UK College of Pharmacy Moves to Make Pharmacy Education More Accessible
The University of Kentucky College of Pharmacy has eliminated the Pharmacy College Admission Test (PCAT) as a requirement for admission to their Doctor of Pharmacy program. The college utilizes a holistic admissions process and has determined that the PCAT does not provide any additional useful information for selecting students likely to succeed at UK beyond that already available from prior academic performance.
“We want to find ways to make professional school an option for more students and removing the financial barrier of the PCAT seemed like an obvious solution,” said Dr. Jason Mitchell, director of enrollment management for the College. Typically, Underrepresented Minority (URM) students achieve scores that are 20 percent below their non-URM counterparts and often take the PCAT two or more times to achieve admissibility to pharmacy schools. Mitchell noted, “We know that URM students have lower acceptance rates at Top-10 colleges of pharmacy compared to their non-URM counterparts. And it’s not because they are not qualified. It’s because of various barriers including but not limited to the $210 cost of PCAT registration.”
Reducing the financial burden of potential students is one way the UK College of Pharmacy is becoming a more inclusive and accessible institution. With initiatives which include eliminating the PCAT requirement and harnessing new 3+4 partnerships with Kentucky State University and Kentucky Wesleyan College, the UK College of Pharmacy` continues to search for ways to recruit students of the highest caliber while broadening access to students of all backgrounds.
“My hope is that this will make pharmacy education more accessible for deserving financially challenged students without affecting academic rigor,” said Kip Guy, dean of the College of Pharmacy.
We wish to remember and honor those who inhabited this Commonwealth before the arrival of the Europeans. Briefly occupying these lands were the Osage, Wyndott tribe, and Miami peoples. The Adena and Hopewell peoples, who are recognized by the naming of the time period in which they resided here, were here more permanently. Some of their mounds remain in the Lexington area, including at UK’s Adena Park.
In more recent years, the Cherokee occupied southeast Kentucky, the Yuchi southwest Kentucky, the Chickasaw extreme western Kentucky and the Shawnee central Kentucky including what is now the city of Lexington. The Shawnee left when colonization pushed through the Appalachian Mountains. Lower Shawnee Town ceremonial grounds are still visible in Greenup County.
We honor the first inhabitants who were here, respect their culture, and acknowledge the presence of their descendants who are here today in all walks of life including fellow pharmacists and healthcare professionals.