Admission Details


Professional Program Admission for Students from Other Institutions

INFORMATION FOR TRANSFER STUDENTS FROM OTHER COLLEGES AND INSTITUTIONS INTERESTED IN ADMISSION TO THE DOCTOR OF PHARMACY (PharmD) PROGRAM

Please read the following topics completely and carefully, including the FAQs. Together they provide the most complete and detailed information available to students interested in entering the PharmD program.


Studying Pharmacy at Drake University

Career opportunities in pharmacy are currently strong in terms of placement, variety of career tracks, starting salaries, and the many personal rewards of being a health professional. Also, pharmacists continue to be the most respected and trusted of all professionals, according to Gallup polls conducted nationally.  We congratulate you on your desire to enter the pharmacy profession.

Drake University rewards its students academically and personally.  A principal feature of our mission is commitment to a student- centered learning environment which enhances student success.  With dedicated faculty and staff, as well as a broad range of student services, your educational experience at Drake will serve you well throughout your career.  This site has been designed to answer many of the questions that you have with regard to our pharmacy program, including the procedures for admission.

Drake offers the six-year Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) program. Neither the master's (M.S.) nor research doctoral (Ph.D.)  degrees are offered at Drake. Please note that the PharmD degree differs from a Ph.D. (Doctor of Philosophy) in that it is a patient-care based clinical doctorate degree as opposed to a research degree.  The curriculum for the first two years is primarily pre-professional, and the professional program comprises four years of study.

Drake considers transfer students for admission only into the first year (P1) of the professional program.  Applicants apply through the Pharmacy Centralized Admission Service (PharmCAS).  Students who will have completed approximately 60 semester credit hours, the required prerequisite courses, and who have earned a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale from all institutions attended are invited to apply for admission. Required mathematics and science courses have to be completed prior to the end of the Spring 2009 semester, and remaining courses would have to be completed prior to the start of the Fall 2009 semester.  Students who will not have completed all required prerequisite course work by the start of the Fall 2009 semester cannot be considered for admission to the professional PharmD program.  These prerequisites are listed below. 


Prerequisites for the Professional PharmD Program

To be considered for the professional program, applicants must have completed 60 semester credit hours including the following courses prior to enrollment at Drake.  If courses from another accredited institution include approximately the same content, they may be accepted as substitutes for Drake courses and fulfill the Drake requirements.


Course

Semester
Credit Hours
(Drake Equivalent)

Course Description and
Information


Course Completion


Inorganic Chemistry


8

 A complete year course sequence of general or inorganic chemistry and laboratories that fulfill the prerequisite requirements for Organic Chemistry.  Other titles:  Fundamentals of Chemistry I, II; General Chemistry, I II. Spring Prior to Enrollment


Organic Chemistry


8

 A complete year course sequence of organic chemistry including laboratories. Spring Prior to Enrollment


Biological Sciences


8

 A complete year course sequence in the principles of biology which include ecology, evolution, anatomy/physiology of animals, cell biology, heredity, biological diversity, and the structure of plants and animals.  Follow the recommended biology course sequence for pre-medicine. Spring Prior to Enrollment


Microbiology


3

 A one-semester course (minimum of 3 credits), lab is not required.  STructure and function of microorganisms with emphasis on human pathogens.  Should be a course intended for healthcare majors. Spring Prior to Enrollment


Statistics



3

 A general one semester course that includes discussion of distributions, relationships between variables, design of samples and experiments, probabilities and uses probability distributions, significance tests associated with means and proportions, two way tables, and one-way ANOVA.  Business and Psychology statistics courses accepted. Spring Prior to Enrollment


Calculus


4

 Functions; continuity; limits; differentiation; applications of derivatives; definite integrals; techniques of integration; applications of definite integrals; infinite series; plane curves; limits, continuity and differentiation for functions of several variables; multiple integrals.  Calculus for the social sciences is not equivalent, nor is Business Calculus. Spring Prior to Enrollment


English Composition


6

 One semester composition course plus one semester of an intensive writing course.  Other common course titles: Composition I/II. Admitted students will need to contact the CPHS Office for approval if any of these courses were not completed by the Spring term


Public Speaking



3

 One semester course that focuses on public speaking.  Other common course titles: Fundamentals of Speaking.  Interpersonal speaking courses are not accepted for this requirement Admitted students will need to contact the CPHS Office for approval if any of these courses were not completed by the Spring term

Students not meeting the pre-pharmacy requirements by the appropriate terms may enroll in the appropriate courses at another accredited institution. 

If one's interests are not exclusive to pharmacy, Drake welcomes applications to other programs of study.  Please refer to Drake's web site for degree options.  It is very important to note that students enrolling at Drake will not receive any priority or advantage in the PharmD application process in future years.  Students will still need to take the PCAT and meet the minimum PCAT score and GPA requirements.  This option should not be considered if a student only wishes to raise a GPA.  The type of student ideally suited to this option is one who wishes to earn a Drake degree of any kind since there is no guarantee that admission to the professional PharmD program will be granted.

Note for students who have foreign educational credentials:   All of the courses listed above must be completed in order for a student to be considered for the PharmD program.  There are no exceptions to this policy.  Please refer to the section on foreign credentials in the FAQs  for additional details.


The Application Process for the Professional PharmD Program

Students interested in applying to the professional PharmD program must complete the Pharmacy Centralized Admission Service (PharmCAS).  Complete instructions on how to submit an application for admission to Drake University as well as other institutions are provided through this centralized, Web-based service.  Supplemental application and supplemental application fee of $70 is also required for consideration for Drake's PharmD program.

