The Pharmacy Student Population: Applications Received 2009-10, Degrees Conferred 2009-10, Fall 2010 Enrollments

INTRODUCTION

This report presents data that describe the 2009-10 pharmacy application pool, degrees conferred in 2009-10, and fall 2010 pharmacy program enrollments. Data for this report were requested from the one hundred and twenty (120) U.S. colleges and schools of pharmacy recognized by the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE) using five separate survey instruments.

There were previously two professional education programs at U.S. colleges and schools of pharmacy: one leading to a baccalaureate in pharmacy, and the other leading to the doctor of pharmacy (Pharm.D.) degree. However, June 30, 2005 marked the official expiration of the ACPE standards to the baccalaureate in pharmacy (B.S. Pharmacy) degree programs in accordance with the transition to the doctor of pharmacy (Pharm.D.) degree as the sole professional degree program in the U.S. Some colleges and schools of pharmacy conferred degrees in the B.S. Pharmacy program until 2004-05.

For the purpose of this report, students in doctor of pharmacy programs are categorized under Pharm.D.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 Pharm.D.2.

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 U.S. citizens or permanent residents of the U.S. 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 U.S. citizens or permanent residents of the U.S. or its territories. The American Indian or Alaska native classification includes Native Americans, Eskimos, and Aleuts who are U.S. citizens or permanent residents of the U.S. or its territories. Students listed under Other are those who are U.S. citizens or permanent residents of the U.S. or its territories, but for whom race/ethnicity is unknown or are students of two or more races/ethnicities. Included in Foreign are all students who are foreign, nonpermanent residents of the U.S., regardless of race/ethnicity.

2009-10 APPLICATION POOL

The 2009-10 Application Pool Survey was conducted online in October 2010, with an announcement and request for participation sent to the dean at each of the 120 colleges and schools of pharmacy in the U.S. recognized by ACPE. After follow-up correspondence and telephone calls, one hundred and twenty (120) colleges and schools (100.0 percent) submitted the requested information. The Pharmacy College Application Service (PharmCAS) provided application data for the 74 full-participating colleges and schools of pharmacy. Included in the application pool are students who applied for admission and submitted all required application materials between September 2009 and August 2010 for the entering class of fall 2010. Numbers reported represent the number of applications, not applicants, and may represent multiple applications submitted by individual applicants.

During the period September 2009 through August 2010, the 120 reporting institutions received 111,744 applications for admission. The Medical University of South Carolina and the University of South Carolina merged to become the South Carolina College of Pharmacy and only accepted applications to the South Carolina College of Pharmacy. The Medical University of South Carolina is still in the process of phasing out its program. Therefore, 119 of the 120 reporting institutions received applications. When compared with entering class enrollment data for fall 2010 at these institutions, the resultant ratio was 7.7 applications received for every one entering student enrolled. The corresponding data for the 114 colleges and schools reporting for the same period in 2008-09 were 108,396 applications received; 8.1 applications for every one entering student enrolled in fall 2009. For the one hundred and fourteen (114) colleges and schools reporting application data for both 2008-09 and 2009-10, there was a 0.5 percent decrease in the number of applications received.

In 2009-10, females submitted 58.3 percent of the applications to pharmacy colleges and schools; males submitted 39.3 percent; gender unknown/not reported submitted 2.3 percent. White Americans submitted 35.2 percent of the applications, Asian Americans submitted 35.4 percent of the applications, and underrepresented minorities submitted 15.3 percent of the applications (black, 10.5 percent; Hispanic, 4.5 percent; American Indian, 0.3 percent). 4.8 percent of the applications to the Pharm.D. as the first professional degree pharmacy programs were submitted by foreign, nonpermanent residents (Table 1). For the sixth consecutive year, colleges and schools of pharmacy received more applications from out-of-state residents (60.2 percent) compared to 39.8 percent from in-state residents. This increase in out-of-state applicants can be attributed to the ease of applying to colleges and schools of pharmacy in different states through PharmCAS.

Table 1.

Distribution of 2009-2010 Applications by Gender and Race/Ethnicity of Applicant^a

Nearly forty-five percent (44.5 percent) of the applications to the Pharm.D. as the first professional degree programs were submitted by individuals who had previously obtained a baccalaureate degree or higher (baccalaureate, 41.5 percent; master's, 2.7 percent; doctorate, 0.3 percent), up from 29.0 percent the previous year (Table 2). Over 76 percent (76.4 percent) of the applications to colleges and schools of pharmacy were submitted by individuals who had 3 or more years of postsecondary experience.

