Earn a doctorate in 6 years right out of high school

[Daithi]

This isn't an online program so I'm posting it in the Off Topic forum.

I happen to live in Rhode Island, and the University of Rhode Island has a pharmacy program where students can earn their Doctor of Pharmacy in just 6 years. That's a graduate of high school to a doctorate in 6 years. The tuition for in-state students is $10,878 a year for undergrads and just $11,532 for grad students. That's a hell of a deal for a doctorate.

One of my co-worker's cousins was accepted into this program and she really wants to be a pharmacist so she is ecstatic. However, my co-worker is going nuts because his cousin was also accepted at Harvard but she chose URI instead. He thinks she crazy for not going to Harvard (I have to agree with him).

[UptonSinclair]

In a field like Pharmacy, does it matter where the degree is from? If it were my daughter, I would prefer that she graduate with less debt and move on with her life. If on the other hand she were going into business and wanted to work at one of the big firms, a prestigious school would make fore sense.

[sanantone]

It would depend on the financial aid package offered by Harvard. There is a good chance that the cousin will only have to take on $5,000 or less in debt because Harvard tries to cover up to 100% of needs for families that make under $80,000 IIRC. I believe most PharmD programs only require 90 credit hours before admission.

[Daithi]

It would depend on the financial aid package offered by Harvard. There is a good chance that the cousin will only have to take on $5,000 or less in debt because Harvard tries to cover up to 100% of needs for families that make under $80,000 IIRC. I believe most PharmD programs only require 90 credit hours before admission.

You pretty much called it. She is raised by a single mom who doesn't make much money, so she would have went basically for free, which is one of the reasons my friend thinks she is crazy. From talking with my friend, I get the impression she doesn't want to leave her mom either.

[Jonathan Whatley]

The Pharm.D. degree requires at least two years of undergraduate study [academic years of prerequisites, i.e. 60 sh] and most student pharmacists complete three or more years of college [90 sh] before starting a pharmacy program.

Then,

The following institutions offer a three-calendar year Pharm.D. degree program to students who have completed all college-level prerequisites for admission. Please contact the institutions directly for more information.

[The list, now 13 schools across the country, includes Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences – Worcester and University of Saint Joseph.]

Frequently Asked Questions About Pharmacy Admissions (AACP)

Between the two, there's an accelerated but relatively conventional path to a Pharm.D. in as little as 2+3 calendar years. 3+3 or 2+4 options are that much more conservative but still add up to 6 years.

MCPHS in Worcester, MA, and University of Saint Joseph in West Hartford, CT, are both close to home in Rhode Island! She could also come back home to the four-year program at URI, 2+4.

Also Harvard pre-health people are AWESOME. (He says after manning a table for the Harvard Extension Pre-Health Society tonight. :p )

Has she applied at Brown? An Ivy League education in Providence. She could take prerequisites there and, if her calling was still to pharmacy and she performed solidly in the prerequisites, track into pharmacy school after two or three years.

[JBtesc]

If you're accepted at Harvard, you go to Harvard.

Unless you're accepted at Yale.



Youth is so wasted on the young.