Pre-pharmacy Course Requirements

*updated for 2010 application

The USC School of Pharmacy does not require a background check or a drug test for admission to the Doctor of Pharmacy program. However, all admitted students to the Doctor of Pharmacy program are required to be fingerprinted for criminal background checks by the California Board of Pharmacy as a requirement of licensure. Students must obtain a license from the Board of Pharmacy to participate in the clinical portions of the Doctor of Pharmacy Program. In addition, many of the clinical facilities affiliated with USC may require additional background checks and/or drug test for student placements.

A bachelor's degree is required prior to entrance. A minimum of 3.0 cumulative grade point average (on a 4.0 scale) in all college work and pre-pharmacy requirements is required for consideration for an interview. These requirements may be completed at any accredited two-year and four-year college or university. We recommend that most of your pre-pharmacy required courses be taken at 4 year schools. Pre-pharmacy courses taken from vocational or technical schools are not accepted. All pre-pharmacy required courses must be completed before entering Pharm.D. program, with grades of C or higher. Grades of Pass/No Pass or credit will not be accepted (unless a course is offered only on a Pass/No Pass basis). Distance learning or on-line coursework is not accepted.

Pre-pharmacy requirements in the following areas must be repeated if they are 9 years or older at the time the application is submitted: mammalian physiology, microbiology, molecular biology, biochemistry and organic chemistry (full year). These courses must be repeated at a four year college/university.

Required Pre-pharmacy Course List
Mathematics and Physical Sciences
Biological Sciences
Psychology or Sociology
Economics
English and communication
International Course Work

Required Pre-pharmacy Course List
The following prerequisites may be completed as an undergraduate student at any university or two-year community college prior to enrollment in the Pharm.D. program. It is recommended that you take the math and science prerequisites at a four year university or college.

The following requirements are subject to change:

Prerequisites	Semesters/Quarters
Calculus	1/2
Statistics	1/1
General Chemistry w/labs	2/3
Organic Chemistry w/labs	2/3
Physics w/lab	1/2
General Biology w/labs	2/3
Microbiology w/lab	1/1
Mammalian Physiology w/lab	1/1
Molecular or Cell Biology	1/1
Biochemistry	1/1
Psychology or Sociology	1/1
Micro-economics (see below)	1/1

International Applicants:

English	2/3
Communication	1/1

Descriptions of Pre-Pharmacy courses:

Mathematics and Physical Sciences
Only courses designed for science majors are accepted. Science courses (chemistry, biology, physics) designed for non-science majors are not acceptable. It is highly recommended that math and science courses be completed during the regular academic year and not during a summer term.

Calculus: one semester or two quarters. The course should include differential and integral calculus for science majors.

Statistics: one course. Please note that business statistics is not acceptable.

General Chemistry: a one-year course w/labs for science majors. The courses should include inorganic chemistry and qualitative analysis.

Organic Chemistry: a one-year course w/labs for science majors. If the school offers less than a one-year course, the student must complete the second semester at another institution.

Physics: one semester or two quarters w/labs, for science majors. It is recommended that physics courses include thermodynamics and electromagnetism.

Biological Sciences
General Biology: a one-year course for science majors w/labs (excluding courses in human anatomy, human physiology, botany and microbiology). If the school offers less than a one-year course, the student must complete the second semester at another institution.

Microbiology: one course w/lab (fundamentals of microbiology for science majors).

Please note: Microbiology is offered only in the fall at some institutions

Mammalian Physiology: one course w/lab for science majors (excluding plant, cell and marine physiology). Human physiology w/lab is preferred.

Molecular or Cell Biology: one upper division course for science majors.

Biochemistry: one upper division course for science majors.

Psychology or Sociology
One course in general psychology or introductory sociology.

Economics
One course in microeconomics. (macro-economics taken by spring 2009 are acceptable for 2010 applicants)

Additional pre-pharmacy courses for Internationals (Holders of foreign equivalent of US bachelor's degree):

English and communication
A one-year course in English composition (expository writing). One course in interpersonal communication or public speaking. International applicants with a bachelor's degree from a U.S. institution are exempt from these requirements (if taken as part to meet degree requirements).

