On August 22, Drake University held its white coat ceremony and announced a new six-year pharmacy program. Instead of the intensive credit loads and daily campus requirements of the traditional program, the extended pathway allows students to balance real-world responsibilities like a full-time job while earning their Doctor of Pharmacy. Students will spend approximately 3 half-days a week on campus with a workload of only 8-12 credits each semester.
This program was a long time coming for Drake. In 2022, the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy announced that schools would now be able to have a second program for students that meets Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education accreditation with on-time completion, which they called an extended pathway. The given timeframe is a maximum of 1.5 times the school’s traditional program length. For Drake, the standard program length is 4 years, allowing up to 6 years for an extended pathway.
After the allowance of an extended pathway was announced, a group of Drake faculty came together to plan the logistics of such a program at Drake. Erik Maki, the dean of the College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, played a large role in this effort. He said that Drake did not want to pass on an opportunity to increase the number of students that they can reach.
“We are always thinking about how we can meet students where they are and make sure that the way that we are offering our program is attractive,” Maki said.
Planning the program took over a year. The team had to plan not just classes, but also hands-on experimental learning and interprofessional education opportunities. In April, Drake’s extended program was reviewed by the AACP and was approved over the summer. Due to the limited time the CPHS had to advertise the program, there were no applicants for the Fall 2025 term. Although Maki acknowledges that there is not a large number of students who would be the target candidates for the program, the chance to change a few lives was more than enough motivation to offer it.
“We are really excited for the unique opportunity that we are able to provide for students,” Maki said.
Mike Sehl is a P1 pharmacy student and someone who could have benefited from the new program. He graduated from the University of Iowa in 2015 with a Bachelor’s in Exercise Science. After that, he began working as a pharmacy technician. A decade later, while working as a pharmacy technician full-time at Iowa Methodist Medical Center, Sehl decided that he wanted to become a pharmacist. Although Sehl was able to accommodate his schedule to be a full-time student, not everyone can, so he can see the value of this new program.
“It could free up some time so that you can work on your own schedule. There could be convenience in that,” Sehl said.
While a handful of other programs nationally are considering adding a second option for students, Drake is the first school that started with a traditional four-year program and has added a six-year extended pathway. The idea of a six-year pharmacy program at Drake is so new that potential barriers and challenges for the program and students are unknown. As word of the program spreads, CPHS faculty anxiously await the first applicant.
“I am really looking forward to the first student that we’re going to make their career dreams come true,” Maki said.
