Congratulations again on your decision to attend UB and welcome. Now that you have been accepted to UB, you will receive a packet of information from Undergraduate Admissions. Please be sure to complete your Health Form and Orientation Data Form, as instructed in the packet. After you do so, you will be scheduled for an orientation session, where you will meet your advisor. Also, the SoPPS Office of Admissions and Advisement will register you for your first semester based on the information provided in the data form. You will not be registered until you complete these forms. It is very important not to change your schedule. Students are placed in a “block schedule,” meaning you will take the same courses with students in your academic program. This will allow you to become acquainted with other students with similar interests and goals and allow you to share class notes and set up study groups. Please be sure to notify us if you have completed courses for college credit that were not previously listed on your Orientation Data Form or if you believe that you are registered for a course this semester that you have already completed. After your first semester, you will register on your own using the HUB Student Center. Be sure to review the PharmD Admissions website to become familiar with application procedures.

If you like research and working in a lab, you may consider a career in Pharmaceutical Sciences - a unique interdisciplinary field of study focused on the basic and clinical science of drug development and research. Academic and application information on our Pharmaceutical Sciences undergraduate and graduate degree programs is available on our Pharmaceutical Sciences Admissions web page.

The Early Assurance Program is available to incoming freshmen who enter the UB directly from high school as intended pharmacy majors. If students maintain the curricula and pass an interview, they will be offered a seat in the professional PharmD program. Visit Early Assurance: For High School Students & UB Freshmen for application information. All other students, including current UB students who are not EA and transfer students should follow the instructions on this webpate and the PharmCAS Applicants website. On the PharmCAS Applicants site, you will learn more about preparing a competitive PharmCAS application including information on volunteer activities, extracurricular activities or work experience; the Pharmacy College Admission Test (PCAT); letters of recommendation; preparing a personal essay; and preparing for an admissions interview.

UB students who are non-EA should follow the Pre-Pharmacy Listserv, seek advisement, and review Choosing, Changing and Applying to Your Major. Transfer students planning to attend UB to complete Prerequisite Courses should submit the undergraduate application www.commonapp.org or www.suny.edu/Student/apply_online.cfm (www.buffalo.edu/intadmit for international students) and indicate pharmacy as their intended major. If you are completing your coursework elsewhere, please refer to UB’s online articulation system, called TAURUS. You can also compare course descriptions using our undergraduate catalog to be sure you take equivalent courses. Transfer students should review Student Advising Services Transfer Students website for more advice.

Early Assurance Program students do not need to collect letters of recommendation. PharmCAS applicants must submit a minimum of three letters of recommendations when applying through PharmCAS. It is important to develop relationships to obtain academic and professional references by visiting your professors during office hours, impressing your supervisors, meeting with your advisor regularly, and shadowing or volunteering in a health-care setting. Share your personal essay with your evaluator so they understand your motivation towards pharmacy. You may ask your evaluator(s) to write a letter of recommendation, save it electronically, and later submit it during the application cycle in which you are applying. Please have your evaluators refer to the List of PharmCAS Questions for Evaluators so they can prepare a complete evaluation in advance. UB students can take advantage of Career Services personal statements and letters of recommendation resources.

Early Assurance Program students are not required to take the PCAT, but those who have a GPA between 3.5 and 3.7 are strongly advised to take the PCAT during their sophomore year and apply through PharmCAS if unsure of fulfilling the criteria to secure a place in the class through the EA program. All PharmCAS applicants must take the PCAT.

The admissions interview is a required component of the application process for all PharmD candidates. Early Assurance Program students are interviewed after their fall semester grades are posted in January during their sophomore year. Select PharmCAS applicants will be contacted by e-mail for an invitation to an interview session. For more information, see Prepare for an Interview. UB students may take advantage of UB's Career Services Interviewing resources.

UB students are assigned to an academic advisor based upon their declared or approved major and should visit at least once a semester. Undergraduates working on pre-pharmacy courses are assigned to the pre-pharmacy advisor, located in 112 Cooke Hall. The advisor is available by email and during designated "open hours," which are blocks of time each day where students can visit without an appointment. Open hours and other important information including registration information, Pre-Pharmacy Club announcements, workshops, tutoring resources, and much more is announced through our Pre-Pharmacy Listserv. Contact PharmD Admissions and Advisement to meet your advisor.

All new UB students are automatically signed up to the listserv. Visit the pre-pharmacy advisor in 112 Cooke Hall to sign up or leave the Pre-Pharmacy Listserv. Note that you will receive a confirmation message immediately in your UB email box. You must respond to this message within 24 hours or your subscription will not be applied. When writing emails to professors and/or staff at UB you must use your UB assigned email address only and be sure to include a signature. If you are also using another email service provider (Gmail, Yahoo, etc.), it is your responsibility to make sure that your UB emails are forwarded properly.

Students enrolled in the Academic Challenge and Enrichment (ACE) Program, Daniel J. Acker Scholars Program, Educational Opportunity Program (EOP), and University Honors College, as well as student athletes, will also have access to advisors in their unique program offices.

