Health Professions and Related Programs

Pharmacy, Pharmaceutical Sciences, and Administration

Colleges award this field under 12 named programs, from Pharmacy to Pharmacy, Pharmaceutical Sciences, and Administration, Other.

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Inside the major

Programs within this field

Colleges may offer this field under 12 more specific program names. The program you choose affects the courses you take.

Pharmacy: Prepares you for the independent or employed practice of preparing and dispensing drugs and medications in consultation with prescribing physicians and other health care professionals, and for managing pharmacy practices and counseling patients. Covers mathematics, physics, chemistry, biochemistry, anatomy, physiology, pharmacology, pharmaceutical chemistry, pharmacognosy, pharmacy practice, pharmacy administration, applicable regulations, and professional standards and ethics.
Pharmacy Administration and Pharmacy Policy and Regulatory Affairs: Prepares you to apply managerial, social, and economic sciences to the study and management of the distribution and use of pharmaceutical products and the provision of pharmacy services. Covers research design and methods, statistics, social and organizational behavior, pharmacoeconomics, management of pharmacy services, outcomes research, product planning and reimbursement, cost-benefit analysis, drug marketing, pharmacy and pharmaceutics law and regulation, risk assessment, and organization of the health care system.
Pharmaceutics and Drug Design: Focuses on the scientific study of the formulation of medicinal substances into product vehicles capable of being stored, transported, and then introduced into the patient and behaving in ways optimal to therapeutic interaction. Covers statistics, biopharmaceutics, drug metabolism, pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, physical pharmacy, pharmacological analysis, drug design and development, pharmacological biotechnology, chemical separations, spectroscopy, drug-host interactions, immunology, quantitative drug measurement, enzymatic transformations, and metabolic excretion.
Medicinal and Pharmaceutical Chemistry: Focuses on the application of chemistry to the study of biologically and clinically active substances, biological and pharmacological interactions, and the development of associated research methods, techniques, and clinical trial procedures. Covers organic chemistry, biochemistry, molecular graphics, rational drug design, toxicology, molecular biology, pharmacology, enzyme mechanisms, receptor theory, neurochemistry, drug metabolism, drug synthesis, biological mechanisms of drug action, research tools and techniques, and laboratory safety.
Natural Products Chemistry and Pharmacognosy: Focuses on the scientific study of biologically active compounds found in naturally occurring sources such as plants, animals, and microbes and their use and/or modification as medicinal substances. Covers medicinal chemistry, organic medicinals, pharmacological therapeutics, pharmacokinetics, molecular biology, structural chemistry, enzymes, nucleic acids, economic botany, ethnobotany, bioprospecting, bioassay, compound identification and isolation, mass spectrometry, and analytical instrumentation and techniques.
Clinical and Industrial Drug Development: Focuses on the scientific application of pharmacology, pharmaceutics, and industrial management to the development, production, marketing, and distribution of pharmaceutical products. Covers industrial microbiology, plasmids, expression vectors, protein chemistry, assay and evaluation, drug synthesis and purification, quality control, industrial management, production security, patent procedures, intellectual property regulations and issues, patent enforcement and defense, and research design and testing.
Pharmacoeconomics/Pharmaceutical Economics: Focuses on the application of economics and policy analysis to the study of the relationship of pharmacy services and pharmaceutical processes and products to the health care system and their impact on health care organizations. Covers health economics, pharmacoeconomics, health care systems, health care organization and management, statistics and biostatistics, outcomes research, health care policy, pharmacy services, and pharmaceutical industry operations.
Clinical, Hospital, and Managed Care Pharmacy: Prepares you to deliver specialized pharmacy services and produce pharmaceutical products in clinical settings in conjunction with other health care professionals. Covers biostatistics; clinical pharmacokinetics; biopharmaceutics; neuropharmacology; pharmacodynamics; drug metabolism; clinical sampling and research design; drug delivery systems; chemotherapy; pharmacotherapy; clinical pharmacy management; medical and research ethics; and applications to nuclear, nutrition support, oncology, psychiatric, and therapeutic pharmacy.
Industrial and Physical Pharmacy and Cosmetic Sciences: Focuses on the application of pharmaceutical sciences and pharmacy to the study of pharmaceuticals production and distribution, and prepares you to manage pharmaceutical industry operations. Covers pharmacoeconomics, industrial management, operations management, preformulation evaluation, product formulation/reformulation, drug product development, stability testing, dosage design, pilot scale-up, drug marketing, quality control, drug information, and legal and regulatory affairs.
Pharmaceutical Sciences: Focuses on the basic sciences that underlie drugs and drug therapy and that prepares you for further study and/or careers in pharmaceutical science and research, pharmaceutical administration and sales, biotechnology, drug manufacturing, regulatory affairs, and related fields. Covers mathematics, biology, chemistry, physics, statistics, pharmaceutics, pharmacology and toxicology, dosage formulation, manufacturing, quality assurance, and regulations.

Where it can lead

Careers this field can lead to

Explore related careers, starting with the closest connections and the occupations hiring the most people.

