As predicted three months ago, CHSU struggled to meet the basic accreditation standards that other schools met. Today the accrediting body for pharmacy schools, ACPE, reported that CHSU did NOT get accredited. The pdf is on the ACPE web site under Report of Proceedings; June 2018. They will remain as a Candidate school despite graduating their first class. All other new pharmacy schools in this and past years DID get accredited. Clearly the worst school in the country now.
Hi everyone,
I am joining this conversation not as someone who is a new applicant to a pharmacy school, not as a new graduate, but as a seasoned hospital pharmacist. I have also worked in many industries of pharmacy over the years in addition to hospital (outpatient, home care, etc...). I would just like to give my personal perspective and input on CHSU. I am an established pharmacist at a local central valley hospital, so i have no personal reasons for giving my opinions. There are a number of reasons why I do not agree with this pharmacy school, and here are my reasons:
First, for any new pharmacy school applicant...Please be aware that this school is a "for profit" organization that is not affiliated with a University. It is financially backed by a home-builder, it is run by an ex-banker, and its faculty is mostly made up of local pharmacists or others who are barely at the pharmacy school itself. I know this because i work at one of the local hospitals and i am aware of the things that have surrounded the workings of this school.
Secondly, you also need to be aware of the job market in the state of California. The job market is dismal everywhere in California because the accreditation boards have allowed the many "for profit" pharmacy schools accreditation. It has created too many pharmacy graduates for the number of pharmacist jobs available. Yes, it might seem like the Central valley has jobs, but trust me; it is almost saturated.
Thirdly, CHSU did not get accredited recently. This is a "red-flag" for any applicant and also for its students. I am a preceptor of these students at my hospital and I can tell you that there is a definite difference in quality as far as what they are teaching (or not teaching) at this school. Which leads me to the a very distressing reason why all of our pharmacists at our facility do not have any respect for this school. Our facility was basically forced to take students from this school. Its all a "politically-motivated" farce. The financial backer (remember the home builder?), is on our hospital board. Also, the President of CHSU (remember the banker?), was previously the president of our hospital board until very recently. Sound fishy? So guess what, now all of a sudden we have stopped taking students from another pharmacy school and less students from yet another pharmacy school to make more slots for CHSU students. How ethical is that? I'm sorry, but I have to say something at this point. They have also wormed their way to other hospitals in the local area because they have other board members on their board as well.
Fourth, as I am a preceptor for the CHSU students I have inquired as to their program. The students state that they are taught "Group-based" learning. They explained that they learn together, formulating their own concepts, etc....This is concerning to me, and I have seen that the quality of their education is second if not third or fourth to the students from the top three pharmacy schools in California. They also explained that they were recruited from the local community college and did not receive a four-year undergrad degree. What does this tell me? That at this point, the school is only after money, not qualified, educated students. I worked very hard to become a health-care professional. I received a 4-year degree in Bio-chem at a UC school, then went to one of the top-three schools in California for my Pharm D (UCSF, USC, UOP), I also did a residency. So, here we are now being forced to take students from this school because the financial backer is on our hospital board. Its a farce and crooked at best.
Fifth, I am an already established pharmacist as i stated; but I still care about my profession. Its very sad what this school stands for and the I feel especially bad for its students. They have no idea that the pharmacy community does not have any respect to the school they are attending, they have no idea how much debt they will be in when they graduate, and they mostly do not have any idea that they have stolen jobs from others that were more deserved than they were because of political motivation.
My advice to any student who is considering applying to this school, save your money, go into nursing or another profession that will have jobs in the next few years.