Pharmacy School Admissions - Admission Requirements: GPA, Pharmacy College Admissions Test - PCAT, Prerequisite coursework, Personal statement, interview, and letter of recommendation. Accelerated pharmacy school programs.

PharmD | student | Pharmacy School Admissions

Description

The shortage of pharmacists continues to be an important issue for healthcare with current data suggesting that there are not enough pharmacists to meet existing demands.
The doctor of pharmacy, PharmD, is the professional degree to prepare licensed pharmacy practitioners.
Admission to the School of Pharmacy is competitive.
Pharmacy schools seek to admit students from a diversity of academic, cultural, economic and social backgrounds.

Pharmacy School Admissions

The Pharmacy School Admissions Committees consider several basic factors when reviewing applications to assess aptitude and qualifications:

Grade Points Average - GPA
Pharmacy College Admissions Test - PCAT
Prerequisite Coursework
Personal Profile and personal statement Essays
Letters of recommendation
Extracurricular activities and experience

Grade Points Average - GPA

GPAs of entering students range between 3.0 - 4.0.
The average GPA of entering classes ranges between 3.1 - 3.7.
Most of pharmacy schools consider both at a cumulative GPA (all college coursework) and a pharmacy prerequisite coursework GPA. But main consideration is GPA of the prerequisite coursework.
GPA is an assessment of a candidate's academic preparation.

Pharmacy College Admissions Test - PCAT

About half of pharmacy schools in United States require Pharmacy College Admissions Test.
PCAT is given in June, August, October, and January.
The Psychological Corporation PSE Customer Relations - PCAT
55 Academic Court
San Antonio, TX 78204-8969
1-800-622-3231
www.pcatweb.info
Most pharmacy schools' minimum required PCAT score is at least 50th percentile. The score of entering students range between 50th - 99th percentile.
The average score of entering classes ranges between 70th - 80th percentile.
The sections of PCAT are: verbal ability, quantitative ability, reading comprehension, knowledge of basic principles and concepts of biology, general and elementary organic chemistry.
PCAT score is an assessment of a candidate's academic preparation.

Prerequisite Coursework

Pharmacy school admimissions prerequisite course requirements typically include, but are not limited to:

General Chemistry with labs...1 year
Organic Chemistry with labs...1 year
General Physics with labs...1 year
Analytical Geometry with Calculus...1/2 to 1 year
General Biology with Lab...1 year
Writing / English Composition...1 year
Economics...1 semester
Psychology...1 semester
Public Speaking...1 semester
Biochemistry...(varies)
Microbiology...(varies)
Statistics...(varies)

Personal Statement Essay

Pharmacy school admissions committees are interested in each applicant's personal characteristics such as effective communication both orally and in writing, motivation to be a pharmacist, maturity, and interest in serving others.
Pharmacy schools encourage applicants to seek out experiences (paid or unpaid) that will help them confirm pharmacy as their career choice.
These qualities are assessed through the information the applicant provides in the application essay, letters of reference and the interview.
The personal statement essay provides the applicants an opportunity to describe the process and experience that lead to application to pharmacy school.
The essay should include other academic and life experiences which helped develop the candidate as a person.
The personal profile reveals your thoughts about your strengths as a person as well as areas of personal development you believe you need to improve. The essays communicate your motivation, goals, circumstances, and experiences related to a pharmacy career.

Letters of Recommendation

Letters of reference from some combination of professors, employers, supervisors, or pharmacy professionals are typically required to provide more information about applicant's characteristics.

Interviews

Pharmacy school interviews are required of applicants by most pharmacy colleges when the admissions committee determines that the applicant is competitive for admission. The interview facilitates assessment of the applicant and affords the applicant a chance to tour the campus, meet with faculty and currently enrolled students, and learn about financial aid and housing.
This gives an opportunity for applicant to demonstrate communication ability, and motivation to become pharmacist.
Focus on this in your narrative or autobiography, but let them know what motivates you to be a pharmacist. You should have more than one or two reasons and you should place these in priority as you discuss them.
Be certain to retain copies of all school specific narratives and familiarize yourself with what you wrote before you interview
Take advantage of all seminars, workshops and/or videotapes dealing with the application and interview process. Be relaxed, be yourself, but be prepared. You need to have a sound understanding of the interview process. This is a first impression exercise, and you need to come across as calm, self-confident, emotionally stable, bright, mature, and disciplined

0-6 Pharmacy school Programs

Pharmacy schools that accept the majority of students directly from high school are referred to as 0-6 programs because students enrolled can complete their pre-pharmacy and professional study within 6-years after high school. Students enrolled in a 0-6 program who successfully complete the first 2-years of pre-professional study (and any other stated contingencies) are guaranteed admission into the 4-year professional pharmacy degree program.