A 2007 American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP) report on the rate of student pharmcist
application, enrollment and awarded degrees indicates
that interest in pharmacy as a career remains strong
and continues to grow, as reflected in the increasing
numbers of applications and the growth in enrollment.
During the first year of PharmCAS (2003-04), the application
to applicant ratio for PharmCAS applicants was 3.15,
nearly double the ratio for the previous year. For
fall 2007 enrollment,nearly 16,0000 applicants submitted
over 71,400 applications via PharmCAS. During that same year, there
were over 95,700 applications for all 102 colleges
and schools of pharmacy. This data suggests that in addition to a higher number
of applications per applicant, there are more individuals
interested in applying to pharmacy school than ever
before.
The increased interest in pharmacy is encouraging
for an industry that is facing a projected shortfall
in the workforce of an estimated 157,000 pharmacists
by 2020. Yet while a workforce shortage would present
challenges in meeting the demands exerted by an ever-changing
healthcare landscape, the profession presents great
opportunities for recent graduates of pharmacy and
incoming students.
"The demand for qualified pharmacists combined
with all the new and exciting opportunities in pharmacy
and health care overall makes a career in pharmacy
incredibly attractive to young people today,"
said AACP Executive Vice President Lucinda L. Maine,
Ph.D. "Opportunities now exist for our graduates
to work with patients directly as consultants on medication
use and as health educators, in addition to opportunities
in drug development, research and health policy."
The rise in pharmacy applications is fueled by:
