School of Pharmacy Prerequisites | Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center

School of Pharmacy Prerequisite Courses

School of Pharmacy Prerequisites

students in class

Upon the successful completion of our program, TTUHSC School of Pharmacy will award individuals the Doctor of Pharmacy Degree (Pharm. D.), leading to sought-after opportunities and a promising career in pharmaceutical sciences. Successful candidates to the school must complete the prerequisites listed below in addition to meeting our minimum GPA requirement. Please note: You do not have to complete the prerequisites prior to applying for admission. However, you must complete the required prerequisites before starting classes in the fall.

Course Equivalency

We have constructed an extensive list of pharmacy courses that fulfill our prerequisite course requirements. Pharmacy courses vary by the institution through which you received credit. Our office will gladly help you determine which classes from your school allow credit.

School of Pharmacy Prerequisites

General Chemistry (for majors), with lab 8 SCH*
Organic Chemistry, with lab 8 SCH*
General Physics (trig or calculus based), with lab 4 SCH*
General Biology (for majors), with lab 8 SCH*
Microbiology, with lab 4 SCH*
Calculus 3 SCH*
Statistics 3 SCH*
Speech (public speaking) 3 SCH*
English Comp I 3 SCH **
English Comp II 3 SCH **
English Literature 3 SCH **
Humanities/Social Sciences 15 SCH minimum **

*Courses marked with * are used to calculate the pre-pharmacy grade point average (PPGPA)

**If you have earned a bachelor’s degree or higher from an accredited U.S. college or university prior to enrolling in the School of Pharmacy, you will be exempt from these courses.

*SCH (semester credit hours)

Pre-Pharmacy Grade Point Average (PPGPA)

  • Our preferred minimum pre-pharmacy grade point average (PPGPA) required for application consideration is 3.000.
  • Grades below “C” are not accepted.
  • if you received a grade of “C” the first time you completed organic chemistry, then repeated the course with a grade of “A”, we disregard the “C” and calculate PPGPA using the “A”. This process allows students to demonstrate competency in a course.
  • When evaluating a candidate, we use their overall GPA, their pre-pharmacy GPA, and, if applicable, their composite PCAT percentage score.

Your "overall" grade point average is calculated using the following formula:

     Sum of the Grade Points / Total #SCH (semester credit hours).

Your Pre-Pharmacy grade point average is calculated with the highest grade earned* for each course taken, multiplied by the number of semester credit hours (SCH), using the following scale:

     A = 4.0 x #SCH = Grade Points
     B = 3.0 x #SCH = Grade Points
     C = 2.0 x #SCH = Grade Points
     D = 1.0 x #SCH = Grade Points
     F = 0.0 x #SCH = Grade Points