MAGNITUDE OF THE REPETITION, PROLONGATION AND DROPOUT BY PHARMACY STUDENTS, COHORT 2009-2014 AT THE UNIVERSITY OF COSTA RICA

Repetition, prolongation and drop out of college are possible during the educational process. Therefore, this research demonstrates the magnitude of the situation in pharmacy students, cohort 2009-2014, at the University of Costa Rica. Data were collected after reviewing each of the academic records of the student for each generation since the automated system of the Faculty of Pharmacy. It was found that 485 students were admitted, 324 women (67%) and 161 men (33%), there was a desertion of 14% due to thirty students did not consolidated their initial enrollment, ten said go private university and thirty change to another career. One hundred three students (21%) go along without repeating courses and there is a 73% long staying. The accumulation of unapproved courses was 1560 with 2053 repetitions. Students mainly have problems with mathematics, chemical, physical, biology, physiology and biochemistry; courses which are in the first levels of the curriculum. These findings demonstrate the magnitude of these issues on pharmacy students and which needs further investigation.