Pre-Pharmacy

MajorPharmD
A Pharmacy faculty member and her student work together in a lab.

pre-professional training. professionally equipped.

Butler’s location in the heart of Indiana’s health sciences corridor gives Pharmacy students unparalleled access to some of the region’s best experiential education sites and a multitude of traditional and non-traditional options to explore their interests.

At Butler, pharmacy students attend a Pre-Pharmacy program for two years and then advance into the Professional Pharmacy Program for the next four years, earning the Doctor of Pharmacy as their first degree after completion.

While most students complete our program in six years, students who enter Butler with dual-credit or AP basic science or math courses may complete it in five years, reaching their full earning potential a year earlier.

Pre-Pharmacy

Butler’s unique, highly-selective, two-year Pre-Pharmacy program invests highly in its students, ensuring you will take classes from—and be advised by—pharmacy faculty starting on day one. At the end of the two year, pre-professional stage, you will have a direct pathway into the prestigious Doctor of Pharmacy program, as long as you maintain satisfactory academic progress and complete the Professional Phase admission process. This direct pathway means you’re not competing with your other classmates for a select number of spots in the PharmD program; rather, you’re competing only with yourself to ensure all the admission criteria are met.

Doctor of Pharmacy

Butler’s prestigious four year Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) program will prepare you to be a highly skilled, licensed pharmacy practitioner. During this professional phase of the program, you will be placed in working environments where you will put classroom theories into practice. Students experience two Introductory Pharmacy Practice Experiences during the summers after their first and second professional years. During the fourth and final year of the professional phase, students participate in ten one-month rotations at community pharmacies, hospitals, ambulatory clinic practices, and other nontraditional pharmacy experiences, including clinical and basic research in the laboratory. 

All of this preparation will ensure you’re highly-qualified to practice in a variety of settings, including community pharmacies, hospitals, long-term care centers, home healthcare, the pharmaceutical industry, and more.

Program Information

Curriculum (Pre-Pharmacy)

Sample courses in the Pre-Pharmacy program could include:

  • PX 100 – Exploring Pharmacy
  • BI 105 – Introductory Cell Biology
  • MA 106 – Calculus and Analytic Geometry
  • PX 201 – The Science of Pharmacy
  • PX 327 – Human Anatomy and Physiology
  • BI 325 – Principles of Pathogenic Microbiology
  • CH 351 – Organic Chemistry

See all Pharmacy curriculum information

Curriculum (PharmD)

Sample courses in the Pharmacy program could include:

  • RX 312 – Clinical Biochemistry & Metabolism
  • RX 361 – Approval to Administration: How Drugs Get To Patients
  • RX 416 – Self-Care and Health Promotion
  • RX 412 – Principles of Drug Action
  • RX 432 – Entrepreneurship, Leadership, and Management
  • RX 526 – Pharmacy, Policy and the Law

See all Pharmacy curriculum information

Concentrations (PharmD)
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Medical Spanish
  • Patient Care Research
  • Pharmaceutical Sciences Research

Why choose Butler for Pharmacy?

94%
Butler NAPLEX Pass Rate
2020–2022
87%
State NAPLEX Pass Rate
2020–2022
83%
National NAPLEX Pass Rate
2020–2022

Learning Outcomes

Students successfully completing the Pharmacy program will be able to:

Acquire knowledge and apply rational decision-making and problem-solving skills.

Function as an effective communicator and educator.

Demonstrate the principles of practice.

Emulate the principles of professionalism.

MEET YOUR FACULTY

View All Faculty
Headshot of Jarrett Amsden
Jarrett Amsden
Associate Professor – Pharmacy Practice
College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences
I graduated from West Virginia University School of Pharmacy in 2001. I completed a PGY-1 Residency at Palmetto Richland Memorial Hospital in Columbia SC in 2002. I completed a PGY-2 Residency in Infectious Diseases at West Virginia Hospitals and Clinics…
View more about Jarrett Amsden
Headshot of Kendra Damer
Kendra Damer
Associate Professor and Director, Introductory Experiential Education – Pharmacy
College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences
Dr. Kendra Damer is an Associate Professor of Pharmacy Practice and the Director of Introductory Experiential Education at Butler University. She received her PharmD from Butler University in 2004 and completed a PGY1 and PGY2 Specialty Residency in…
View more about Kendra Damer
Headshot of Sheel Patel
Sheel Patel
Assistant Professor – Pharmacy Practice
College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences

REQUEST INFORMATION

Whatever path you’re interested in pursuing, there’s a place for you at Butler.

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