Pharmacy Program Outcomes

Graduation rates

The Harding University College of Pharmacy offers a 3.5-year professional doctor of pharmacy (Pharm.D.) degree pathway. The first cohort to complete this revised curriculum graduated in December 2024. Classes before December 2024 completed a traditional four-year curriculum. The following table provides a summary of on-time graduation rates for the last six graduating classes:

% on-time graduation = # of graduates/# admitted X 100; *total graduate percentage per cohort; § Students still progressing 

NAPLEX results

Twenty-nine Harding alumni who gradtuated in the calender year of 2024 took the NAPLEX (North American Pharmacist Licensure Examination) for the first time in 2024. The first-time pass rate for these individuals was 79.3%. The national first-attempt pass rate for pharmacy graduates for the 2024 calendar year is 77.5%. The NAPLEX pass rates for the past three years may be viewed by following the link to the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy website.

Student achievements

Forty percent of the class of 2024 secured post-doctoral residency/fellowship positions upon graduation. Members of the class of 2024 distinguished themselves on a national level, earning accolades such as placing in the top 10 of the National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA) Pruitt-Schutte Student Business Plan Competition and receiving the NCPA Foundation Presidential Scholarship. Notably, two members were chosen by the NCPA to complete in-person Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experiences (APPEs) at their headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia. Similarly, another student was chosen by the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists to complete an in-person APPE at their headquarters in Bethesda, Maryland. Additionally, some members of the class were inducted into the Alpha Chi National College Honor Society. On the state level, one member was honored as student of the year by the Arkansas Association of Health-System Pharmacists (AAHP), while others presented their research posters at the AAHP Fall Seminar and at the Arkansas Summit for Antimicrobial Stewardship.

Ninety-five percent of graduates from the class of 2023 obtained positions in pharmacy. Since 2017, an average of 25% of students per cohort have obtained PGY1 residency positions upon graduation and 3% per cohort have obtained PGY2 residency/fellowship positions. Alumni have obtained high-ranking pharmacy positions at institutions such as Johns Hopkins, Mayo Clinic, Cleveland Clinic, Houston Methodist, Baylor Scott and White, Saint Luke’s Hospital of Kansas City, and Huntington Hospital in southern California. Locally, alumni serve the patients of Arkansas through innovative clinical pharmacy positions at community and hospital pharmacies throughout the state and within ambulatory care clinics such as ARcare.