As a current professional pharmacy student in a relatively new program, I understood the risks that I would be taking in enrolling in a program that was yet to be well established. My belief was that a well established University with a history of producing outstanding health care professionals, musicians, and businessman could only lead to a sucessful pharmacy program. And for the most part, I was right. Many of the College's accomplishments have been noteworthy including:
* Twenty percent of the first graduating class receiving post-graduate residency training, a number exceeding the national average
*A student interning at Johns Hopkins
*A student interning with the Mayo Clinic
* A student team placing in the top eight out of 85 in the 2011 ACCP Clinical Pharmacy Challenge
* A student serving as the president of the Tennesee Society of Student Pharmacists
* A student being named the 2011 AACP Wal-Mart Scholar
* A student receiving the Respect, Excellence and Service in Pharmacy Award presented by Wal-Mart and Pharmacy Times
* A student team ranking in the top ten in the 2011 ASHP Clinical Skills Competition
* A student ranking in the top twenty at the 2012 APhA National Patient Counseling Competition
However, there have been many "growing pains" involved in fine tuning a "raw" program. I have not particularly been happy here, which may be due to a variety of factors including some that are not necessarily caused directly by the College and I did have my reservations about attending a Chirstian school (we are lead in prayer at many University events). This may alos be a case of me picking a school that was not a "good fit" for me. I know it should only get better with time, so I will reevaluate things at another point in the future.
The University as a whole seems to be on-the-rise, with U.S. News including them in:
Best Colleges Rankings
#7 Regional Universities (South)
Best Undergratuate Business Programs
#3 Best Undergraduate Teaching
#2 Up-and-Coming Schools
Best Grad School Rankings
Best Business Schools
#142 Part-time M.B.A
#234 Nursing
#58 Occupational Therapy
#51 Physical Therapy
Some of the University's recent successes can probably be connected to the University severing ties with the ultra-conservative Tennesse Baptist Convention, and also including changing its nickname from Rebels to Bruins, and adding "sexual orientation" to its nondiscrimination policy in the wake of a national scandal involving the woman's soccer coach being fired after coming out to her team.
Most noticably, in 2008, the University hosted the Presidental Town Hall Debate and the Rick Santorum campaign even stopped on campus in 2012. Another noticible moment included Maya Angelou speaking on campus in 2011. In addition, Belmont has served as a launch pad for the country music stars Brad Paisley, Le Ann Womack, Trisha Yearwood, and many others.
Belmont would receive as least a three-star or four-star rating if it were not for my undergraduate experiences at my alma mater, the University of the Pacific, and my current frustrations with the pharmacy program. I will reiterate here that Belmont University as a whole is an institution I am proud to represent but there is so much room for improvement within the pharmacy program. read more