About The Program

The UCSF School of Pharmacy offers the top-ranked Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) program in the United States. Our faculty members are known worldwide as leaders in pharmacy professional education and research. We, in turn, educate our PharmD students to be leaders and innovators in pharmacy practice, policy, and science. We teach them to be lifelong experts in the safe and effective use of medicines and to be effective members of health care teams alongside physicians, nurses, and others. Because of the severe pharmacist shortage and the quality of our program, the expertise of our graduates is highly prized.

About the curriculum

Our PharmD curriculum consists of 4 years of full-time study for select applicants who have completed appropriate prerequisites and met our admissions requirements. All students take a required core curriculum and select an emphasis in one of 3 pathways -- pharmaceutical care, pharmaceutical health policy and management, or pharmaceutical sciences.

• The Pharmaceutical Care Pathway prepares students to use their clinical knowledge and skills to manage drug therapy for patients with acute and chronic diseases, work with health care teams to provide cost-effective care, and provide medication consultation to families and caregivers.
• The Pharmaceutical Health Policy and Management Pathway is designed to prepare students to conduct health services research and to be decisionmakers on health policies and processes for drug use in the private and public sectors.
• The Pharmaceutical Sciences Pathway offers a unique and innovative curriculum designed for students interested in pharmaceutical research within academia, industry, or governmental agencies.

After graduating

All students are eligible for licensure as a registered pharmacist upon graduation and more than 99% pass the licensure examinations. The highly personal and individual attention we offer our students has resulted in exceptional retention and graduation rates. About 60% to 70% of our students pursue, and are highly competitive for, postgraduate training or education in the form of residencies, fellowships, or advanced degrees. Out of a pool of more than 1,500 applicants, we admit 122 students each year.