Table 2.

Distribution of 2009-2010 Applications to First Professional Degree Programs by Gender and Previous Postsecondary Experience of Applicant^a

2009-10 DEGREES CONFERRED

The 2009-10 Professional Degrees Conferred and Graduate Degrees Conferred surveys were conducted online in October 2010, with an announcement and request for participation sent to the dean at each of the 120 colleges and schools of pharmacy in the U.S. recognized by ACPE. Submission of the data was requested by December 2010. After follow-up correspondence and telephone calls, 120 colleges and schools (100.0 percent) submitted the requested information.

Professional Degrees Conferred

Numbers of degrees conferred by U.S. colleges and schools of pharmacy from 1965 to 2010 are presented in Table 3.

Table 3.

Number of Pharmacy Degrees Conferred 1965-2010 by Degree and Gender

First Professional Degrees Conferred. In 2009-10, ninety-nine (99) colleges and schools conferred the doctor of pharmacy as a first professional degree (Pharm.D.1). Graduating Pharm.D.1 class sizes ranged from 24 students to 291 students (median, 107 students). Twenty-one (21) of the 120 colleges and schools of pharmacy did not confer degrees in 2009-10. Most were new programs whose students had not yet progressed through the entire curriculum (Harding, California Northstate, Regis, PCOM-Georgia, Hawaii-Hilo, Chicago State, Sullivan, Husson, New England, Notre Dame, Maryland Eastern Shore, D'Youville, Touro-New York, Northeastern Ohio, Thomas Jefferson, Presbyterian, Belmont, Lipscomb, Union, and Concordia). The Medical University of South Carolina also did not report any degrees conferred.

In 2009-10 there were 11,487 first professional degrees conferred by colleges and schools of pharmacy compared to 10,988 in 2008-09. (Table 4). The total number of first professional degrees conferred in 2009-10 represented a 4.5 percent increase from the total number of first professional degrees conferred in 2008-09 (Table 5).

Table 4.

Baccalaureate and Doctor of Pharmacy (Pharm.D.1) Degrees as Percentages of Total First Professional Degrees Conferred 1981-2010

Table 5.

Annual Percentage Change in Number of Pharmacy Degrees Conferred 1981-2010 Over Previous Year

In 1979-80, men received 59.5 percent of the first professional degrees conferred by colleges and schools of pharmacy and women received 40.5 percent. Over the past 30 years, these percentages have shifted dramatically and, in 2009-10, men received 37.3 percent of the first professional degrees conferred, and 62.7 percent of these degrees were received by women (Table 6).

Table 6.

Percentage of Pharmacy Degrees Conferred 1980-2010 by Gender

White Americans received 59.9 percent of first professional degrees conferred in 2009-10. Underrepresented minorities received 11.2 percent of the first professional degrees conferred in 2009-10 (black, 6.5 percent; Hispanic, 4.3 percent; American Indian, 0.4 percent). Asian Americans received 21.4 percent of the first professional degrees. The percentage of first professional degree recipients who were foreign, nonpermanent residents of the U.S. was 2.3 percent. (Table 7).

Table 7.

Percentage of First Professional Degree (B.S. Pharmacy, B.Pharm., and Pharm.D.1) Recipients 1980-2010 by Race/Ethnicity

Doctor of Pharmacy Degrees Conferred to Postbaccalaureate Students. Twenty-four (24) colleges and schools conferred the Pharm.D. degree to postbaccalaureate students in 2009-10. The number of graduates per institution ranged from 1 to 220 students (median, 11 students). The number of doctor of pharmacy degrees conferred as postbaccalaureate degrees (Pharm.D.2) decreased slightly by 0.2 percent to 527 in 2009-10 from 528 in 2008-09 (Table 5). More women than men received Pharm.D.2 degrees in 2009-10 (women, 63.8 percent; men, 36.2 percent) [Table VI].

White Americans received 36.6 percent of Pharm.D.2 degrees conferred in 2009-10. Underrepresented minorities received 16.8 percent of the Pharm.D.2 degrees conferred (black, 10.1 percent; Hispanic, 6.3 percent; American Indian, 0.4 percent). Asian Americans received 17.3 percent of the Pharm.D.2 degrees conferred in 2009-10. The percentage of Pharm.D.2 degree recipients who were foreign, nonpermanent residents of the U.S. was 17.1 percent, up from 13.4 percent in 2008-09 (Table 8).

