Pharmaceutical Sciences, B.S.
UCI’s undergraduate degree in pharmaceutical sciences is among the top-10 pharmaceutical sciences departments in the nation. The Bachelor of Science (B.S.) program trains students in a multidisciplinary approach so that they can contribute to the advancement of new pharmaceutical technologies such as accelerated chemical synthesis, molecular-based assays using cloned enzymes, biopharmaceutical techniques, novel diagnostics, computational chemistry, and gene therapies. Pharmaceutical scientists are rapidly changing the field of drug discovery and development. The graduates of this program may seek employment in public and private sectors or choose to pursue graduate degrees such as a Ph.D., M.D., or Pharm.D., as well as many others.
Undergraduate Honors. Honors at graduation, e.g., cum laude, magna cum laude, summa cum laude, are awarded to approximately the top 16 percent of the graduating seniors. To be eligible for honors, a general criterion is that students must have completed at least 72 units in residence at a University of California campus. For more information, please visit the Latin Honors page.
Students may be admitted to the Pharmaceutical Sciences major upon entering the University as freshmen, via change of major petition, or as transfer students from other colleges and universities.
Information about change-of-major policies is available in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences office and at the UCI Change of Major Criteria website.
Transfer Students: All applicants must have completed the following required courses with a grade of B- or better in all courses: one year of general chemistry with laboratory equivalent to UCI's CHEM 1A-CHEM 1B-CHEM 1C and CHEM 1LC-CHEM 1LD AND one year of organic chemistry with laboratory equivalent to UCI’s CHEM 51A-CHEM 51B-CHEM 51C and CHEM 51LB-CHEM 51LC-CHEM 51LD. Transfer students must also complete two years of biology courses equivalent to UCI’s BIO SCI 93, BIO SCI 94, BIO SCI 97, BIO SCI 98, and BIO SCI 99. Moreover, all transfer applicants must have a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or better. Additional courses that are recommended, but not required: one year of calculus and one year of calculus-based physics.
All students must meet the University Requirements.
Major Requirements
| A. Lower-Division Requirements: | |
| 1. Select one of the following sequences: | |
| General Chemistry and General Chemistry and General Chemistry | |
| Honors General Chemistry and Honors General Chemistry and Honors General Chemistry | |
| and select one of the following lab sequences: | |
| General Chemistry Laboratory and General Chemistry Laboratory | |
| Honors General Chemistry Laboratory and Honors General Chemistry Laboratory and Honors General Chemistry Laboratory | |
| Majors General Chemistry Laboratory and Majors General Chemistry Laboratory and Majors Quantitative Analytical Chemistry Laboratory | |
| Complete the following organic chemistry sequence and accompanying labs: | |
| Organic Chemistry and Organic Chemistry and Organic Chemistry 3 | |
| Organic Chemistry Laboratory and Organic Chemistry Laboratory and Organic Chemistry Laboratory | |
| 2. Complete: | |
| MATH 2A- 2B | Single-Variable Calculus I and Single-Variable Calculus II |
| and select one of the following: | |
| Multivariable Calculus I | |
| Introduction to Linear Algebra | |
| Basic Statistics | |
| Introduction to Biological Statistics | |
| 3. Select one of the following physics sequences: | |
| Basic Physics I and Basic Physics II and Basic Physics III | |
| or | |
| Classical Physics and Classical Physics and Classical Physics | |
| 4. Complete: | |
| BIO SCI 93 | From DNA to Organisms |
