Richie asked
Is a bachelor's degree required to apply to pharmacy schools?
Answer
In general, a bachelor's degree is not a requirement for admission into most pharmacy school programs located within the United States. It is recommended that you visit the admissions site of the school you are interested in and view their requirements.
This isn't to say that in the future a bachelor's degree won't become a required prerequisite. The necessary academic work and performance needed to be considered for admission into pharmacy schools continues to become more stringent year after year and we could certainly see some schools requiring a degree in the future.
In general, a bachelor's degree is not a requirement for admission into most pharmacy school programs located within the United States. It is recommended that you visit the admissions site of the school you are interested in and view their requirements.
This isn't to say that in the future a bachelor's degree won't become a required prerequisite. The necessary academic work and performance needed to be considered for admission into pharmacy schools continues to become more stringent year after year and we could certainly see some schools requiring a degree in the future.Most schools currently list on their website the prerequisite coruse work required for admission as well as expected PCAT (Pharmacy College Admissions Test) scores. In general, undergraduate course work consists of math/science requirements (e.g. chemistry, physics, microbiology etc...) as well as a few general education classes such as humanities courses.
Below is a link to the list of the prerequisite courses required for one of the top pharmacy schools in the nation, UCSF:
https://pharmd.ucsf.edu/admissions/reqs/academic .
After doing some research, it looks as though, on average, 25-40% of students applying to pharmacy school programs hold a bachelor's degree. Although not a requirement as we wrote above, it may be make you a more competitive candidate.