Table 8.

Percentage of Postbaccalaureate Doctor of Pharmacy Degree (Pharm.D.2) Recipients 1980-2010 by Race/Ethnicity

Graduate Degrees Conferred

The number of master of science (M.S.) degrees conferred has shown annual fluctuations over the 44 years data have been consistently gathered and reported [Table III]. The number of M.S. degrees conferred increased slightly from 767 in 2008-09 to 773 in 2009-10, a 0.8 percent increase. The number of Ph.D. degrees conferred decreased in 2009-10 to 450 from 458 in 2008-09 (1.7 percent decrease) (Table 5).

The highest percentage of M.S. degrees awarded in 2009-10 (29.1 percent) was in pharmaceutics. The second highest percentage of M.S. degrees was in social and administrative sciences (21.1 percent); followed by other discipline (pharmaceutical and biomedical regulatory affairs, regulatory and quality compliance, quality assurance and regulatory affairs, drug regulatory affairs, biomedical writing/bioinformatics, and health outcomes and policy research) (15.4 percent); pharmacology (14.6 percent); pharmacy practice (13.7 percent); and medicinal chemistry (6.1 percent). The highest number of Ph.D. degrees awarded in 2009-10 was in the discipline of pharmaceutics (37.3 percent). The second highest number was in medicinal chemistry (26.9 percent); followed by pharmacology (17.6 percent); social and administrative sciences (7.8 percent); other discipline (pharmaceutical and biomedical science, biophysics/biomedical and medical informatics, clinical pharmaceutical sciences, and health outcomes and policy research) (6.4 percent); and pharmacy practice (4.0 percent) (Table 9).

Table 9.

Summary of Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy Degrees Conferred 2009-10 by Gender and Discipline

More women than men earned M.S. degrees (women, 55.6 percent; men, 44.4 percent) in 2009-10; however, more men than women earned Ph.D. degrees (women, 46.0 percent; men, 54.0 percent). 2008-09 was the only year that women received more Ph.D. degrees than men. The percentage of women receiving Ph.D. degrees in 2009-10 decreased from 50.2 percent in 2008-09. Despite the decrease from last year, the share of Ph.D. degrees received by women has grown substantially from 18.0 percent in 1979-80 [Table VI]. This increase can be attributed to an increase in the number of foreign females receiving Ph.D. degrees. Black, Hispanic, and American Indian women have a propensity to be underrepresented as Ph.D. recipients. In 2009-10, ten black women, six Hispanic women, and one American Indian woman received Ph.D.s. From 1979-80 to 2009-10, 148 Ph.D. degrees were conferred to black women, 60 to Hispanic women, and 5 to American Indian women. (Table 10).

Table 10.

Number of Doctor of Philosophy Degrees (Ph.D.) Conferred 1980-2010 by Gender and Race/Ethnicity

Underrepresented minorities received 5.7 percent of the M.S. degrees conferred in 2009-10 (black, 2.8 percent; Hispanic, 2.8 percent; American Indian, 0.1 percent), a slight increase from 5.3 percent in 2008-09. Asian Americans received 10.1 percent of the M.S. degrees conferred, down from 11.1 percent in 2008-09. The percentage of M.S. degree recipients who were foreign, nonpermanent residents of the U.S. was 45.9 percent, down from 49.5 percent in 2008-09 (Table 11).

Table 11.

Percentage of Master of Science (M.S.) Degree Recipients 1980-2010 by Race/Ethnicity

Underrepresented minorities earned 4.9 percent of the Ph.D. degrees awarded in 2009-10 (black, 2.9 percent; Hispanic, 1.8 percent; American Indian, 0.2 percent), a decrease from 6.1 percent in 2008-09. Asian Americans earned 10.7 percent of the Ph.D. degrees awarded. The percentage of Ph.D. degree recipients who were foreign, nonpermanent residents of the U.S. was 44.4 percent, down from 46.1 percent in 2008-09 (Table 12).

Table 12.

Percentage of Doctor of Philosophy Degree (Ph.D.) Recipients 1980-2010 by Race/Ethnicity

FALL 2010 ENROLLMENTS

The 2010 Professional Degree Enrollment and Graduate Degree Enrollment Surveys were conducted online in October 2010, with an announcement and request for participation sent to the dean at each of the 120 colleges and schools of pharmacy in the U.S. recognized by ACPE. Submission of the data was requested by December 2010. Follow-up telephone calls were made to non-responding colleges and schools and to those submitting incomplete data. A 99.2 percent response rate for both surveys was achieved.

