Pharmacy, PharmD

All prospective PharmD program applicants are encouraged to review the PharmD Prerequisites (.pdf).

• High School Student
• Undergraduate Transfer Student

For thorough information about our admission requirements, go to our PharmCAS schoolpage. The PharmCAS schoolpages are helpful to easily compare our admission requirements against those of other PharmD programs.

There are four basic admission requirements for the PharmD program:

1. Complete the required PharmD prerequisite courses

All PharmD prerequisite courses are necessary for admission to the College of Pharmacy. The UHCOP Admissions Committee will look at an applicant’s overall prerequisite GPA, which includes all of the courses on the list. Applicants must receive no less than a “C” (2.0) in all prerequisite courses in order to be considered for admittance.

In addition, the math and science courses from our prerequisite list are averaged, and this number becomes the student’s math and science GPA. Both the prerequisite GPA and math/science GPA are extremely important for the student’s application. Students should plan their course schedule such that they complete the math and science prerequisites no later than the spring semester prior to entry into the program. No math and science courses may be taken the summer prior to beginning the PharmD curriculum. The Admissions Committee must have the math/science GPA to consider for admittance. Non-math/science courses may be taken that summer, however.

Although most students take between 2-3 years to complete the prerequisite courses, the math and science prerequisites must have been taken with the last five years for a student to be competitive in this area.

Other information concerning prerequisites:

• Grades of repeated courses are averaged;
• Although there is no minimum prerequisite GPA, it is preferred that applicants have a 2.50 or higher in their prerequisite and math/science prerequisite GPAs.    
• The average prerequisite GPA for the 2017 entering pharmacy class was 3.52.
• The average math/science prerequisite GPA for the 2017 entering pharmacy class was 3.41.

2. Take the PCAT exam

The Pharmacy College Admissions Test (PCAT) is a required exam for admission to UH College of Pharmacy. Students should take the PCAT during September of the year before they want to start pharmacy school or earlier and have PCAT send their scores directly to PharmCAS.

For the 2018 application cycle, the February 2018 PCAT will be the most recent PCAT scores that will be accepted by the UH College of Pharmacy.

There is no minimum PCAT score, although a composite score of 50% or better is preferred. In addition, it is recommended that students score in the 60% or above range in the science subtests of the PCAT (i.e. Biological Processes, Chemical Processes, Quantitative Reasoning). The average composite PCAT score for the 2017 entering PharmD class was 81%.

3. Obtain three letters of reference

The college requires that students submit 3 letters of reference with their application to PharmCAS:

It is recommended that letters come from the following sources:

• licensed pharmacist practicing or having practiced in the U.S.
• college professor
• employer
• supervisor
• teaching assistant
• pre-health advisor
• faculty advisor

Letters of reference from the following source may be conditionally accepted:

• health care professional

Letters of reference from family or friends are NOT accepted.

We require that the reference fill out the letter of reference forms through PharmCAS. The person may submit an attached letter if he/she chooses.

4. Participate in community service

Volunteer/community service is required for all applicants to the program.

Credit hours required for degree: 212.0

Degree Plan

Note: The following degree plan applies to students entering the Professional Pharmacy Program (PharmD) between Fall 2015 and Fall 2017.

The curriculum for the Doctor of Pharmacy degree includes a minimum of 212 credit hours of college work, 140 credit hours of which must be pharmacy courses or the equivalent. Students with course credit for non-pharmacy courses or pharmacy courses from another college/school of pharmacy similar to those courses in the professional program may be petitioned for equivalency credit. The degree plan for the PharmD program is shown below under the Pharmacy Course of Study.

Electives

Students must complete six hours (a minimum of three elective courses) in pharmacy elective courses. Three of the six pharmacy elective hours may be satisfied by completion of a Selected Topics course (PHAR 5198, 5298, 5398). Any student may participate in a Selected Topics course if he/she is in good academic standing in the College and have approval of a faculty member who will supervise his/her work. Approval is gained through completion of the General Petition form.

To participate in a Selected Topics course, the student must submit a proposal of the work that will be undertaken in this course to the faculty member at the start of the course and must submit a report at the end of the course indicating their accomplishments in the course. Copies of these reports will be placed in the student’s academic files.

Credit Hours

Pharmacy students are required to comply with all changes in the curriculum made subsequent to the year in which they matriculated. Deletions and additions of courses will be of approximately equal credit, so that no student will have an overall appreciable increase of total credits required for graduation.

Hours in Residence

The college requires at least three years in residence in the professional program at the college of pharmacy for graduation. Students transferring from another school or college of pharmacy are required to complete at least 25% of the semester hours of pharmacy and related work in residence at the University of Houston.

For more Information

For more information, please consult the UHCOP PharmD Student Handbook (.pdf).

14.0 Credit Hours

17.0 Credit Hours

14.0 Credit Hours

14.0 Credit Hours

10.0 Credit Hours

13.0 Credit Hours

15.0 Credit Hours

12.0 Credit Hours - Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experience

18.0 or 19.0 Credit Hours - Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experience

12.0 or 13.0 Credit Hours - Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experience

• PHAR 56XX - Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experience VI Credit Hours: 6.0

• PHAR 56XX - Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experience VII Credit Hours: 6.0

15.0 Credit Hours

17.0 Credit Hours

6.0 Credit Hours

15.0 Credit Hours

15.0 Credit Hours

6.0 Credit Hours

• PHAR 52XX - Elective Credit Hours: 2.0
• PHAR 5457 - Institutional Introductive Pharmacy Practice Experience Credit Hours: 4.0

16.0 Credit Hours

15.0 Credit Hours

• PHAR 5161 - Module-related skills lab IV Credit Hours: 1.0
• PHAR 5276 - Law 2 Credit Hours: 2.0
• PHAR 5243 - Complex Problems Credit Hours: 2.0
• PHAR 52XX - Elective Credit Hours: 2.0
• PHAR 52XX - Elective Credit Hours: 2.0
• PHAR 5341 - Integrated Module-Neuro Credit Hours: 3.0
• PHAR 5342 - Integrated Module-Psych Credit Hours: 3.0

12.0 Credit Hours

18.0 Credit Hours

12.0 Credit Hours - Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experience

• PHAR 56XX - Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experience VI Credit Hours: 6.0
• PHAR 56XX - Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experience VII Credit Hours: 6.0

• University of Houston Academic Policies  
• Academic Policies: College of Pharmacy