Health Careers Advisory Committee

Robin G. Maxwell, Committee Chair, Senior Lecturer, Department of Biology
Jeremy Ingraham, Assistant Chair, Senior Lecturer, Department of Biology
Angela Allred, Students First Office
Joseph Bundy, Lecturer, Department of Biology
Jessica Caporaso, Lecturer, Department of Psychology
Jennifer Clark, Advisor, School of Health and Human Sciences
Mark Hens, Associate Professor, Department of Biology
Karen Katula, Associate Professor, Department of Biology
John Lepri, Professor, Department of Biology
Kimberly Miller, Associate Professor, Department of Community and Therapeutic Recreation
Ron Morrison, Associate Professor, Department of Nutrition
Pradyumna Pradhan, Lecturer, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
Promod Pratap, Associate Professor, Department of Physics and Astronomy
Candie Rumph, Lecturer, Department of Biology
Caitlin Saraphis, College of Arts and Sciences Advising Center
Randy Schmidt, Professor, Department of Kinesiology
Casey Taylor, Senior Lecturer, Department of Biology
Aaron Terranova, Associate Professor, Department of Kinesiology

Students should declare the appropriate preprofessional interest track by using the form provided on our Spartan Central website (https://spartancentral.uncg.edu/forms/pre-professional-interest-tracks). Students with these declared interest tracks will be assigned to a member of this committee to assist in planning their program of study as their secondary advisor. They will also be automatically enrolled in the (ORG) Pre-Professional Programs group in Canvas, which will provide resources and communication about upcoming events, opportunities, and deadlines.

The admission requirements vary slightly among the various schools and programs. For specific information students should review the websites of the specific professional schools to which they are most interested in applying. Other sources of information are current databases of programs such as the Medical School Admission Requirements and Admission Requirements of American Dental Schools.

Most professional training programs require a core of courses ("prerequisites") that must be completed before admission. They can be successfully incorporated into almost any major. The choice of major does not significantly affect the student’s probability of admission to a given professional graduate school. Students should give consideration to any major that they find interesting and in which they excel. Nearly all professional schools require completion of a bachelor’s degree, although some Pharmacy and Physical Therapy schools may allow enrollment of students without bachelor's degrees.

The achievement of outstanding academic credentials should not be accomplished at the expense of sacrificing extracurricular activities. Professional programs prefer students who have actively pursued their interests, especially in the areas of leadership, service to under-served populations, and clinical or health-related experiences. (Physician assistant and veterinary medicine schools require specified hours of clinical care experiences for competitive application. Medical schools prioritize applicants who have paid medical experience such as CNA, CMA, EMT, phlebotomist, etc.)

In addition to course work, virtually all professional schools require some form of standardized test prior to consideration of a student’s admission application. These tests are usually taken in the spring before application is made to the professional school centralized application service in early summer. Medical schools require the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT), dental schools the Dental Admission Test (DAT), and veterinary medicine schools and physician assistant schools the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) Aptitude Test, optometry schools require the OAT, etc.

Applications to professional schools are made a year before expected matriculation, usually between May and September. This means that the course work included on the standardized entrance test must be completed by the end of the junior year of college in order to move straight from college to professional schools the following August without a “gap” year. With this being said, students should be aware that completing requirements to apply after the senior year would allow them to spread out the required courses, pursue minors or second majors, or study abroad, which may increase the success of students in admissions to professional schools. In the application year, early application to professional schools (by August 1) is strongly recommended, as interviews and acceptances go first to the earliest applicants. (Physician assistant schools start in June, August or January, so their application cycle begins in April.)

Professional school applications are made directly to Centralized Application Services for each type of graduate program. The American Medical College Application Service (AMCAS) is the agent for allopathic medical schools, the American Association of Dental Schools Application Service (AADSAS) is the agent for many dental schools, the American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine (AACOMAS) is the agent for osteopathic medical schools, the Central Application Service for Physician Assistants (CASPA) is the agent for physician assistant schools and the Veterinary Medical College Application Service (VMCAS) is the agent for most veterinary medical schools. Application information is available from those services directly and through the Canvas Pre-professional Programs group resources. Medical, dental, PA and vet schools not subscribing to the centralized application service must be contacted individually.

