What it is:  SR Education Group created graduateprograms.com to help students choose the best school for their career aspirations and budget. The website ranks the top 25 pharmacy schools in the country. 

Why it Matters to You: This list ranks the top 25 pharmacy schools based on “student score” of up to 100. The score represents an average rating across a variety of facets including quality of instruction, satisfaction with degree, and networking opportunities. Each entry contains a link to a school profile that provides basic information such as student-to-faculty ratio and annual tuition. Most importantly, the user can view each student review - the student’s individual score plus an excerpt from their written assessment - that is compiled to form the overall score that causes the ranking.

Considerations: It is important to keep in mind that graduateprograms.com is a “peer review” ranking. In order for a school to be eligible to be featured on a Top Programs List, at least five students from that particular degree program must have submitted feedback on their institution. Graduate Programs only considers regionally or nationally accredited, non-profit institutions for our rankings. Aggregated student rating values were multiplied by 20 to create a Student Score out of 100; in the event of a tie, schools were awarded the same rank value.

Created By: SR Education Group

What it is:  The College Affordability Guide pulls data from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) as well independent organizations like the College Board to rank the 20 Most Affordable Pharmacy Schools. “Affordable” is defined as “cost-effective for the lowest-income families.” 

Why it Matters to You: The College Affordability Guide’s analysis is designed to find schools that are affordable not only for the average student, but for lower-income students as well. The website lists the 20 most affordable schools, summarizes the school’s pharmacy program, and links to the school’s website. The website also offers educational guidance such as description of the various types of pharmacy credential and sample academic coursework.

Considerations: The rankings are based on “CAG score.” Unfortunately the website does not break down the score to its various components to provide detailed insight on why the score was awarded.

Created By:  College Affordability Guide

What it is:  Pharmacy Technician Guide is an online source for aspiring pharmacists. The website offers information on best schools, scholarship information, and careers.

Why it Matters to You: The Pharmacy Technician Guide ranks only the top 25 programs in the country. It provides no information on unranked programs. Each of the top 25 school listings contains trending information on NAPLEX performance - the student pass rate for the North American Pharmacist Licensure Examination. There is also a profile on the curriculum strengths and average length of time for degree completion.

Considerations:  The Pharmacy Technician Guide evaluates the 130 ACPE (Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education) accredited Pharmacy schools across the country for various factors that indicate the quality of education and student friendly services offered by the schools. The data comes from NAPLEX First-Time Pass Rates, National Center for Education Statistics and school websites. In addition, Pharmacy Technician Guide has also considers the rankings by the U.S. News & World Report to come up with the list of best pharmacy schools.

Created By:  Pharmacy Technician Guide

What it is:  U.S. News & World Report annually publishes a well-recognized ranking of top schools. It is among the most cited rankings.

Why it Matters to You: Each fully accredited pharmacy program receives a “Peer Assessment Score.” The database can be searched based on score or alphabetically. Each of the entries links to further information about the school, including its ranking in other academic disciplines, e.g., health care management or occupational therapy.

Considerations:  All rankings are based solely on the results of peer assessment surveys sent to deans, other administrators and/or faculty at accredited degree programs or schools in each discipline. Respondents rated the academic quality of programs on a scale of 1 (marginal) to 5 (outstanding). They were instructed to select "don't know" if they did not have enough knowledge to rate a program. Only fully accredited programs in good standing during the survey period are ranked. 

Created By:  U.S. News & World Report