First Professional Year (P1) Application

Eligibility

Applications for admission into the first professional year (P1) of the Doctor of Pharmacy program will be accepted from students who have completed or plan to complete the prerequisite coursework.

The minimum degree that is required to enter the first professional year of the Doctor of Pharmacy program is a high school diploma/equivalent, in addition to the prerequisite coursework. A bachelor's degree is not required, but may be earned at ACPHS, alongside the PharmD. All prerequisites must be completed at the college/university level and credit awarded from those institutions (such as a dual enrollment course offered in the high school). AP and IB coursework is also allowable.

Application Process

Applications must be submitted online through the Pharmacy College Application Service (PharmCAS).

June 2, 2025 is the final deadline to submit your application for entry in the Fall 2025 semester. However, we do not recommend waiting until that time to submit your application. The Pharmacy Admissions Committee will review applications on a rolling basis as they are submitted, and will invite qualified applicants to proceed to the next step in the process of attending an interview over Zoom. Applicants will then receive their final admissions decision within one to two weeks of the interview.

This application consists of:

• Biographical data
• Post-secondary institutions attended
• Academic course history
• Work experience
• Official transcripts from all accredited U.S. and Canadian institutions attended
• Extracurricular activities
• Personal statement
• PCAT not required
• 2 letters of recommendation

Note: The PCAT is not required and is no longer offered. If you previously took the PCAT and would like your scores to be considered, you may submit them to PharmCAS or ACPHS directly.

Prerequisite Coursework

Required coursework and semester hours for entry into the first professional year of the Doctor of Pharmacy Program is below.

Prerequisites may be outstanding during the application process, provided there is an appropriate amount of time prior to matriculation for the prerequisites to be completed. Only grades of a C or better are permissable to fulfill a prerequisite. If prerequisites are outstanding at the time an acceptance is offered, the acceptance will be considered conditional until the time that a final transcript showing completion of the prerequisite(s) with a grade of a C or better are received.

Students who have completed prerequisite courses, including at least 63 total credits with at least 30 science credits, may defer taking microbiology with lab until after entering P1 of the Doctor of Pharmacy Program. Microbiology with lab is a prerequisite for Immunology, which is currently scheduled for the P2 spring semester. Students may complete Microbiology lecture and lab at ACPHS, or at another accredited institution any time prior to that semester. Students must pass the course at ACPHS or earn a grade of C or better at another institution. Students should consult Program Directors to discuss scheduling options for the course.

No credit will be accepted for grades lower than a “C” or for physical education courses.

*Science courses should be those required by science majors and should include labs

**Public Speaking may be fulfilled with any course with a significant public speaking component as demonstrated by the course syllabus

***Examples of Humanities are English Literature, Composition, U.S. History, Western Civilization, Foreign Language, Philosophy, and cross-disciplinary humanities courses

****Examples of Social Sciences are Psychology, Anthropology, Sociology, and Economics

*****Examples of Liberal Arts electives are Art, Music, Sociology, History, Psychology, Anthropology, Foreign Language, Political Science, Economics and English

Acceptance and Enrollment confirmation to ACPHS

Once a student is notified of acceptance, a non-refundable deposit of 2 payments of $400 (one due within 3 weeks of acceptance, the second due within 3 weeks of the first) along with the signed Enrollment Confirmation Form is required to reserve a place in the incoming class, as long as space remains available. If enrollment exceeds capacity, ACPHS reserves the right to return the admission deposit based on the date received.

Note: Accepted students must submit a Criminal Background Check through Certiphi and pay the associated fee.

Course Waivers for Accepted Students

Students accepted into the Doctor of Pharmacy program at ACPHS are required to take all courses in the program at the College. This requirement may be waived for students with academic credit for biochemistry, molecular biology, and/or immunology courses taken at other academic institutions.

The following must be met for waiver consideration: academic credit must have been earned within the last three years at a regionally accredited institution; a grade of “C” or better was earned in the course; and the course was a 300 level (third year) course. A course must meet all three minimum criteria to be considered, however, final approval is granted after review by ACPHS course faculty. Waiver of one, two, or all three courses will not result in a decreased tuition rate. Requests for waiver should be directed to Katie Palmer, Senior Associate Director, Pharmacy Admissions.

English Proficiency Exams

Applicants who are not U.S. Citizens or U.S. Permanent Residents and do not have at least four years of coursework in which English was the primary language of instruction are required to submit an English proficiency exam.

Options are:

• TOEFL: A minimum score on the TOEFL of 474 paper-based (70% of the maximum score of 677), or 84 Internet-based (70% of the maximum score of 120) must be achieved to be considered for admission.
• Duolingo: A minimum score of 110 is required
• IELTS: A minimum score of 7 is required

Note: Canadian Citizens as exempt from the exams.