Pharmacology Schools and Programs in The United States
Study Pharmacology in The United States
Azusa Pacific University
Azusa, The United States
Azusa Pacific University (APU) is a private Christian university in Azusa, California, about 20 miles north-east of Los Angeles. It was founded on 3 March 1899 in Whittier as the Training School for Christian Workers and moved to Azusa in 1946. Its Christian faith shapes…
Bismarck State College
Bismarck, The United States
Bismarck State College is a community college in Bismarck, the capital city of North Dakota, USA. The school was founded in 1939 and offers two-year and four-year degree options. The types of educational offers include the following: transfer - first and second year of…
Broward College
Fort Lauderdale, The United States
Broward College, formerly Broward Community College, is a public college serving Broward County and South Florida in the United States. It opened on 6 September 1960 as the Junior College of Broward County and became Broward College when it added bachelor's programmes; its…
Butler University
Indianapolis, The United States
Butler University is a university in the heart of Indianapolis, Indiana, founded in 1855. It offers undergraduate majors and minors as well as graduate and professional programmes, with small classes and an emphasis on hands-on learning. Service learning and community…
Clark College
Vancouver, The United States
Clark College came into existence in 1933 by a group of visionary educators, who had a dream to provide higher education opportunities for South West Washington during the great depression. Clark College promotes highest standards of education and was granted initial…
College of Southern Idaho
Twin Falls, The United States
The College of Southern Idaho (CSI) is a college in Twin Falls, Idaho, that serves the Magic Valley region. It has followed an open-door philosophy since its founding about 60 years ago, welcoming students at any stage of life. CSI offers programmes in many areas, from…
Columbia University
New York, The United States
Columbia University is a research university in New York City, where it links its teaching and research to the resources of the city. It teaches undergraduate and graduate students in a wide range of academic and professional fields. The university is made up of: three…
Cornell University
Ithaca, The United States
Cornell University is a private research university founded in 1865, with its main campus in Ithaca, in the Finger Lakes region of New York State. It describes itself as a privately endowed research university and a partner of the State University of New York, and it is the…
Creighton University
Omaha, The United States
Creighton University is a private Jesuit, Catholic university in Omaha, Nebraska, United States, founded in 1878. It also has a health professions campus in Phoenix and regional programmes in Anchorage and Denver. Creighton is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission…
Drexel University
Philadelphia, The United States
Drexel University is a comprehensive R1-level research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the United States. It has 20,868 students and 2,097 faculty members, and appears in the top 50 of the U.S. News and World Report National University Rankings (Private…
East Carolina University
Greenville, The United States
East Carolina University came into existence in 1907 as a public research university at Greenville, North Carolina, United States. ECU offers more than 200 programs, catering bachelor’s, master’s, doctoral and certificate students. ECU comprises of 9 undergraduate academic…
Ellsworth Community College
Iowa Falls, The United States
Ellsworth Community College (ECC) is a community college at 1100 College Avenue in Iowa Falls, Iowa, in the United States. It belongs to the Iowa Valley Community College District, together with Marshalltown Community College, and both colleges share the same tuition and…
Ferris State University
Big Rapids, The United States
Ferris State University is a mid-sized, four-year public university whose main campus is in Big Rapids, Michigan. It was founded in 1884 by Woodbridge and Helen Ferris as the privately owned Big Rapids Industrial School, became a state institution in 1950 and a state…
Georgetown University
Washington, The United States
Georgetown University is an institution offering university education to all, established in 1789, in Washington DC, USA. The University is the oldest Catholic and Jesuit University in the US and one of the world’s bests, strictly following the Jesuits’ system in their method…
Greenville Technical College
Greenville, The United States
Greenville Technical College (GTC) is a technical college in Greenville, South Carolina, that has served the Upstate region since 1962. Its main campus, the Barton Campus, is at 506 S. Pleasantburg Drive, and the college has 8 locations across Greenville County. GTC offers…
Idaho State University
Pocatello, The United States
Idaho State University (ISU) is a doctorate-granting research university founded in 1901, with its main campus at 921 South 8th Avenue in Pocatello, Idaho, and further locations in Meridian, Idaho Falls and Twin Falls. It is Carnegie-classified for high research activity and…
Linn-Benton Community College
Albany, The United States
Linn-Benton Community College (LBCC) is a community college in Oregon, United States, with its main campus in Albany and further campuses in Corvallis and Lebanon. The college states that more than 13,000 students take at least one class there each year, about 5,500 of them…
Long Island University
Brookville, The United States
Long Island University (LIU) is a university in the New York metropolitan area, founded in 1926. Its two main campuses are LIU Post in Brookville, on Long Island's Gold Coast about 27 miles east of New York City, and LIU Brooklyn in Downtown Brooklyn. LIU also has locations…
Lyndon Institute
Lyndon Center, The United States
Lyndon Institute (LI) is a private, approved independent high school in Lyndon Center, in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont, United States. Founded in 1867, it is a comprehensive town academy for grades 9 to 12. Its 130-acre campus has 34 buildings, including the Alumni…
Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences (MCPHS)
Boston, The United States
Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences (MCPHS) is a private, nonprofit university specialising in the health and life sciences, founded in 1823. It has three campuses, in Boston (179 Longwood Avenue), Worcester and Manchester, New Hampshire, as well as online…
North Idaho College
Coeur d'Alene, The United States
