Identification of U.S. pharmacy school characteristics that correlate with pre-requisite rigor

BackgroundSpecific pre-requisite course requirements vary widely in pharmacy education from direct-from-high-school admission to requirement for a bachelor’s degree. There is a lack of published studies that have attempted to determine school or university characteristics that may shape the selection of either basic or advanced pre-requisites.MethodsPharmacy schools were grouped by either requirement for at least one selected advanced scientific course or by pre-requisite hour requirements of ≤72h, >72h or a bachelor’s degree. Pre-requisite groupings were then compared to the school’s U.S. News ranking, tuition for the first professional year, incoming class size, public/private status, and university’s offering of at least one other professional doctoral degree program.ResultsTwo characteristics associated with higher science course requirements were the school’s public/private status and in private schools, the presence/absence of another professional school. When grouped by categories of increasing hours, the existence of another professional school was positively associated with increased admission standards (both advanced science courses and hours) at private pharmacy programs.ConclusionThis study indicates that PharmD programs with advanced pre-requisite science requirements tend to be public. In private programs, both lack of requirement for an advanced science course and lower pre-requisite hours were found in institutions lacking additional professional doctoral degree programs.