Professional Degree Programs

Fall 2010 enrollments in the Pharm.D. as the first professional degree programs (n = 56,481) represented a 3.9 percent increase from enrollments in fall 2009 (n = 54,710) (Table 13). In fall 2010, 61.0 percent of the students enrolled in the Pharm.D. as the first professional degree programs were females and 39.0 percent were males (Table 14).

Table 13.

Summary of Enrollments in First Professional Degree Programs 1980-2010

Table 14.

Summary of Enrollments in First Professional Degree Programs by Gender 1980-2010

White Americans composed the majority (56.3 percent) of students enrolled in the Pharm.D. as the first professional degree programs. Asian Americans accounted for 24.0 percent; black Americans, 6.5 percent; Hispanic Americans, 4.2 percent; American Indians, 0.5 percent; and foreign students, 2.7 percent. Nearly six percent (5.8 percent) of enrollees were listed as other/unknown. Enrollments of underrepresented minorities (black, Hispanic, American Indian) as a percentage of total enrollments in the Pharm.D. as the first professional degree programs remained constant from fall 2009 to fall 2010 (11.2 percent in fall 2009 and fall 2010) (Table 15).

Table 15.

Summary of Enrollments in First Professional Degree Programs by Race/Ethnicity 1980-2010

Twenty-seven (27) colleges and schools reported 1,826 students who already held a baccalaureate in pharmacy enrolled in doctor of pharmacy degree programs (Pharm.D.2). This was a decrease of 5.4 percent from fall 2009. White Americans composed 45.6 percent; black Americans accounted for 9.9 percent of these students; Hispanic Americans, 4.3 percent; Asian Americans, 17.3 percent; American Indians, 0.5 percent; other/unknown, 7.5 percent; and foreign students, 15.0 percent.

Graduate Degree Programs

In fall 2010, the discipline of pharmaceutics had the highest number of full-time enrollees at both the M.S. and Ph.D. levels (33.7 percent and 37.4 percent, respectively). At the master's level, 25.8 percent of the students enrolled were in pharmacy practice programs; 20.5 percent in social and administrative sciences programs; 10.4 percent in pharmacology programs; 7.5 percent in medicinal chemistry programs; and 2.1 percent in other discipline (pharmaceutical and biomedical science, bioinformatics/biomedical writing and health outcomes and policy research). At the doctoral level, 26.1 percent of the students were enrolled in medicinal chemistry programs; 18.5 percent in pharmacology programs; 10.1 percent in social and administrative science programs; 5.6 percent in other discipline (biophysics/biomedical and medical informatics, pharmaceutical and biomedical science, clinical pharmaceutical sciences, translational science, and health outcomes and policy research); and 2.4 percent in pharmacy practice (Table 16).

Table 16.

Summary of Master of Science (M.S.) and Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) Fall 2010 Full-Time Enrollments by Gender and Discipline

In fall 2010, more females than males were enrolled full-time in M.S. degree programs (females, 56.0 percent; males, 44.0 percent). Women accounted for 49.7 percent of the students enrolled full-time in Ph.D. programs in 2010, up slightly from 49.5 percent in 2009.

Of the 1,014 students enrolled full-time in M.S. degree programs in fall 2010, 29.0 percent were white Americans. Foreign students were the largest group, accounting for 46.4 percent of the enrollees. Asian Americans accounted for 9.4 percent of the enrollees; Black Americans, 5.3 percent; Hispanic Americans, 4.3 percent; and American Indians, 0.8 percent.

Of the 3,051 students enrolled full-time in Ph.D. degree programs in fall 2010, foreign students were the largest group, accounting for 51.1 percent of the enrollees. Nearly thirty-two percent (31.6 percent) were white Americans. Asian Americans accounted for 7.5 percent of the enrollees; black Americans, 4.9 percent; Hispanic Americans, 2.7 percent; and American Indians, 0.2 percent. Nearly thirty-nine percent (38.6 percent) of full-time and part-time students in Ph.D. programs held a professional pharmacy degree: 8.8 percent of Ph.D. students held a professional pharmacy degree from a U.S. college or school of pharmacy, and 29.8 percent held a pharmacy degree conferred by a non-U.S. institution (Table 17).

Table 17.

Fall 2010 Enrollments in Ph.D. Programs by Type of Enrollment (Full-Time, Part-Time), Discipline, and Source of Previous Degree Earned^a