Director:
Pappachan E. Kolattukudy PhD
Phone: 407-823-1206
Fax: 407-823-0956
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Strategy 1
(Career Awareness)
- Enroll in SLS 2311, Overview of Select Medical Careers, (Fall semester) through the department of Molecular Biology and Microbiology.
- Review pertinent materials and other information in the Pre-Health Professions Advisement Office (PHPAO) on a periodic basis.
- Visit your pre-health advisor on a regular basis to assess your progress.
- Join a pre-health student organization on campus for mutual support and greater career knowledge.
- Attend pre-health conferences, workshops, and meetings, on and off campus, to maximize your career understanding.
Strategy 2
(Academic Preparation)
- Choose a major which includes the pre-health course requirements in its degree curriculum.
- Visit your academic advisor early on in your career to develop a sound plan of study.
- Be smart in balancing your course load every term with science and non-science subjects for a maximum performance output.
- Remember that admissions committees prefer to see a strong GPA coupled with a respectable number (14-16) of credit hours per term.
- Identify classmates in each course who seem responsible and hard working, and recruit them into your study group for best learning results. Study groups are the passport to better grades.
- Attend all classes without fail and sit as close to the front of the classroom as possible.
- Get to know your professors well. Remember, they will write your letters of recommendation.
- Take selected, upper-division science courses as soon as feasible, as they will better prepare you for national admission tests and your career ahead.
- At all times, keep the course admissions requirements for your chosen career uppermost in your academic plan.
- Critically important: READ, READ, READ (books, magazines, newspapers) to increase speed, comprehension, and knowledge of current events THROUGHOUT your career.
Strategy 3
(Application Preparation)
- Review a current Admissions Requirements handbook for the health professional career you are interested in pursuing.
- Visit the PHPAO to view materials related to prospective schools to which you may apply.
- Once identified, maximize your knowledge of your selected schools through the web or additional printed materials (catalogs) requested directly from them.
- Secure information about all admission test preparation/review materials available either as commercial courses, printed materials, or computer software. The on-campus pre-health organizations are a good source of information.
- Prepare for your national admission test over a sustained period of time, increasing the intensity of your efforts as test time approaches. If needed, decrease your course load for that semester (i.e. spring, for April MCAT).
- Remember: Take the test only when fully comfortable with your level of preparation, never earlier.
- Timely submit your Pre-Application Materials packet (PHPAO), application service materials, and later your secondary applications. Be extremely careful in observing due dates and deadlines, as well as specific instructions.
- Work on your personal statement over a sustained period of time. Discuss it with your pre-health advisor and recognize its importance in the selection process.
- Critically important: Take courses, workshops, and tutorials which emphasize reading/writing skills as early as possible and throughout your career.
Strategy 4
(Extracurricular Preparation)
- Begin on campus, as early in your career as possible, by joining a pre-health student organization. Don’t be just a regular member…become an officer, as it shows leadership traits.
- Take the initiative by establishing a record of service to others. Assist the community through blood drives, food drives, tutoring, Sunday school, etc.
- Gain clinical exposure in your chosen profession by joining structured volunteer programs in hospital/clinics. Shadow healthcare professionals to best learn about the challenges and rewards of the profession.
- Paid clinical activities are as good as volunteer ones. Committees will give you as much credit, so don’t shy away from them.
- Exposure to basic research (test tube) or clinical research (patients) activities has become an important item in admissions decisions (some schools more than others). Do it for as long as possible prior to application and beyond.
- During the “waiting period” (between application and admission): Continue to excel academically and to perform your extracurricular activities. Prepare for the committee interview through “mock” interviews and a lot of research about interview techniques, remembering that in the end, it is best for you just to be yourself. Do not pester admissions offices with repeated inquiries about the status of your application. Show patience and restraint. Take science courses that will prepare you for the first two basic science years in health professional school.
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