Top Pharmacy Schools in America

When you’re just starting your pharmacy journey, you want to make sure that you get a high-quality education. After all, you’ll probably end up taking out a boatload of student loans and still be paying for your degree well into your professional career.

U.S News & World Report has been ranking educational institutions for years, and it last ranked pharmacy schools in 2012.

Schools are ranked based on the results of peer assessment surveys sent to deans, administrators, and faculty at accredited pharmacy schools. Each school is rated from 1 (marginal) to 5 (outstanding) on the quality of its pharmacy program.

Without further ado, here are the latest pharmacy program rankings from U.S News & World Report:

Rank

School Name

Location

Score

1

University of California, San Francisco School of Pharmacy

San Francisco, CA

4.6

2

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Eshelman School of Pharmacy

Chapel Hill, NC

4.5

3

University of Minnesota College of Pharmacy

Minneapolis, MN

4.4

4

University of Texas at Austin

Austin, TX

4.3

5 (tie)

University of Kentucky College of Pharmacy

Lexington, KY

4.2

5 (tie)

University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Pharmacy

Madison, WI

4.2

7 (tie)

The Ohio State University College of Pharmacy

Columbus, OH

4.1

7 (tie)

Purdue University College of Pharmacy

West Lafayette, IN

4.1

10 (tie)

University of Arizona College of Pharmacy

Tucson, AZ

4.0

10 (tie)

University of Southern California School of Pharmacy

Los Angeles, CA

4.0

10 (tie)

University of Utah College of Pharmacy

Salt Lake City, UT

4.0

14 (tie)

University of Florida College of Pharmacy

Gainesville, FL

3.9

14 (tie)

University of Illinois at ​Chicago College of Pharmacy

Chicago, IL

3.9

14 (tie)

University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy

Pittsburgh, PA

3.9

17 (tie)

University at Buffalo School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences

Buffalo, NY

3.8

17 (tie)

University of Iowa College of Pharmacy

Iowa City, IA

3.8

17 (tie)

University of Maryland School of Pharmacy at Baltimore

Baltimore, MD

3.8

17 (tie)

University of Tennessee Health Science Center College of Pharmacy

Memphis, TN

3.8

21 (tie)

University of Kansas School of Pharmacy

Lawrence, KS

3.7

21 (tie)

Virginia Commonwealth University School of Pharmacy

Richmond, VA

3.7

23

University of California, ​San Diego Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences

La Jolla, CA

3.5

24 (tie)

University of Colorado ​Denver School of Pharmacy

Aurora, CO

3.4

24 (tie)

University of Mississippi School of Pharmacy

University, MS

3.4

26 (tie)

Auburn University Harrison School of Pharmacy

Auburn, AL

3.3

26 (tie)

Medical University of South Carolina

Charleston, SC

3.3

26 (tie)

Rutgers University Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy

Piscataway, NJ

3.3

26 (tie)

University of Connecticut School of Pharmacy

Storrs, CT

3.3

26 (tie)

University of Georgia College of Pharmacy

Athens, GA

3.3

26 (tie)

West Virginia University School of Pharmacy

Morgantown, WV

3.3

If your school appears on this list, that’s great! However, attending a school that isn’t listed here is not necessarily cause for alarm.

In my next blog post, I will discuss whether pharmacy school rankings really matter when it comes to your future career as a pharmacist.