CVS Health Minority Scholarship for Pharmacy Students

Applications are due by June 1, 2023 at 11:59 p.m. HT

The application will require the following information to be considered complete:

• Current Street Address
• Email
• Preferred Phone Number
• Gender
• Residency
  • Only US citizens and Permanent US Residents are eligible.
• College or School of Pharmacy
  • If you are an incoming pharmacy student and have not yet selected a program, please choose "Undecided”.
• Academic Status
  • Scholarship applicants must be either (1) accepted into a PharmD program for the 2023 entering class OR (2) enrolled as a P1 PharmD student for the 2022 entering class.
  • NOTE: Students enrolled in a 0-6 PharmD program as a P2 (out of P6) or a P3 (out of P6) student during the 2022-2023 academic year are also eligible.
• Languages
  • Please list all languages in which you are conversationally fluent.
• Educational or Environmental Disadvantaged Status (Optional)
  • Check if any of the following apply to you. By designating any of the items below, you are considered to be educationally and/or environmentally disadvantaged. This information will be used for aggregate reporting purposes only and not considered in the application review process.
    • I graduated from a high school from which a low percentage of seniors receive a high school diploma.
    • I graduated from a high school at which many of the enrolled students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunches.
    • I am from a family that receives public assistance (e.g. Aid to Families with Dependent Children, food stamps, Medicaid, public housing) or I receive public assistance.
    • I am from a family that lives in an area that is designated as a Health Professional Shortage Area or a Medically Underserved Area.
    • I participated in an academic enrichment program funded in whole or in part by the Health Careers Opportunity Program.
    • I am from a school district where 50% or less of graduates go to college or where college education is not encouraged.
    • I am the first generation in my family to attend college (neither parent attended college).
    • English is not my primary language.
• Economic Disadvantaged Status (Optional)
  • Does your parent’s family income fall within the table’s guidelines for economically disadvantaged?
  • This information will be used for aggregate reporting purposes only and not considered in the application review process.
  • View the low-income level table on the PharmCAS fee waiver page to determine if you are considered economically disadvantaged.
• GPA Eligibility
  • Enter your GPA for your current degree program (undergraduate or Pharm.D). To be eligible for consideration, your overall GPA must be 2.0 or greater on a 4.0 scale. Please enter "N/A" if your institution does not use a 4.0 grading scale (i.e. Pass/Fail). Enter your GPA in the "X.XX" format (e.g., 3.10). Applicants who attend institutions with other grading systems are still eligible to apply for the scholarship. Please email scholarships@aacp.org, if this situation applies to you. Your GPA and unofficial transcript will only be used to determine eligibility and not otherwise considered in the review process.

This scholarship is intended to support URM students in pharmacy education, identified as U.S. citizens or permanent residents who are Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, American Indian, Native Hawaiian, and/or Pacific Islander. Identify the groups in which you consider yourself to be a member.

(Document to be Uploaded)

Upload an unofficial copy of your most recent transcript for your current degree program (undergraduate or Pharm.D.) as a single PDF. To be eligible for consideration, your overall GPA must be 2.0 or greater on a 4.0 scale. Your GPA and unofficial transcript will only be used to determine eligibility and not otherwise considered in the review process.

Applicants from schools with other grading systems are still eligible to apply for the scholarship. If you attend an institution with a non-standard grading system, upload a PDF copy of your transcript with the grading system description included. The grading system can usually be found on the back of the transcript. 

Please email scholarships@aacp.org, if you have additional questions regarding the GPA verification process.

Your resume is a very important part of your scholarship application. It will be used to help differentiate your application from others and allow you to showcase your academic and extracurricular involvement. Review the requirements below before you upload your resume.

• Save and submit your resume as a PDF.
• Limit resume to no more than 2 pages.
• If you use any acronyms, also provide the full name.
• Use headers and/or section titles to organize your resume.
• Briefly describe any leadership roles and/or involvement.
• Include length of time spent in organizations and/or leadership roles.

Describe how your life experiences as a minority student influenced your decision to pursue a pharmacy career. Select one aspect of your background or one characteristic about yourself and describe how it will contribute to your success in pharmacy and the well-being of future patients.

You are strongly encouraged to compose your essay in a separate word processor, then copy and paste as plain text into the text box. Use line breaks (the return key) to separate paragraphs. Please do NOT insert hyperlinks or other formatting. Limit essay to 750 words.

You must compose your essays using your own words and without assistance from other individuals or an artificial intelligence (AI) essay generator (e.g., ChatGPT). You are permitted to use tools to check your spelling and grammar.

Two recommendations are required for the scholarship application. Each recommender should be able to describe your attributes and how you will contribute to a successful career in pharmacy. Contact each recommender in advance, so they know to expect an email from this program.

Recommendation #1: Faculty Member

• Invite a faculty member to submit a recommendation on your behalf.
• Pharmacy and science faculty are preferred.
• Recommendations from non-teaching faculty and academic advisors are also acceptable.

Recommendation #2:

• Invite a pharmacist (preferred), pharmacy scientist, pharmacy researcher, pharmacy school faculty member, or other healthcare professional or educator to submit a letter on your behalf.

Instructions for Recommenders:

• Please enter your recommendation using the text box.
• The recommendation should describe the following:
  • the student's attributes,
  • how s/he will contribute to a successful career in pharmacy, and
  • how well and long you have known the student, and in what capacity.

AACP staff will determine that all applications are complete and eligibility requirements have been met, such as academic standing and student classification level. Once requirements are verified, the application will be moved through the evaluation process. An evaluation scale from zero to five or zero to ten is used for scoring each of the evaluation criterion, respectively.

AACP and CVS Health will use the following criteria by which all applications will be judged. The review team will look for well thought out, organized, articulate, and complete applications, with evidence that awardees demonstrate leadership, academic success, and a commitment to advancing the profession and patient care.

Resume (weight factor = 25)

The applicant resume is used to determine the degree to which the student has demonstrated academic involvement and engagement both on and off campus, as well as the leadership ability shown through professional, educational, and extracurricular experiences

• Academic Engagement and Leadership (10 points possible)
  • Participation in academic-related activities and clubs (5 points)
  • Leadership roles in academic organizations (5 points) 
• Extracurricular Commitment and Leadership (10 points possible)
  • Participation in extracurricular activities (5 points)
  • Leadership role in extracurricular organizations (5 points)
• Format (5 points possible)
  • Spelling and grammar, formatting, clear headings and sections (5 points)

Scholarship Essay (weight factor = 35)

• Essay Content (30 points possible)
• Spelling and Grammar (5 points possible)

Recommendation #1 (weight factor = 20)

• Evidence of Student's Attributes
• Potential for Student's Success in Pharmacy

Recommendation #2 (weight factor = 20)

• Evidence of Student's Attributes
• Potential for Student's Success in Pharmacy