Prerequisites

Course requirements for pharmacy school admissions

The courses listed below are required for entry into the PharmD program; students may choose any major, though it is common to choose a science major that overlaps heavily with the prerequisites. A bachelor's degree is preferred, but not required. Prerequisites must be completed before beginning the PharmD program; they can be planned or in progress while applying to the program. Prerequisite courses must be complete by August 1 of the year in which you begin the program; for example, for Fall 2025 admission, courses must be complete by August 1, 2025. For Fall 2026 admission, courses must be complete by August 1, 2026.

Applicants are responsible for ensuring that they are on track to fulfill prerequisites by using the guides of preapproved courses below, or confirming with admissions staff by obtaining a prerequisite evaluation. See our guides of approved prerequisites below.

Prerequisite coursework

The following courses are required for all applicants.

Prerequisite	Requirement	Details, recommendations and guidelines
General Biology	1 course with lab	If general biology was taken without a lab, a more advanced biology lab may be substituted
Microbiology	1 course	Lab is recommended
Anatomy (human or comparative)	1 course	A full anatomy and physiology (A&P) sequence is required. Institutions offer these courses in a variety of formats. Human-focused courses and courses including labs are recommended but not required. Generally, students fulfill these prerequisites by taking one of the following: A two-semester course sequence including: Anatomy and Physiology I; Anatomy and Physiology II (both courses required)* A two-semester course sequence including: Anatomy; Physiology (both courses required)* A single-semester, combined course covering both anatomy and physiology for the entire body** To ensure coverage of both anatomy and physiology for all systems of the body, students may not “mix and match” courses from the first two bullets *Lecture portion must be a minimum of 4 credits to fulfill these prerequisites with a single-semester course
Physiology (human or comparative)	1 course	See above
Calculus	1 course	College-level calculus, such as Calculus I, Applied Calculus, or Survey of Calculus
Statistics	1 course
General Chemistry with lab	2 courses and 1 lab	Full lab sequence recommended
Organic Chemistry with lab	2 courses and 1 lab	Full lab sequence recommended
Social & Behavioral Sciences OR Humanities	2 courses	May be fulfilled by a variety of courses; recommended courses include economics, sociology, foreign language, history, psychology
Introductory Composition	1 course	May be fulfilled by a college-level composition (writing) course; course must be taken in the English language

The social & behavioral science/humanities and introductory composition prerequisites may be fulfilled with bachelor's degree or associate's degree from a regionally accredited U.S. institution or completion of the Minnesota Transfer Curriculum. Otherwise, applicants must fulfill these prerequisites as listed.

Federal loan limits for PharmD students (professional students) are significantly higher than loan limits for undergraduate students. To borrow at the professional student level, students must have completed at least 72 semester credits prior to beginning the PharmD program.

Prerequisite course requirements

Must be taken at a regionally-accredited university, college, or community college
Must be at least 3 semester credits, taken A-F, and completed with a grade of C- or better
May be satisfied by IB, PSEO, or College in the Schools credit if it appears on a college transcript
May be satisfied by AP exam if you score a 3 or higher, or appears as credit on a college transcript
May be satisfied with online courses if taken for credit at a regionally-accredited university, college, or community college

Pass/fail coursework

Prerequisites may be fulfilled using courses taken on a pass/fail (S/N at UMN) grading scale (with a passing grade) for Spring and Summer semester 2020 courses due to the significant disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Otherwise, students are expected to take prerequisites on an A-F grading scale. Outside of the Spring and Summer 2020 semesters, one prerequisite course may be taken on a pass/fail grading scale; additional pass/fail coursework must be approved. For details or to address a specific situation, please contact pharmacy@umn.edu.

Prerequisite Time Limit

Prerequisites include foundational content necessary for success in the PharmD program. Given the importance of prerequisites as an assessment of academic readiness for the program, applicants whose prerequisites will be more than 7 years old at the time of enrollment are strongly encouraged to seek individual guidance from admissions staff.

International Coursework

International coursework may be used to fulfill the prerequisites. If you took international courses that do not appear on a US transcript, a WES course-by-course transcript evaluation must be submitted as part of your PharmCAS application.

Find out more: international applicants & coursework

Guides of approved prerequisites

Click on the state in which your school is located and use the tabs to find a Guide of Approved Prerequisites for that school. We are unable to provide a guide for every institution, so your school may not be listed. If you cannot find your school and would like to verify courses to meet prerequisites, please submit our Request for Prerequisite Evaluation form. You will need to upload your transcript(s) or WES foreign coursework evaluation, so be sure you have those on hand. Please note that for foreign coursework, the only approved course-by-course foreign transcript evaluation service for applicants is WES. We strongly advise you to order a WES course-by-course evaluation for the purposes of this request for prerequisite evaluation.

If you are an advisor and notice incorrect or out of date information in the prerequisite guide for your institution, please contact our Admissions Coordinator, Cassie Tietz, at cassie@umn.edu.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite coursework

College of Pharmacy

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