This is a letter of recommendation that I have written for a student who is now a pharmacist.  Specific details are changed.  I have guided six students to successful admissions to pharmacy schools.  Six out of six is a respectable result.  The following letter should be used as a tool and not as is. 

Dear Admission Committee for University of PharmD,

It is indeed my pleasure to write this letter in support of Amber Leon application to your Pharmacy Program.  I have known Ms. Leon for the past one and a half years.  I have directly observed and supervised her work at USPharmD Pharmacy.

My impression of Amber is outstanding. She has shown a real eagerness to learn.  She has a sincere concern and affinity for the patients. Amber has also demonstrated appropriate maturity and a strong sense of responsibility.  In addition, she is likable and easy to work with.

Amber is a bright, competent, and conscientious person who always maintains the highest degree of professional integrity and demeanor.  Amber is greatly committed to all that she takes on, she is highly dependable, and extremely dedicated in the work she does.  While working with Amber, I found her sincerity, sense of humor, and listening skills delightful.

Amber has an exceptional learning ability.  I am an adjunct clinical professor at PharmD School of Pharmacy and manage PharmD Pharmacy, but I have never encountered such an outstanding person.  For example, I personally demonstrated how to process/type a prescription once and she was able to process/type other prescriptions without any question or help.  She is a truly intelligent young lady.

I strongly recommend this impressive young woman for admission into your pharmacy school.  I am confident that her ongoing interests in the field of pharmacy coupled with her personal attributes will make her highly capable of becoming a successful and competent pharmacist.  I am sure you will find her a valued member of the Pharmacy program and a pleasure to work with.

 If you require any additional information, please fell free to contact me at the this address.
Sincerely yours,

Until 2004, there were two degree programs that were eligible for accreditation by the American Council of Pharmaceutical Education (ACPE): the Bachelor of Science (BS) in Pharmacy and the Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD). Both of these degrees meet the requirements of State boards of pharmacy allowing graduates to be examined for licensure. The first of these, the BS degree, is phased out throughout the U.S. and the ACPE will only accredit PharmD programs after 2003. The Doctor of Pharmacy program requires at least eight semesters of professional-level course work, usually over a four-year period, including at least two semesters of supervised practice experience. Eligibility for entry into the Doctor of Pharmacy program requires successful completion of a series of college-level prepharmacy requirements that generally take at least two years to complete. Therefore, the Doctor of Pharmacy is frequently described as a six-year program although many candidates entering PharmD programs already hold Bachelors degrees with majors such as biology and chemistry. It is also possible to pursue the Doctor of Pharmacy degree after completing a Bachelors degree in pharmacy. This option is often called a post-BS PharmD degree or non traditional PharmD. The pharmacy curriculum includes required and elective coursework in these areas:

1. Normal and pathologic human biology including the study of human anatomy and physiology, pathologic disease processes, and the study of immunology and other defense mechanisms against disease.
2. Chemistry including biochemistry particularly as it applies to the structure and function of medications.
3. Pharmacology which is the study of the biological actions of medications with emphasis on the mechanism of drug action.
4. Pharmaceutics which includes the study of the various dosage forms for medications, the processes of drug absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion, the preparation of medications and the requirements for handling, storing, preparing and dispensing prescription medications in the United States.
5. Social and administrative courses that address health care systems in the United States, communications, biomedical ethics, legal issues surrounding the practice of pharmacy and the economics of medication use.
6. The therapeutics of medication use including medication selection, dosing, monitoring and determining whether a desired therapeutic outcome has been achieved for both prescription and non-prescription (overthe-counter) medications.
7. Experiential courses that engage the student in actual pharmacy practice experiences under the guidance of a preceptor. The experiential component is distributed throughout the curriculum with a full-time concentration during the last semesters. The clerkship lasts at least two semesters and consists of a series of rotations of four or more weeks in length in various practice settings including community and institutional sites. This portion of the curriculum is particularly labor-intensive requiring skilled practitioners and a high faculty-student ratio