Prepharmacy

Advisor: Cindy White, Ph.D.

Prepharmacy is a preprofessional program that serves as a guide for students with an interest in graduate work in the pharmaceutical sciences which leads to a Doctor of Pharmacy degree (PharmD). Schools of pharmacy typically require two or three years of preprofessional coursework before applying to pharmacy school. Most schools of pharmacy require a strong GPA and relatively high scores on the Pharmacy College Admissions Test (PCAT). The PCAT is offered several times throughout the year. It is to the student’s advantage to take the PCAT as early as he or she feels ready. The following outline meets the entrance requirements of the Harding University College of Pharmacy. Most schools of pharmacy follow very similar admission requirements. However, the student should obtain the admissions requirements of other schools of pharmacy to which they may wish to apply and plan their curriculum accordingly. Information regarding the admissions process and individual colleges of pharmacy may be found at www.aacp.org. Prepharmacy students are encouraged to work closely with the prepharmacy advisor as they plan their coursework.

A student does not have to obtain a bachelor’s degree to be accepted to most schools of pharmacy. The requirements listed below are the minimum coursework which must be taken to be accepted to begin graduate work at Harding’s College of Pharmacy. Many students choose to pursue Harding’s 3+1 program, in which students receive a B.S. in Health Sciences . This requires students to 1) complete all the science and math requirements for the degree after high school at Harding, 2) complete all of Harding’s liberal arts requirements for a bachelor’s degree with a minimum of 25 of these hours taken at Harding, and 3) successfully complete the entire first year curriculum in the first professional year at an approved college of pharmacy. AP credit, CLEP credit, and dual enrollment credit earned while in high school are exempt from the above restrictions. This 3+1 program should be carefully planned with the prepharmacy advisor. Students who complete a baccalaureate degree before entering pharmacy school are not eligible for a second baccalaureate.