Pharm School Rankings, Location, and Jobs

[SomaCNS]

I'm currently getting ready to apply to pharmacy schools and would greatly appreciate any advice you, as current PharmD students and practitioners, may have on this matter:

In some professions, like law, if you go to any of the top 10 ranked schools (according to US News) no matter what you're ranking is in the class, you're pretty much guaranteed a good position anywhere. If you don't go to a "top" school, if you want to practice in, for ex., Chicago, you're better off going to a lower ranked law school located in Chicago rather than a higher-ranked law school located in, ex. New York. In other professions, like medicine, most people say your ranking at your particular school is the most important criteria in determining your residency match.

WHAT IS THE CASE IN THE PHARMACY PROFESSION? How important are school rankings when applying for jobs/residencies? If I would like to practice in, for example, Chicago, is it better, in terms of ability to get a job, to go to any of the IL schools OR go to an out-of-state school with a higher ranking? How do employers react to an applicant who is applying in one state, but who received his/her PharmD in another state? Assuming 2 applicants had the identical ranking at their respective schools, would an employer prefer the applicant who attended a lower-ranked in-state school over the applicant who attended the higher ranked out-of state school?

Thanks in advance.

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[RxWildcat]

Thats a hard question to answer, I think it largely depends on the job that you are talking about. For most jobs, I'd say it doesn't matter at all, but maybe for some positions where they are being highly selective, the school ranking might give you an edge. As far as a residency goes, just get a stellar GPA and you're good to go (for the most part). Were you talking about a specific job?

 

[genesis09]

If you go to a Chicago school, you'll more apt to meet the people who hire for the Chicago market.

 

[WVUPharm2007]

The pharm school rankings are crap for reasons I won't go into because it would offend members of certain institutions I know from vast experience with the school and common regional knowledge to graduate subpar PharmDs compared to other "lower ranked" institutions.

Nobody cares what school you went to. They will interview the hell out of you. Any major land grant school will have a good program. The education requirements are so strictly regulated, that it's like a McEducation. When it comes to the important stuff, you have to be taught the same things at every school.

So if I had to do it all over again what would I do? My rankings would be as follows:

1) School in fully accredited standing with ACPE with cheap tuition (think in-state)
2) School in fully accreditied standing with ACPE with expensive tuition
3) Newer school in candidate/precandidate status with cheap tuition
4) Newer school in candidate/precandidate status with expensive tuition

So my personal ranking would still list WVU as #1. If I lived in, say, Pennsylvania, it would be Temple or Pitt. Though probably not Pitt because I hate them. NJ, Rutgers. And so on. Here is a list of tuition rates.

Based on your criteria, I'd try to get into UIC as it's tuition is much cheaper than Midwestern assuming you are in in state student.

But that's me.

 

[RP911T]

SomaCNS,

It matters basically in what state you wish to practice in. If California, then go to school in California, if Montana then go to school in Montana. It makes logistics a heck of a lot easier. Anywhere you go, you'll get a PharmD. It is the same degree as any other school. As long as the school is accredited your basically set in my opinion.

The only thing I can think of that differentiates is the fact if you want to work in hospital or not. Even this isn't as a big deal. If you wish to work in a hospital setting and be a clinical pharmacist then go to a school like UCSF. If not then it really doesn't matter what school you go to.

Pharmacy practice is evolving and I believe its not at that point in time where it truly matters what school you go to as it is with medical schools.

 

[Farmercyst]

SomaCNS,

It matters basically in what state you wish to practice in. If California, then go to school in California, if Montana then go to school in Montana. It makes logistics a heck of a lot easier. Anywhere you go, you'll get a PharmD. It is the same degree as any other school. As long as the school is accredited your basically set in my opinion.

The only thing I can think of that differentiates is the fact if you want to work in hospital or not. Even this isn't as a big deal. If you wish to work in a hospital setting and be a clinical pharmacist then go to a school like UCSF. If not then it really doesn't matter what school you go to.

Pharmacy practice is evolving and I believe its not at that point in time where it truly matters what school you go to as it is with medical schools.

I'm not sure how drastic the laws are from state to state, but I would think it's enough to make going to the state you wish to practice in worthwhile.

 

[genesis09]

I'm not sure how drastic the laws are from state to state, but I would think it's enough to make going to the state you wish to practice in worthwhile.

For instance, in Illinois, Talwin is a C-II drug.

 

[PharmDstudent]

Here is a list of tuition rates.

I want the HTML for that list. (Every time Windows gets reinstalled, I lose Adobe. I'm just too tired to worry about it reinstalling it right now.)

 

[WVUPharm2007]

Going from state to state isn't that big of a deal. If you want to start out in some other state, you just submit your intern hours to that state. There were kids at WVU who worked in WV and submitted their hours to PA and got licensed in PA without ever getting a WV license.