A Descriptive Website Review of Publicized PharmD Pre-Matriculation Programs

Objective: Colleges of pharmacy have begun offering pre-matriculation programs to refresh and strengthen pharmacy students’ basic math skills. Although previous survey-based research showed that many institutions offer a pre-matriculation program, it remains unclear whether such information is publicly available to prospective pharmacy students. In this study, we conducted a comprehensive review of pharmacy school websites to identify pharmacy schools that publicly describe their pre-matriculation programs. Methods: The official websites of the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education pharmacy schools were searched for information on pre-matriculation programs. Results: Out of 142 pharmacy schools, 20 (14%) of those schools were found to describe their pre-matriculation program on their website. Ten of those 20 programs reported that their pre-matriculation program includes a section that teaches calculations. Only one school described a positive impact on student performance in a calculations course. The timing, length, and format of the 20 programs varied. Conclusions: Only a small proportion of U.S. pharmacy schools (14%) publicly disclose the presence of a pre-matriculation program on their institutional websites. Most of the programs do not report outcomes or evidence of impact. Future work should focus on developing calculation-focused pre-matriculation programs and evaluating their effectiveness, while also improving the visibility and availability of information about these programs on institutional websites.