To become a practicing pharmacist, a license must be obtained. These licenses are granted by the state after the following requirements are satisfactorily met:
- You must have graduated from one of the 82 colleges and schools of pharmacy with programs accredited by the American Council of Pharmaceutical Education.
- You must have participated in an internship under a registered pharmacist.
- You must have completed the national licensing examination with a satisfactory score.
Normal requirements for admission to a graduate program in the pharmaceutical sciences include a B.A. or B.S. from an accredited school and a satisfactory academic record. An undergraduate degree in chemistry, biology, pharmacy, or chemical engineering is great to prepare you for a career in pharmaceutical sciences; however, there is no required undergraduate major for this degree. You should have completed at least a year of organic chemistry, calculus, biology, general chemistry, and physics. It is also highly recommended that the would-be student's background includes biochemistry, statistics, cell biology, physical chemistry, computer science and/or immunology. Under certain circumstances, a deficiency in one certain area may be made up during the student's first year in a program. An undergraduate grade point average of 3.0 or higher is preferred.