Students interested in other post college health careers such as Optometry, Podiatric Medicine, Chiropractic Medicine, Genetic Counseling, etc. are encouraged to declare a Pre-medicine interest track as well, to have access to the resources and Health Careers Advisory Committee for assistance in planning their programs of study.

Pre Medicine Recommended Courses

Allopathic and osteopathic medical schools generally require the categories below.

Course List

Code	Title	Credit Hours
Biology with Laboratory		12
BIO 111 & 111L	Principles of Biology I and Principles of Biology I Laboratory
BIO 112 & 112L	Principles of Biology II and Principles of Biology II Laboratory
BIO 277 & 277L	Human Physiology and Human Physiology Laboratory
General Chemistry with Laboratory		8
CHE 111 & CHE 112	General Chemistry I and General Chemistry I Laboratory
CHE 114 & CHE 115	General Chemistry II and General Chemistry II Laboratory
Organic Chemistry with Laboratory		8
CHE 351	Organic Chemistry I
CHE 352	Organic Chemistry II
CHE 354	Organic Chemistry Laboratory
Biochemistry		3-6
Select one option of the following:
Option A
CHE 420	Chemical Principles of Biochemistry
Option B
CHE 556	Biochemistry I
CHE 557	Biochemistry II
Option C
BIO 435	Biochemistry: Metabolic Regulation in Health and Disease
Physics with Laboratory		8
Select one option of the following:
Option A
PHY 211 & 211L	General Physics I and General Physics Lab I
PHY 212 & 212L	General Physics II and General Physics Lab II
Option B
PHY 291 & 291L	General Physics I with Calculus and General Physics I with Calculus Lab
PHY 292 & 292L	General Physics II with Calculus and General Physics II with Calculus Lab
Mathematics *		6
MAT 190	Precalculus
STA 108	Elementary Introduction to Probability and Statistics
STA 271	Fundamental Concepts of Statistics
College Writing		6
ENG 101	Exploring Writing in College Contexts
ENG 102	Academic Research and Writing
Behavioral Sciences		6
PSY 121	General Psychology
SOC 101	Introduction to Sociology

*

A few schools require mathematics through calculus, while nearly all require statistics.

Other courses that may be required include those detailed below.

Course List

Code	Title	Credit Hours
Cell Biology and Genetics		6
BIO 355	Cell Biology
BIO 392	Genetics
Histology with Laboratory		4
BIO 472	Histology

Pre Dentistry Recommended Courses

Dental school preparatory course requirements are usually much like those for medical school; however, they may also require anatomy in addition to the classes listed above.

Course List

Code	Title	Credit Hours
Anatomy with Laboratory
BIO 271 & 271L	Human Anatomy and Human Anatomy Laboratory
Microbiology with Laboratory (some)
BIO 280 & 280L	Fundamentals of Microbiology and Fundamentals of Microbiology Laboratory
BIO 481 & 481L	General Microbiology and General Microbiology Laboratory

Pre Physician Assistant Recommended Courses

Physician assistant programs are more variable in requirements than medical schools. While still requiring the same Biology and Chemistry courses as medical and dental schools, they typically do not require Physics courses, but add courses in Anatomy, Microbiology, Genetics, and Medical terminology.

Pre Veterinary Medicine Recommended Courses

Veterinary school course requirements are considerably more extensive than those for medical or dental schools. In addition to specifying all of the above courses in mathematics, chemistry, and biology, these programs typically require or recommend more courses in animal science, general microbiology, animal nutrition, and possibly some business courses. Several hundred hours of work experience with animals or in a veterinarian’s practice is required. Students interested in veterinary school should make contact with the school and with the advisory committee at an early stage of their undergraduate careers, to discuss how to meet these requirements.