USN vs. University of Utah

[Ash of S Mart]

I was wondering if anyone had any input on these two schools.
I have been accepted to the University of Southern Nevada, and I just interviewed with the University of Utah today and I feel it went really well. IF I get accepted to UofU then I will have to decide which to attend. I would appreciate any input from anyone familiar with either one of these programs. Likes, Dislikes, etc.
Thanks

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[joh0472]

I was wondering if anyone had any input on these two schools.
I have been accepted to the University of Southern Nevada, and I just interviewed with the University of Utah today and I feel it went really well. IF I get accepted to UofU then I will have to decide which to attend. I would appreciate any input from anyone familiar with either one of these programs. Likes, Dislikes, etc.
Thanks

Apples and Oranges. USN is three years and costs about 40k a year. U of U is a ranked school with more opportunities to do research and go on to do residencies. If you are in a hurry to get out and start your drug dealing then go USN if you want to work in a hospital setting or specialize go with U of U. I had a friend that did USN and another who did U of U and they both are making the same money afterwards and both love their jobs. (One works for Target, one works for Primary Children's Hospital).

 

[gsinccom]

Apples and Oranges. USN is three years and costs about 40k a year. U of U is a ranked school with more opportunities to do research and go on to do residencies. If you are in a hurry to get out and start your drug dealing then go USN if you want to work in a hospital setting or specialize go with U of U. I had a friend that did USN and another who did U of U and they both are making the same money afterwards and both love their jobs. (One works for Target, one works for Primary Children's Hospital).

I disagree with some of this post. Rankings are based on reputation and research dollars and not the quality of education you'll receive. Here are my thoughts: My class of pharmacy (USN class of 2010) actually is likely going to be sending about 25% of its graduates on to residency. This is above the national average for pharmacy schools, I believe. It may not be equal to what the UofU will send to residency however it is hardly a retail diploma mill.

It is true that the UofU may prepare you better for research or industry however 80-90% of pharmacists don't end up there anyway but rather end up in retail or a health system (i.e., staffing and/or clinical jobs at a hospital or clinic). Note: I actually have more APPE time than UofU students and more IPPE time. So my experential component has been more in depth. True, I had more time experentially in retail but I also had more in "clinical" settings.

Several of my APPE preceptors (many of whom graduated from the UofU) take both UofU and USN students and they all say that on average they are equally trained. The advantages the UofU has are 1) reputation - which matters to some people but isn't a very objective measure of quality, 2) research/industry avenues, 3) less time in class (i.e., not an accelerated program like USN) each day and more summer breaks = more time to work as a paid intern, 4) 4 years to have the information distill in your brain versus 3 years and 5) Utah resident tuition price. The advantages of USN are, 1) block curriculum, 2) team instead of competitive approach to studying and grades, 3) 3 year program = one year earlier to finish equals one year earlier to begin your career.

It has been my experience that those who bash USN are UofU grads with a bias or are pharmacists who still wish for the days of pharmacy when they could command a job anywhere and anytime (i.e., the days of the Utah pharmacist shortage). Or they have had one or two experiences with a "poor" USN student. This is very hypocritical because if a bad student comes from the UofU they blame it on the student but if a bad student comes from the USN they blame it on the school.

Lastly, my class has several people in it that were accepted to both the UofU and USN and who chose to attend USN. I also know of several people in the UofU Class of 2010 and 2011 who were accepted to the UofU but weren't accepted to USN. The past 3-4 years USN's entering class GPA has been higher than that for the UofU entering class. I am not saying this to boast but rather to show you the quality of the student body at USN is very comparable, if not at times, superior to that of the UofU student body.

 

[Ash of S Mart]

gsinccom I have a question for you. I know that I want to work in a hospital. At USN can I get into a hospital pharmacy to do my APPE or IPPE time? I know that I can direct myself towards hospital pharmacy at the U, but I don't know about USN.
So, since I want to work in a hospital setting, would there be an advantage of one school over the other?

 

[gsinccom]

gsinccom I have a question for you. I know that I want to work in a hospital. At USN can I get into a hospital pharmacy to do my APPE or IPPE time? I know that I can direct myself towards hospital pharmacy at the U, but I don't know about USN.
So, since I want to work in a hospital setting, would there be an advantage of one school over the other?

It would be hard to work more than 10 hrs a week as a paid intern if you choose USN due to the accelerated nature of the curriculum. Some hospitals in Utah require their paid pharmacy interns to work 20 hours or more a week. That being said I have several classmates that have worked in hospital paid intern jobs the past few years.
APPE and IPPE are your school/Unpaid intern hours and are mostly setup by the school experential coordinators.
If you know you want to work as a paid intern in a hospital I'd recommend contacting several pharmacy directors a month or so before school starts as you'll have your intern license a week or two after school starts.

 

[joh0472]

I wasn't bashing USN. I would choose USN over U of U because I don't want to do a residency. I want to be taught how to be a good pharmacist and not learn all the academic stuff usually associated with a research school.

 

[gsinccom]

I wasn't bashing USN. I would choose USN over U of U because I don't want to do a residency. I want to be taught how to be a good pharmacist and not learn all the academic stuff usually associated with a research school.

There is some likely some truth to what you are saying about the research opportunities being potentially greater for students at the UofU.

However, keep in mind that there is always the chance you'll be one of those students who changes their mind during pharmacy school. I have one classmate who always talked of preferring community pharmacy and stated that they couldn't really see themselves doing a hospital based residency and now that is what that student is applying for. I have another classmate who always talked of wanting a hospital job and disliking retail and now that student is applying for community residencies. A lot can change while your in pharmacy school especially during your last year while you are doing your APPEs.

