With an enrollment of 1,600, the Albany College of Pharmacy (achphs.edu) in the New York state capital offers both bachelors' programs and the PharmD degree. Admission standards are high, with accepted students averaging a 3.7 high-school GPA. Tuition costs more than $20,000 a year, as of 2011.
Located in northeastern Pennsylvania, Wilkes University (wilkes.edu) has fewer than 3,000 full-time students and offers a variety of majors including pharmacy. About three-quarters of all students who apply to Wilkes are accepted for admission. Tuition rates are higher than $25,000 per year.
Loma Linda University (llu.edu) is a Seventh Day Adventist college near Riverside, California. It has an enrollment of just over 4,000 full-time and part-time students. The school offers a variety of health-related degrees and also participates in outreach programs focused on its local community and the world. These outreach programs allow students the opportunity to gain real-world experience for the duration of their studies.
To obtain a degree in pharmacy you must first go through the necessary preliminary education. This is generally between two and three years long for most students. Upon completion you may get a traditional or non-traditional doctor of pharmacy degree (PharmD) with further schooling. The traditional PharmD degree requires at least two years of preliminary education and then four more years studying pharmacy. Afterwards many students become pharmacists or attend graduate school for pharmacy-related majors such as sciences or management. The non-traditional degree is usually for pharmacists who are already employed and may be offered online. Usually in order to qualify to receive a non-traditional PharmD, you must have already received a bachelors of science in pharmacy.