This is an archived copy of the 2016-17 catalog. To access the most recent version of the catalog, please visit http://bulletin.ndsu.edu.

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).

Pre-Pharmacy Requirements

General Education Requirements for Baccalaureate Degree

  • A dynamic list of approved general education courses offered by term is available on the NDSU General Education Requirements website.
  • General education courses may be used to satisfy requirements for both general education and the major, minor, and program emphases, where applicable. Students should carefully review the major, minor, and program emphases requirements for minimum grade restrictions, if applicable.
First Year Experience (F)1
Skills For Academic Success (Also offered with the following prefixes: ABEN, AGRI, BUSN, HD&E, ME, NURS, PHRM)
Communication (C)12
College Composition I
College Composition II
Fundamentals of Public Speaking
Upper Division Writing
Quantitative Reasoning (R) 3
Science and Technology (S) 10
Humanities and Fine Arts (A) 6
Social and Behavioral Sciences (B) 6
Wellness (W) 2
Cultural Diversity (D) *†
Global Perspectives (G) *†
Total Credits40

Major: Pharmaceutical Sciences (includes the requirements for the pre-pharmacy program)

Degree Type: B.S.
Required Degree Credits to Graduate: 122+

General Education Requirements

First Year Experience (F):
ABEN 189/AGRI 189/BUSN 189/HD&E 189/ME 189/NURS 189/PHRM 189/UNIV 189: Skills for Academic Success1
Communication (C):
COMM 110Fundamentals of Public Speaking *3
ENGL 110College Composition I3
ENGL 120College Composition II *3
Upper Level Writing3
Quantitative Reasoning (R): See Pre-Pharmacy Requirements3
Science & Technology (S): See Pre-Pharmacy Requirements10
Humanities & Fine Arts (A): Select from current general education list6
Social & Behavioral Sciences (B): See Pre-Pharmacy Requirements6
Wellness (W): Select from current general education list2
Total Credits40

Pharmaceutical Sciences Major Requirements

 (Includes the requirements for the pre-pharmacy and credit from the P1 & P2 professional program) 
General Education Requirements40
Pre-Pharmacy Requirements
BIOC 460Foundations of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology I *3
BIOC 461Foundations of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology II3
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 (both courses can be used in GE category S) *
4
BIOL 221
221L
Human Anatomy and Physiology II
and Human Anatomy and Physiology II Laboratory (both courses can be used in GE category S)
4
CHEM 121
121L
General Chemistry I
and General Chemistry I Laboratory (both courses can be used in GE category S)
4
CHEM 122
122L
General Chemistry II
and General Chemistry II Laboratory (both courses can be used in GE category S)
4
CHEM 341
341L
Organic Chemistry I
and Organic Chemistry I Laboratory *
4
CHEM 342Organic Chemistry II *3
COMM 216Intercultural Communication (can be used a GE category B)3
ENGL 324Writing in the Sciences (either course can be used in GE category C for UDW)3
or ENGL 325 Writing in the Health Professions
ECON 201Principles of Microeconomics (can be used as GE category B)3
MATH 146Applied Calculus I (can be used for GE category R)4
MICR 202
202L
Introductory Microbiology
and Introductory Microbiology Lab (all courses can be used in GE category S) *
3-5
or MICR 350
350L
General Microbiology
and General Microbiology Lab
MICR 460Pathogenic Microbiology3
PHYS 211College Physics I3
STAT 330Introductory Statistics (can be used for GE category R) *3
Professional Pharmacy P1 & P2 Years69
Total Credits145-147
*

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.

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: 139

Professional Pharm.D. Requirements

The following professional Pharm.D. requirements that follow arebe subject to change per department.  Students follow the curricula developed by the department and any changes that occur while in the professional program will be communicated to the student by the department.

P1 First Year Professional
MICR 470Basic Immunology3
PSCI 367Pharmaceutical Calculations1
PSCI 368Pharmaceutics I3
PSCI 369Pharmaceutics II2
PSCI 410Pharmaceutical Biotechnology2
PSCI 411Principles of Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacodynamics3
PSCI 412Chemotherapeutic/Infectious Disease Pharmacodynamics3
PSCI 470Pharmaceutics III:Pharmacokinetics3
PHRM 340Pathophysiology I4
PHRM 341Pathophysiology II4
PHRM 350Introduction to Pharmacy Practice2
PHRM 351LPharmaceutical Care Laboratory I2
PHRM 352Introduction to Health Care Systems2
P2 Second Year Professional
PSCI 413Endocrine/Respiratory/GI Pharmacodynamics3
PSCI 414Cardiovascular Pharmacodynamics3
PSCI 415Neuropsychiatry Pharmacodynamics3
PSCI 417Pharmacogenomics2
PHRM 450Self Care3
PHRM 452LPharmaceutical Care Laboratory II2
PHRM 480Drug Literature Evaluation3
PHRM 532Infectious Disease3
PHRM 534Rheumatology/Endocrinology/Gastrointestinal3
PHRM 535Neoplastic Disease3
PHRM 538PTDI: Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Diseases4
PNAS 400Interprofessional Health Care Practice3
P3 Third Year Professional
PHRM 475Pharmacy Practice Management3
PHRM 520Special Populations3
PHRM 536Neurology & Psychiatry Pharmacotherapy3
PHRM 537Renal Disease/Fluid and Electrolytes3
PHRM 540Public Health for Pharmacists3
PHRM 551LPharmaceutical Care Laboratory III2
PHRM 552LPharmaceutical Care Laboratory IV/Introductory Pharmacy Practice Experience IV2
PHRM 555Introductory Pharmacy Practice Experience III1
PHRM 560Specialty Care Topics2
PHRM 570Pharmacy Practice Improvement and Project Management3
PHRM 572Pharmacy Law2
PHRM 580Pharmacotherapy Capstone3
P4 Fourth Year Professional
PHRM 581Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experience I10
PHRM 582Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experience II15
PHRM 583Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experience III15
Total Credits139
  • 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, 2015.
  • PCAT: We do require the PCAT (Pharmacy College Admission Test). The College requires that students take either the PCAT in July, September, October or November 2015 for students applying for 2016. We will accept PCAT scores from exams taken back three years (July 2012 to November 2015). 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. Their PCAT practice test, is located at PCAT Practice
  • Students not previously enrolled at NDSU must apply both to NDSU and to the School of Pharmacy within College of Health Professions. 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.