Pharmacy Doctorate (Pharm.D.) Program
The Pharmacy program encompasses both the basic and clinical sciences and is designed to provide students with the knowledge, skills, and attitudes essential to the practice of pharmacy. Pharmacists work in concert with the patient and other health care providers to promote health and prevent diseases. This is achieved by assessing, monitoring, initiating and modifying patients' medication therapy to achieve optimal therapeutic outcomes.
The pharmacy curriculum consists of a four year professional program leading to the Pharm.D. degree. Students enter the program in pre-pharmacy upon meeting general admission standards of the university and must satisfy all required pre-pharmacy coursework prior to beginning the professional program. Students are admitted to the final four professional years on a competitive basis, and must meet specific admission requirements of the college. The program leads to a Doctor of Pharmacy degree (Pharm.D.). For admission requirements to the professional program, contact the Dean's Office of the college. Students attending other institutions must maintain frequent contact with the college to determine appropriate course work. The pre-pharmacy course work may be completed at other institutions if course work has been submitted for formal NDSU review and determined to be equivalent to NDSU requirements.
The current entry-level Pharm.D. curriculum is designed to produce graduates with the professional competencies necessary to enter pharmacy practice in any setting to ensure optimal medication therapy outcomes and patient safety, and to satisfy the educational requirements for licensure as a pharmacist. The Pharm.D. degree prepares the student to accept positions in community, hospital, managed care, clinical, and industrial pharmacy. Other potential opportunities include administrative positions in pharmaceutical companies and associations. Teaching and research positions in universities and the pharmaceutical industry are excellent opportunities for those with advanced training in pharmacy.
The college is a member of the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy, and is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE).
Major Requirements
Major: Pharmaceutical Sciences
Degree Type: B.S.
Required Degree Credits to Graduate: 148-154
General Education Requirements
| First Year Experience (F): | ||
| PHRM 189 | Skills for Academic Success (Students transferring in 24 or more credits do not need to take PHRM 189.) | 1 |
| Communication (C): | ||
| ENGL 110 | College Composition I | 3 |
| ENGL 120 | College Composition II * 1 | 3 |
| ENGL 324 | Writing in the Sciences | 3 |
| or ENGL 325 | Writing in the Health Professions | |
| COMM 110 | Fundamentals of Public Speaking * | 3 |
| Quantitative Reasoning (R): | ||
| MATH 146 | Applied Calculus I * | 4 |
| Science & Technology (S): | ||
| CHEM 121 | General Chemistry I * | 3 |
| CHEM 121L | General Chemistry I Laboratory | 1 |
| CHEM 122 | General Chemistry II * | 3 |
| PHYS 211 | College Physics I | 3 |
| Humanities & Fine Arts (A): Select from current general education list | 6 | |
| Social & Behavioral Sciences (B): | ||
| COMM 216 | Intercultural Communication * | 3 |
| ECON 201 | Principles of Microeconomics * | 3 |
| Wellness (W): Select from current general education list | 2 | |
| Cultural Diversity (D): | ||
| COMM 216 | Intercultural Communication | 3 |
| Global Perspectives (G): | ||
| ECON 201 | Principles of Microeconomics | 3 |
| Total Credits | 41 | |
Pre-pharmacy Major Requirements
| General Education Requirements | 40 | |
| Pre-Pharmacy Requirements | ||
| BIOC 460 | Foundations of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology I * | 3 |
| BIOC 461 | Foundations of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology II | 3 |
| BIOL 150 & 150L | General Biology I and General Biology I Laboratory * | 4 |
| BIOL 220 & 220L | Human Anatomy and Physiology I and Human Anatomy and Physiology I Laboratory * | 4 |
| BIOL 221 & 221L | Human Anatomy and Physiology II and Human Anatomy and Physiology II Laboratory | 4 |
| CHEM 122L | General Chemistry II Laboratory | 1 |
| CHEM 341 | Organic Chemistry I * | 3 |
| CHEM 341L | Organic Chemistry I Laboratory | 1 |
| CHEM 342 | Organic Chemistry II * | 3 |
| MICR 202 & 202L | Introductory Microbiology and Introductory Microbiology Lab * | 3-5 |
| or MICR 350 & 350L | General Microbiology and General Microbiology Lab | |
| MICR 460 | Pathogenic Microbiology | 3 |
| STAT 330 | Introductory Statistics * | 3 |
| Professional Years 1 & 2 | 72-76 | |
| Total Credits | 148-154 | |
| * | Selected core courses will be used for selection criteria to determine GPA used in calculation for admission to the professional program. These courses must show evidence of letter grade, or other means of demonstrating acceptable competency (i.e. AP – CEEB) and MUST be completed by the end of fall semester prior to the December 31 deadline to apply to the pharmacy program. Remaining courses, which are required and listed in the pre-pharmacy curriculum, MUST be completed by the end of spring term. The only exception to this is that up to six credits of electives may be completed during the summer term. |
| 1 | Students with composite ACT scores of 20 or lower must register for English 100 and 110 Fall Semester and take Engl 120 Spring Semester. Students who complete English 120 with a “C” or higher will receive credit for English 110 with a passing grade (P). |
Pre-Professional Requirements and Notes
- All courses listed for pre-pharmacy must be complete in order to apply for the professional program in the last spring semester in which pre-requisite courses are taken.
