UW-Green Bay offers courses satisfying requirements for admission into a professional program in pharmacy. There are three schools in Wisconsin: UW-Madison, Concordia University, and MCW School of Pharmacy.
The practice of pharmacy is regulated by law and requires that a candidate be a graduate of an accredited professional school, complete an internship and pass a licensure examination. Pharmacy programs grant the degree of doctor of pharmacy, which requires a minimum of six years of postsecondary study. National statistics show most students have at least three years of undergraduate experience prior to entering the four-year course of study.
Advisers from UW-Madison usually visit UW-Green Bay each year to help pre-pharmacy students plan their programs. Admission to the School of Pharmacy is based on completion of prerequisite courses, grade point average, letters of recommendation, and Pharmaceutical College Admissions Test (PCAT) scores. Grade point averages in mathematics and science courses are particularly important.
Licensure involves rigorous requirements, including completion of 1,500 hours of internship to qualify for licensure. Following completion of the internship requirement, prospective pharmacists must pass an examination administered by the Wisconsin Pharmacy Examining Board. Graduates of the UW program pursue careers in community pharmacy, hospital pharmacy, and home care, assisted-living, extended care, and long-term care pharmacy. Other career opportunities include research and discovery in the pharmaceutical industry or education. In addition, studies in pharmacology (concerned with the properties, effects, and mechanisms of the action of drugs, and with the interactions between chemical agents and biological systems) and toxicology, the science of poisons, are available.
For more information about pre-pharmacy studies, contact the Human Biology Department.