Each College of Pharmacy has a unique list of prerequisites that are available at the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy website. Typical courses include: general chemistry, organic chemistry, general biology, anatomy and physiology, calculus (for science majors), English, statistics, speech, economics and humanities courses. Pre-pharmacy students are also encouraged to study business, accounting, management, human resources and government, because of the large retail pharmacy sector.
Admissions committees look for applicants for college pharmacy programs who achieve a high grade point average in the prerequisites, but they also want a breadth of experience or interests in subjects that mirror the many pharmaceutical careers.
There are many non-scientific majors that can help students applying to pharmacy programs to be successful applicants. Examples include business, marketing, human resource development, quality assurance and management. These educational backgrounds as well as the prerequisite science courses also contribute to students successfully entering pharmaceutical programs.
Majors in biology, chemistry, physics, computer science, mathematics and statistics, genetics and psychology can be advantageous for students interested in researching and developing new pharmaceutical products, especially in the treatment of genetic or psychological diseases.
These majors are also helpful to students who wish to conduct pharmaceutical research or work in industry to successfully bring new products to market.