Eight Years To Receive a Pharmacy Degree?!?!

College Search & Selection
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<p>Last weekend while at a coffee shop, I struck up a conversation with a pharmacist. He and I graduated from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh and he was wearing a Duquesne tee shirt.</p>

<p>When he said that he was a pharmacist, I asked him when he went to Duquesne, was the pharmacy program five or six years? He said that when he attended Duquesne, the six-year program was in place. When I went to Duquesne back in the Ford and Carter administrations, it was a five-year program leading to a B.S. Pharm degree. It took an additional year to receive a Pharm.D. degree. In the mid-1990s, Duquesne phased out the five-year program in favor of a six-year program.</p>

<p>The pharmacist then threw me for a loop when he said that Ohio State was considering extending its pharmacy program to eight years. Eight years?!?!?! </p>

<p>I know such a thing is possible, but is it probable and feasible? Eight years is an awfully long time to get a career going.</p>

<p>I know you are thinking "what about doctors?" Funny thing, I know doctors who earned their pharmacy degrees as their pre-med studies before entering medical school. Of course that was back in the day when it took only four years to get a pharmacy degree.</p>

<p>By the way, when did pharmacy education go from four to five years? and later from five to six years?</p>

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<p>Pharmacy degrees are professional degrees. There are two routes to get a pharmacy degree in the US: to apply to a six-year program (two years undergrad, four years pharm school) from high school, or apply to a four year program after college. </p>

<p>Many years ago the first professional degree to practice pharmacy was a baccalaureate degree, but I think now many parts of healthcare are upping the prestige factor and making them degrees obtained after college (physical therapy is also another example of this). </p>

<p>Pharmacy is still a much shorter commitment than medical school.</p>

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<p>Yea, tOSU has a Top-5 Pharmacy Program in the country! :)</p>