North Idaho College (NIC) is a community college in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, in the United States. It awards associate degrees and certificates, with in-person, online, hybrid and evening classes and several start dates; some programmes are fully online. Transfer programmes for…
Northeastern University
Boston, The United States
Northeastern University is a global research university founded in 1898 in Boston, Massachusetts, where its first and main campus is located. It is known for its experiential learning model, which combines study with real-world experience. Today it describes itself as a…
Northland College
East Grand Forks, The United States
Northland College is a Community and Technical College, located in Minnesota, USA. The college follows the mission to foster a high quality learning environment through the close collaboration with students, businesses, communities, and other educational institutions…
Oregon State University
Corvallis, The United States
Oregon State University is a public learning institution and was founded in 1868 and is situated in Corvallis. There are over 200 academic programs for undergraduate students and over 100 graduate programs including those in fields such as education, engineering, and…
Piedmont Technical College
Greenwood, The United States
Piedmont Technical College (PTC) is a comprehensive two-year college in South Carolina, United States, founded in 1966 and accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges. It has locations in each of the seven counties it serves…
Purdue University
West Lafayette, The United States
Purdue University is a public land-grant university with its main campus at 610 Purdue Mall in West Lafayette, Indiana, and a second campus in Indianapolis. Its roots go back to the Morrill Land Grant College Act of 1862, and it has more than 150 years of history. According…
Richard Bland College
South Prince George, The United States
Richard Bland College (RBC) is a two-year college in Virginia, in the United States, with its campus at 11301 Johnson Road, South Prince George. It offers a liberal arts education in the tradition of William & Mary and awards associate degrees that cover the first two years…
Saint Joseph's University, Philadelphia
Philadelphia, The United States
Saint Joseph's University is a private Jesuit university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, guided by the Jesuit educational tradition since 1851. Its 125-acre main campus, Hawk Hill, lies along City Avenue on the western edge of Philadelphia and Lower Merion Township. The…
Saint Louis University, St. Louis
St. Louis, The United States
Saint Louis University (SLU) is a Catholic, Jesuit university in St. Louis, Missouri, in the United States, founded in 1818. It also has an international campus in Madrid, Spain, which educates nearly 1,200 students and offers undergraduate and graduate degree programmes as…
South University
Montgomery, The United States
South University is a US university whose history goes back to 1899. It teaches at 11 campus locations in Georgia, North and South Carolina, Virginia, Florida, Alabama and Texas, and also offers fully online programmes. The Montgomery, Alabama campus was established in 1996…
SUNY, The State University of New York
Albany, The United States
SUNY is a system of public universities in New York, USA. It was established in 1948, and represents the largest system of universities, colleges, and community colleges in the world. Overall, it has 64 campuses around the state, including four University Centers…
Susquehanna University
Selinsgrove, The United States
Susquehanna University is a liberal arts college in the small town of Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania, in the United States, near the Susquehanna River and about one hour from Harrisburg and three hours from New York City, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington, D.C. It has about…
Temple University
Philadelphia, The United States
Temple University is a public research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the United States. It was founded as a night school by Russell Conwell in 1884 and today has more than 33,000 undergraduate, graduate and professional students. Temple is classified as an R1…
The Ohio State University
Columbus, The United States
Ohio State University is a public research university, and currently has the third largest university campus in the United States. Located in Columbus, Ohio, it was founded in 1870 as a land-grant university. Now the university has also established regional campuses in Lewis…
The University of Arizona
Tucson, The United States
Located in the city of Tucson, the University of Arizona (UA) is a place without limits, a place where teaching, research, service and innovation merge to improve lives in Arizona and beyond. Back in 1885, establishing Arizona's first university in the middle of the Sonoran…
The University of California Los Angeles
Los Angeles, The United States
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a campus of the University of California (UC) system in Los Angeles. Its undergraduate admission office accepts applications from first-year students, transfer students and international students, all through the common UC…
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, The United States
North Carolina’s vibrant people and programs attest to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s long-standing place among leaders in higher education since it was chartered in 1789 and opened its doors for students in 1795 as the nation’s first public university…
The University of Texas at Austin
Austin, The United States
The University of Texas at Austin was founded in 1883. It is one of the largest and most prestigious universities in the world and hosts some 51,000 students.The University of Texas is a public research university, which campus is located only 0.25 km away from the Texas…
The University of Toledo
Toledo, The United States
The University of Toledo (UToledo) is a public research university with an academic medical centre in Toledo, in northwest Ohio, United States. It was founded in 1872 as the Toledo University of Arts and Trades, on land donated by newspaper editor Jesup Wakeman Scott. In…
University of California, Irvine
Irvine, The United States
The University of California, Irvine (UC Irvine) is a public research university in Irvine, Orange County, in Southern California, founded in 1965. More than 36,000 students were enrolled in 2024-25. According to U.S. News & World Report, UC Irvine has been ranked among the…
University of California, San Francisco (UCSF)
San Francisco, The United States
UC San Francisco is a prestigious University, founded in 1864, which is entirely devoted to the health areas.
