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  • Pharmacy students at Chapman University
School of Pharmacy
Accelerated Pre-Pharmacy Experience Program

»Accelerated Pre-Pharmacy Experience Program (APEx)

 

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Previously the Pre-Pharmacy Freshman Early Assurance Program (FEAP)

High school graduates can earn their Doctor of Pharmacy (Pharm.D.) through the Pre-Pharmacy program in just 5 years, making this an accelerated program unlike any in the nation. 

Students spend 2 years on Chapman's Orange Campus to complete course prerequisites for our School of Pharmacy, instead of spending 4 years on a bachelor's degree. The final 3 years are spent on Chapman's Rinker Campus in Irvine, completing Chapman's year-round PharmD program.

The APEx program allows top-tier high school graduates the support needed to excel in their pre-pharmacy and PharmD studies. The program prepares students to pass the Pharmacy Board exams and, if desired, obtain a pharmacy residency or industry fellowship, or continue their education to get a Ph.D. degree in Pharmaceutical Sciences or Pharmaceutical Economics and Policy. 


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Program Overview

In this rigorous program, cohorts of ambitious students with a passion for pharmacy gain the foundation needed to excel in Chapman's PharmD program. Your PharmD will prepare you for a number of meaningful and lucrative careers.

In the first two years, courses are taken on Chapman's Orange Campus, with many classes in the newly remodeled Keck Center for Science and Technology. During this time, living in on-campus housing is required, although students can opt out if they live nearby with family.

All Pre-Pharmacy students are guaranteed admission to the PharmD program as long as they satisfy all program and admission requirements. For more information on these requirements, including required courses, visit our Pre-Pharmacy Catalog Page.

Our cohorts are anticipated to be around 55-60 students. Approximately 25% of our students are first-generation. Chapman offers extensive resources for those who are the first in their family to go to college.

Program Privileges

As an APEx student, you'll receive the following privileges:

  • Guaranteed seat in all required classes
  • Invitation to an APEx Only Interview Day
  • Guaranteed admission to Chapman’s Pharm.D. program
  • Undergraduate research opportunities with faculty and graduate assistants in the School of Pharmacy
  • Guaranteed additional scholarship for the Chapman University Pharm.D. program
To receive these privileges, you must satisfy the program requirements listed on the Pre-Pharmacy Catalog Page

Scholarships

After admittance to the APEx Program, students receive their financial aid offer for their first two years in the program on our Orange Campus.

In addition, all students will receive a separate and conditional $44,000 tuition scholarship. This scholarship will be applied to students' Pharm.D. tuition (beginning in the third year of the program) in the amount of $5,500 per trimester with the following conditions. You must:

  • Satisfy all requirements necessary to receive admission to the Pharm.D. program.
  • Achieve a 3.0 or higher GPA each semester during the two years of the APEx program, and maintain a cumulative GPA of at least 3.0 in the APEx and Doctor of Pharmacy Programs.
  • Take a minimum of 13 credits per semester at Chapman University.
  • Not take more than 4 credits of prerequisite undergraduate classes outside of Chapman University
  • Complete all prerequisite classes by the end of the spring semester of your second year.
  • Complete all prerequisite classes for a letter grade.
  • Receive no grade below a C in any prerequisite class.

Scholarship amount and terms are subject to change and will be confirmed to students in their financial aid offer.

Where This Degree Will Take You

After finishing the program, graduates will have earned their PharmD and be well-prepared for a number of careers. Many graduates work in community-practice settings, but there are several other options:

  • Clinic or ambulatory practice: You see patients in a medical clinic or physician's group office, and are often able to prescribe medication and make appropriate changes to existing medication therapy.
  • Research: You would conduct or support research that involves drug discovery in the lab, or track medication utilization, adherence, effectiveness, or side effects in patient populations.
  • Hospital Practice: You would work with physicians, nurses, and other members of the health care team to provide in-patients with optimal medication therapies.
In the PharmD program, you’ll take experiential courses that will expose you to various pharmacy-practice settings.
 

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Graduate Outcomes

Our first Pre-Pharmacy cohort graduated in the spring of 2019. We were proud to have 85% of our graduates accepted to residency programs. This is far above the national average of 65%.

Here are some of the places our students went on for residencies and fellowships after earning their PharmD If you would like to be connected with any of our alumni, please contact us at prepharmacy@chapman.edu.

