How to Apply to Pharmacy School
If you want to go to pharmacy school, it's a good rule of thumb to apply one year in advance of your anticipated start date. College training is required for most reputable pharmacy schools, and application procedures vary from school to school. Some offer early and late admissions (also known as "rolling admissions"), while others have single, fixed deadlines.
- Difficulty:
- Moderate
Instructions
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1
Start looking into pharmacy schools in your sophomore year of college, or certainly by your junior year. If you want to head straight for pharmacy school right out of college, you should plan to apply by your junior year.
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2
Take the Pharmacy College Admissions Test (PCAT), if it's required by the school to which you want to apply. Keep in mind that not all schools and all states require it.
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3
Perform well in your college course work, and study hard for any standardized tests you're asked to take. Getting into pharmacy school can be competitive.
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4
Be prepared to demonstrate the following extracurricular skills, in addition to having high grades: knowledge of the profession, leadership and communication skills, a community service track record and pharmacy experience. Most good pharmacy schools will look to these things to make decisions when the academic abilities of their applicants are equal.
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5
Gain any pharmacy experience that may be missing from your application by working at a pharmacy in your hometown or through an internship. If you need help finding one, contact an institution like the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy or the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (see Resources below).
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6
Collect all your application information and prepare your application well in advance of each school's deadline.
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1
Tips & Warnings
If you know you want to apply to pharmacy school eventually, toxicology is an excellent undergraduate major to take. In lieu of that, biology or a related field generally makes an acceptable substitute.
Pharmacy school almost always requires specialized college training. You shouldn't expect to find many options if you were a liberal arts major in college and you've decided to become a pharmacist.
