Professional Electives

The University of Michigan College of Pharmacy PharmD curriculum requires that students take elective credits. For the past several years, at least six (6) of the elective credits were required to be professional electives that meet defined criteria (see below). The intent behind professional electives is to provide flexibility in the curriculum to allow students to explore areas of interest specific to their professional growth. Beginning with the Class of 2020, all of the elective credits are required to be professional electives. An interactive list of professional electives that have been reviewed and approved are available on this website. At the bottom of this page are electives that have been review and deemed NOT approproriate for professional elective credit.

The procedures below explain how you can request approval for a course that does not appear in the interactive tool or has not been previously reviewed. 

Graduate Level Couses Offered Through Health-Science Schools:

Graduate courses (≥ 500 level) that are relevant to biomedical science, human health, and/or the practice of pharmacy which are offered through the University of Michigan health-science campuses (Schools of Pharmacy, Dentistry, Medicine, Nursing, Public Health, and Social Work) qualify as professional electives provided they are not attendance-only courses. Attendance only courses (e.g., seminars or journal clubs that do not require a rigorous form of student assessment) are not accepted for professional elective credit. Students wanting to take a graduate level course offered through one of the health-science schools that is not on the list of approved professional electives must submit a request form. The request will be reviewed within one week of receipt by the chair of the Curriculum Committee and the college registrar, allowing for timely a timely response to the student whether the course meets the requirements. Any course where there are questions of acceptability will be presented at the next scheduled Curriculum Committee meeting for review and vote. All approved requests will be added to the list of approved electives to benefit future students. 

Graduate Courses at Non-Health-Science Schools and Undergraduate Courses:

Graduate courses offered outside of the health-science schools and all undergraduate level courses must be reviewed and approved by the Curriculum Committee. Students requesting approval for one of these courses must submit a request form. The following criteria must be met before a course will be considered by the Curriculum Committee to be added to the list of approved professional electives:

• The course must be relevant to biomedical science, human health, and/or the practice of pharmacy. Examples include, but are not limited to:
  • Management courses relevant to pharmacy administration offered through the Business School
  • Health informatics courses offered through the School of Information
• An upper division undergraduate course may be deemed acceptable by the Curriculum and Assessment Committee. Lower division undergraduate courses are not allowed for professional elective credit.
• Undergraduate courses must have academic expectations on par with PharmD courses. There must be some form of rigorous student assessment (eg, exams, written papers, oral presentations, etc).
• Attendance only courses (e.g., seminars or journal clubs that do not require a rigorous form of student assessment) are not acceptable for professional elective credit.
• The course cannot be a broad overview of a topic that is suitable for a lay audience.
• Graded or pass/fail (satisfactory/unsatisfactory) courses are acceptable provided they meet all of the above criteria. 

Guidance for Selecting Professional Electives: The approved professional electives can be found here. Electives can be searched by topic area to help students identify electives that may be within their areas of interest. 

How to Request Professional Elective Credit: Students who are interested in a course that does not appear on the professional elective list and that meets the criteria stated above may submit a request for consideration to the Curriculum and Assessment Committee using the form below. Students making such requests are required to document that the above criteria are met (or that an exception should be made for upper division undergraduate courses) and provide a rationale for why the course should be considered. A copy of the course syllabus must be submitted along with the request form.

Course Guides for Different UM Schools: The following document provides links to the course guides for the various schools on the UM campus. These links may be helpful for identifying elective options (both professional and  non-professional electives). 

Courses that are not approved for professional elective credit: