(277) Association of Admission Factors with Academic Progression in a Four-Year Pharmacy Program

Objective : To correlate admissions factors with early academic progression outcomes in a contemporary application cohort.

Methods: We included students that entered the professional program Fall of 2021 and 2022. Using PharmCAS, we collected demographics at the time of admissions and grade point averages (total, pre-requisite math & science, and pre-requisite courses). Each student was assessed and was designated as high-risk for poor academic performance if they met predefined application criteria. Demographics and risk status were compared between students who were and were not subject to dismissal early in the program, using either a chi-square for categorical or Wilcoxon two-sample tests for continuous variables.

Results: We included 164 students in the evaluation. The median age was 19 years, 72% were female gender, the most common were white (55%) and Asian (28%), and 13% had a prior degree. Forty-five (27%) students were flagged as high-risk. A total of 23 were subject to dismissal during the study period. The only demographic to correlate with the outcome was race (p=0.009). Students subject to dismissal had lower GPAs (p < 0.001 for all GPA subtypes). Most students subject to dismissal (n=19, 83%) had been flagged as high-risk. Additionally, students subject to dismissal were more likely to have multiple pre-requisite course retakes (p < 0.001) and more semesters of multiple course grades of C or lower (p < 0.001).

Conclusions: Our findings suggest that academic success, defined using various GPAs, are associated with academic progression and may deserve prioritization over non-academic (“holistic”) items during the admissions process. Additionally, our flagging system helps identify those admitted students most likely to struggle, allowing support to be provided to best achieve academic success.