Office of Admissions Ambassadors

College of Pharmacy

About the College of Pharmacy

“Pharmacy is a rigorous, challenging, and exciting discipline within the health sciences. As a pharmacist or a pharmaceutical scientist, your basic goal is to improve the quality of life through the expertly informed use of medications.” Pharmacists are professionally qualified to prepare and dispense medical drugs, but their responsibilities go far beyond that. Today, patients and physicians alike have come to depend on the pharmacist as a health care and information resource of the highest caliber. A pharmacist's responsibilities may include:

  • understanding the effects of any given drug and how it will work within the body
  • ensuring drug strength and purity
  • assuring the safety and suitability of the drug therapies prescribed by physicians
  • delivering health education and advice on the use of medications to patients and communities
  • maintaining and monitoring records for their patients
  • referring patients to other sources of care when necessary
  • consulting with physicians and other healthcare providers to help deliver optimal patient outcomes

Other roles for Pharmacy Graduates:

Not all pharmacy students become pharmacists, however. Some become pharmaceutical scientists, pursuing careers with government agencies or in academic or corporate environments - including:

  • investigating how disease impacts the human body
  • creating new drug therapies
  • studying the human body’s response to medications
  • discovering new ways to employ known drugs in the treatment of other diseases or dysfunctions
  • testing drugs on animals and humans to ensure safety and efficacy
  • developing better methods of manufacturing drugs
  • providing counsel on pharmaceutical development to government agencies and corporations

Notable Alumni:

  • Two Nobel Laureates: Ei-ichi Negishi (2010) and Herbert C. Brown (1979)
  • Four National Academy of Sciences members on faculty: Chris Greene (2019, Physics), R. Graham Cooks (2015, Chemistry), Ei-ichi Negishi (2014, Chemistry), H. Jay Melosh (2003, Geophysics)
  • Drew Feustel, NASA Astronaut, BS'89, MS'9, HDR'18
  • Rita Colwell, First female director of the National Science Foundation, 1998-2004, BS'56, MS'57

Programs

  • Pre-Doctor of Pharmacy
    ○ accelerated, 2-year, non-degree curriculum
    ○ prepares students to apply to the 4-year Purdue professional PharmD program
    ○ Allows students to graduate with less debt and less time in school
  • B.S. Pharmaceutical Sciences (BSPS)
    ○ a four-year degree program
    ○ begins with a foundation of coursework in mathematics and the basic sciences -- chemistry, biology, and physics
    ○ an interdisciplinary program that progresses to advanced coursework in the pharmaceutical sciences
    ○ This is not a professional degree program and completion of the BSPS degree does not qualify graduates to take the state board examination to become a registered pharmacist.
  • Pharm D
    ○ a four-year professional degree
    ○ Upon graduation, students are eligible to take the pharmacy licensing examination
    ○ To be considered for entrance into the PharmD program, applicants must have successfully completed Purdue College of Pharmacy’s two-year Pre-Pharmacy Program or the equivalent coursework at another accredited institution.

 
Departments:

  • Industrial & Physical Pharmacy
  • Medicinal Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology
  • Pharmacy Practice

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