Class of 2019

  • Cedars-Sinai Medical Care Foundation (Beverly Hills, CA)
  • Clinical Pharmacist at MedWatchers (Irvine, CA)
  • Managed Care PGY-1 Residency at VA San Diego (San Diego, CA)
  • Outcomes and Analytics PGY-2 Residency at VA Sierra Pacific Network/VA Nevada (Reno, NV)
  • Oncology 2-year Fellowship through CUSP-Amgen (Thousand Oaks, CA)
  • PGY-1 PIH Hospital (Whittier, CA)
  • PGY-1 Residency at Pomona Valley Hospital (Pomona, CA)
  • Residency at Cedars-Sinai Medical Care Foundation (Beverly Hills, CA)

Class of 2020

  • PGY-1 Residency at Antelope Valley Hospital (Lancaster, CA)
  • PGY-1 Residency at Desert Hospital (Palm Springs, CA)
  • Pharmacist at the County of San Diego
  • Ph.D. Candidate in Pharmaceutical Sciences at Chapman University School of Pharmacy
  • Managed Care PGY-1 Residency at Prospect Medical Group (Orange, CA)
  • Regulatory Affairs Fellowship through Rutgers-Genentech (San Francisco, CA)

Class of 2021

  • Late Stage Clinical Development - Oncology Fellowship through Rutgers – Merck (Kenilworth, NJ)
  • PGY-1 (Ambulatory Care) CHI Franciscan St. Joseph Medical Center (Tacoma, WA)
  • PGY-1 (Ambulatory Care) County of Santa Clara Health System (San Jose, CA)
  • PGY-1 Kindred Hospital (La Mirada, CA)
  • PGY-1 Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center (Spokane, WA)
  • PGY-1 VA Northern California Health System (Mather, CA)

Class of 2022

  • Pharmacovigilance and Patinent Saftey Fellowship Purdue, AbbVie and FDA (Indianapolis, IN)
  • MCPHS Biogen Therapeutics Development Fellowship (Boston, MA)
  • PGY-1 Desert Oasis Healthcare (Palm Springs, CA)
  • PGY-1 St. Joseph's University Medical Center (Patterson, NJ)
  • PGY-1 Cedars-Sinai Medical Network (Los Angeles, CA)
  • PGY-1 Riverside Community Hospital (Riverside, CA)
  • PGY-1 Loma Linda University Health (Loma Linda, CA)
  • PGY-1 Mountain View Hospital (Las Vegas, NV) 
  • PGY-1 University Washington Medicine (Seattle, WA) 

Meet the Associate Dean of Undergraduate Pharmacy Programs & Partnerships, Dr. Lawrence “LB” Brown, PharmD, Ph.D.

Lawrence BrownThroughout your first two years in the program, you’ll get ongoing support from Associate Dean LB Brown.

Dr. Brown is a PharmD and PhD. and has experience working in military, VA, hospital, independent, chain, and grocery store pharmacies. He is also the past President of the American Pharmacists Association (APhA) and Kappa Psi International Pharmaceutical Fraternity, the past Speaker of the House for APhA, and has been the Parliamentarian for the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy since 2006.

Dr. Brown also served as the founding Associate Dean of Student Affairs for Chapman’s School of Pharmacy and was responsible for starting the Pre-Pharmacy program. Dr. Brown has first-hand experience and knows what it takes for you to succeed in pharmacy school.

His StrengthFinders are Leadership – Connectedness – Achiever – Activator - Futuristic.

In addition to teaching the program’s Intro to Pharmacy courses, he will:

  • Hold at least two meetings with you per semester to go over your progress in the program and assist with course scheduling.
  • Offer career advising and suggest opportunities to get more experience in areas that align with your interests and goals.
  • Connect you with faculty-led research projects in the School of Pharmacy if you are interested in gaining hands-on research experience.
  • Assist you in any way he can to help you be successful.

If you visit Chapman’s Orange Campus, you can reach out to Dr. Brown for an in-person meeting. He can answer questions and help you learn more about the program. To schedule a meeting, email him at prepharmacy@chapman.edu.

 

Student Clubs and Organizations

Joining a student club or organization is a great way to build your community and develop your skill set. Chapman has hundreds of options.

