Key takeaways:
The number of pharmacy schools has been on the rise for almost 20 years, but the number of applicants has declined, making doctor of pharmacy programs less competitive.
Enrollment in pharmacy programs has also declined significantly in recent years.
Use of the Pharmacy College Admission Test (PCAT) has become less common, with 12 schools dropping it as a requirement between the 2019 and 2020 school years.
In a previous article, we interviewed three pharmacists who had followed varied career paths to get insight into the current labor market and conditions in the industry. However, another key aspect to consider when looking at the future of pharmacy, and of the pharmacy job market, is the pipeline of new pharmacists.
Here, we’ll look at the decrease in pharmacy school applications and enrollment, as well as how admission requirements have changed over time.
The expansion of pharmacy schools
The number of pharmacy schools has increased sharply in the past two decades, from 80 in 2000 to 143 in 2020. The pharmacist shortage of the early 2000s, which peaked in 2001, led to increasing salaries and good job prospects in the field, which in turn fueled a rise in the number of applicants to pharmacy programs. The number of programs also soared as colleges and universities came to view them as a golden goose that would bring in large numbers of applicants and new revenue streams.
Concerns about the unprecedented, unchecked rise in the number of pharmacy schools date to at least 2005, but the growth continued. Some people have argued that the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE) should act as a gatekeeper and take into account the demand for pharmacists prior to accrediting new schools. Peter Vlasses, PharmD, the executive director of ACPE, responded in a 2019 op-ed for Drug Topics that it is not the role of accrediting agencies to control the employment market.
While ACPE might take this view, there is certainly a precedent for regulating the market in other aspects of healthcare. The most notable example, perhaps, is the Certificate of Need system, in which the permission of a state agency is required to build hospitals or other healthcare facilities. In this system, regulators prevent duplication of services and ensure a responsible use of capital expenditures by determining whether the healthcare facility meets a community’s needs.
Pharmacy school admission trends
Every year, the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP) conducts surveys to track the number of student applications pharmacy programs receive, the number of enrollments they complete, and the number of degrees they confer. This information provides insight into the overall level of interest in pharmacy as a career, as well as the potential for either a shortage or surplus of pharmacists.
Applications
Some in the industry have argued that the growth in the number of pharmacy schools was unsustainable and that the number of graduates, which doubled in only 20 years, would eventually lead to the closing of pharmacy schools and a joblessness crisis for graduates.
And the AACP data indicates a significant, steady decline in the number of students interested in pursuing pharmacy as a career over the past decade or so. For example, there were a total of 106,815 applicants for admission to pharmacy school in fall 2011. By fall 2015, that number had dropped to 76,525, and for fall 2021 admission there were only 40,552 applicants. That means in only a 10-year span, pharmacy school applications fell by more than 60%.
According to PharmCAS, the online application platform used by most pharmacy schools, the mean number of applications for each pharmacy school peaked in 2006, at 1280 applications. By 2019, that number had dropped to 266 applications.
Acceptance rates
Another byproduct of the declining interest in pharmacy, partially due to the labor market, and the abundance of pharmacy schools is that being admitted to pharmacy school has become less competitive. PharmCAS found that acceptance rates have increased dramatically. For admission in fall 2004, the first year for which data is available, 65.9% of students who applied were not accepted. For admission in fall 2020, the most recent year data is available, only 13.2% of students were not accepted.
There has also been a steady decline in the number of schools potential students apply to, which implies that applicants now feel more confident that they will be admitted to their school of choice. Based on the same data from PharmCAS, in 2020 there were only 2.57 applications submitted per applicant, compared to a high of almost five per applicant in 2010.
Enrollment
Enrollment has not declined as sharply as the number of applications has, but it has fallen somewhat, and it certainly has not kept pace with the increase in pharmacy school openings.
In 2012, there were 61,275 students enrolled in PharmD programs in the United States. That number was stable for some time, with more than 60,000 enrolled students every year through 2019. The number of applicants to pharmacy school has historically been higher than the total number of enrolled students, owing to the competitive nature of the programs and their low acceptance rates. In 2018, however, the number of enrolled students exceeded the number of applications for admission.
In 2019, enrollments began to decline as well. That year, there were 60,594 pharmacy students nationwide. In 2020, there were 57,375, and in 2021 there were 53,516. That is a decline of more than 10% in just 2 years.
Pharmacy College Admission Test (PCAT)
The Pharmacy College Admission Test (PCAT) is a standardized test that most colleges of pharmacy use in their admissions process. It aims to measure candidates’ academic ability and scientific knowledge.
A 2021 survey found a decline in the use of the PCAT for admission to pharmacy school. For admission in fall 2019, 72% of schools that responded to the survey required applicants to take the PCAT. That number dropped to 61% for fall 2020 admission.
A total of 29 schools did not require the PCAT for fall 2019. More than 70% of those schools said the reason for not requiring the test was to increase the number of applications, by making it easier for students to submit a complete application. The registration fee for the PCAT, which as of 2022 was $210, may also be a barrier for some students, and most pharmacy schools (77%) agreed it could prevent low-income students from applying to their program.
However, out of all schools not requiring the PCAT, 11 schools stated that they believed the test was not a “strong predictor of success for our students,” and 12 of the schools said the PCAT “does not help us identify qualified candidates.” One school even responded that the PCAT was “too long for test takers.”
The relationship between PCAT scores and success in pharmacy school remains unclear. More research is needed to come to a consensus on the relationship between the two.
The bottom line
Why trust our experts?
The trends in pharmacy school applications and enrollment indicate a declining interest in pharmacy as a career, despite sharp increases in the number of doctor of pharmacy programs. Some schools have responded to the drop in applications by no longer requiring applicants to take the Pharmacy College Admission Test. Until interest in pharmacy as a career choice returns, however, pharmacy schools will likely be forced to choose from declining applicant pools or have vacant seats, leaving them with less funding for their programs.