 

[oneangreystuden]

Trust me when I say this..... go to U of U!!!! I am curently a student at USN and wish I went else where. If USN is your only choice as in that is the only school you gt into then go because its better than nothing. However, if you have a choice don't go. Around 20 p1s have been kicked out of the program. An extra year is worth not having to deal with the stress and BS of USN. And where "25% of people go on to residency" came from is beyond me. Maybe 15 people from the class of 2009 got residencies. 15/140 is 10%

 

[Pong Champ]

To me it would be a hard decision. Fortunately I didn't have to face that decision because I got accepted to USN on my first try. I didn't apply to U of U because I liked the idea of getting it done in 3 years but U of U is less intense (not that pharmacy school anywhere won't be) since it's 4 years. Luckily I got into USN on my first try. One of my friends got accepted to both USN and U of U and ended up choosing U of U. He told me later that he wished he had gone with USN. However, I think someone who has experienced those school would be good to hear from.

 

[Pong Champ]

I was wondering if anyone had any input on these two schools.
I have been accepted to the University of Southern Nevada, and I just interviewed with the University of Utah today and I feel it went really well. IF I get accepted to UofU then I will have to decide which to attend. I would appreciate any input from anyone familiar with either one of these programs. Likes, Dislikes, etc.
Thanks

Where did you end up going?

 

[rxforlife2004]

what's the difference between these schools when u grad and no jobs available ...just attend either one of the school because it doesn't matter..u still don't have a job in future anyway...

 

[Trankuil]

I got a job at Smiths as an intern that started this week, and I will have a place as a pharmacist with them after I graduate if I choose to stay with them. There are still oppurtunities out there, its just not the 20k sign on bonus and open at every position that it was 10 years ago.

Oh, and I am at USN, just started this week.

 

[kitten123]

I was wondering if anyone had any input on these two schools.
I have been accepted to the University of Southern Nevada, and I just interviewed with the University of Utah today and I feel it went really well. IF I get accepted to UofU then I will have to decide which to attend. I would appreciate any input from anyone familiar with either one of these programs. Likes, Dislikes, etc.
Thanks

Hi there, I just got a letter of acceptance from U of U and in the same situation as you..debating which one is better? U of U or USN?
one thing I dont like USN is its small campus..its just a building with some classrooms and a tiny library, no gym....
However, i didnt hv chance to take a campus tour of U of U (since I had an interview on fone w them, im from california) so I hv no idea how the U of U campus looks like? U have any idea?

 

[pharmschooler]

Hi there, I just got a letter of acceptance from U of U and in the same situation as you..debating which one is better? U of U or USN?
one thing I dont like USN is its small campus..its just a building with some classrooms and a tiny library, no gym....
However, i didnt hv chance to take a campus tour of U of U (since I had an interview on fone w them, im from california) so I hv no idea how the U of U campus looks like? U have any idea?

U of U is a beautiful campus! It's super nice. Lots of stuff to do on campus, too.

 

[SnookiesOwner]

I got accepted to USN ( and my boss graduated from USN) but here's a few points I did not like when I went for my interview:

1. According to a P1, 60 out of ~130 students fail their bimonthly exams the first time and therefore has to take the exams over again.
2. USN is changing its name to Roseman University of Health Sciences which I'm sure NOONE would recognize
3. There are no school scholarships available
4. Only about 2 days of hospital experience during the first 2 years are possible.(unless you volunteer with a faculty)
5. Nevada off the strip felt really lonely
6. No textbooks at all - all lecture material are prepared by the school and downloaded into the Dell laptop that everyone gets
7. Not a lot of community involvement

Positive points:
1. 3 yrs, 40k per yr, low cost of living in Nevada
2. The staff is super friendly especially Dr. Deyoung
3. They give you enough chances to pass your test (3 chances)
4. For another 20k or so and maybe an additional 18 weeks of your time you can get an MBA!

Some good things for Utah:
Great rep
Dr. Mario Capecchi (Nobel Laureate for discovering homologous recombination) is at the Med school there

Good luck!

 

[Pong Champ]

I have quite liked my time at USN so far. I think 60 out of 130 seems a little high but I am at the Utah campus so I can't speak for those down in Nevada. The most students that have reassessed at our campus is around 35% (out of a class of 100) and that was only once (it was a tough exam). I think it woul be fair to say that on average about 20% reassess with only a few having to remediate during the summer.


Likes:

• Small, quiet campus with plenty of space to study.
• Block system; it's nice to be able to focus your attention on one subject at a time
• Three year program; one year shorter than most programs
• Non-competitive environment; it's a 90% pass/no pass system with no class ranking so everyone is willing to help each other out and share study aids
• You get immediate exposure to community pharmacy as soon as you start classes. You are assigned a community pharmacy site which you work in one day every other week. It's a good experience, especially for those who haven't worked in a pharmacy before.
• There is plenty of opportunity for community involvement if you want to. The only problem is a lot of students are too busy trying to stay caught up that they don't have time to participate.

Just to same a few


Dislikes:

• Amount of material can be overwhelming at times
• Minimal breaks from school; that's the nature of an accelerated program
• Because it's a small campus, there isn't much to do other than study. There is ping pong tables, tv and a basketball court (outside), but are generally always in use. There is a gym across the street but it's kind of expensive.

Hope this helps.