It has been almost 60 years since I pursued a pharmacy degree. That is almost 3 generations ago.  Only one out of 5-6 freshmen declared pharmacy majors at Butler U, made it to graduation, and only ONE out of my class failed to pass the “boards” on the first attempt. Back 10-15 yrs ago, pharmacy schools were getting 5-6 applications for every open pharmacy school slot.

I have heard that pharmacy schools are now accepting 90% of applicants and looking at the graduation rates. It would appear that only 1 out of 2 applications make graduation and 20% – 25% of the grads won’t pass the boards on the first attempt.

Back in the day, the number of pharmacy schools was in the low 80’s, today there are 144 schools. Indiana had 2 pharmacy schools – Butler U & Purdue U and today a third pharmacy school Manchester U.

In the articles below on the percentage of grads that passed the NAPLEX boards on the first attempt. Only Butler U – my alma mater – showed up in the top 12 of the percentage of grads passed on the first attempt.

Will pts benefit from all these changes or end up being more poorly taken care of? Only time will tell.

Pharmacies are struggling to refill their own ranks

https://www.axios.com/2024/02/06/pharmacy-staffing-shortage-burnout

The big picture: There’s been a steady drop in applications to pharmacy schools, falling 64% from nearly 100,000 in 2012 to about 36,000 in 2022, according to the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy.

In 2022, there were 13,323 graduates from four-year pharmacy programs, down from 14,223 the previous year and the largest drop since 1983, per AACP data.

Top 15 pharmacy schools by NAPLEX pass rates

https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/pharmacy/top-15-pharmacy-schools-by-naplex-pass-rates.html

The average all-time pass rate of the North American Pharmacist Licensure Examination was 75.7% in 2023 — a slight increase from the year prior, according to data from the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy.

In 2021, the first-time pass rate was 81.3%, and subsequent years have dropped to about 77%. For all-time passes, 2021 recorded 77.3%, 2022 saw 73.9% and 2023 saw 75.7%.

Top 20 pharmacy schools by NAPLEX pass rates

https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/pharmacy/top-20-pharmacy-schools-by-naplex-passing-rates.html

 

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