Students must complete all pre-pharmacy courses by the end of the spring semester prior to fall admission in order to be considered for the professional program. Early Assurance Program students, please click here for the Early Assurance Program requirements. PharmCAS applicants, please see the Prerequisite Courses. In addition, all students must satisfactorily complete the University’s General Education Requirements. A recommended (not required) course includes PHM 201, which is a course, for pre-pharmacy students that presents an overview of career opportunities and admission requirements in various pharmacy fields as well as in the pharmaceutical sciences. In addition, consider taking upper-level science courses, public speaking courses, more composition courses, or even graduate/professional courses (speak with your advisor for permission and force registration).

Students should be cautious to not overload credits in any one semester. In general, pre-pharmacy students take 16-19 credits per semester as well as summer courses. If you need to register for more than 19 credits, you must get approval from your academic advisor.

Yes, a student may repeat a given course only once. However, you should speak with your advisor before registering for the course. The repeated grade does not replace the previous grade for pre-pharmacy students applying to the PharmD program at UB. For Early Assurance Program students, repeat grades will not be used in computing the Early Assurance GPA. For PharmCAS applicants, both grades are included in the pre-pharmacy GPA. Students should be aware of the Course Enrollment Control Policy, which restricts repeating certain courses. Students should meet with their advisor for assistance.

Yes, however we do not accept alternative credit for Biology or Chemistry. For Early Assurance Program students, a maximum of three (3) of the following prerequisite college courses may be completed outside of UB (including AP or IB credit earned while in high school or college courses completed at an accredited four year college or university only): Calculus I, Calculus II, Calculus-based Physics I, Statistics. If AP coursework waived you out of Introductory Biology I and II, you must satisfy our prerequisites by completing two semesters of any other Biology coursework such as Botany, Zoology, Cell Biology, or Genetics (the course must have a lecture and laboratory component). Please review the Advanced Placement (AP) credit website for articulation requirements.

Yes, but students should contact an advisor for assistance. Early Assurance Program students may complete a maximum of three (3) of the following prerequisite college courses outside of UB (including AP or IB credit earned while in high school or college courses completed at an accredited four year college or university only): Calculus I, Calculus II, Calculus-based Physics I, Statistics. Once you are enrolled at UB, Anatomy, Physiology, and Microbiology may be completed at another accredited four year college or university. Grades from all college courses completed outside of UB WILL BE USED in computing the Early Assurance GPA. All official college transcripts must be submitted to UB’s Office of Undergraduate Admissions (12 Capen Hall). PharmCAS applicants may complete any course at other accredited institutions. Please refer to UB’s online articulation system, called "TAURUS." You can also compare course descriptions using our Undergraduate Catalog to be sure you take equivalent courses.

Refer to Calculating Your GPA for instructions on manually computing your GPA. For Early Assurance Program students, all pre-pharmacy courses are included in the pre-pharmacy GPA (refer to the Early Assurance PharmD website to determine the pre-pharmacy courses). Repeated grades are not included. For PharmCAS applicants, all courses in the math and science prerequisite subject areas are included. This means all chemistry, biology, physics, anatomy, physiology, microbiology, and math courses are included in the GPA. Repeated grades are included. 

When making choices to Add, Drop, and Resign courses, or if you need information on Withdrawing and Leave of Absence, it is recommended that you first speak with your academic advisor and financial aid advisor to understand how it could potentially affect your academic and/or financial status. You can drop courses from your schedule during the drop/add period. After the drop/add period, you may resign from a course by using MyUB. Early Assurance students cannot resign from any enrolled course. Any “R” grade disqualifies you from Early Assurance. Students who may need to withdraw due to extenuating documented circumstances that impact their academic performance (such as medical problems, death or illness of an immediate family member, or military orders) should talk with an academic advisor as soon as possible.

In order to do well at UB, you must be actively involved in your education. To learn more, visit Succeeding in College. You will learn how college is different from high school, how working with faculty will enhance your undergraduate experience, how to develop an academic plan to map out your academic goals, and tips for staying on track so that you graduate on time. Carefully review the Undergraduate Catalog and familiarize yourself with basic university policies regarding student rights and responsibilities. Review the Pharmacy Academic Program in the undergraduate catalog. The Financial Aid, Registrar, and Student Accounts websites contain additional information useful to new and continuing students. To learn more, visit UB Undergraduate Advising and Student Advising Services.

If students are having trouble in any course, they are encouraged to meet with their advisor and the professor. There are a variety of tutoring programs at UB. Click here for a list of Academic Success Centers and Tutoring and Tutoring Services for UB Students. Also, you may Contact PharmD Admissions and Advisement for a list of pharmacy students who are available to tutor and for a list of tutors from the Chemistry department.

Once you decide to pursue a career in pharmacy or pharmaceutical sciences, consider applying to UB! Why UB? It’s a top pharmacy school with an international reputation that provides a high-quality education at an excellent value. We have an innovative curriculum, offer small school attention with large university resources, prepare graduates for expanded career options, perform groundbreaking research, offer network opportunities, and have a world of educational and cultural opportunities in the Western New York area. Carefully review our entire website and be sure to contact us for additional questions. Contact PharmD Admissions and Advisement to meet with an advisor.