Review your application carefully before you submit. You generally cannot make corrections after your application is submitted. Only the following sections can be updated following submission:

• Editing your contact information.
• Editing your profile information (username, password, etc.).
• Adding programs with deadlines that have not yet passed.
• Adding new recommendations (if you have not yet requested the maximum number of recommendations).
• Editing or deleting recommendations that remain incomplete.
• Adding new entries to certain areas of the Academic History, Supporting Information, and Program Materials sections (e.g., test scores, experiences, optional documents, etc.), where applicable (you are unable to edit or delete existing entries).
• Editing program materials for programs you have not yet submitted to.
• Adding optional documents to programs that you already submitted to (all other sections will be locked).

Changing Program Selections After Submission

• Withdrawing Your Application. If you wish to withdraw your application from 1 or more programs, contact the institution directly.
• Substituting or Deleting Program Selections. PharmGrad cannot substitute or delete program choices or refund application fees after you submit your application. If you wish to rescind your application to a particular program after you submit, contact the institution directly to remove your application from consideration.
• Adding a New Program after Submission. You may apply to additional programs after you submit your application, provided the application deadlines have not yet passed. To apply to additional programs, review the “Add Programs” instructions.

Violations After Submission

If a violation or institutional action (i.e. academic sanction, etc.) occurs after an applicant e-submits their PharmGrad application, it is the applicant’s responsibility to notify the programs they have or will apply to in this application cycle. Programs can independently decide on what action they choose to take with this information.

PharmGrad offers a centralized background check process for accepted applicants. The purpose of the process is, in part, to ascertain the ability of a student to meet the requirements of the program or industry. Each program participating in PharmGrad chooses whether to use the background check vendor, Certiphi Screening Inc. Not all programs conduct a background check process through PharmGrad.

To determine which PharmGrad programs use the Certiphi Screening Centralized Criminal Background Check Program, please refer to the PharmGrad Program Directory.

Background Check Description

Below is a description of each check conducted by AACP's selected vendor, Certiphi Screening, in support of the AACP centralized criminal background check solution.

• Social Security Number Search
  A search of credit report header data to help confirm the applicant's identifying information such as name, aliases, address(es), Social Security Number and to determine areas of prior residence. 
• County Criminal Records Searches
  A direct search of county courthouse records for any felony or misdemeanor criminal history. All records are researched to help ensure positive identification and complete, easy-to-read details.
• Statewide Criminal Records Search
  A search conducted through statewide criminal records repositories or court systems for any felony or misdemeanor criminal history.
• Federal Criminal Records Search
  A direct search of federal courthouse records for any felony or misdemeanor criminal history. All records are researched to help ensure positive identification and complete, easy-to-read details.
• National Criminal Database Search
  This search is an instant, multi-jurisdiction private database search covering more than 194 million criminal records collected from across the country. All database "hits" are verified directly through the source of information to ensure that records reported are current and up-to-date.
• National Sexual Offender Database Search
  A search of a national private database which contains sex offender data collected from across the country. All records are researched to help ensure positive identification.
• U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General List of Excluded Individuals/Entities Search
  A search of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General List of Excluded Individuals/Entities (LEIE), a database which provides information to the public, health care providers, patients, and others relating to parties excluded from participation in the Medicare, Medicaid, and all Federal health care programs.
• Search for Dishonorable Discharge from the Armed Forces
  Military records are verified through either telephone interviews with the subject's former commander or by obtaining the applicant's DD-214 form. Verification generally includes subject's name, Service Number, rank, dates of service, awards and decorations, and place of entrance and separation.
• International Screening
  International criminal records searches are performed where applicable.
• SanctionsBase Screening
  A search covering sanctions, disciplinary and administrative actions taken by hundreds of federal and state healthcare regulatory authorities, including FDA, NIH, GSA, OFAC, terrorist watch lists and more.

Overview

Once you accept an offer of admission from a participating program, Certiphi Screening, Inc. sends an email to the preferred email address you entered in your PharmGrad application. This email will provide you with access to a secure, online form via which you will provide basic identifying information and consent for this report to be procured. Your consent serves for all programs. You will not be asked to provide consent upon receiving additional offers of admission from participating programs. You will be charged a $72.70 fee by Certiphi Screening, Inc.

