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How to become a Pharmacist

Dispenses and advises on medicines, in hospitals, pharmacies or industry.

What does a Pharmacist actually do?

More about this career

Dispenses medicines and advises patients and doctors on how to use them safely – in a community pharmacy, a hospital, or in the pharmaceutical industry doing research, regulatory work or sales. A one-year community service year (like doctors) is required after the degree before full registration with the SA Pharmacy Council.

Where this degree can take you

  • Hospital Pharmacist
  • Clinical Pharmacist
  • Pharmaceutical Researcher
  • Regulatory Affairs Pharmacist

This is our general description of the role and related jobs, not from an official source – it’s here to give you a fuller picture, not as a careers-counselling guarantee.

Not from an official source

Subjects that usually help

  • Mathematics
  • Physical Sciences
  • Life Sciences

This is our general guidance about which school subjects suit this career. It is not an admission requirement and not from an official source – the real requirements are on the degrees below.

Not from an official source

Where to check this yourself

What the degrees we’ve captured actually ask for

  • Mathematics – asked for by 3 of 3 degrees
  • Physical Sciences – asked for by 3 of 3 degrees
  • Life Sciences – asked for by 2 of 3 degrees

Counted from the requirements below (an “or” alternative counts for each subject named). Each degree links to the page it came from.

Degrees that lead here

3 degrees at 3 universities. More are added as we verify them.

Rhodes University

BPharm

Pharmacy · 4 years

Rhodes points 45 points

  • Mathematics: level 6 (70% or more)
  • Life Sciences: level 6 (70% or more)
  • Physical Sciences: level 6 (70% or more)
  • Life Orientation: level 4 (50% or more)

Rhodes points of 40-44 are considered at the Dean’s discretion; 45 or more receives a provisional offer. We show 45 as the qualifying number so that "you qualify" means exactly that - but you are still worth an application from 40. Rhodes has no Engineering and no MBChB. The NBT is recommended, not required. At 40-44 points the subject levels required drop to level 5. Life Orientation is not scored, but you need at least 50% in it.

Source: View the official page (ru.ac.za) (opens the official page) · 2027 intake

University of KwaZulu-Natal

From an older document

Bachelor of Pharmacy

Health Sciences · 4 years

UKZN APS 33 points out of 48

  • English: level 4 (50% or more)
  • Life Sciences: level 4 (50% or more)
  • Life Orientation: level 4 (50% or more)
  • Mathematics: level 4 (50% or more)
  • Physical Sciences: level 4 (50% or more)

The published APS range is 48-33. This comes from the Study@UKZN 2026 brochure, the most recent official source we could find. UKZN had not published a 2027 table when we checked, so treat these as 2026 figures pending a 2027 update. Applications go through the CAO.

Source: View the official page (studyatukzn.ukzn.ac.za) (opens the official page)

University of the Witwatersrand

No cut-off publishedFrom an older document

Bachelor of Pharmacy

Health Sciences · 4 years

No points cut-off published for this one – see the note below.

  • English: level 5 if it is your Home Language, level 5 if it is your First Additional Language
  • Mathematics: level 5 (60% or more)
  • Physical Sciences: level 5 (60% or more)

Wits Health Sciences uses a Composite Index (75% school average across 5 subjects, 25% NBT), not APS, and does not publish the cut-off scores. This figure comes from the Wits schools-liaison Grade 12 guide, which is headed for 2026 entry. We have not yet found a 2027 course-finder page confirming it, so treat it as the most recent official figure rather than a confirmed 2027 one.

Source: View the official page (wits.ac.za) (opens the official page) · 2027 intake

Are your marks enough?

Put your subjects in once and we’ll check them against every degree above – scored each university’s own way.

What do I qualify for?