Growing fast

Medical and Health Services Managers

Median pay: $123,860
Hiring change through 2035: 24.2%
Job openings a year: 62,300

To get hiredBachelor's degree

Explore this career Growing fast

Health Specialties Teachers, Postsecondary

Median pay: $107,310
Hiring change through 2035: 17.9%
Job openings a year: 24,900

To get hiredDoctoral or professional degree

Explore this career Growing with the economy

Managers, All Other

Median pay: $141,900
Hiring change through 2035: 4.9%
Job openings a year: 100,900

To get hiredBachelor's degree

Explore this career Growing with the economy

Sales Managers

Median pay: $148,270
Hiring change through 2035: 4.5%
Job openings a year: 47,300

To get hiredBachelor's degree

Explore this career Growing fast

Medical Scientists, Except Epidemiologists

Median pay: $103,410
Hiring change through 2035: 12.6%
Job openings a year: 10,500

To get hiredDoctoral or professional degree

Explore this career Growing with the economy

Industrial Production Managers

Median pay: $126,060
Hiring change through 2035: 2.6%
Job openings a year: 17,000

To get hiredBachelor's degree

Explore this career Growing

Marketing Managers

Median pay: $166,790
Hiring change through 2035: 6.9%
Job openings a year: 34,000

To get hiredBachelor's degree

Explore this career Growing

Pharmacists

Median pay: $140,910
Hiring change through 2035: 5.2%
Job openings a year: 12,500

To get hiredDoctoral or professional degree

Explore this career Growing

Natural Sciences Managers

Median pay: $167,220
Hiring change through 2035: 8.2%
Job openings a year: 9,200

To get hiredBachelor's degree

Explore this career Growing

Chemists

Median pay: $91,240
Hiring change through 2035: 6.4%
Job openings a year: 5,900

To get hiredBachelor's degree

Explore this career Growing fast

Biochemists and Biophysicists

Median pay: $127,410
Hiring change through 2035: 12.3%
Job openings a year: 2,900

To get hiredDoctoral or professional degree

Explore this career Growing with the economy

Chemistry Teachers, Postsecondary

Median pay: $93,250
Hiring change through 2035: 2.3%
Job openings a year: 1,700

To get hiredDoctoral or professional degree

Explore this career

All work is projected to grow 3.5% between 2025 and 2035; read every hiring-change figure against it. The figures beside each career are the pay of that work, across everyone doing it. Graduates of this field earn $35,132 one year after completing the program, which is the start of a career rather than the shape of one.

Working style

How and where the work happens

Related careers can feel very different from one another. Compare the specific occupations to understand the work each one involves.

4%of related openings involve substantial in-person or active work

Few of the careers connected to this field are measured as substantially in-person or active work. Compare the specific occupations to see how much time each one involves with people, equipment, and movement.

College options

Where to study it

Ordered by how many degrees each college awards in this field. Sort by any numbered column.

College	Degrees a year	Earnings, first year out	Admit rate	Average annual cost after aid
MCPHS University MA	220	$42,097	85%	$38,000
Long Island University NY	178	—	90%	$25,000
University of Toledo OH	168	$43,168	95%	$16,000
Saint Joseph's University PA	146	—	86%	$24,000
University of California-Irvine CA	116	$18,068	26%	$12,000
Duquesne University PA	116	—	79%	$32,000
University of Kansas KS	111	—	88%	$15,000
Ohio Northern University OH	99	$39,800	73%	$22,000
University of Mississippi MS	97	—	98%	$15,000
Ohio State University-Main Campus OH	92	$27,756	51%	$10,000
University of Pittsburgh-Pittsburgh Campus PA	89	—	50%	$23,000
University of South Carolina-Columbia SC	82	—	61%	$20,000
University of Connecticut CT	77	—	54%	$21,000
Samford University AL	66	—	82%	$32,000
Northeastern University MA	63	—	6%	$5,000
South Dakota State University SD	60	—	99%	$18,000
Purdue University-Main Campus IN	60	$35,132	50%	$9,000
University of Louisiana at Monroe LA	59	—	75%	$13,000
University of California-Davis CA	57	$32,847	42%	$12,000
University of Arizona AZ	55	—	86%	$16,000
North Dakota State University-Main Campus ND	53	—	96%	$12,000
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor MI	45	—	18%	$5,000
Northern Michigan University MI	43	—	70%	$11,000
University of New Mexico-Main Campus NM	41	—	95%	$16,000
Western New England University MA	34	—	83%	$25,000
University of Wisconsin-Madison WI	32	—	43%	$8,000
Mercer University GA	29	—	66%	$23,000
Cedarville University OH	18	—	63%	$20,000
University of Georgia GA	16	—	37%	$13,000
University of Massachusetts-Lowell MA	16	—	85%	$12,000
University at Buffalo NY	14	—	69%	$21,000
Concordia University-Wisconsin WI	10	—	68%	$33,000
Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University FL	8	—	21%	$15,000
Drake University IA	7	—	64%	$25,000
The University of Montana MT	7	—	96%	$17,000
Saint Louis University MO	6	—	81%	$22,000
University of New England ME	4	—	89%	$32,000
St. John Fisher University NY	4	—	68%	$26,000
Cleveland State University OH	4	—	95%	$15,000
Temple University PA	4	—	83%	$27,000

Explore colleges for this major