Pre-Pharmacy (2-Year) + PharmD (4-Year)

Overview

Pharmacists serve on the front lines of medicine as a critical component of patients’ health—whether working in the lab, the community, government, or in a clinical setting.

At D’Youville, we know that dedicated undergraduate students want to earn their professional credentials as quickly as possible. That’s why we’ve developed an Early Assurance Program, which allows our pre-pharmacy undergraduates to earn their Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) degree in just six years, unlike traditional programs which can take over 8 years to complete.

During the first two years in the Early Assurance program, you’ll take undergraduate classes (60-61 credits) followed by four years of coursework in D'Youville's ACPE-accredited School of Pharmacy's Doctor of Pharmacy program.

Early Assurance To Direct Admission

About the program

This program gives talented freshmen the advantage of securing a seat in the D’Youville School of Pharmacy’s (DYCSOP) four-year PharmD degree program after completing two years of prerequisite undergraduate course work. The Early Assurance to Direct Admission program offers a significant advantage to those qualifying students by not requiring the PCAT while guaranteeing a seat within the School of Pharmacy.

How to Apply

Admission to the Early Assurance to Direct Admission program is based on D’Youville’s admission criteria for pre-pharmacy: an 85 high school grade point average and 1080 SAT Math and Evidenced Based Reading and Writing (or 21 ACT).

• Apply to D’Youville through Undergraduate Admissions.
• Indicate Bachelor of Science in Pharmaceutical Science, Bachelor of Science in Biology, or Bachelor of Science in Chemistry as your major on your freshman application and also indicate pharmacy as your professional track.
• All qualifying Early Assurance students will be advised by the Office of Admissions and Advisement within the School of Pharmacy.

Program requirements

• The Early Assurance program is restricted to students who enter D’Youville directly from high school.
• All science and math prerequisites are included in the Early Assurance grade point average (GPA), including college courses permitted outside of D'Youville.
• Earn a minimum 3.40 cumulative GPA in all science and math prerequisites by the end of their second and third semesters and maintain this average by the end of their fourth semester.
• Complete all enrolled courses with a grade equal to or greater than C. Repeated grades will not be used in computing the Early Assurance GPA.
• Do not resign from any enrolled course. A grade of “R” on your transcript disqualifies you from Early Assurance.
• Students meeting the above criteria will not be required to take the PCAT.
• Students earning a cumulative GPA between 3.39 and 3.00 in all science and math prerequisites by the end of their second, third or fourth semesters will be required to take the PCAT and score at or above the 50th percentile to maintain their Early Assurance status.
• If a student has a prerequisite Math/Science GPA that is below a 3.0, the student will need to apply via PharmCAS and have a competitive PCAT score. These students will be considered with all other applications received through PharmCAS.

Additional Early Assurance program requirements

Students applying for admission into the Doctor of Pharmacy Program via Early Assurance must comply with the following criteria in order to be eligible.

• All students must submit a PharmCAS application by the fall semester of their sophomore year and designate themselves as Early Decision.
• The D'Youville SOP has established technical standards for Admission, Progression, and Graduation for its PharmD program; Early Assurance students must satisfy said standards.
• All admitted PharmD students must complete a Criminal Background Check from Certiphi.
• All PharmD students must be interviewed in accordance with the American Council for Pharmaceutical Education (ACPE) Guidelines. Written communication skills are also evaluated.

Courses Two-Year Track

Once accepted, Pre-Pharmacy students complete the D'Youville courses listed below. Early Assurance and Earned Early Assurance students need to earn a grade of C or better in each course without repeating any class.

Course Name	Credits
Biology I with Lab*	4
Biology II with Lab*	4
Human Biomedical Science with Lab (200-level or higher or course equivalent)**	4
General Chemistry I with Lab	4
General Chemistry II with Lab	4
Organic Chemistry I with Lab	4
Organic Chemistry II with Lab	4
Physics I with Lab	4
Calculus I	4
Statistics	3-4
English Composition I	3
English Composition II	3
Social Sciences and Humanities***	9
Public Speaking or Communications	3
Economics	3
Total	60-61

* Botany or Zoology with lab and cell biology with lab can satisfy the general biology requirement.

** Two 200-level or higher human biomedical science courses without labs can be substituted for a single human biomedical science with lab. The biomedical science courses that are acceptable include microbiology, anatomy, physiology, cell biology, molecular biology, genetics, and/or pharmacology. Microbiology or anatomy and physiology are recommended.

*** Examples of acceptable social sciences are sociology, psychology, history or political science. Examples of acceptable humanities are ethics, philosophy, fine arts, literature, religious studies, and foreign languages.  

Practice Experience

Experiential education is one of the core elements of D’Youville’s pharmacy program. And while pre-pharmacy students do not begin supervised pharmacy practice experiences until they begin the PharmD program, throughout their studies they receive learning and experience which will help them to excel in their clinical experiences as they move into their PharmD studies.

D’Youville’s pre-pharmacy program emphasizes such vital skills as:

• Critical thinking
• Problem solving
• Communication in both written and oral modes
• Time management
• Organizational competencies

The Office of Experiential Education coordinates and manages all aspects of experiential education for the School of Pharmacy once students begin their graduate studies. From introductory rotations to advanced experiences with innovative and progressive pharmacy practices, the Office of Experiential Education works with students, preceptors, and faculty to ensure a highly successful learning experience.

The Office of Experiential Education is willing and able to place students in rotations in pharmacies anywhere within the U.S. and in several international locations as well. Some international opportunities include Haiti, Uganda, Ecuador, Turks and Caicos, London and China.

International exchange rotations will also be available in Australia, Ireland, England and Puerto Rico in the near future.

Careers

Our program prepares you for general pharmacy practice.