Up until 1988, the vast majority of Pharmacy programs in the US were bachelor-degree programs. The trend to switch to PhD programs started in California, and quickly spread to all states like wildfire. There was no NEED for the switch, and there was no reason given, but it was orchestrated at the national level, and it received quick approval from the group that licenses all of the pharmacy schools, in an attempt to give the profession more prestige and power.
There is no connection to quality of education, or quality of patient care. It was a political power move. It certainly has paid off in terms of pharmacists' salaries and the influence of the drug companies, and perhaps it's just a coincidence that all of this happened when direct-to-consumer ads started flooding the airwaves..
I'm sure the timing is a coincidence.
