The benefits of becoming a pharmacist include excellent pay and steady hours working in drug, general merchandise, grocery stores, hospitals and other health care settings. Pharmacists engage with the community by providing helpful guidance to customers about taking the medication, including side effects, and share how one drug might interact with another.
Students who are interested in becoming a pharmacist will benefit from studying at Tusculum. The university offers a pre-pharmacy concentration as part of its Bachelor of Science in Chemistry degree. Students will become grounded in the fundamentals of chemistry, biology, microbiology and physics through active and experiential learning and be eligible for research opportunities that exceed the norms of the typical collegiate undergraduate experience in the country.
Combine those elements with internships, the potential to be selected for scholars programs and a program of study that enriches personal lives through one-on-one connections with and mentorship from expert and experienced faculty members. Our coursework is challenging, but our faculty members will stand with you every step of the way to assist. The result is a graduate with a solid foundation who is positioned to enter and succeed in an excellent pharmacy school.
You can learn more about this concentration through our catalog or by contacting our admission team and chemistry faculty members.
I attended Tusculum University from August 2017–December 2020. Upon starting my education, I was a business administration major and quickly changed after realizing it was not the right choice. After meeting with my advisor, Dr. Dennis Ashford, I was hopeful for my next journey as I started on my path to pharmacy school.
Many courses, such as general chemistry, organic and inorganic chemistry, physical chemistry, and analytical chemistry, allowed me to find my passion again and prepared me well for obtaining my Pharm.D. Although I completed portions of my school throughout COVID, I would not say that my learning had been affected. Attending such a close-knit school as Tusculum allowed me to form great relationships with the faculty and advance my understanding throughout the circumstances.
Now that I am enrolled in the College of Pharmacy at the Medical University of South Carolina, I can proudly say that the chemistry program at Tusculum enabled me to get there. Lab courses prepared me for compounding medications anywhere from capsules and tablets to gummy bears and suppositories. Acid/base chemistries lessons have prepared me to understand the underlying causes of metabolic acidosis and alkalosis and what medications are proper in treating them based on their mechanisms of action. Dimensional analysis calculations prepared me to calculate the correct dosing in an IV medication for prepping a sterile compound.
Currently, I am working at MUSC Shawn Jenkins Children’s Hospital in Charleston, South Carolina, and after completing my hospital rotation, I want to pursue a career as a clinical pharmacist. Something I learned about pharmacy is the number of opportunities in this career path. I am proud to say that I received my Bachelor of Science at Tusculum University. It has set me up for success, as I am halfway through my education in receiving my pharmacy doctorate.
Students participate in numerous scientific endeavors and experiments that build on the technical knowledge gained in the traditional classroom setting. Students can also obtain internships and have the potential to become scholars with a variety of organizations.
Through challenging courses as well as one-on-one connections with and mentorship from faculty members, students will be prepared to enter a pharmacy school.
Nurtured by professors who know them and studying at a university that values them as individuals, students in the pre-pharmacy concentration program learn to pay it forward with a career of service to others with health care needs.
Students who enter this program have elected to pursue a profession that will have a beneficial impact on the welfare of others. They will be embedded with the mindset of supporting others in need, giving their lives purpose as they pursue their calling.