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February
UW–Madison School of Pharmacy among the best NAPLEX first-time pass rates with fifth highest pass rate in the country
Doctor of Pharmacy students at the University of Wisconsin–Madison are among the best in the nation with the Class of 2023 achieving the fifth highest first-time pass rate on the North American Pharmacist Licensure Exam (NAPLEX). UW–Madison PharmD students scored a first-time pass rate of 94.2 percent, more than 16 percentage points higher than the national average for the 144 accredited pharmacy schools at 77.5 percent.
“The outstanding NAPLEX results is a testament to the excellence of our PharmD students and the dedication of our faculty and staff,” says Steven Swanson, dean and professor of the UW–Madison School of Pharmacy. “We are incredibly proud and celebrate their success in this important milestone achievement.”
The 2023 NAPLEX was taken by 120 students in the PharmD program, making it one of the larger class sizes to sit for the exam. Among pharmacy schools with 100 or more students taking NAPLEX, UW–Madison outperformed its peers and attained the highest first-time pass rate in the country.
The NAPLEX assesses knowledge, judgment, and skills that all pharmacists are expected to demonstrate in practice and represents one component of the licensure process for pharmacists.
“The stellar performance of our students is not surprising because our comprehensive PharmD curriculum is designed to prepare our student pharmacists not only for licensure exams but to practice at the top of their license,” says Mel de Villiers, vice dean and associate dean for academic affairs at UW–Madison School of Pharmacy. “The rigor of our didactic curriculum and their rigorous experiential learning and clinical training is only possible because we have world-class faculty and excellent preceptors.”