University of Colorado at Denver
Denver, The United States
The University of Colorado at Denver is a prestigious University in the USA. Its academic offer is more than 130 programs of study in 13 schools and colleges.
University of Connecticut
Storrs, The United States
The University of Connecticut (UConn) is the flagship public research university of the US state of Connecticut and a land and sea grant institution. Its main campus is in Storrs, and it also has campuses and sites at Avery Point, Hartford, Stamford and Waterbury, as well as…
University of Florida
Gainesville, The United States
The University of Florida (UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. Its roots go back to 19th-century predecessors such as the East Florida Seminary (from 1853) and the Florida Agricultural College; the present university took shape after the…
University of Kentucky
Lexington, The United States
The University of Kentucky (UK) is a university in Lexington, Kentucky. According to the university, it is one of only eight institutions in the United States with liberal arts, engineering, professional, agricultural and medical colleges all on one contiguous campus. It is…
University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, The United States
The University of Michigan at Ann Arbor is considered one of the most prestigious in the world. Programs of study are over a hundred degrees and around 27 postgraduates. The number of students are some 8,600 and 381 teachers. The university was established in 1817, which was…
University of Minnesota
Minneapolis, The United States
The University of Minnesota is a prestigious institution, founded in 1851, and considered among the best in the world.
University of Phoenix
Phoenix, The United States
University of Phoenix (UOPX) is an online university for working adults, founded in 1976 and based in Phoenix, Arizona, in the United States. It has been accredited by the Higher Learning Commission (HLC) since 1978, and some of its programmes also hold programmatic…
University of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, The United States
The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a public research university in Pennsylvania with more than 230 years of history. It is a member of the Association of American Universities. Its main campus is in Pittsburgh, where the 42-storey Cathedral of Learning stands at the…
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Madison, The United States
The University of Wisconsin–Madison (UW–Madison) is a public land-grant university and major research institution founded in 1848. Its lakeside campus is in Madison, the state capital of Wisconsin, and it belongs to the Universities of Wisconsin, a system of 13 universities…
Vanderbilt University
Nashville, The United States
Vanderbilt University is a private research university in Nashville, Tennessee, founded in 1873. Its main campus covers 340.7 acres just over a mile from downtown Nashville and is an accredited arboretum. The National Science Foundation places it among the top 25 private…
Virginia Western Community College
Roanoke, The United States
Virginia Western Community College is a public institution, which services the area of Roanoke, Salem, Roanoke County, Craig County, southern Botetourt County, and northern Franklin County. It is a two-year college, offering day, evening, and weekend classes on its main…
Wayne State University
Detroit, The United States
Wayne State University (WSU) is a research university in Midtown Detroit, Michigan, which traces its history back to 1868. The university describes itself as a tier 1 research university. Its international students come from about 80 countries. International students and…
West Virginia University
Morgantown, The United States
This is a public learning institution located in Morgantown city along the Monongahela River and it was established in 1867. West Virginia University offers over 200 undergraduate, graduate, doctorate and professional programs across its 15 colleges. Some of the graduate…
Williston State College
Williston, The United States
Williston State College (WSC) is a comprehensive community college in Williston, North Dakota, established in 1961. It is a member of the North Dakota University System and is located at 1410 University Avenue, Williston. Students can choose from a range of programmes…
Wright State University
Dayton, The United States
Wright State University is a public university in Dayton, Ohio, named after the aviation pioneers Orville and Wilbur Wright. It has more than 11,000 students and is made up of six colleges and a medical school, with a main campus in Dayton and a branch campus in Celina, Ohio…
Xavier University School of Medicine, XUSOM
Worcester, The United States
Xavier University School of Medicine (XUSOM) is a medical school on the Caribbean island of Aruba. It offers a four-year MD programme, divided into basic science semesters and clinical science rotations, as well as a Pre-Health programme for students preparing for medical…
Yale University
New Haven, The United States
Yale University was founded in 1701 and is based in New Haven, Connecticut. Undergraduates study at Yale College, which teaches the liberal arts and sciences; master's and doctoral degrees are offered by the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences, and specialised degrees by 13…
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Pharmacology Studies in The United States
Pharmacy and pharmacology deal with how medicines work, how they are developed and tested, and how they are used safely by patients. In the United States the subject is taught at three levels: the professional Doctor of Pharmacy (Pharm.D.), which leads to work as a pharmacist; research degrees (master's and PhD) in the pharmaceutical sciences; and short programmes for pharmacy technicians at community and technical colleges. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), pharmacists typically need a Pharm.D. degree from an accredited pharmacy program, and every state requires pharmacists to be licensed.
