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Prospective Pharm. D. Student

Pre-pharmacy Requirements

The Pre-Pharmacy Program must be completed before you can begin the professional pharmacy program.

All or part of the program can also be completed at another accredited college or university. If you do this, please consult the James L. Winkle College of Pharmacy (pharmacy@uc.edu) for guidance on what courses to take. You can complete the pre-pharmacy program at any of these University of Cincinnati colleges:

  • McMicken College of Arts and Sciences
  • Raymond Walters College
  • Clermont College

The pre-pharmacy program requires you to complete 82 quarter hours of required courses and at least 18 quarter hours of elective courses. You cannot take any courses on a pass/fail basis, and you must earn a "C" or better in each class. Survey courses, courses listed for non-science majors, and courses in which a grade of "D" was earned are not acceptable for transfer credit. All pre-pharmacy courses must have been completed within the last 7 years. The pre-pharmacy program takes approximately two years to complete.

Pre-Pharmacy Program Required Courses

The following information shows, quarter-by-quarter and year-by-year, the required courses you must complete for the pre-pharmacy program.

If you have completed equivalent courses at another accredited college or university, credits for those courses may be counted toward the pre-pharmacy program. To see if any courses you have taken count toward completion of this program, consult the College of Pharmacy.

Credits from semester schools are transfered to quarter hours as follows:
1 semester hour equals 1.5 quarter hours. Therefore, a 3 semester hour course would transfer as 4.5 quarter hours.

First Year

Aut.
Win.
Spr.

Freshman English (ENGL-101,2,3) *****

3
3

Calculus (MATH-224, 226, 227) *

3
3
3

First Year Chemistry (CHEM-101,2,3)

4
4
4

First Year Chemistry Lab (CHEM-111,2,3)

1
1
1

Biology Lecture (BIOL-101,2,3)

4
4
4

Biology Lab (BIOL-111,2,3)

1
1
1


Second Year

Aut.
Win.
Spr.

Organic Chemistry (CHEM-201,2,3)

3
3
3

Organic Chemistry Lab (CHEM-211,2) **

2
2
 

College Physics (PHYS-101,2,3) ***

4
4
4

College Physics Lab (PHYS-111,2,3)

1
1
1

Statistics (MATH-147)

3
 
 

Microbiology (BIOL-271) ****

 
3

Sophmore English (ENGL-289) *****

 
3

Please check with your academic advisor to determine course availability at your institution.

* The Calculus requirement is usually satisfied by taking one year of a sequenced Calculus course, however the minimum acceptable credit is 5 semester or 9 quarter hours.

** The laboratory requirement in Organic Chemistry can be satisfied by completing a minimum of two quarters of laboratory coursework.

*** Algebra-based Physics.

**** Microbiology may be substituted for Bacteriology.

***** Students applying for the 2009 cycle or later: The University of Cincinnati English requirement has changed to ENGL 101, 102, and 289. Students attending pre-pharmacy programs at other universities are required to have a year of Freshman English or its equivalent..

Elective Courses

To complete the pre-pharmacy program, you must also complete at least 18 quarter hours of elective courses. The 18 hours you take should be distributed as follows:

  • 9 credit hours of Humanities and/or Arts, and
  • 9 credit hours of Behavioral and/or Social Sciences



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The James L. Winkle College of Pharmacy
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136 Health Professions Building
Cincinnati, Ohio 45267-0004
(513) 558-3784 (DRUG)
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