Questions about 6 year pharmacy

Pre-Pharmacy & Pharmacy School
1

First, I would like to thank you guys for reading my thread. I am a junior who became interested in pharmacy school recently. However, I have NO knowledge of this area so I would like to get some help from people here. My questions are

  1. Whats the pro and con of a 6 year program?
    (I assume that there would be some negative things since it’s shorter)
  2. Where are the top schools and what kind of test scores and act scores do I need?
  3. I am confused on how it works. Is there a undergraduate program for pharmacy school or do you just take certain major related to pharmacy ( biochemistry or chemistry and such) and apply to graduate school for pharmacy? I am confused on the whole process of how it works
  4. I wanted to go to ND for undergraduate. Does notre dame offer any kind of pharmacy program? Or do I just take classes like chemistry and apply to grad school for pharmacy?
2

Hey! I am a graduating senior this year and I am planning on entering the pharmacy track!
I have applied to many schools that have the 6 yr program and I have learned that they are capable of cutting of 2 years by not having the students take many of the courses that are not related to career. I’m guessing you would be taking less of the “general” courses in your first 2 years and focusing more on chem/bio. You would not be able to have a major as you would only be considered an undergraduate for 2 years. Once you enter your four years of graduate school you would be solely taking classes related to pharmacy. I live in the Chicago area and have applied to Loyola, UIC, Purdue, and Butler which all have some kind of fast track programs.

Basically doing the fast track program would require you to have a lot more classes at once in your 2 years of undergraduate, but once you transfer to your 4 years of graduate schooling you will be having the same coursework as everyone else( the other students who did the fast track programs and the ones who went the tradition way and are doing 4 years + 4 years) .

3

Pros of 6 years- Guaranteed entry to the professional 4 years; 2 years less of tuition; 2 years more income. Look at the Naplex website for school pass rates to give you an idea of how well the schools you’re interested in do in preparing students for the board exams.