Degree Requirements and Notes
- All required courses must be completed with a grade of ‘C’ or above.
- All students must maintain a semester GPA of 2.0 or above for each semester in the College. A student who fails to meet this standard for two successive or three non-successive semesters may be terminated from enrollment in the College of PNAS.
NOTE: Student admitted to the Pharm.D. program will earn a Bachelor of Science Degree with a major in Pharmaceutical Science with successful completion of all courses through the second year of the professional Pharm.D. program.
Major Requirements
Major: Doctor of Pharmacy
Degree Type: Pharm.D.
Required Degree Credits to Graduate: 142
Professional Pharm.D. Requirements
The following professional Pharm.D. requirements that follow may be subject to change. Students should follow the curricula developed by the department and any changes that occur during the professional program will be communicated to the student by the department.
| P1 First Year Professional | ||
| MICR 470 | Basic Immunology | 3 |
| PSCI 368 | Pharmaceutics I | 3 |
| PSCI 369 | Pharmaceutics II | 2 |
| PSCI 410 | Pharmaceutical Biotechnology | 2 |
| PSCI 411 | Principles of Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacodynamics | 3 |
| PSCI 412 | Chemotherapeutic/Infectious Disease Pharmacodynamics | 3 |
| PSCI 470 | Pharmaceutics III:Pharmacokinetics | 3 |
| PHRM 340 | Pathophysiology I | 4 |
| PHRM 341 | Pathophysiology II | 4 |
| PHRM 350 | Introduction to Pharmacy Practice | 2 |
| PHRM 351 | Pharmaceutical Care I | 1 |
| PHRM 351L | Pharmaceutical Care Laboratory I | 1 |
| PHRM 352 | Introduction to Health Care Systems | 2 |
| PHRM 355 | Introductory Pharmacy Practice Experience I: Introduction to Institutional Pharmacy Practice | 3 |
| P2 Second Year Professional | ||
| PSCI 413 | Endocrine/Respiratory/GI Pharmacodynamics | 3 |
| PSCI 414 | Cardiovascular Pharmacodynamics | 3 |
| PSCI 415 | Neuropsychiatry Pharmacodynamics | 3 |
| PSCI 417 | Pharmacogenomics | 2 |
| PHRM 450 | Self Care | 3 |
| PHRM 452 | Pharmaceutical Care II | 1 |
| PHRM 452L | Pharmaceutical Care Laboratory II | 1 |
| PHRM 455 | Introductory Pharmacy Practice Experience II: Introduction to Community Based Patient Care | 3 |
| PHRM 480 | Drug Literature Evaluation | 3 |
| PHRM 499 | Special Topics | 1-5 |
| PHRM 532 | Infectious Disease | 3 |
| PHRM 534 | Rheumatology/Endocrinology/Gastrointestinal | 3 |
| PHRM 535 | PTDI:Neoplastic Diseases | 3 |
| PHRM 538 | PTDI: Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Diseases | 4 |
| P3 Third Year Professional | ||
| PHRM 475 | Pharmacy Practice Management | 3 |
| PHRM 520 | Special Populations | 3 |
| PHRM 536 | Neurology & Psychiatry | 3 |
| PHRM 537 | Renal Disease/Fluid and Electrolytes | 3 |
| PHRM 540 | Public Health for Pharmacists | 3 |
| PHRM 551 | Pharmaceutical Care III | 1 |
| PHRM 551L | Pharmaceutical Care Laboratory III | 1 |
| PHRM 552 | Pharmaceutical Care IV | 1 |
| PHRM 552L | Pharmaceutical Care Laboratory IV/Introductory Pharmacy Practice Experience IV | 1 |
| PHRM 555 | Introductory Pharmacy Practice Experience III | 1 |
| PHRM 560 | Specialty Care Topics | 2 |
| PHRM 570 | Pharmacy Practice Improvement and Project Management | 3 |
| PHRM 572 | Pharmacy Law | 2 |
| PHRM 580 | Pharmacotherapy Capstone | 3 |
| P4 Fourth Year Professional | ||
| PHRM 581 | Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experience I | 9 |
| PHRM 582 | Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experience II | 16 |
| PHRM 583 | Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experience III | 15 |
| Total Credits | 142-146 | |
- To apply to the professional entry-level pharmacy program at NDSU, an application must be submitted on-line to the Dean's Office, Sudro 123, by December 31. A cumulative grade point average of 3.0 or above is required before an applicant will be evaluated. Online application should be available the first week of November.
- The deadline to apply to the pharmacy program is December 31, 2014.
- PCAT: We do require the PCAT (Pharmacy College Admission Test). The College requires that students take the July, September, October, or November 2014 PCAT for students applying for 2015. We will accept PCAT scores from exams taken beginning with June of 2011 (not before). If you are interested in taking a practice test, Test Prep Review is a free service of a nonprofit group of educators. Their website was created to provide free practice test questions for students in a variety of career situations.
- Students not previously enrolled at NDSU must apply both to NDSU and to the College of Pharmacy, Nursing, and Allied Sciences. For an NDSU application, contact the Office of Admissions at 701-231-8643. For International students, contact the Office of International Programs at 701-231-7895.
More information can be found on the college website .
