Preadmission Predictors of Graduating Grade Point Average in a Professional Pharmacy Program

Abstract

Background: College of pharmacy admissions committees face an important task in selecting students who will excel as practitioners. This task becomes more cumbersome as the number of applicants continues to increase. Established criteria as predictors of academic success in a pharmacy program would be valuable tools in the student admissions process. Objective: To determine which preadmission variables (eg, Pharmacy College Admission Test [PCAT] score, undergraduate grade point average [GPA], applicant interview scores) best predicted academic success for 3 consecutive college of pharmacy graduating classes. Methods: This investigation was a blinded, retrospective record review of 141 pharmacy students from the graduating classes of 2002, 2003, and 2004 at the Medical University of South Carolina. Linear regression analysis was used to model academic success (ie, graduating GPA) as predicted by demographics and preadmission performance indicators. Results: Undergraduate GPA, PCAT score, and applicant interview scores were all highly significant predictors of graduating GPA. Factors found to be not significantly related to graduating GPA were student Scholastic Assessment Test scores, education level, sex, age, and letters of reference. Conclusions: The composite PCAT, prepharmacy GPA, and applicant interview scores were significant predictors of graduation from a professional pharmacy program.