Dual Doctor of Pharmacy and Master of Business Administration

The College of Pharmacy and College of Business at Idaho State University offer a dual PharmD/MBA program for students interested in earning both degrees. Students complete the traditional PharmD and MBA degree programs with some courses from each program counting towards degree requirements of the other program. Plans of study will differ from student to student; however, it is possible for students to complete the MBA degree by the time they complete the PharmD degree. 

Students are encouraged to consider this dual degree program as early as possible and should consider completing the following during their pre-pharmacy coursework:

ACCT 2201Principles of Accounting I3
ACCT 2202Principles of Accounting II3
ECON 2201Principles of Macroeconomics (Partially satisfies General Education Objective 6)3
ECON 2202Principles of Microeconomics (Partially satisfies General Education Objective 6)3

Many additional MBA-I courses can be completed prior to admission to the PharmD program as well.

Students opting for the dual degree program will follow the traditional PharmD curriculum. 

In addition, completion of the following courses can be used to satisfy six hours of electives required for the PharmD degree as long as they are taken while enrolled in the PharmD program: MBA 6610MBA 6611,MBA 6612MBA 6613MBA 6614MBA 6615, MBA 6620, MBA 6621, MBA 6622, MBA 6623, MBA 6626, MBA 6628.

Students must work with both the pharmacy and MBA advisors for the joint program to determine their individual plan of study.

MBA program requirements include satisfactory completion of MBA-I and MBA-II core courses. Many MBA-I courses can be completed prior to admission to the MBA program and prior to the end of the third  professional year of the PharmD program. MBA-II courses can only be completed after students have been admitted to the Graduate School and have completed the prerequisite MBA-I courses. MBA-II courses require the payment of Graduate School course fees.

In addition to MBA-II core courses, students are required to complete six additional hours of electives. PharmD/MBA candidates who are admitted into the MBA-II program prior to their fourth professional year may choose to complete a pharmacy management rotation which will satisfy six hours of MBA-II electives.

For Doctor of Pharmacy students to be admitted to the MBA program, they must meet regular admission requirements for the MBA program and must have completed either a bachelor’s degree or the equivalent. PharmD students applying to the MBA program must request the College of Pharmacy to certify to the Graduate School that they have completed 120 hours of course work and that those 120 hours are equivalent to a bachelor’s degree. Students will generally apply for admission to the MBA program sometime prior to the end of their second year of study in the PharmD program.

For more information see the “MBA and PharmD Dual Degree Program” section of the Graduate Catalog.