WSU Pre-Pharmacy Program Course Requirements (last updated 09/02/2008)

This program meets the requirements of most pharmacy colleges but especially those of the University of Minnesota (UMN) and the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW). Students planning to attend other schools should consult the pre-pharmacy advisor and respective catalogs and/or web sites. 

In addition to the academic course requirements listed below, pharmacy colleges generally expect at least a semester of experience working in a pharmacy setting (ideally as a pharmacy technician). 

BIOLOGY - 11 s.h. (UMN) or  8 s.h.(UW) 

For the University of Minnesota
BIO 241 Basics of Life (4)
BIO 201 Human Anatomy (4)
BIO 209 Microbiology (3) (Biology 409 may be substituted for 209.)

For the University of Wisconsin-Madison
BIO 241 Basics of Life (4)
BIO 242 Organismal Diversity (4)

CHEMISTRY - 17 s.h.

CHEM 212 Principles of Chemistry I (4)
CHEM 213 Principles of Chemistry II (4)
CHEM 350 Principles of Organic Chemistry I (4)
CHEM 351 Principles of Organic Chemistry II (5)

MATHEMATICS AND PHYSICS- 12 s.h.

MATH 160 Calculus I (4)
PHYS 201 General Physics I (4) (or PHYS 221)
PHYS 202 General Physics II (4) (or PHYS 222)

Students not meeting the prerequisites for   Mathematics 160 have to take additional lower-level math courses.

SOCIAL SCIENCES - 9 s.h.

PSY 210 General Psychology (3)
SOC 150 Human Society (3)
ECON 201 Principles of Microeconomics (3)

LANGUAGE SKILLS - 10 s.h. (UMN) or 4 s.h. (UW) 

For the University of Minnesota
ENG 111 College Reading and Writing (4)
(Students exempted from English 111 must elect higher-level English courses.)
ENG 210 Advanced Expository Writing (3) (or any other 2nd course in English)
COMS 191 Fundamentals of Speech (3)

For the University of Wisconsin-Madison
ENG 111 College Reading and Writing (4)

ELECTIVES-  11 s.h. (UMN) or 12 s.h. (UW)

For the University of Minnesota
Additional electives need to be "non-science, non-mathematics, non-professional" courses. Good choices are courses that build on other required courses in the program, such as ECON 202 or a second psychology course, or overview courses such as Introduction to Music (MUS 109) or Introduction to Art (ART 109). Physical education and music performance courses are not acceptable.

For the University of Wisconsin-Madison
Courses in ethnic studies (3 s.h.), history (2 s.h.), and other humanities (3 s.h.) are recommended to be taken prior to enrollment at UW. Acceptable ethnic studies courses at WSU include POLS 225 and 330, SOC 340 and 423, ENG 220, HIST 235, and COMM 286.