AACP Admissions Workshop Understanding ACPE Standards and Guidelines Pertaining to Admissions Robert Beardsley, PhD University of Maryland School of Pharmacy President, ACPE Board of Directors J. Gregory Boyer, PhD ACPE Executive Assistant Director, and Director, Professional Degree Program Accreditation

Objectives  To provide an overview of the ACPE Standards and Guidelines that pertains to admissions  To emphasize the importance of sound admissions processes to assure the quality of pharmacy education  To receive feedback from admissions officers regarding current and future standards

Key Issues Related to Admissions  Quality of pharmacy education starts here  Recruitment  Attracting a solid applicant pool  Use of social media, websites  Confusion over new schools  Admissions process  Interviewing processes  Involvement of students, preceptors, alumni

Role of Standards/Guidelines  Built on past experiences to assure quality  Set expectations for colleges and schools based on peer practices

Relevant Standards and Guidelines

Organization of Student Services (Std16)  Importance of competent admissions staff and appropriate oversight of admission processes  Need strong relationships with financial aid personnel and other university student affairs staff  Need for clearly articulated technical standards  Most common issues with this standard

Admission Criteria, Policies, and Procedures (Std 17)  Most relevant standard to admissions; the heart of quality in the admissions area  Standards and Guidelines provide a roadmap for establishing quality  Most common issues with this standard

Transfer and Waiver of Credit (Std 18)  Not an issue for many programs  However, can be problematic if not clearly communicated to transfer students or administered inconsistently  Most common issues with this standard

Program Information (Std 21)  A key component to effective and truthful recruitment  Accurate information must be disseminated to prospective students  Most common issues with this standard

Issues Facing the Academy  Maintaining quality when applicant pool numbers decline  Identifying correlations between admissions characteristics and student learning outcomes  Addressing increasing interests of those with non-US training in US enrollment with advanced standing or post-BS PharmD  Impact of competition for most academically qualified minority students  Impact of varying preprofessional requirements

Standards Revision Process  Collect feedback from Stakeholders (Jan-May 2013)  Revise documents (May-Dec 2013)  Draft documents approved by Board (Jan 2014)  Documents distributed to Stakeholders; hearings held at various venues (Jan-July 2014)  Continued revision of documents (Aug-Dec 2014)

Standards Revision Process (cont)  Final documents approved by Board and timeline for implementation established (Jan 2015)  Documents distributed to Stakeholders (Feb 2015)  Changes made to AAMS; training of site teams and other activities (Feb 2015 – Aug 2016)  Anticipated date for use of new standards (Fall 2016)

Comments and Questions from Workshop Participants