Pre-Pharmacy Course Plan

This is a general course plan for students interested in attending pharmacy school and who are completing a biology major. (Pre-pharm students could also complete other majors such as chemistry or neuroscience). This plan is designed so that you can complete the necessary coursework to take the PCAT (pharmacy school entrance exam) in late spring/early summer after your junior year with the goal of entering pharmacy school the fall after graduating from SLU. This plan must be personalized for you through discussions with your advisor, allowing for situations like study abroad or not going to pharmacy school directly after graduating from SLU. The most common pre-pharm prerequisites are italicized; other listed courses are biology major and general graduation requirements. Identify 5-6 programs of interest to you and research their pre-requisite requirements.

First-Year

Fall

General Biology with Lab (Environmental literacy distribution)
General Chemistry with Lab (Natural Science with Lab distribution)
FYP
Intro Psychology (without Lab)

Spring

General Biology with Lab
General Chemistry with Lab
FYS
100 level Sociology course (Social Science distribution)

Sophomore

Fall

Organic Chemistry with Lab
Physics with Lab
English*- writing (Arts distribution)
Statistics (Quantitative reasoning distribution)

Spring

Organic Chemistry with Lab
Physics with Lab
English*- literature: critical reading
Diversity course

Junior

Fall

Anatomy & Physiology I with Lab
Biochemistry
Humanities distribution
Health Coaches**

Spring

Anatomy & Physiology II with Lab
Genetics or Intro to Cell Biology
Diversity course
Health Coaches**

Senior

Fall

Microbiology with Lab
3 courses of your choice ***

Spring

Upper Level Biology with Lab****
3 courses of your choice**

*Two 200-level English courses, one literature and one writing focused, should be taken. Intro to Fiction, Intro to Creative Non-Fiction, and Intro to Poetry are recommended for the writing course, while any 200-level literature course is appropriate. (You do not need to take ENGL 250 for this requirement.)

** The Health Coaches courses are each 0.5 units per semester. If you take this course with the others listed, you will have a total of 3.5 units for each of those semesters. In case it is of interest to you, a student must take at least 4 units to be eligible for the Dean's List. Discuss with your advisor to determine what the best plan is for you.

*** These slots can be filled with courses to complete a minor, conduct an SYE project, or to supplement courses in psychology, sociology, or the sciences.

**** Potential upper level biology with lab course options of interest: Introduction to Neuroscience with Lab, Immunology with Lab, Research Methods in Fluorescent and Confocal Microscopy, Research Methods in Molecular Biology, Research Methods in Cell Biology. One semester of SYE could also complete this Upper Level Biology with Lab slot.