South, Auburn Expand Pharmacy Partnership

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Posted on February 12, 2019

Bob Lowry

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The University of South Alabama and Auburn University today announced the creation of an Early Acceptance Program at Auburn’s Harrison School of Pharmacy on the USA campus. The program will provide an opportunity for high school seniors planning to attend USA, as well as current USA undergraduate students, to receive conditional acceptance to the Auburn pharmacy school.

The new agreement will allow qualified USA undergraduates to be admitted to Auburn’s pharmacy school after successfully completing three years at South. Then, after one year at the AU pharmacy school, they could be awarded a bachelor of science degree in biomedical sciences from USA.

“Today’s announcement is a natural step forward for our pharmacy partnership,” said Dr. David Johnson, provost and senior vice president for academic affairs at South Alabama. “USA’s outstanding curriculum matches up extremely well with Auburn’s pharmacy prerequisites, and the early acceptance program should further interest South Alabama students who desire a doctor of pharmacy degree.”

The joint pharmacy program between USA and Auburn began in the 2007 fall semester. Since that time, more than 200 students have received a doctoral degree from the Auburn University Harrison School of Pharmacy at the University of South Alabama.

“The partnership between Auburn and USA symbolizes a shared commitment to advancing pharmaceutical care and increasing the number of pharmacy professionals in our state,” said Dr. Bill Hardgrave, provost and senior vice president for academic affairs at Auburn. “We look forward to creating a pathway that connects exceptional students with our world-class faculty and innovative educational, research and clinical programs.”

Under the terms of the new early acceptance program, or EAP, high school seniors would be required to apply to USA, receive an offer of admission to USA, and then apply for the EAP through South’s JagSPOT scholarship portal by February 15 of each year. If the student meets the eligibility criteria, their application would be sent to Auburn’s Harrison School of Pharmacy for review where selected applicants would be invited to submit an EAP application via PharmDirect, an application service provided to colleges and schools of pharmacy. Interviews for selected applicants would take place in March, after which a decision will be made for each applicant regarding admittance to the AU pharmacy school.

High school seniors admitted to USA must meet the following criteria to be eligible for the EAP:

• A minimum high school grade point average of 3.5
• A minimum ACT score of 26 (or comparable SAT score)

For South Alabama undergraduate students, the deadline to apply for the EAP is September 15. If the USA student meets the eligibility criteria, their application will be sent to the Auburn pharmacy school for review, where selected applicants would be invited to submit an EAP application. Interviews for selected applicants would take place in March.

Undergraduate students enrolled at USA must meet the following criteria to be eligible for the EAP:

• Completed two semesters at USA
• A minimum grade point average of 3.5 on all undergraduate prerequisite coursework attempted at USA
• No grades of less than ‘C’
• Completion of at least 15 prerequisite math/science hours at USA (course credit awarded by advanced placement cannot be used to meet this requirement)

High school students interested in learning more should contact USA’s Office of New Student Recruitment at (251) 460-7834 or email recruitment@southalabama.edu. Current USA students wanting additional information should contact Auburn’s Harrison School of Pharmacy at USA at (251) 445-9300 or email pharmd@auburn.edu.

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About the University of South Alabama

The University of South Alabama is a global teaching and research university that provides nearly 15,000 students with an exceptional education in business, the liberal arts, education, engineering, computing, the sciences and health care. USA’s commitment to student success includes small class sizes and hands-on research opportunities in more than 100 undergraduate, graduate and doctoral degree programs offered through nine academic colleges and schools. South also provides advanced and innovative health care through the USA Health system. For more information, visit the University of South Alabama website, www.southalabama.edu.

About Auburn University Harrison School of Pharmacy

Auburn University's Harrison School of Pharmacy is ranked among the top 20 percent of all pharmacy schools in the United States, according to U.S. News & World Report. Fully accredited by the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE), the School offers doctoral degrees in pharmacy (Pharm.D.) and pharmaceutical sciences (Ph.D.) while also offering a master's in pharmaceutical sciences. The School’s commitment to world-class scholarship and interdisciplinary research speaks to Auburn’s overarching Carnegie R1 designation that places Auburn among the top 100 doctoral research universities in the nation. For more information, visit the Harrison School of Pharmacy website, pharmacy.auburn.edu.

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