Completion of all pre-pharmacy requirements provides essential preparation for the rigorous four-year professional curriculum in the School of Pharmacy. Because of scheduling, it may not be possible to arrange all pre-pharmacy requirements into a six-semester or nine-quarter course of study. It is highly recommended that summer sessions be used to meet non-science prerequisites only. Priority is given to those who have completed the math and science requirements at the time of the application and to those applicants who have completed more than the minimum amount of coursework.

Check Course Equivalencies to determine if your course work satisfies our pre-pharmacy requirements. For schools not listed, you may copy and paste the course description and email us (pharmadm@usc.edu) if you have any questions about specific courses.

Transcripts

You must send one official transcript from each higher education institution you have attended (and updated transcripts after each term) to the USC School of Pharmacy (in addition to PharmCAS) at this address:

Office of Admission and Student Affairs
School of Pharmacy
University of Southern California
1985 Zonal Avenue, PSC 206A
Los Angeles, CA 90089-9121

*No cover sheet is required. Transcripts should be sent in as soon as you start your PharmCAS and USC Supplemental applications.

Resum and Recommendations

Your resum and two letters of recommendation are required, at least one letter from a faculty member and the second from a person who can best describe your capabilities and fitness for a pharmacy education and career. Re-applicants only need to send in one new letter of recommendation. Letters of recommendation need to be submitted online with the PharmCAS Application. Your resum can be loaded onto the Supplemental Application under "Employment/Resume". We do not have specific requirements about the the format or style.

International Applicants & Course Work

International applicants are admitted on a seat available basis.

International applicants are required to meet the same admission standards, pre-requisite courses and application procedures as domestic applicants. You will be applying to the same full-time, four-year Pharm.D. program as all other applicants. We do not have a transfer program for anyone with a prior pharmacy background. Applicants who completed pre-pharmacy courses outside of the U.S. are required to submit original foreign transcripts AND a course-by-course foreign transcript evaluation report to the USC School of Pharmacy. You may obtain the evaluations from PharmCAS-approved evaluation services listed on the PharmCAS website.

In addition, holders of international degrees are required to complete the following courses in the USA at an accredited four year degree-granting college or university: Mammalian Physiology, Molecular Biology, Biochemistry and Microbiology. English and communication are required and must also be completed in the USA, but may be completed at a two-year college.

English composition courses taken in a foreign country will be accepted only from countries whose native language is English (e.g., Great Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the British West Indies). Students from any other foreign country must take English courses in the United States.

International applicants are also required to provide proof of ability to pay tuition and living expenses before a formal letter of admission or the forms needed for obtaining a visa will be issued. Each applicant must furnish an original financial guarantee letter from a bank indicating the sponsor's name and address and verifying the availability to cover education-related expenses for a total of at least $80,000. This document must be verified by a bank with a bank seal. Financial guarantee letters must be submitted to USC School of Pharmacy.

For details of University policy on international admission, please see Admission of International Students.

Advanced Placement Examination

The School of Pharmacy Admissions Committee will not accept College Level Examination Program (CLEP) courses. The School of Pharmacy Office of Admission and Student Affairs may consider advanced placement examination credit to holders of bachelor's degrees. The School recommends that students apply AP credit to elective credit for their undergraduate program at their current institution, as opposed to waiving the pre-pharmacy requirements. However, an AP score of 4 or 5 may be used toward the first quarter or semester of a one-year series of pre-pharmacy courses, such as the first quarter or semester of General Biology/Physics/Chemistry, Calculus or English. AP credits may be used to satisfy Economics, Psychology or Statistics. Please submit all Advanced Placement scores or a copy of it to the Office of Admission and Student Affairs.

Entrance Examination

An entrance examination (PCAT) is not required.

Interview Process

The School of Pharmacy Office of Admission uses an interview process to make determinations on admissions. The interview consists of two parts: an oral interview and a writing test. The purpose of the interview is to assess your oral communication skills, writing skills, leadership ability, and your motivation or potential to be a pharmacist. Please click here for interview session dates.