(15) Trends in Admissions, Attrition, Dismissals, and Board Performance for Pharmacy Students between 2012 and 2022

Objective : To compare trends and changes in admissions, attrition, dismissals, and performance on licensing board exams by students from pharmacy and other health professional programs from 2012 to 2022.

Methods: Information was compiled from research articles, professional organizations and accrediting agencies. For pharmacy programs, data included PharmCAS, attrition, dismissal, and NAPLEX first-time pass rates. For nursing, dentistry, physician assistant (PA), physical therapy (PT), allopathic and osteopathic medicine (MD, DO), and veterinary medicine, the first-time pass rates on board exams were collected. The board performance was compared between these eight programs. For pharmacy, additional comparisons were made between trends in NAPLEX first-time pass rates and data on admission, attrition, and dismissal.

Results: From 2012 to 2022, the PharmCAS applicant acceptance increased from 69.5% to 86.5%. The year over year acceptance of PharmCAS applicants changed from 21.5% in 2008-2009 to 0.2% in 2018-2019. The applicant volume decreased by 36.3% between 2012 and 2022. Between 2012 and 2021, student attrition and withdrawal rates increased by 2% and 0.5%, respectively. The 10-year average NAPLEX first-time pass rate decreased by 17% while it fluctuated between 4% and 9% in other programs. The 10-year average first-time pass rate for dentistry, PA, PT, DO and MD programs was 92, 95, 91, 96, and 97%, respectively.

Conclusions: A distressing decline occurred in pharmacy student admissions, progression, and performance on NAPLEX between 2012 and 2022. During the same period, other health professional programs experienced an increase in admissions and no drastic changes in student performance on licensing exams.