PharmD
Prospective Students & Admissions
Professional Technical Standards for Admission, Matriculation, Progression, and Graduation
The following attributes are required for admission, matriculation, progression, and graduation from the UTEP School of Pharmacy (SOP).1 Students who have concerns about meeting the following requirements should contact The Center for Accommodations and Support Services (CASS) and the SOP Office of Student Affairs.
- Ethical. Students must demonstrate and exhibit professionalism and ethical decision-making in all interactions, whether they are in the classroom, laboratory, experiential site, or any other event where the student is representing the SOP and/or the pharmacy profession. Students must be able to pass the legal requirements and background checks as set for by the Texas State Board of Pharmacy and healthcare institutions. Students must conduct themselves according to the principles set in the “Oath of a Pharmacist” while accepting the responsibilities as part of their development into pharmacists.2
- Social and Behavioral. Students must demonstrate the emotional health, mental acuity and maturity necessary to exercise ethical judgement and utilize their intellectual skills to their full ability. Students must demonstrate integrity, compassion, empathy, and sensitivity to work with diverse cultures. Students must be able to develop effective professional relationships with patients, their families/caregivers, and colleagues. Students must demonstrate the ability to tolerate stressful and demanding environments and maintain adequate function and completion of assignments despite the fluctuating nature of the work environment.
- Intellectual, Conceptual, Integrative, and Quantitative. Students must demonstrate the ability to accurately measure, calculate, analyze and interpret large amounts of information, assimilate that data into problem solving, and then apply that learned information to a variety of situations. Students must demonstrate the ability to adapt to different learning and practice environments. Students must exhibit attention and alertness to surroundings and the ability to pro-actively apply quick critical thinking to patient care problems. Students must be committed to full-time study and to the SOP curriculum, experiential, and co-curricular requirements.
- Communication. Students must demonstrate the ability to communicate, in English, effectively and sensitively in individual conversation and in groups. Students must be able to communicate via verbal and written forms to elicit information, document data, and provide clear, concise, and accurate responses. Students must be able to prepare and deliver formal papers, presentations, and community outreach events. Students must also be able to learn and utilize technical Spanish in real-world settings as well as use basic resources to navigate across languages and cultures, which will be learned via the SOP coursework.
- Observation and Sensory. Students must demonstrate the ability to utilize their sense of vision to observe demonstrations, lectures, and experiments in individual and group settings. Students must be able to observe a patient accurately at a distance and close to them with their combined senses including vision, hearing, smell, and touch. Students must be able to read to interpret information from prescriptions and medication-related labels.
- Motor. Students must demonstrate the sufficient motor function and physical coordination necessary for performing basic classroom and pharmacy-related functions. Students must be able to participate in large and small group discussions, practice and perform physical assessment skills (e.g., manually measuring blood pressure, auscultating heart and lungs), perform immunizations and functions related to emergency management of vaccines, prepare all routine types of medications including sterile and non-sterile compounding, and the ability to deliver direct patient care as appropriate to the pharmacist’s contemporary role in society.
1 Source: Berry TM, Chichester CO, Lundquist LM, Sanoski CA, et al. Professional Technical Standards in Colleges and Schools of Pharmacy. Am J Pharm Ed 2011; 75(3): Article 50.
2 Oath of a Pharmacist. 2021. Avaialable at: .