| BIO SCI 94 | From Organisms to Ecosystems |
| BIO SCI 97 | Genetics |
| BIO SCI 98 | Biochemistry |
| BIO SCI 99 | Molecular Biology |
| 5. Complete: 2 | |
| PHRMSCI 1 | New Student Seminar |
| PHRMSCI 42 | Life 101 |
| PHRMSCI 76 | Ethical Conduct of Research |
| B. Upper-Division Requirements: | |
| Complete: | |
| BIO SCI 100 | Scientific Writing |
| BIO SCI E109 | Human Physiology |
| PHRMSCI 170A- 170B | Molecular Pharmacology I and Molecular Pharmacology II 2 |
| PHRMSCI 171 | Physical Biochemistry 2 |
| PHRMSCI 172 | Topics in Pharmaceutical Sciences 2 |
| PHRMSCI 173 | Pharmacotherapy 2 |
| PHRMSCI 174- 174L | Biopharmaceutics and Nanomedicine and Biopharmaceutics and Nanomedicine Lab 2 |
| PHRMSCI 177- 177L | Medicinal Chemistry and Medicinal Chemistry Laboratory 2 |
| C. Upper-Division Electives (8 units): | |
| The upper-division electives may be selected from the following: 1,2 | |
| Cell Biology | |
| Developmental Biology | |
| Developmental and Cell Biology Laboratory | |
| Human Anatomy | |
| Eukaryotic and Human Genetics | |
| Genomics, Development, and Medicine | |
| Applied Human Anatomy | |
| The Physiology of Human Nutrition | |
| Writing/Philosophy of Biology | |
| Environmental Ethics | |
| Advanced Biochemistry | |
| Biochemistry Laboratory | |
| Molecular Biology Laboratory | |
| Experimental Microbiology Laboratory | |
| Immunology with Hematology | |
| General Microbiology | |
| Introduction to Computational Biology | |
| Virology | |
| Viral Pathogenesis and Immunity | |
| Molecular Biology of Cancer | |
| Microbial Genetics | |
| Human Parasitology | |
| Cell Organelles and Membranes | |
| Neurobiology and Behavior | |
| Neurobiology Laboratory | |
| Neuropharmacology | |
| Molecular Neurobiology | |
| Inorganic Chemistry | |
| Inorganic Chemistry Laboratory | |
| Advanced Organic Chemistry | |
| Introduction to Chemical Biology | |
| Introduction to Chemical Biology Laboratory Techniques | |
| Introduction to Computational Organic Chemistry | |
| Advanced Laboratory in Chemistry and Synthesis of Materials | |
| Organic Synthesis Laboratory | |
- 1
Course may not be used to satisfy more than one requirement.
- 2
Courses must be completed with a grade of C- or better.
- 3
Courses must be completed with a grade of C- or better by winter quarter of the second year.
Upper-Division Writing Requirement: Pharmaceutical Sciences majors satisfy the upper-division writing requirement by completing BIO SCI 100 with a grade of C- or better, followed by the completion of PHRMSCI 174L and PHRMSCI 177L.
NOTE: Double majors with Pharmaceutical Sciences, Public Health Sciences, Nursing Science, Biomedical Engineering: Premedical, or with any of the School of Biological Sciences majors are not permitted.
| Freshman | ||
|---|---|---|
| Fall | Winter | Spring |
| BIO SCI 93 | BIO SCI 94 | CHEM 1C- 1LC |
| CHEM 1A | CHEM 1B | MATH 2A or 2B |
| HUMAN 1A | WRITING 50 | WRITING 60 |
| PHRMSCI 1 | General Education | General Education |
| General Education | ||
| Sophomore | ||
| Fall | Winter | Spring |
| BIO SCI 97 | BIO SCI 98 | BIO SCI 99 |
| CHEM 51A- 1LD | CHEM 51B- 51LB | CHEM 51C- 51LC |
| PHRMSCI 42 | General Education | PHRMSCI 3 |
| General Education | ||
| Junior | ||
| Fall | Winter | Spring |
| BIO SCI E109 | PHRMSCI 170A | PHRMSCI 170B |
| BIO SCI 100 | General Education | Elective |
| PHYSICS 3A, 7C, or 7LD | PHYSICS 3B, 7D, or 7LD | PHYSICS 3C or 7E |
| CHEM 51LD | Upper-Division Elective | PHRMSCI 173 |
| Senior | ||
| Fall | Winter | Spring |
| PHRMSCI 171 | PHRMSCI 177- 177L | General Education |
| PHRMSCI 174- 174L | General Education | Upper-Division Elective |
| General Education | STATS 7, 8, MATH 2D, or MATH 3A | PHRMSCI 76 |
| PHRMSCI 172 | ||