In addition, Chapman has a Future Pharmacists Club that is popular with Pre-Pharmacy students. The club:

  • Helps students learn more about the field and network with others interested in pharmacy.
  • Schedules activities and hosts guest speakers.
  • Runs a peer-mentoring program for club members (2nd-year students mentor 1st-year students).
Dr. Adaeze Anthony Wise
Pharm.D. '23
"I thoroughly enjoyed and learned so much from my pre-pharmacy classes! It was a wonderful mix of social and academic euphoria.”
Adaeze's APEx & CUSP experience
Dr. Mary Ngo
Pharm.D. '19
"Being part of the (APEx) program, I had the pleasure of spending my first two years on the Orange campus where I got to experience college life there prior to CUSP, where I got involved in a lot of organizations."
Mary's APEx & CUSP experience
Dr. Mason Myers
Pharm.D. '23
“I would not have achieved the goals I have at such an early age without the incredible mentorship and support offered by the APEx program.”
Mason's APEx & CUSP experience

Admission Details

To apply, you must be a U.S. or Canadian citizen or have U.S. permanent resident status.

The steps for applying and additional admission information is below. Every cohort begins in the fall semester; spring entry is not available.


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How to Apply

APEx applicants generally follow the same application process as all first-year applicants to Chapman. However, there are some additional considerations and steps unique to this program:

  • The Early Action and Early Decision Application deadline is November 1. The Regular Decision Application deadline is Jan 15.
  • While completing the Common App, choose “Pharmacy” as your major. You can also select a second-choice major when applying. If you are not admitted to Pre-Pharmacy, we will consider you your second choice.

Advanced Placement Equivalencies

Admission Criteria

Chapman University and the School of Pharmacy review applicants on a holistic basis. We use the same criteria to evaluate California and out-of-state applicants. These admission criteria include:

  • Rigor of High School curriculum completed
  • Academic strength
  • Motivation to pursue pharmacy
  • Maturity
  • Communication skills
  • Community involvement

There is no interview involved in the APEx admission process.

Notification Process

Those who apply by the priority application deadline (and select Early Action or Early Decision as their notification plan) should receive their admission decision by mid-December. 

Those applying after the priority application deadline will be notified by mid-March.

If you are not offered admission into the Pre-Pharmacy Program and applied with a second-choice major, your application will automatically be considered for your second choice.

Alternate Pathway to Chapman’s Pharm.D.

Chapman’s Pharm.D. has other pathways outside of the Pre-Pharmacy program. These might be good alternatives if you are unsure about your readiness to commit to an accelerated program. 

You can complete PharmD prerequisites, at an accredited community college, or you can complete your PharmD prerequisites while enrolled in a B.S. Degree program, at any accredited institution, including Chapman.

For more information on the majors that Chapman offers, review the Selecting a Chapman Major page.

For a list of the PharmD prerequisites classes and other requirements for admission to the PharmD program, review the Chapman University School of Pharmacy Admission page.

When you are within a year of completing those prerequisites, either at a community college or as part of a B.S. program, you can apply to Chapman’s Pharm.D. program by using the PharmCAS website.

Tour and Visit Opportunities

While you consider the Accelerated Pre-Pharmacy Experience (APEx) Program, we hope you will also have time to visit our Orange Campus for a:

  • Campus Tour and Information Session: Walking tours are led by current students who will show you the campus and residence life area. They’re eager to answer questions and show you what life at Chapman is like.
  • Keck Center for Science and Engineering Tour: Pre-Pharmacy students will take many courses in the Keck Center. On this tour, you will learn more about the Keck Center’s state-of-the-art classrooms and facilities.

If you visit the campus, we hope you will also have time to meet Program Director Lawrence Brown. To make an appointment, you can email him at prepharmacy@chapman.edu.

Virtual Pre-Pharmacy Information Sessions

You can learn more about the program and pharmacy profession at an upcoming information session. Information sessions are led by our Program Director. Prospective students and families are welcome!

Register for an info session

Contact Us

Dr. Lawrence "LB" Brown
Associate Dean of Undergraduate Pharmacy Programs and Partnerships
prepharmacy@chapman.edu

    Learn more on Instagram!

    To get a better idea of the student experience, follow Pre-Pharmacy on Instagram. The account is entirely student-run:

    Red Instagram logoPre-Pharmacy Instagram

      Keck Center for Science & Engineering

      Keck Center at Chapman University

      The Keck Center is where you’ll take many of your classes and study during your two years on the Orange Campus.