Notification and Applicant Review

Once you provide consent, Certiphi procures a national background check on you. Once the report is complete, Certiphi sends an email requesting that you review the report prior to its distribution. Upon receiving this email:

• You have ten (10) calendar days from the date the email was sent to review your report prior to the report being made available to the participating programs. If you do not review this report, the report will be distributed after this period elapses.
• You are provided with an opportunity to contest the accuracy of the contents of the report within the specified ten (10) calendar day period. The report is not released to the participating programs until any potential inaccuracies have been resolved.

Once you review and release the report, or after the specified ten (10) calendar day period has elapsed, without contest, the report will be made available to the participating program who offered an acceptance and initiated the request for this report.

Privacy

The report is not released to any party other than the programs requesting this report. Please note that the requesting program will be notified if consent is not provided, and that failure to provide consent may result in failing to meet the requesting program’s admissions requirements. Many programs not participating in our service may also require applicants to undergo a separate national background check process. Contact your designated programs directly for specific policies.

About Background Checks for Graduate Programs

Graduate pharmaceutical education programs may require a criminal background check as a condition of acceptance. Failure to disclose and provide accurate information about prior convictions may have serious consequences, such rescinding of acceptance offers, program dismissal, or other sanctions.
 
Background checks reflect all prior convictions, guilty pleas, city ordinance citations (such as public intoxication), illegal possession(s) including possession of alcohol under the legal age, payments of fines (including traffic violations), and in some cases, prior records thought to have been expunged. Note that in some states, common traffic violations may be considered misdemeanors.
 
Candidates with criminal records due to felony offenses are encouraged to be aware of the potential impact on program acceptance and future employment. Contact the programs directly, if you have a felony conviction or a criminal record. If you are uncertain of the status of a charge versus a conviction on your record, or if you are uncertain as to whether your offense was an infraction, misdemeanor, or a felony, contact the city, county, or state jurisdiction where the incident occurred.

Graduate programs may require criminal background checks and/or drug tests in order to verify an individual’s suitability to participate in the program or conduct research. Contact your designated programs directly for specific policies.

Please note that PharmGrad does not provide legal advice regarding these matters.

Graduate pharmaceutical education programs may require accepted applicants to complete a drug screening prior to enrollment 1) to enhance the safety and well-being of faculty, staff, and students in the program and 2) to ascertain the ability of accepted applicants to complete their pharmacy education and eventually become employed.

In support of this recommendation, AACP has initiated a PharmGrad-facilitated drug screening service, through which Certiphi Screening, Inc. (a Vertical Screen® Company) procures a drug screening report on applicants at the point of acceptance. AACP initiated this service in order to recognize the desire of programs to procure appropriate drug screen reports, and to prevent applicants from paying additional fees at each program to which they are accepted.

Drug Screening Description

Certiphi uses urine screening methodologies utilizing both laboratory and instant testing technologies. Tests will be performed through Certiphi’s vast pool of more than 8,000 collection sites located throughout the United States and Canada.

Once a participating program has offered you admission, Certiphi Screening will send you an email with instructions for completing the drug screen. The email will include a toll-free telephone number to contact with any questions regarding the process.

Individual programs may require you to submit to additional drug screenings following the initial screen.

Once a drug screen has been completed, Certiphi will provide the report to the student applicant as well as all programs offering acceptance.

Drug Screening Process

Once you accept an offer of admission from a participating program, Certiphi Screening, Inc. sends an email to the preferred email address you entered on the PharmGrad application. This email provides you with access to a secure, online form via which you will provide basic identifying information, consent for this report to be procured, and payment of $53. Your consent will serve for all programs, and you will not be asked to provide consent upon receiving additional offers of admission from participating programs.

Once you have provided payment, Certiphi will provide additional instructions on available drug screening collection facilities to be used for specimen collection. Upon report completion, Certiphi will send an email to your preferred email address notifying you that your drug screening report is complete. A copy of the report will also be provided immediately to the program(s).

Privacy

The report procured during this process will not be released to any party other than the programs requesting this report.

Upon testing by the laboratory, if the specimen is found to be positive for one or more of the drugs tested, you will receive a telephone call from Medical Review Officer (MRO) at Certiphi Screening, Inc.

The MRO will consult with you and your physician to obtain proof as to why the drug/medication was in your specimen.

If you do not return the call to the MRO within three business days, the report will be delivered as a “positive” drug screen.

To see which PharmGrad programs use the Certiphi Screening Centralized Drug Screening Program, please refer to the PharmGrad Program Directory.