In the United States, pharmacy students are required to first finish an undergraduate degree that lasts for two years and is referred to as Pre-Pharmacy or Pre-Pharm before they can enroll in a PharmD program that lasts for either four or three years.
- The course can be taken in a variety of formats depending on the region of the country.
- In many educational institutions, the Pre-Pharmacy coursework and the Pharm.
- D course are merged into a single curriculum that lasts either 5 or 6 years.
- Five-year programs combine the traditional two-year Pre-Pharmacy curriculum with an accelerated, year-round curriculum.
The completion of a six-year degree entails the completion of six traditional academic years; hence, students do not need to attend any necessary classes during the summer months. An undergraduate student may have the opportunity to major or minor in Pre-Pharmacy at colleges that do not offer the combined curriculum described above.
- At colleges and universities where Pre-Pharmacy is not offered as a major or minor in its own right, students typically major in a related science (such as chemistry) with a focus on Pre-Pharmacy.
- This means that the curriculum of their particular major is tailored to help them take the PCAT and get into a pharmacy school.
Pre-pharmacy students at each each college follow a distinctly individualized course of study. A general education program would consist of the following subjects: chemistry, biology or anatomy and physiology, mathematics, English, and a variety of electives.
How long is UCSF PharmD program?
Pre-Pharmacy Program
There are 10 breaks throughout this three-year, year-round PharmD degree program. The majority of the breaks range in duration from one to three weeks, but there is one prolonged break that lasts for five weeks between the first and second years of the program. In contrast, the majority of PharmD programs go for four years and include significantly longer vacations throughout the summer.