Pre-Professional Health

APSU strives to ensure each student obtains the skills and information needed to be a successful professional health school applicant.

The Office of Pre-Professional Health collaborates with APSU faculty, staff, and local healthcare providers to help students maximize their chance at achieving their career goals. The mission of the Office of Pre-Professional Health is to develop programs and services that address the needs of APSU students pursuing pre-professional health career pathways. Concurrently, the office strives to create collaborative opportunities that connect students with university faculty and regional public/private healthcare organizations.

The vision of the Office of Pre-Professional Health is to promote a collaborative and integrated learning community; thus, fostering critical inquiry as students gain knowledge, skills, and values that prepare them for graduate education.

By the Numbers

What should I major in if I want to become a health professional?

There is not a specific major that is required for admittance into a professional health program at a medical, dental, pharmacy, optometry, physical therapy or veterinary school.  With your advisor’s help you can design a program of study that meets the admission requirements of professional health schools while still studying what interests you the most.  Professional health schools are seeking students who have developed excellent writing and speaking skills, possess analytic and synthetic thinking ability, are enthusiastic life-long learners and possess an understanding of the interpersonal aspects of life.

Students in the pre-professional health program must obtain a major from a department such as chemistry, biology, mathematics, physics, etc. Although professional schools require a major, they do not specify what that major must be. For incoming freshmen, UNIV 1000 courses are offered that specialize in the pre-professional health areas, including Pre-Medicine, Pre-Pharmacy and Pre-Physical Therapy to name just a few of the PPH options.

Why is APSU a good place to prepare for a professional health program?

The APSU College of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics strives to ensure that each student obtains the skills and information needed to be a successful professional school applicant.  As a pre-professional health student, we will keep in touch with you so that you receive vital information in a timely manner. For example, you will receive information about when and how to participate in pre-professional health program events. Some of the events that you will have an opportunity to participate in include: mock interviews for professional schools, taking practice entrance exams in your field, finding out how to “shadow" a professional, volunteering in your field of interest and taking field trips to professional schools and surrounding health care facilities.