Fact Sheets

Pre-Pharmacy @ MSUM 

About 80 Pharmacy schools in the United States provide doctorate degrees in pharmacy, including NorthDakota State University, theUniversity of Minnesota, theUniversity of Wisconsin, and South Dakota State University. The program at MSUM preparesyou for admission to pharmacyschools by providing a range ofcourses in the areas of science(chemistry, biology, calculus, physics), microeconomics, communication (speech, composition), andhumanities (sociology, psychology, etc.).

How Long Does the Whole Pharmacy Education Experience Take?
MSUM’s pre-pharmacy program will prepare you for pharmacy school after three years at MSUM. Somestudents are able to complete the pre-pharmacy requirements in only two years. Once in pharmacyschool, it takes an additional four years, the first three involving classwork and the last year involvingclinical experience. The combination of two to three years of pre-pharmacy and four years in pharmacyschool means you can get a doctorate in only six or seven years total, perhaps the shortest doctoraldegree around! Some students stay for four years at MSUM to get a degree prior to moving on topharmacy school.

What Do I Need to Get Into Pharmacy School?
The average GPA for admission to pharmacy schools is 3.7. Experience is helpful. Leadership inextracurricular activities is also valued. Some pharmacy schools also require the PCAT (PharmacyCollege Admission Test), which is taken during the final pre-pharmacy year (NDSU requires the PCAT,U of M does not). Each specific pharmacy school has its own specific admission requirements, so it ishelpful to decide as soon as possible which pharmacy school you are targeting.  MSUM has detailedtransfer agreements with area schools (NDSU and U of M), so preparing for them is straightforward. Mostother pharmacy schools have similar requirements satisfied by the MSUM pre-pharmacy program.

Human Anatomy Lab
Pre-pharmacy students are required to take a human anatomy course that examines the anatomicalstructure of the human body, including cadaver dissection. This course provides undergraduate studentsa valuable first-hand review of the human body, as well as personal attention in cadaver dissection.

Decision-Making Flexibility
The courses that you will take in the pre-pharmacy program are very similar, especially in the first twoyears, to the classes taken by chemistry majors, biology majors, and students preparing for otherprofessional programs in the health sciences (pre-medicine, pre-dentistry, pre-chiropractic,pre-optometry, etc.). Thus it is very easy to switch to a different program, for whatever reason, afterbeginning the pre-pharmacy program.

Career Opportunities
About 60 percent of U.S. pharmacists work in drugstores, about 20 percent in hospital settings, and theremaining 20 percent in a variety of positions including research, pharmaceuticals development, sales,management, and business. With the aging population and the explosion of new and more effective drugsbeing developed by pharmaceutical companies, it is estimated that in the year 2005, four billionprescriptions will be filled by retail pharmacy—up from 2.78 billion in 1998. The demand for pharmacistscontinues to grow and careers in pharmacy are available in virtually every city and state in the country.Wherever you want to live, big city or in a rural area, there will be a pharmacy job available near you. Thenational shortage of pharmacists is shared in both Minnesota and North Dakota, so jobs are easy to find.The average starting salary for beginning pharmacists in Minnesota exceeds $70,000. Careers inpharmacy are frequently characterized by controlled hours that are family and lifestyle friendly. Theshortage of pharmacists also provides possibilities for part-time work during certain stages of life.For more information on pre-pharmacy, contact Dr. Craig Jasperse in the Department of Chemistry,Minnesota State University Moorhead, Moorhead, MN 56563.