Pharmacy Student Population: Applications Received 2001-02, Degrees Conferred 2001-02, Fall 2002 Enrollments1, The

American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education, 2003 by Patton, Jennifer M, Meyer, Susan M

INTRODUCTION

This report presents data that describe the 2001-02 pharmacy application pool, degrees conferred in 2001-02, and fall 2002 pharmacy program enrollments. Data for this report were requested from the 85 United States colleges and schools of pharmacy recognized by the American Council on Pharmacy Education (ACPE) using five separate survey instruments.

There are two professional education programs at US colleges and schools of pharmacy: one leads to a baccalaureate in pharmacy and the other leads to the doctor of pharmacy (PharmD) degree. For the purpose of this report, students in doctor of pharmacy programs are categorized under "PharmD 1" when the program leads to a doctor of pharmacy degree conferred as the first professional degree. Students who have already received a baccalaureate in pharmacy and are enrolled in a doctor of pharmacy degree program are categorized under "PharmD2". First professional degree enrollments are defined as the number of students enrolled in baccalaureate programs and the number pursuing the doctor of pharmacy as a first professional degree.

The following definitions refer to the race/ethnicity groups as used in this report. White, black or African American, and Hispanic or Latino refer to students of the respective race/ethnicity who are United States citizens or permanent residents of the United States or its territories. The Asian, native Hawaiian, or other Pacific Islander group includes students who are Chinese, Filipino, Hawaiian, Korean, Vietnamese, Japanese, Asian Indian, Guamanian, Samoan, or Pacific Islanders who are US citizens or permanent residents of the United States or its territories. The American Indian or Alaska native classification includes Native Americans, Eskimos, and Aleuts who are United States citizens or permanent residents of the United States or its territories. Students listed under Other are those who are US citizens or permanent residents of the United States or its territories, but for whom race/ethnicity is unknown. Included in Foreign are all students who are foreign, nonpermanent residents of the United States, regardless of race/ethnicity.

2001-02 APPLICATION POOL

The 2001-02 Application Pool Survey was conducted online in October 2002, with an announcement and request for participation sent to the dean at each of the 85 colleges and schools of pharmacy in the United States recognized by ACPE. After follow-up correspondence and telephone calls, all colleges and schools (100%) submitted the requested information. Included in the application pool are students who applied for admission, submitted all required application materials, met other eligibility requirements, and were considered by an admissions committee between September 2001 and August 2002 for the entering class of fall 2002. Numbers reported represent the number of applications, not applicants, and may represent multiple applications submitted by individual applicants.

During the period September 2001 through August 2002, the 85 reporting institutions received 33,379 applications for admission. When compared with entering class enrollment data for fall 2002 at these institutions, the resultant ratio was 3.7 applications received for every one entering student enrolled. The corresponding data for the 82 colleges and schools reporting for the same period in 2000-01 were 26,573 applications received; 3.2 applications for every one entering student enrolled in fall 2001. For the 81 colleges and schools reporting application data for both 2000-01 and 2001-02, there was a 24.6% increase in the number of applications received. This is the second annual increase (9.1% increase in 2000-01) after six consecutive decreases (1.7% decrease in 1999-2000; 11.7% decrease in 1998-99; 10.5% decrease in 1997-98; 13.4% decrease in 1996-97; 1.7% decrease in 1995-96; 2.9% decrease in 1994-95).

In 2001-02, females submitted 61.8% of the applications to pharmacy colleges and schools; males submitted 38.2%. White Americans submitted 49.3% of the applications. Asian Americans submitted 26.6% of the applications. Underrepresented minorities submitted 14.3% of the applications (black, 9.9%; Hispanic, 3.9%; American Indian, 0.5%). Foreign, nonpermanent residents submitted 3.6% of the applications to first professional degree pharmacy programs (Table 1). The majority of applications received by colleges and schools of pharmacy were submitted by in-state residents (61.8%), down from 62.7% in 2000-01.

Twenty-six percent of the applications to first professional degree programs were submitted by individuals who had previously obtained a baccalaureate degree or higher (baccalaureate, 25.3%; master's, 1.0%; doctorate, 0.2%), up slightly from 25.2% the previous year (Table 2). Individuals who had 3 or more years of postsecondary experience submitted 53.6% of the applications to colleges and schools of pharmacy.

2001-02 DEGREES CONFERRED

The 2001-02 Professional Degrees Conferred and Graduate Degrees Conferred surveys were conducted online in October 2002, with an announcement and request for participation sent to the dean at each of the 85 colleges and schools of pharmacy in the United States recognized by ACPE. Submission of the data was requested by December 6, 2002. After follow-up correspondence and telephone calls, a 100% response for each survey was achieved.