How the programmes are organised
- Doctor of Pharmacy (Pharm.D.): the professional degree for future pharmacists, usually four years after prerequisite undergraduate courses
- Master's and PhD programmes in pharmacology and the pharmaceutical sciences, focused on research
- Pharmacy technician certificates and associate degrees at vocational schools and community colleges
The BLS explains that Pharm.D. programs typically require at least two years of prerequisite undergraduate courses in subjects such as anatomy and physiology, physics and statistics, and some require or prefer a bachelor's degree in biology or chemistry. Programs usually take four years to finish, some offer a three-year option, and others admit high school graduates into a six-year program. The curriculum includes sciences, pharmacology and pharmacy law, plus supervised work experience in settings such as hospitals and retail pharmacies.
Pharmacy technician programmes are much shorter. According to the BLS, they are usually offered by vocational schools or community colleges; many award a certificate after one year or less, while some last longer and lead to an associate's degree.
Where to study
The schools listed on this page are spread across the country, with more than one in Philadelphia, Boston, Greenville and Albany. A few examples, from the schools' own pages:
- The Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences (MCPHS) in Boston describes itself as the nation's second oldest school of pharmacy and offers a direct-entry and an accelerated Pharm.D.
- The University of Florida College of Pharmacy in Gainesville offers a Pharm.D., on-campus PhD and master's programmes, and online master's and certificate options
- Purdue University's College of Pharmacy in West Lafayette teaches undergraduate, professional and graduate students
- Ferris State University in Big Rapids, Michigan, has a Pharm.D. accredited by the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE) and reports a 94.4% first-time NAPLEX pass rate for 2025
Other universities on the list include The Ohio State University, the University of Michigan, the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Teaching is in English.
Accreditation and licensing
US higher education is not run by a central ministry. Institutions are accredited by independent bodies, and EducationUSA notes that recognition of credits and degrees by employers is linked to that accreditation. For pharmacists, the programme itself must also be accredited: Ferris State, for example, states that its Doctor of Pharmacy program is accredited by the ACPE.
After the degree comes the licence. The BLS notes that licensure requirements vary by state, that prospective pharmacists typically must pass two exams and complete a state-specified number of intern hours, and that licensed pharmacists must complete continuing education. Graduates who want clinical or other advanced positions may add a residency or fellowship of one to two years. Anyone who studied pharmacy abroad and wants to practise in the United States should check the rules of the state where they plan to work.
Admission and student visa
EducationUSA advises starting the search at least 12 to 18 months before the academic year in which you hope to enrol, and reminds students that no official ranking system exists for US colleges and universities. The academic year typically runs from September to May in two semesters.
To study, you must first be accepted by an institution certified by the Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP). The school then issues a Form I-20 (or DS-2019), which you present when you apply for your visa. The F visa covers study at an accredited college or university; the M visa covers non-academic or vocational study, such as some technician programmes.
Careers
Most graduates work as pharmacists in community pharmacies, hospitals and clinics; others work as consultant pharmacists or in the pharmaceutical industry, in research and development or clinical trials. According to the BLS, pharmacists held about 325,200 jobs in 2025, with a median annual wage of $140,910 in May 2025, and employment is projected to grow 5% from 2025 to 2035. Pharmacy technicians, who work under the supervision of pharmacists, held about 471,200 jobs in 2025.
Frequently asked questions
How long does it take to become a pharmacist in the United States?
Usually at least two years of prerequisite undergraduate courses followed by a four-year Pharm.D., according to the BLS. Some schools offer a three-year Pharm.D. or a six-year programme that admits students straight from high school. A state licence is required before practising.
Is a Pharm.D. the same as a degree in pharmacology?
No. The Pharm.D. is a professional degree for working with patients as a pharmacist. Master's and PhD programmes in pharmacology or the pharmaceutical sciences prepare students for research, for example in drug discovery.
Can international students study pharmacy in the United States?
Yes. You apply directly to the school, and once accepted by an SEVP-certified institution you receive a Form I-20 to apply for an F visa.
Do community colleges teach pharmacy?
They mainly train pharmacy technicians. According to the BLS, many of these programmes award a certificate after one year or less, and some lead to an associate's degree.