A Prescription for Success: Blacks in Professional Schools of Pharmacy

While black enrollments in law, business, and medical schools appear to be treading water, there have been great strides in the number of blacks completing professional training at schools of pharmacy. In 2005 there were 8,242 graduates of pharmacy schools in the United States. Of these, 714, or 8.7 percent, were black.

The number of blacks earning professional degrees in pharmacy in recent years has skyrocketed. In 1997 there were 172 black graduates of pharmacy schools. By the year 2000 the number of black graduates had doubled. In the next five years the number had doubled once again.

In 2005 there were 46,527 students enrolled in professional degree programs in pharmacy. More than 3,700 of these students, or 8 percent, were black. There were 98 black students enrolled in master’s degree programs in pharmacy studies. They made up 12.3 percent of all students enrolled in master’s degree programs in the field.

In 2005, 19 blacks earned a Ph.D. in pharmacy. They made up 4.4 percent of all doctorates in the field.