When it comes to pharmacy schools, how do you rank these qualities?

[renetto]

I've been interested in reading what future pharmacy students are considering when they go to the interview and ultimately decide where to do. I've seen a lot of people turn down a school because the campus is ugly, no parking, not enough retail curriculum, bad cafeteria, etc. How would you rank the following attributes from most important to least important when it comes to selecting a school?

Appearance
curriculum
Prestige of the school
NAPLEX passing rate
The surrounding town it's in
and parking haha

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[Tinkerbell22]

I've been interested in reading what future pharmacy students are considering when they go to the interview and ultimately decide where to do. I've seen a lot of people turn down a school because the campus is ugly, no parking, not enough retail curriculum, bad cafeteria, etc. How would you rank the following attributes from most important to least important when it comes to selecting a school?

Appearance
curriculum
Prestige of the school
NAPLEX passing rate
The surrounding town it's in
and parking haha

I care about- curriculum, NAPLEX passing rate, prestige

I kind of care about the surrounding town as well.

I don't care about appearance or parking at all... my undergrad didn't have great parking, it was beautiful, but who cares when you are studying all the time... it doesn't really matter if there are palm trees or brown dirt in my opinion. lol

I don't care about cafeteria either... I normally cook at home, so as long as I enjoy my apartment I can escape to and study/relax/etc then it doesn't really matter. The education is what you are paying for and I would rather go to an old, prestigious school with a lot of connections, than a new pretty school just because it looks nice.

 

[pharm B]

Everything she said!
Particularly important are the curriculum and NAPLEX pass rate. I think that info is a good indicator of the quality of education you'll receive.

 

[cheeseboy2]

sometimes i feel like the naplex pass rates are such a crap shoot though. it seems like a very high percentage of the schools have a 90%+ rate. the difference between a 95% pass rate and a 90% pass rate could be as simple as a couple students having a particularly bad day.

am i wrong? what do you think?

 

[Tinkerbell22]

sometimes i feel like the naplex pass rates are such a crap shoot though. it seems like a very high percentage of the schools have a 90%+ rate. the difference between a 95% pass rate and a 90% pass rate could be as simple as a couple students having a particularly bad day.

am i wrong? what do you think?

No I think you're right about most schools having a 90-95% passing rate. It would only be a huge deal for me if a school was conspicuously below the average for most schools though. I'm not even sure what schools those might be, but if I had a question about the quality of education it would definitely be something I'd check into.

 

[Passion4Sci]

http://www.nabp.net/ftpfiles/bulletins/NaplexSPR.pdf

 

[Tinkerbell22]

http://www.nabp.net/ftpfiles/bulletins/NaplexSPR.pdf

I like how UCSD has 100%... lol

 

[cheeseboy2]

No I think you're right about most schools having a 90-95% passing rate. It would only be a huge deal for me if a school was conspicuously below the average for most schools though. I'm not even sure what schools those might be, but if I had a question about the quality of education it would definitely be something I'd check into.

agreed. once the school gets around 85% or so, then I would question the curriculum. however, to answer the OP question, I think it would be foolish to attend a school in a bad area/appearance based on a 3% naplex pass rate difference.

for me, Id go
1) prestige - rewarding when ultimately trying to find a job
2) area - totally up to your own preference
3) curriculum - include in this the length of the program (3 yr vs 4 yr)
4) naplex
5) appearance
6) parking

 

[cheeseboy2]

http://www.nabp.net/ftpfiles/bulletins/NaplexSPR.pdf

also this one for us, p4sci
http://www.pharmacy.ca.gov/publications/0409_0909_stats.pdf

although it doesnt pertain to everybody, it can give a little insight to school comparison from a more difficult exam

 

[rxlea]

1. Prestige and curriculum
2. Research opportunities
3. community involvement
4. relationships with other students (i.e. did the students seem like they were happy and worked together well?)
5. Area of town, facilities, parking, cafe, etc. (this goes along with appearance)
6. NAPLEX << there will always be the students who don't pass so I don't care about these stats as much. It is about how YOU perform in the program and on this test.

Although, after looking at those stats....Xavier and Howard have just above 80%? WTF? LOL

 

[sjt]

Why was there a huge jump in number of candidates for 2009 at most schools?

And as for me, it goes like this:
1. prestige
2. curriculum
3. naplex
4. surrounding town. I don't want to stay somewhere that's notoriously shady for 6 years...
5. appearance
6. parking. who cares about parking?