Investigating the correlation between student pharmacist admissions data and pharmacy course grades at a college of pharmacy in the United States

Introduction: There is an interest in examining how well admissions data including demographics and course grades correlate with academic success for student pharmacists. This project aimed to determine the correlation between Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) admissions data and academic performance at the University of Arizona R. Ken Coit College of Pharmacy (UA RKCCOP). Methods: This retrospective quality improvement project included all PharmD students admitted in the last five cycles (2018–19, 2019–20, 2020–21, 2021–22, 2022–23) to the UA RKCCOP. The PharmCAS application system data and course grades from the three years of the pharmacy didactic curriculum at the UA RKCCOP were utilized. Descriptive statistics were calculated to describe the characteristics, grade point average (GPA) scores, and course grades. Spearman Rho correlations were calculated for the association between pre-pharmacy GPA scores and each PharmD course grade and the association between select prerequisite courses and their corresponding pharmacy courses. Results: A total of 665 students were admitted to the UA RKCCOP PharmD program in the past five cohorts. Correlations between prerequisite course grades and select PharmD course grades were either weak or very weak, as were most correlations between pre-pharmacy GPAs and PharmD grades. There were nine moderate correlations – three basic science courses and two pharmacy practice courses were typically correlated with overall and/or science pre-pharmacy GPAs. Conclusions: This project demonstrated a lack of strong correlations between prerequisite course grades with PharmD course grades and pre-pharmacy GPAs with PharmD grades. Although there were a few moderate correlations, most were weak or very weak.