Failing grade: U.S. pharm schools see 60% drop in applications over 10 years

Who wants to be a pharmacist? That question seems to be getting a less enthusiastic response in the United States, where the profession has been grappling in recent years with rock-bottom morale and a decelerating jobs market. According to an article in GoodRX Health, the number of applications to U.S. pharmacy school programs dropped by more than 60% over a 10-year period from 2011 to 2021. The article cited data from the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP), which showed only 40,552 applicants for the fall 2021 semester compared to 76,525 in fall 2015 and 106,815 for fall 2011. In 2018, the number of applicants for admission was less than the number of enrolled students—a deviation from historical trends that consistently saw higher application totals than enrolment. Yet enrolment numbers have fallen, too. In 2021, there were 53,516 students enrolled in U.S. pharmacy schools—7,759 or almost 13% less than in 2012. This was a change from the stable enrolment levels that persisted for some time through 2019, when more than 60,000 students were enrolled every year. In a recent survey by the AACP, more than 60% of the 134 schools that responded said they were unable to fill their classrooms in 2019, with an average of almost 16 seats left empty that year. These trends can be attributed to a number of factors that include a projected flatlining of future employment for pharmacists. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, which had previously predicted an increase in demand for pharmacists, recently changed its position. The current outlook calls for a 2% growth in U.S. pharmacy jobs, "slower than average for all occupations," according to the Bureau's website. At the same time, high burnout rates and stagnant wages have further contributed to the waning appeal of the pharmacy profession. Read: Pharmacist-led filmmaker team plans exposé on pharmacy working conditions Meanwhile north of the border, “the number of applicants has increased the past couple of years,” Janet Cooper, executive director at the Association of Faculties of Pharmacy of Canada, told Pharmacy Practice + Business. In Canada, the average number of students enrolled in pharmacy programs over the past nine years is 1,391 a year, she added. “This has been quite steady, with a range of only 40—lowest was 1,368, highest was 1,408,” said Cooper. “As schools implemented their PharmD programs over the past few years, there was some variation as some did not have full enrolment in Year One during the transition from the BSc program.” Unlike their American counterparts, Canadian pharmacists can look forward to healthy job prospects. Ontario, Alberta, New Brunswick got a four-out-of-five star rating from the federal government's Job Bank trend analysis for employment opportunities from 2022 to 2024, while Manitoba scored a perfect five. British Columbia, Quebec, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador each got three out of five stars—signalling a moderate employment outlook for pharmacists from now until 2024. In the U.S., where the number of pharmacy schools has increased to 143 in 2020 from 80 in 2000, the decline in applications means more competition between institutions. PharmCAS, the online application platform used by most pharmacy schools, calculated the average number of applications per school at a mere 266 in 2019 versus 1,280 in 2006, when applications peaked. PharmCAS data also showed students in recent years were applying to less schools than they did in the past, with only 2.57 applications submitted per student in 2020, compared to a high of almost five per applicant in 2010. This suggests students these days may feel more confident they’ll be admitted to their school of choice. Read: Major U.S. pharmacy chain to open robot-powered fulfillment centres To respond to the drop in applications, some schools have stopped requiring applicants to take the Pharmacy College Admission Test. In a 2021 survey of 144 pharmacy schools, 12 institutions said they had stopped requiring the test. The most commonly cited reason for taking out this requirement was a desire to increase pharmacy applications by reducing admission barriers, including the registration fee students must pay to take the test., Schools also seem to have lowered their admission standards, accepting close to 87% of applicants in 2020 compared to the 34% acceptance rate in 2004. By contrast, in Canada pharmacy schools accept only between 2% to 30% of applicants, according to an analysis of 11 pharmacy schools by BeMo Academic Consulting Inc., a Toronto-based school admissions prep service provider. Read: A tale of two countries: Staffing shortages squeezing pharmacy here and south of the border

Failing grade: U.S. pharm schools see 60% drop in applications over 10 years

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