Drake’s PharmCAS application deadline is December 1st.   It is very important that students begin the application process well ahead of the deadline.  Not only must the application, which asks a number of detailed questions, be submitted by December 1st, but all official transcripts must reach PharmCAS by that date as well.   Drake makes the following recommendations for completing the PharmCAS application:

  • Begin applying very early, preferably in the fall. PharmCAS suggests that you apply no later than two weeks prior to the deadline. The application can be completed in segments.  Become familiar with all of the PharmCAS directions.  Questions about the application may be directed to PharmCAS at info@pharmcas.org or 1- 617-612-2050 (Monday – Friday, 9:0 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Eastern Time).  Questions about Drake’s requirements or program may be directed to Drake’s College of Pharmacy & Health Sciences at 1-800-44-DRAKE, ext. 3018 (or locally at 1-515-271-3018). In order to most accurately and efficiently transcribe their complete academic records on the PharmCAS application, Drake strongly suggests that students first obtain their own official transcripts.  All courses, whether they are listed with grades, withdrawals, or incompletes, must be listed on the application.  Gather detailed information about your work experience, extracurricular activities, and honors and awards.  Dates and actual time spent in each activity will be requested on the PharmCAS application.
  • The PCAT must be completed by the deadline and have an official score report sent directly to PharmCAS. The PharmCAS code is 104.  Do not send the score report to Drake.
  • We will only accept PCAT scores taken in the 2005/06 cycle and after where a score exists for the written portion.
  • Complete the Supplemental Application and submit the application as well as supplemental application fee to Drake University - College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. The Supplemental Form is available at http://www.pharmcas.org/ on the Drake University college page. 


Admission Process

Recognizing that professional program applicants have a variety of educational and professional experiences, the faculty in the College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences have put into place an admission process that will assure that admitted students have the potential for academic and professional success.  Since the philosophy of the faculty is that students are individuals and not 'numbers', an admission process has been developed that allows the faculty to get to know the individual applicants and not merely consider an applicant's academic profile only.

The faculty have determined several characteristics important for pharmacists to possess in addition to academic abilities. The top characteristics included:

  • motivation
  • values/ethics
  • communication skills
  • self-learner abilities
  • desire for self-improvement
  • open-mindedness
  • professionalism

Few of these personal characteristics can be assessed by considering a grade point average or PCAT score alone.  Thus, the application process for students transferring into the professional program is composed of two phases designed to assess applicant academic and professional capabilities.

First phase:  Assessment of Academic Skills

Grade Point Average and PCAT Score

The minimum grade point average for consideration into the professional program is a 3.00, however admitted students will likely have achieved a higher grade point average.  

For students who have not completed all of their pre-pharmacy coursework at Drake, the PCAT is required to provide a standardization of various grading practices at other institutions. The PCAT must be completed by the December 1st deadline. Students should achieve a score at the 50th percentile to be considered for admission; however admitted students will likely have higher test scores.

Drake will extend an invitation for an interview only after the PharmCAS application and the PCAT score have been received and reviewed.  For this reason, students may not receive any communication from the College while it is considering applications. Depending on the strength of the pool, not all applicants who meet the minimum GPA and PCAT score requirements may be invited to participate in the second phase of the application process.

Second phase:  Assessment of Interpersonal Skills

Applicants invited for an interview will be assessed according to the interpersonal skills listed above that are valued by faculty in the College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. 

Interview:  In order to assess these interpersonal skills and because pharmacy is such a communicative profession, the interview is an integral part of the admission process. All interviews must be done in person.  The interview with a faculty member and a current student will last for 30 minutes, and the applicant will have an opportunity to ask questions as well.  Interviews are offered Monday, Tuesday, Thursday or Friday during office hours.


Composition of the Class and Admission Statistics

Drake's PharmD program has 110 openings in the first professional year (P1).  Many of those openings are filled by current Drake students who were admitted to the pre-pharmacy program as entering freshmen and completed their pre-pharmacy coursework at Drake.  These students received a guarantee of a place in the professional program if they met the established, rigorous criteria. Due to this guarantee, the College has a limited number of openings to offer admission to those students who are transferring into the professional program from other institutions.  Listed below is information regarding the applicant and admitted student pool for the previous few entering PharmD classes:

Applicants:  572

Admitted students:  120

Average GPA:  3.7

Average PCAT:  93rd percentile

GPA range:  3.30-3.98

PCAT range:  83th-98th percentile

Important Information:  It is expected that the pool will continue to be competitive for the PharmD class entering Drake in the 2009 - 2010 academic year and that we will have approximately 10-20 openings for this class. In order for an application to be considered and the applicant to receive an invitation to interview and Application Timeline.


Application Timeline:

Fall semester:  Drake recommends that students complete the PharmCAS application at http://www.pharmcas.org/.

Fall:  Transfer applicants must take the PCAT before the December 1st deadline.  December 1st: Application Deadline.  The PharmCAS application must be complete by December 1, which includes submission of all offical transcripts to PharmCAS. The supplemental form must also be filled out which is available on the Drake College of Pharmacy Website. Students will not be able to submit their applications either to PharmCAS or to Drake after this date. 

March 1:  Priority deadline for financial aid consideration.  All students, regardless of their admission status, should submit the FAFSA by this priority deadline. (Drake's Title IV Code: 001860)

Beginning March through April:  Admission decisions will be communicated to applicants.

May 1:  Deadline for tuition deposits to be submitted for students who have been admitted and received their financial aid package.

Transfer Equivalency Guides

The Office of Admission has provided us with several transfer course equivalency guides available to assist prospective students.  Please click here for a list of those schools. 

Disclaimer

None of the information provided by the College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences constitutes a contract between the University and the student.  The College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences reserves the right to make changes in curricula, admission policies, procedures, tuition and financial aid, academic standards and guidelines, student services and other regulations or policies without giving prior notice.

edited by dtd 7/24/07

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