How to become a pharmacist in Australia
Pharmacists ensure safe and quality use of medicines, and optimise health outcomes by contributing to selecting, prescribing, monitoring and evaluating medicine therapy, and researching, testing and developing pharmaceuticals and medical products.
The all-jobs median is $1,852 a week. Jobs in the pharmacists group are projected to grow 20.0% between May 2025 and May 2035, faster than the 13.3% projected for all jobs. Projections are indicative, not forecasts, and JSA says they don't yet reflect generative AI.
What the job involves
- Receiving prescriptions, checking patients' medicine histories, and ensuring optimal dosage and methods of administration and drug compatibility before dispensing
- Preparing or supervising the preparation and labelling of liquid medicines, ointments, powders, tablets and other medications to fill prescriptions
- Advising prescribers on drug incompatibility and contra-indications
- Reviewing and monitoring the medicine therapy of individual patients, and assessing the effectiveness of the total medicine therapy
- Maintaining prescription files and recording issue of narcotics, poisons and habit-forming drugs
- Storing and preserving vaccines, serums and other drugs subject to deterioration
How to get there
What it usually takes. A bachelor degree or higher. This is the skill level Jobs and Skills Australia gives the pharmacists group, and some roles differ.
What people in the job have. Highest qualification held: 93% a degree or higher, 1% a diploma, 1% a Certificate III or IV.
Many jobs also need registration, a licence or a specific accredited course. Check the professional body or regulator before you choose.
Courses that can lead here
Estimate your ATAR and this page shows the gap to each course. Your marks stay on your device.
Victoria6 matches
VTAC lowest selection ranks, December 2025 offer round.
Pharmacy (Honours) · Monash, Parkville91.25 Pharmacy (Honours) · RMIT, Bundoora81.50 Pharmacy (Honours) · La Trobe, Bendigo76.45NSW and ACT11 matches
UAC lowest selection ranks, December Round 2, 2025-26 admissions.
Bachelor of Pharmacy (Honours) and Master of Pharmacy Practice · Sydney90.05 Bachelor of Pharmacy and Management (Honours) and Master of Pharmacy Practice · Sydney90.00 Bachelor of Pharmacy (Honours) · Griffith83.50 Bachelor of Pharmacy · Canberra77.85 Bachelor of Pharmacy · Charles Sturt77.10 Bachelor of Pharmacy (Honours) · Newcastle72.25Diplomas and other ways in
Diploma of Health Science/Bachelor of Pharmacy (Honours) · Griffith65.60Showing 9 of 11 matches. Search every course.
Queensland11 matches
QTAC course pages, ATAR/Selection Rank profile for semester 1, 2026.
Bachelor of Pharmacy (Honours) · UQ, Dutton Park80.45 Bachelor of Pharmacy (Honours) · JCU, Cairns78.00 Bachelor of Pharmacy (Honours) · Griffith, Gold Coast77.05 Bachelor of Pharmacy (Honours) · QUT, Gardens Point76.45Diplomas and other ways in
Diploma of Health Science/Bachelor of Pharmacy (Honours) · Griffith, Gold Coast62.75Showing 8 of 11 matches. Search every course.
Western Australia2 matches
TISC Course Search: lowest ATAR offered for 2026 entry and guaranteed offer ATARs.
Bachelor of Human Sciences and Doctor of Pharmacy · UWA, Perth80.20 Bachelor of Pharmacy (Honours) · Curtin, Perth76.05Matched on course names, 30 across four admissions centres. A lowest selection rank includes adjustment points and moves every year. Check prerequisites and whether the course is accredited for this job.
Graduate outcomes, national
Undergraduates surveyed about four to six months after finishing, in 2025, across all providers. Full-time work is among those available for it. All graduates: 75.4% and $77,000. These are national figures for the study area, not for this course or uni, and a first-year salary says little about later pay. Source: QILT Graduate Outcomes Survey 2025.
Does it fit your interests?
Strongest interest areas for this kind of work: Investigative, Social, Conventional.
From O*NET ratings for "Pharmacists", the closest US occupation in JSA's correspondence (a good match). US ratings are a guide to Australian jobs, not a measurement of them.
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Share your storyJob data: © Commonwealth of Australia, Jobs and Skills Australia occupation profiles, February 2026 and Employment Projections, May 2025 to May 2035 (Victoria University), CC BY 4.0. Jobs and Skills Australia, ANZSCO 2013 Version 1.2 to O*NET-SOC 2019 Taxonomy correspondence.
Graduate outcomes: QILT Graduate Outcomes Survey 2025, National Report Tables (Social Research Centre, for the Australian Government).
This page includes information from the O*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. Curve ATAR has modified all or some of this information. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications.