3. I think though, that if you at least interview, you're in good standing. I am actually a reapplicant, and I got a straight rejection last year. This yr i sent in the exact same application, except that I was first tier instead of 3rd! What a huge difference!

As for the schools, if I just went by my experiences with the interviews, I would say UOP. I felt that USC (and I've been there twice to interview) was cold, and unwelcoming. While UOP was very friendly, caring, and they really seemed to care. During my UOP tour, we even ran into a professor in the hall way, and he was like, "I don't have class right now, I can show you my compounding class room if you'd like." I felt that the faculty at UOP wanted to be there, unlike the USC faculty. Anyways, that's just that, and of course there is more to consider!
 
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I was also put on hold for UOP after my interview. what do you think that chances of getting in?
 
Sorry to hear the you guys got waitlisted, Seles3 and Marine123. I'm sure you'll get an acceptance elsewhere! 🙂

btw, what are your guys' stats if you don't mind me asking. PM is okay too, just curious what UOP is looking for this year.👍
 
sshock2 said:
Sorry to hear the you guys got waitlisted, Seles3 and Marine123. I'm sure you'll get an acceptance elsewhere! 🙂

btw, what are your guys' stats if you don't mind me asking. PM is okay too, just curious what UOP is looking for this year.👍
Click to expand...

BS in Chemistry from Univeristy of California, Irvine

GPA: 3.68
Science GPA: 3.75
Dean's List 9 out of 12 quarters

1 year experience in Retail Pharmacy
Several different Extracurriculars and Community Service over 150 hours (Circle K, Golden Key, Clubs)
I believe I had a really strong application (personal statement, etc)
Do Research on Education in Chemistry (currently writing a paper to get it published).

BUT I messed up the writing sample because I went off topic. I bet this is what put me the waitlist because my interviews went SO WELL!....pathetic that anxiety makes you forget what euthanasia is ugh...
 
hello. i'm a pre-dent student at uop, but all my friends are pre-pharms in the accelerated programs. BUt this year, at uop, they were only expecting 150 students from the program to be applying to their pharmacy school. BUt it ended up being over 200. Usually, around 100 students from the program get into uop's pharmacy school each year. but this year, they just had a big amount of applicants from the program. I think more than ever before, which may be a reason why u were put on hold. I think the pharm school only wants to accept a limited amount of transfers first, so that it can save seats for the program kids and then whatever seats are left, they will give to the transfers in march.

program kids are interviewed in feb and accepted in march/april
 
/grats

You're in a wonderful position right now, and for the next couple of weeks, I would enjoy the knowledge that a huge hurdle is lifted off your shoulders.

As for which school is better, I think it doesn't matter in terms of education. They are both good.

What will be your deciding factor is based on you. What are you willing to live with?

It might be the name and reputation of the USC school itself, or it may be money. But I have a feeling you already know what the answer is.

So good luck. I know that living in Los Angeles is awesome. I would NEVER move anywhere else. And if you do decide to go to USC, you definitely need to check out the starbucks on Central and 2nd street. A lot of people from USC go there to study.
 
thanks light_weight. I think though, that my perspective is different since i'm from NorCal. but I know what you mean. I'm definitely glad that I got in (boy is waiting stressful!), esp. since I had neglected interviews at other out of state schools that I was less interested in. I thought that I would go to them after I heard from UOP, since that was the first school that interviewed out. Mainly it's difficult for me to go to these out of state interviews due to traveling time and such, and taking off of work.

I would be surprised if uop took in far fewer transfer students. This yr they had around 200,000 applicants, and to only accept say 50 seems overly competitive.

but thanks to everyone who posted, it's always nice to hear other peoples opinions/perspectives.

As for my stats, ....
GPA: 3.5
UCSD - BA and BS
worked at a retail pharmacy, and a biotech company
and am currently working in research!
 
Hey Maeby - we're going to be classmates!

I felt exactly the same way you did about USC v. UOP. I visited USC twice and felt both times that the faculty were very impersonal, and at my interview, I really didn't like being interviewed on the same day as 150 others. It seemed so cold, like I was just a number they were pushing through the system. UOP on the other hand was very welcoming and my faculty interviewer was both professional and supportive.

Congrats again and hopefully I'll see you in the fall!

Here are my stats:
BS Physiology at SFSU
GPA: 3.78 (science: 3.65)
1 year volunteering in-patient pharmacy
3 years biomed research
 
i'm in the same boat as u guys.. got into uop waiting for usc
i feel torn between the two..
i too felt more welcomed at uop
i guess what's making me think about usc is the fact that it is more prestigous
do u guys think it matter what pharm school u come out of? if u want to do something more than retail? will it help to come from usc as opposed to uop?
 
Hi There,

Just curious, when did you guys interview?? Specifically Maeby. And NO, it really doesnt matter where you get your PharmD.....unless you want to research at Harvard....At least thats what pharmacists in the field have told me.
 
I believe we all interviewed either 10/20 or 11/3

BanBidil said:
Hi There,

Just curious, when did you guys interview?? Specifically Maeby. And NO, it really doesnt matter where you get your PharmD.....unless you want to research at Harvard....At least thats what pharmacists in the field have told me.
Click to expand...
 
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I interviewed 11/3...

dreaminofpharmd- I feel the same way....I think that the main thing that is attracting me to usc, is that it's more prestigious, good alumni base, ect. But then again, although that is always nice, from my understanding it doesn't matter much except for research.

but for people who are debating over the two schools, which are you leaning towards?

btw, has anyone received their letter (the real one by snail mail) yet?
 
I also interviewed 11/3. And I'm definitely leaning towards UOP.

I have yet to receive the actual letter, either. I was wondering...
 
So UOP send out acceptance email following by an actual letter?
 
Hmm...I would've thought Zpack would have gotten to this thread for the USC part.
 
Maeby said:
I would be surprised if uop took in far fewer transfer students. This yr they had around 200,000 applicants, and to only accept say 50 seems overly competitive.
Click to expand...

I think you meant to say 2000. 200,000 would be insane! :scared:

Also, as someone living in Los Angeles, I'd choose UOP because of the economic factors such as cheaper tuition, cheaper cost of living, and 3 years instead of 4. But I guess it ultimately depends on what you value more.
 
Maeby said:
I interviewed 11/3...

dreaminofpharmd- I feel the same way....I think that the main thing that is attracting me to usc, is that it's more prestigious, good alumni base, ect. But then again, although that is always nice, from my understanding it doesn't matter much except for research.

but for people who are debating over the two schools, which are you leaning towards?

btw, has anyone received their letter (the real one by snail mail) yet?
Click to expand...

I don't see why you say prestige and better alumni base don't matter except for research. Alumni base is what exactly matters in terms of getting job offers, which is really what matters. I am very very impressed by what USC has offered me so far, I'm not worried about landing a job at all. The old adage "It's not what you know, it's who you know" is very true when you are in the hands of the Trojan Family.

Also, USC got a lot of options in terms of dual degrees. Reg. Science, MPH, MBA, JD, PhD. You name it, we got it. Especially Reg. Science and MPH, those will land you some good jobs in a hurry. Marshall MBA's one of the nation's, if not the world's, top program (Top 10-20 according to different rankings).

If anything, we've a kickass football team.
 
When it comes to jobs after pharmacy school, where you go to school does NOT matter. The only time it matters is if you want to be a pharmacy school professor. With the current shortage of pharmacists, especially in California, anyone with a PharmD will get lots of job offers. I'm sure pharmacists who graduated from non-accredited schools like UCSD got lots of job offers. Even those pharmacists who got their degrees online get lots of job offers. Heck, my friend who got his degree in another country and passed the board exams here will get lots of job offers. So it doesn't matter where you go to school. You should go to the school that you feel most comfortable at, because it will be 3-4 long years of your life. Enjoy life as a pharmacy student. It's a great time to be a pharmacist!
 
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Well i actually haven't looked at this forum for quite a while, since I had decide on UOP. But thanks for everyone who have offered their two cents..As for the "typo," that is actually not a mistake. I swear, that's what they said at my interview, which really surprised me. However, my friend who had the third interview date (since I had the second), heard the same thing. Plus, I think that 2000 would be too few applicants for a school in california. if USC had 175,000 applicants, I would think that UOP would be around the same number...



terse said:
I think you meant to say 2000. 200,000 would be insane! :scared:

Also, as someone living in Los Angeles, I'd choose UOP because of the economic factors such as cheaper tuition, cheaper cost of living, and 3 years instead of 4. But I guess it ultimately depends on what you value more.
Click to expand...
 
Are you serious? I thought USC had around 1500-2000ish last year.....can someone clarify this? I'm starting to feel reallllllly small right now. 😳
 
I doubt it was 200,000. At the UOP interview, they said they received the most applications in comparison to all CA schools (around 2000 applicants) this year.
 
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