Admissions requirements and standards are designed to ensure scholastic success in the professional Pharm.D. program. Selecting a candidate for the future practice of pharmacy involved many important factors, including academic background, PCAT scores, letters of reference and pharmacy experience. A qualified applicant will be invited to visit the College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences for a required personal interview.

Admission to the four-year Doctor of Pharmacy degree program requires two years of pre-professional education at an accredited college or university in the United States. Each applicant must complete a minimum of 90 semester hours of college credit. Application can be made after the completion of 60 semester (90 quarter) hours of college coursework.

The minimum specific pre-pharmacy course requirements are as follows:

Required Courses

General Chemistry (two courses with labs)

Organic Chemistry (two courses with labs)

Biochemistry (one course, lab optional)

General Biology (two courses with labs)

Anatomy (or A&P I, one course with lab)

Physiology (or A&P II, one course with lab)

Microbiology (one course with lab)

Physics (one course with lab)

Calculus (one course)

Statistics (one course)

English Composition (two courses)

Speech (one course)

Economics (one course)

Humanities Electives (two courses)

Social/Behavioral Science Electives (two courses)

Other Electives to total 90 semester hours

Important Notes about the Pre-Pharmacy Requirements:

• Grades below "C" cannot be accepted toward completion of these requirements.

• Course guides are available for a number of colleges/universities. If you do not see your college/university listed on our Course Guide list, please let us know by emailing pharmd@mercer.edu.

• All science courses (except Biochemistry), must include a laboratory with each lecture and must be majors courses. Non-majors courses will not fulfill the requirement.

• General Biology courses can be fulfilled with courses in genetics, cellular biology, molecular biology, developmental biology, or zoology.

• English Composition requirements can be fulfilled with courses designated as Writing Intensive.

• The speech requirement should be fulfilled with a public speaking course.

• The economics requirement must be fulfilled with either a macroeconomics or microeconomics course. Applicants are strongly encouraged to take both macroeconomics and microeconomics courses (at least one course is required).

• Humanities courses may be chosen from one or more of these areas: art, foreign language, history, literature, music, philosophy, religion, or theatre.

• Social / Behavioral Science electives may be chosen from one or more of the following areas: accounting, anthropology, business, computer science, economics, geography, health, history, management, political science, psychology, sociology, or statistics.

• No credit will be accepted for military science or physical education courses.

• All pre-pharmacy course requirements must be satisfied prior to matriculation.

• Applicants are encouraged to take the following courses to further prepare them for the Doctor of Pharmacy Program:

  Recommended Courses

  Behavioral Psychology

  Ethics

  Genetics

  Immunology

  Medical Microbiology

  Medical Terminology

Additionally..

• All applicants must have a minimum of two letters of reference submitted through the PharmCAS Electronic Letters of Reference (eLOR) system.

• All applicants are required to take the Pharmacy College Admissions Test (PCAT) and must have their scores sent to PharmCAS (school code 104).

• Prospective pharmacy students are strongly encouraged to obtain work experience in a pharmacy. An example of appropriate experience is as a pharmacy technician in either a hospital or community pharmacy.

• Grades for all undergraduate coursework attempted are included in the calculation of the overall undergraduate GPA. This is the primary GPA used in the admissions process. The completive grade point average and PCAT score in order to qualify for a required personal interview will be determined by the overall strength of the applicant pool.

• Personal interviews for the next entering class begin in September. Throughout the duration of the interview process, applicants are accepted to the Doctor of Pharmacy program on a continual basis until the class has been filled; an alternate list will then be established. Due to the large number of applicants and limited number of positions available, acceptance is selective.