Admissions Workshop

AACP hosts a 2-day Admissions Workshop in conjunction with the AACP Annual Meeting in July. These sessions address trends in pharmacy school admissions and topics related to PharmCAS users. Learn more about the Annual Meeting and more programming here.

Background Check Resources for Student Affairs Personnel

AACP organized an ad hoc Criminal Background Check Advisory Panel in 2006 to identify common problems and possible strategies to assist members with this rapidly evolving issue. The panel recommended that all U.S. pharmacy schools procure a national background check on applicants upon their initial, conditional acceptance to pharmacy school. The rationale is based on a number of issues, including:

• A growing number of national healthcare organizations, institutions and state legislatures require student pharmacists to complete a criminal background check (CBC) at least once during their educational career.
• Background checks are commonly required for hospital staff, as well as individuals who work or volunteer with children or other vulnerable populations, which include student pharmacists.
• Student pharmacists may be subject to criminal background checks earlier in their educational career and more often than medical school students due to introductory pharmacy practice experiences (IPPEs).

In support of this recommendation, AACP initiated a PharmCAS-facilitated national background check service, through Certiphi Screening, Inc. to procure a national background report on applicants at the point of acceptance. AACP has initiated this new service in order to recognize the desire of pharmacy schools to procure appropriate national criminal history reports and to prevent applicants from paying additional fees at each pharmacy school to which they are accepted. 

Pharmacy schools not participating in the PharmCAS background check service may also require applicants to undergo a separate background check process.

Visit the PharmCAS website for list of participating colleges and schools.

Other Resources

• AACP Information for Students on Background Checks and Drug Testing

AACP Statement on Commitment to Clinician Well-being and Resilience

The American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP) is deeply committed to collaborating with other health profession organizations and stakeholders to promote positive well-being and resilience among health care providers, educators, and students. AACP recognizes that stress and anxiety can have devastating consequences on mental health, student learning, patient care, and the community at large.  AACP has adopted two policy statements to demonstrate its commitment to well-being in pharmacy education. View the full statement.

AACP is pleased to announce its partnership with Kira Talent to provide colleges and schools of pharmacy with access to a holistic admissions solution designed to support a more efficient, effective, and fair admissions process. Schools can opt to leverage the Kira platform to better engage with applicants and gain an authentic view of their non-cognitive skills and competencies, as well as verbal and written communication skills. Explore Kira’s recruitment, reviewing, and admissions tools, including:

• Asynchronous Assessments: Evaluate an applicant’s verbal and written communication skills with unrehearsed and unscripted timed video responses and timed written responses to your school’s customized questions.
• Live Interviewing: Conduct one-on-one, panel, or MMI interviews online with a robust platform that automatically places participants in the right interview rooms at the right times.
• Built-In Scoring: Schools can utilize custom rubrics and flexible review to gain independent feedback from their reviewers.
• Fully Branded Experience: Enhance your marketing and recruitment efforts with branded welcome pages and pre-recorded videos that help applicants see what makes your program, school, and campus culture unique.

Liaison International has also entered into a partnership with Kira Talent to incorporate Kira’s Asynchronous Assessments directly into PharmCAS and other CAS applications. Once the assessments are completed, schools can access applicant responses directly in WebAdMIT. Non-PharmCAS schools are also invited to use Kira Talent. Kira’s pricing varies based on the level of utilization, and flexible payment options are available.

This partnership aligns with the AACP Strategic Plan to support holistic review in admissions and increase the diversity of the pharmacy applicant pool.

About Kira Talent

Kira is the world’s only holistic admissions solution designed for higher education. Talk to Kira’s Partnerships team to learn more at kiratalent.com/lets-talk/.

Professionalism Resources

The Oath of a Pharmacist

AACP Social Media Resource Guide for Faculty, Students, Staff, and Administrators - Resource guide produced by the 2021–2022 AACP Professionalism and Social Media Task Force.

AACP Social Media Infographic for Students - One-page PDF designed to help student pharmacists better navigate some of the potential pitfalls of social media use in pharmacy education and practice.

Faculty Student Pharmacist Pledge of Professionalism - A model for schools to adapt for their use.

APhA-ASP/AACP Pharmacy Professionalism Toolkit for Students

Student Conduct and Honor Code Materials - Summary from schools and colleges of pharmacy distributed at regional meeting on student behavior (2005)

White Paper on Professionalism - Recommendations of the APhA-ASP/AACP-Council of Deans Task Force on Professionalism (1999)

TurnItIn.com - The online plagiarism checker is used by PharmCAS to detect plagiarism in applicants’ personal statements. Turnitin scours the web to match content submitted by applicants to that found on web pages, archived student papers, and published articles. Matches are then documented into a Similarity Report that shows what percentage of the statement matches content found on the web. Similarity Report is provided to every program to which each applicant applies.

The Oath of a Pharmacist was first developed in 1983 by the AACP Board of Directors and revised in 1994, 2007, and 2021. The current Oath of a Pharmacist was adopted by AACP and APhA in November 2021 and reflects the organizations’ commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and anti-racism.

• Oath of a Pharmacist (PDF) - Designed to fill the page with no customization space
• Oath of a Pharmacist (Small space PDF) - Designed for schools to be able to print with a recipient name. Space available:
  • 0.5625 inches high, starting 9.125 inches from the top edge of the page
  • 5.75 inches wide, starting 1.375 inches from the left edge of the page
• Oath of a Pharmacist (Large space PDF) - Designed for schools to add their logo. Space available:
  • 1 inch high, starting 8.75 inches from the top edge of the page
  • 5.75 inches wide, starting 1.375 inches from the left edge of the page

Recruitment Campaign

Pharmacy Is Right for Me is an educational campaign that aims to inspire and foster the next generation of pharmacy leaders in the United States. It provides students, parents, and educators with interactive tools, resources, and first-person testimonials that give insight into the exciting and diverse career opportunities that exist within the field of pharmacy.

Resources for Student Affairs Personnel

• Cooperative Admissions Guidelines (CAG) Background
• PharmCAS Resources
• PharmGrad Resources
• Affirmative Action and Diversity
• Criminal Backg