Pharmacy (PharmD) Admission Information for Transfer Students

Drake University considers transfer students for admission only to the professional PharmD program. Students who will have completed approximately 60 semester hours of general education coursework including courses in calculus, general biology, microbiology, inorganic and organic chemistry, statistics, computing, two English composition/intensive writing courses, and public speaking no later than the fall 2007 semester will be considered for admission to the professional program. (Science courses, however, must be completed no later than the end of the spring 2008 term.) Students not able to complete these courses by the fall 2007 semester cannot be considered for admission to the professional program.

Note about foreign educational credentials: Since most foreign degree programs focus on the major area of study and do not contain enough general-education coursework, most students with foreign credentials are not eligible to apply for the professional PharmD program. Students may enroll in subjects missing from the pre-professional curriculum at any accredited institution in order to be considered for admission to the professional PharmD program in a later term.

Students who are eligible to apply for the professional PharmD program must submit their applications only through the Pharmacy College Application Service (PharmCAS) at www.pharmcas.org. This national, centralized service enables students to complete one application and have it sent to multiple professional PharmD programs.

Drake’s PharmCAS application deadline is January 4, 2008. It is very important that students begin the application process well ahead of the deadline. Not only must the application, which asks a number of detailed questions, be submitted by that date, but all official transcripts must reach PharmCAS by that date as well. The supplimental application, fee and an essay are all required. Drake makes the following recommendations for completing the PharmCAS application:

• Begin applying very early, preferably in the fall. PharmCAS suggests that you apply no later than two weeks prior to the deadline. The application can be completed in segments.
• Become familiar with all of the PharmCAS directions. Questions about the application may be directed to PharmCAS at info@pharmcas.org or 1-617-612-2050 (Monday – Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Eastern Time). Questions about Drake’s requirements or program may be directed to Drake’s Office of Admission at admission@drake.edu or 1-800-44-DRAKE, ext. 3181 (or locally at 1-515-271-3181).
• In order to most accurately and efficiently transcribe their complete academic records on the PharmCAS application, Drake strongly suggests that students first obtain their own official transcripts. All courses, whether they are listed with grades, withdrawals, or incompletes, must be listed on the application.
• Gather detailed information about your work experience, extracurricular activities, honors and awards. Dates and actual time spent in each activity will be requested on the PharmCAS application.
• Take the PCAT and have an official score report sent directly to PharmCAS. The PharmCAS code is 104. The score report does not need to be sent to Drake University.
• Visit the pharmacy Web site at www.pharmacy.drake.edu to review the program curriculums and FAQs.
• Note for students with foreign educational credentials: Students must arrange to have official transcripts from all postsecondary institutions attended sent directly to Drake University for evaluation. Drake does not accept evaluation reports sent from evaluation agencies via PharmCAS as official transcripts. Please contact the Office of Admission if you have any questions regarding foreign credentials and note the information provided above on eligibility for the professional PharmD program.

Admission to the professional PharmD program is very competitive. A minimum cumulative grade point average of 3.0 on a 4.0 grading scale from all institutions attended is required for admission consideration. The minimum PCAT score required for consideration is 200, which is approximately at the 50th percentile. There are no exceptions to either the grade point or test score minimum requirement. After a PharmCAS application is sent to the College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences for review, the College will invite qualified candidates to interview and provide a writing sample. Interviews will be conducted on a continuous basis beginning in the fall. Candidates are encouraged to interview on campus if at all possible; if distance issues prohibit a visit to campus, interviews may be arranged off campus. Notification of admission decisions will begin after January 15, 2007, and continue until all seats are filled.

Prerequisites for the Professional Program

To be considered for the professional program, applicants must have completed 60 semester credit hours including the following courses prior to enrollment at Drake:

Course Title	Semester Credit	Course Description and Information	Course Completion
Inorganic (General )Chemistry	8	A complete year course sequence of general or inorganic chemistry and laboratories that fulfill the prerequisite requirements for Organic Chemistry. Other titles - Fundamentals of Chemistry I, II; General Chemistry I, II	Spring prior to enrollment
Organic Chemistry	8	A complete year course sequence of organic chemistry including laboratories	Spring prior to enrollment
Biological Sciences	8	A complete year course sequence in the principles of biology, which include ecology, evolution, anatomy/physiology of animals, cell biology, heredity, biological diversity, and the structure of plants and animals. Follow the recommended biology course sequence for pre-medicine	Spring prior to enrollment
Microbiology	3	A one-semester course (minimum of 3 credits); lab is not required. Structure and function of microorganisms with emphasis on human pathogens. Should be a course intended for healthcare majors	Spring prior to enrollment
Statistics	3	A general one-sememester course that includes discussion of distributions, relationships between variables, design of samples and experiments, probabilities and use probability distributions, significance tests associated with means and proportions, two-way tables, and one-way ANOVA. Business and psychology statistics courses accepted.	Spring prior to enrollment
Calculus	4	Functions; continuity; limits; differentiation; applications of derivatives; definite integrals; techniques of integration; applications of definite integrals; infinite series; plane curves; limits, continuity and differentiation for functions of several variables; multiple integrals. Calculus for the social sciences is not equivalent.	Spring prior to enrollment
English Composition	6	A one-semester composition course plus one semester of an intensive writing course. Other common course titles: Composition I, II.	Summer prior to enrollment
Public Speaking	3	A one-semester course that focuses on public speaking. Other common course titles: Fundamentals of Speaking. Interpersonal speaking courses are not accepted for this requirement.	Summer prior to enrollment
Computer Tools	3	A one-semester course that includes information on Microsoft Access, Front Page, and Excel. Other computer courses are accepted that provide information on these software programs. A course is offered through Drake via the Web each summer.	Summer prior to enrollment