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Prerequisites

Students are admitted to the School of Pharmacy only after the completion of a minimum of two years of college level prerequisites. The courses listed below may be taken at any accredited college, university or community college with the appropriate curricular offerings. The Admissions Committee strongly recommends completion of science and mathematics courses within the last five years.

Students who have questions about acceptability of their coursework should contact one of our advisors, 206.543.6100 or pharminf@u.washington.edu. Students who have not completed the prerequisites may apply, provided they will complete any remaining prerequisites by the end of Spring Term. 

Community college students may refer to the UW Transfer Guide for more information on how courses taken at community colleges in the state of Washington transfer to the University of Washington.

NOTE: The Admissions Committee highly recommends that sequence courses (General Biology, General Chemistry, Organic Chemistry) be completed at one institution. You may take your prerequisites at different schools, however, you need to be careful with sequence courses, e.g., biology, general chemistry, organic chemistry. If you begin a science series at one school and finish at another, it is possible that all of the required components of the course descriptions may not be met with the result of not satisfying the pre-requisite.

For applicants applying for Fall of 2011, 5 quarter credits or 3 semester credits of Microeconomics will be required.

Although not required, the Admissions Committee recommends completion of one semester or two quarters of Biochemistry.

For a course description, click on the course name.

Prerequisites

Quarter School

Semester School

General Biology with labs

15 credits

8 credits

General Chemistry with labs

15 credits

8 credits

Organic Chemistry with labs

15 credits

8 credits

English Composition*

10 credits

6-8 credits

Calculus

4-5 credits

3-4 credits

Statistics

4-5 credits

3-4 credits

Microbiology with lab

5 credits

4 credits

Interpersonal Communications/
Public Speaking*

3-5 credits

3-4 credits

Additional Humanities Electives*

5-7 credits

4-5 credits

Social Science Electives

10 credits

7-8 credits

Total Credits**

90 credits

60 credits

**The total credits must equal or exceed this amount.

• *A total of 10 credits of Humanities, including Interpersonal Communications/Public Speaking is required.

• Require a minimum of 60 Semester or 90 Quarter college-level credits, to be completed by the end of the Spring term prior to admission

• All science courses must include labs

• Students who have not completed prerequisites may apply, provided they complete any remaining prerequisites by the end of Spring Term prior to program entry

• English Composition requirements may be met in ONE of the following ways:

  1. Completion of two English Composition courses OR
  2. Completion of one English Composition course and two Writing – Intensive courses OR
  3. Bachelor of Science or Bachelor of Arts degree from a college or university in the United States

• Please note that we will accept courses worth different numbers of credits if the course descriptions are equivalent to those listed on our website.

• Additional recommended courses include Cell and Molecular Biology, and ethics.

©2004-2006 University of Washington School of Pharmacy
Academic & Student Programs Office
H-362 Health Sciences, Box 357631, Seattle, WA 98195-7631
phone 206.543.6100 || fax 206.616.2740 || email pharminf@u.washington.edu
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Last updated: August 31, 2009
Information subject to change