My niece is starting at U of H with hopes of going to pharmacy school. She claims U of H has the best pharmacy school in the state. Is this true? How does it compare to the tu program?

Based on a few quick Google searches, UT has the 2nd best pharmacy school in the country behind UC-San Francisco. This was according to US News and World report rankings for several years. UH didn't make the list.

Some may depend on what kind of degree she wants to get. A PharmD degree may not be required to be a pharmacist at your local CVS and the school at UT may focus on a different curriculum. If she's just starting, then there is time to search and find the best fit for her long-range goals.

2009 US News Best Pharmacy School rankings:

UT-Austin: 4th
Texas Tech: 32nd
UH: 51

http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/grad/pha/search/state+TX

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Some may depend on what kind of degree she wants to get. A PharmD degree may not be required to be a pharmacist at your local CVS and the school at UT may focus on a different curriculum. If she's just starting, then there is time to search and find the best fit for her long-range goals.

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everyone these days gets a pharm.d. once they graduate. every school basically teaches you the same stuff. with the degree, anybody can work in a retail setting. now if she wants to specialize in a particular field, she'll have to get a residency post graduation, which is only one year. there are so many career options for this field

From what I understand, you get in ANY pharm school you are set, unless you don't want to work in a retail setting. But it's also of course very competitive to get in anywhere (like med school).

I believe A&M Kingsville also has a (new) pharm school.

tu

I would say tu is the best in Texas.

My wife attends UH in her second year. Everyone graduates with a PharmD nowdays. You can pursue a PhD/PharmD and other routes, but it is a lot more schoolwork. The residency statement above is correct if you want to specialize, but is not required outside of retail. It is a great field to pursue. It is competitive to get into as far as the program is concerned, but is doable. If she is in the pre-pharmacy program at UH, she is ahead of the game already. UH Pharmacy is a great program despite what some might say about other programs at the university.

The poster AggieDruggist or RXAggie02 would be a great resource if she has specific questions.

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From what I understand, you get in ANY pharm school you are set, unless you don't want to work in a retail setting.

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Wrong, you are set even if you dont get into retail. You can make a ton of money either way. The job opportunities are endless for a Pharmacist.

[This message has been edited by Vero143 (edited 2/28/2009 4:41p).]

FWIW, those rankings are all based on research money and little else. I'm a P2 at UH and I'd say tu and UH are definitely the top 2 in Texas, it just depends on what you'e looking for. I chose UH primarily because my family is here. I'd say UH's biggest plus over tu is the Texas Medical Center.

[This message has been edited by gpag07 (edited 3/1/2009 7:02p).]

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Wrong, you are set even if you dont get into retail. You can make a ton of money either way. The job opportunities are endless for a Pharmacist.

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Fair enough. What I really meant by that is if you want to go high up in academia in this area, then you probably want to go to a highly rated school.

I forgot to mention this before, but something I would say that is a lot better to look at than rankings to get an idea of where a school stands is NAPLEX pass rates. For 2004-2008 UH and tu are even, UH is actually a slight percentage higher. In recent years we've had 98-100% pass rates.

And I know someone mentioned this above, but just to clarify - if you go to school now to be a pharmacist, CVS or elsewhere, you have to get a PharmD which requires at least 6 years of coursework, though many will have 8 years because they completed their undergrad prior to applying to increase their chances of getting in.

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Fair enough. What I really meant by that is if you want to go high up in academia in this area, then you probably want to go to a highly rated school.

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i'll agree with you partially with your statement. i think you just have to have a good professor who knows how to teach it well to make you interested in a particular field. we all went to a&m but i'm sure we had some crappy professors who couldn't teach worth a lick. but getting back on topic, to go teach at a pharmacy school, you'll have to get a residency. this is particularly true if you want to teach a clinical class. hopefully the residency is a good one and provides a good learning experience

my fiance is a P2 at UH and she chose it over texas and texas tech.

her basis was that she is most interested in compounding the drugs (i.e. making them) and UH is the better school of the 3 in this area.

Many times those rankings are based on research output (often by professors) and not really a good indication of the overall program. I went through this last year and found out from a lot of people that UT and UH are the oldest and most established schools in Texas, but TX tech, TAMUK, and Incarnate Word have really nice facilities.

From talking it became clear to me that it depends on what kind of education you want. UT tends to be more theory-based and research driven, where UH is more clinical and "hands on" in their approach. Another thing to consider is where she would like to do her rotations. I know UT places their students around the state, where UH students do all their rotations at the Texas Medical Center, unless they choose to go elsewhere.

Say Ags, this might be a good place to ask this.

But I went to Target the other day and they asked me to take my Tylenol cold to the pharmacy counter, what happens if I had done that? Is there some database now trying to work against meth production?

Also Id like to mention that I bought 3x the amount at Costco for the same price and there was no check :p

randy, there is no reason for them to have done that. probably some misinformed cashier