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When you're just starting your pharmacy journey, you want to make sure that you get a high-quality education.
When you’re just starting your pharmacy journey, you want to make sure that you get a high-quality education. After all, you’ll probably end up taking out a boatload of student loans and still be paying for your degree well into your professional career.
U.S News & World Report has been ranking educational institutions for years, and it last ranked pharmacy schools in 2012.
Schools are ranked based on the results of peer assessment surveys sent to deans, administrators, and faculty at accredited pharmacy schools. Each school is rated from 1 (marginal) to 5 (outstanding) on the quality of its pharmacy program.
Without further ado, here are the latest pharmacy program rankings from U.S News & World Report:
Rank
School Name
Location
Score
1
University of California, San Francisco School of Pharmacy
San Francisco, CA
4.6
2
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Eshelman School of Pharmacy
Chapel Hill, NC
4.5
3
University of Minnesota College of Pharmacy
Minneapolis, MN
4.4
4
University of Texas at Austin
Austin, TX
4.3
5 (tie)
University of Kentucky College of Pharmacy
Lexington, KY
4.2
5 (tie)
University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Pharmacy
Madison, WI
4.2
7 (tie)
The Ohio State University College of Pharmacy
Columbus, OH
4.1
7 (tie)
Purdue University College of Pharmacy
West Lafayette, IN
4.1
10 (tie)
University of Arizona College of Pharmacy
Tucson, AZ
4.0
10 (tie)
University of Southern California School of Pharmacy
Los Angeles, CA
4.0
10 (tie)
University of Utah College of Pharmacy
Salt Lake City, UT
4.0
14 (tie)
University of Florida College of Pharmacy
Gainesville, FL
3.9
14 (tie)
University of Illinois at ​Chicago College of Pharmacy
Chicago, IL
3.9
14 (tie)
University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy
Pittsburgh, PA
3.9
17 (tie)
University at Buffalo School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences
Buffalo, NY
3.8
17 (tie)
University of Iowa College of Pharmacy
Iowa City, IA
3.8
17 (tie)
University of Maryland School of Pharmacy at Baltimore
Baltimore, MD
3.8
17 (tie)
University of Tennessee Health Science Center College of Pharmacy
Memphis, TN
3.8
21 (tie)
University of Kansas School of Pharmacy
Lawrence, KS
3.7
21 (tie)
Virginia Commonwealth University School of Pharmacy
Richmond, VA
3.7
23
University of California, ​San Diego Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences
La Jolla, CA
3.5
24 (tie)
University of Colorado ​Denver School of Pharmacy
Aurora, CO
3.4
24 (tie)
University of Mississippi School of Pharmacy
University, MS
3.4
26 (tie)
Auburn University Harrison School of Pharmacy
Auburn, AL
3.3
26 (tie)
Medical University of South Carolina
Charleston, SC
3.3
26 (tie)
Rutgers University Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy
Piscataway, NJ
3.3
26 (tie)
University of Connecticut School of Pharmacy
Storrs, CT
3.3
26 (tie)
University of Georgia College of Pharmacy
Athens, GA
3.3
26 (tie)
West Virginia University School of Pharmacy
Morgantown, WV
3.3
If your school appears on this list, that’s great! However, attending a school that isn’t listed here is not necessarily cause for alarm.
In my next blog post, I will discuss whether pharmacy school rankings really matter when it comes to your future career as a pharmacist.