Information for International Applicants

If you are not a United States citizen or permanent resident as of the November 1, 2010 deadline, you are classified as an international applicant and must follow the steps below to successfully complete our application process.

If you are unsure about your United States residency status as of November 1, 2010, contact the U.S. Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services.

A. There are no exceptions to these policies.

If you are unable to meet all of the requirements as outlined below, or if you are unable to submit the required documentation by the November 1, 2010 deadline, your application will be canceled. We cannot make any exceptions to these policies.

B. No advanced standing.

We do not offer advanced standing regardless of academic background or prior training. If offered admission, you must complete the entire 4-year, full-time program. No credit from other pharmacy degree programs (US or non-US) is granted toward fulfilling the degree requirements.

C. You must meet our admissions requirements.

You must meet all of our admissions requirements. In particular:

Minimum GPA of 2.80
You must have a minimum GPA of 2.80. For details, see Grade Point Average Requirement.
Academic Prerequisites
You must demonstrate the ability to complete all of our academic prerequisites prior to September 1 of the year of entry into the program. Our academic prerequisites can only be fulfilled through course work approved by the Office of Student & Curricular Affairs. See Verifying Your Prerequisite Course Work from a Foreign College or University, and:
1. Pay special attention to the documentation required for this process.
2. Begin gathering this information as early as possible, since it can take some time to obtain the necessary materials.
3. Pay particular attention to the English prerequisites which can only be met through course work taken at a United States institution.

D. If offered admission, you must provide proof of your ability to meet the costs of the program.

International applicants are not eligible to apply for financial aid. And, unfortunately, the School of Pharmacy does not have funding packages to offer students. Consequently, if offered admission, you must provide proof of your ability to meet the costs of the entire 4-year course of study and all living expenses before the offer can be finalized.

Fees & Cost of Living
To learn more about current fees and cost of living allowances, see School of Pharmacy Fees and The Student Budget. However, all program fees and tuition are subject to change.
Confidential Financial Statement
If offered admission, you must document your ability to cover the costs of the program through personal savings, scholarships, or grants that you have been awarded, and/or sponsorship by a family member or government. This Confidential Financial Statement will be sent to you in the summer. The I-20 form (required to obtain your student visa) cannot be issued until your ability to cover the costs of study has been documented and verified by the UCSF office of Services to International Students and Scholars.

E. Academic Records

You must be able to provide official copies of your academic records to UCSF. These include transcripts (aka marks reports), degree certificates, and other academic documents.

Deadline: These copies must be provided according to our specifications and postmarked on or before November 1, 2010. If the postmark is on or after the following day, it will not be considered, and your application will be canceled.

Since gathering these materials can be a time-consuming process, we strongly recommend that you begin this process as early as possible.

Guidelines for Submitting Academic Records

You must submit records for all schools you have attended: Failure to report all academic institutions attended in both the PharmCAS application and the UCSF Supplemental application is grounds for the immediate cancellation of your application and/or withdrawal of any admission offers that may have been made. If discovery of unlisted enrollment is made after a student matriculates, the student is subject to dismissal from the university.
The type of record determines where it should be sent:
1. Official copies of transcripts for all college-level work completed at a U.S. institution must be sent to the mailing address for PharmCAS. See the PharmCAS mailing address.
2. Official copies of transcripts (sometimes called "marks reports") for all college-level work from schools outside of the U.S. should be sent from the issuing institution directly to our office at UCSF.
3. If applicable, official copies of degree certificates must also be submitted and should be sent from the issuing institution directly to our office at UCSF.
4. A World Education Services (WES) credential evaluation and course-by-course evaluation should be submitted as part of your Supplemental Application.
We can only accept "official" copies of these documents: To be considered official, documents must be received in an envelope sealed by the issuing institution and must bear all appropriate stamps, seals, chops, signatures, or marks. The documents must also be sent directly from the issuing institution to PharmCAS or to our office at UCSF as described in item 2 above. Documents forwarded by other individuals or submitted by the applicant are not considered official.
Submit English Translations: If the original language of the documents is not English, you must submit official copies, both in the original language and in English. The issuing institution must provide the English translation. Outside translations and translations completed by the applicant are not accepted.
Education Abroad Programs (EAP): If the course work taken outside of the U.S. was part of a formal EAP program administered by a U.S. college or university, you do not have to submit separate transcripts for this course work. You should follow the instructions for submitting transcripts for the PharmCAS application.

The materials outlined above are required by the University to verify your academic record. This verification is a separate requirement from that which determines if you have met our prerequisites with the course work listed in these documents. Additional materials are required to determine if the course work can be applied toward our prerequisites. For details, see Verifying Your Prerequisite Course Work from a Foreign College or University

Outside Evaluations

The School of Pharmacy accepts evaluations only from World Education Services (WES).

At this time evaluations from other services are not accepted, but the School of Pharmacy has initiated contact with other evaluation services and will post updated information as it becomes available.

To request an evaluation, or for questions about procedures, required documents, or costs, contact World Education Services.

Points to consider:

Official Documents Still Required: The WES evaluations cannot be submitted in lieu of official documents.

Applicants must still also submit an official copy of all required materials (in both English and the original language) outlined above.

In the rare situation when it is verified that an official English translation is unobtainable, the translation made by WES may be accepted without an official English translation from the issuing institution. These cases will be reviewed on an individual basis and will not exempt an applicant from any deadlines or minimum eligibility requirements.

WES will provide a copy of the documents evaluated to compare to the official copies submitted as part of the supplemental application packet.
Verifying Academic History: It is necessary to verify the accuracy and authenticity of all applicants' prior academic records in a format that can be used and understood by the admissions review committee. This includes, but is not limited to, a transliteration (word to word translation) of subjects studied, grades awarded, degrees earned, institutions attended, and relative U.S. equivalents. In most cases, submitting the Comprehensive Course-By-Course Report offered by WES will provide this information.
Prerequisite Standing: When reviewing course work to determine if the course work can be applied towards the pharmacy prerequisites, detailed information not available on a transcript or marks report is necessary. The WES Comprehensive Course-By-Course Report will only be able to provide some of these additional details. If you wish to apply this course work towards prerequisites, you must also submit official course descriptions in English along with your supplemental application. At times, additional information, such as course syllabi, may also be required. If this information cannot be provided, the course work in question cannot be used towards fulfilling the prerequisites.

All outside assessments are subject to review and approval by the UCSF School of Pharmacy. This includes, but is not limited to, decisions regarding acceptable credit, prerequisite fulfillment, GPA calculations, degree equivalencies, minimum passing grade levels, etc. The UCSF School of Pharmacy is not obligated to accept the conclusion of any outside evaluation. Furthermore, the above applies only to applications to the PharmD program. Applicants to other programs at UCSF or other University of California campuses must contact the program in question to determine its policy on the evaluation of foreign academic records.

F. Supplemental Application Fee

The Supplemental Application Fee included with your Supplemental Application must include a nonrefundable check or money order for US$80.00 payable to UC REGENTS payable in United States dollars.

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