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SUNY ESF
Pre Health FAQs

Most applicants to health professions schools have majored in a science discipline. However, a science major is not a requirement to apply: health professions schools accept applications from a variety of undergraduate majors ranging across the scientific disciplines: even the humanities.

You should keep in mind, however, that all the health professions schools require that you take a certain minimum of science courses or specific prerequisites. Students often choose a major that matches their interests and also has requirements that overlap with recommended and prerequisite courses.

Unfortunately, there is no single answer to this question because the various professional schools/disciplines have different requirements and expectations.

At a minimum, nearly all health professions schools require the following:

  • One year of general biology

  • One year of chemistry

  • One year of physics (need not be calculus-based)

  • One year of mathematics (sometimes specified as two semesters of calculus, or a combination of calculus and statistics)

  • One year of English

  • One year of organic chemistry

  • One year of social sciences and/or humanities

Keep in mind that these are generally the courses required to apply. Many schools/disciplines will have additional requirements. Most Physician Assistant programs also require a full year of Human Anatomy and Physiology with lab. Some programs want you to take a medical terminology course. Some schools will have additional requirements such as Biochemistry or Microbiology. This means that you need to be thinking about the type of program you want to enter, and also what schools you are planning on applying to, so you can make sure to complete the necessary requirements.

Additionally, it is a different question entirely what courses should be taken during your undergraduate career. In some cases, your choice of classes will be guided by preparation for the MCAT or GRE. This FAQ gives more details about this. At a minimum, however, you should plan on taking coursework in Biochemistry, Microbiology, Anatomy (Comparative Vertebrate Anatomy), and Physiology (Cell Biology and Human or Animal Physiology). Preparation for the MCAT should also include some type of Psychology course as well.

This will depend on your program, and the schools you are applying to attend. Some schools require one or the other, some will give students options, and some schools have stopped requiring either exam. It is important for you to stay on top of this by checking the schools you are interested in and determining what their requirements are for admission.

If either exam is required, and you are hoping to matriculate in a professional school the year after you graduate, you should take these exams in the spring of your Junior year. If you plan to do a gap year after you graduate, you should take the MCAT or GRE in the spring the year before you hope to matriculate. i.e., if you hope to start your program in 2026, you will take the exams the spring of 2025. Taking the exam early also gives you a bit of a cushion in case you need to take the exam again.

You should know, however, that many health-professions schools will only accept results from examinations taken at certain times. Always, check your intended school's specific requirements.

Admission to a health professions school is a highly competitive process. This means, of course, that these schools will draw candidates from the high end of the GPA range. Consider these statistics. The most common GPA for applicants admitted to medical schools nationwide, for example, is 3.75. At Upstate Medical University, the median overall GPA for accepted applicants is around 3.64 (3.61 for the science GPA). Nationally, only half the applicants with an overall GPA of about 3.60 are admitted to medical school. If your GPA is 3.6 or better then your chance of admission reaches about 50%. If your GPA is less than that, you face an uphill struggle. It is not an impossible struggle—American medical schools have been known to accept applicants with undergraduate GPAs as low as 2.25—but it will be a struggle, and you will have to plan your preparation and credentials to make a persuasive case that, despite your GPA, you are still a suitable candidate for the health professions.

On the other side, it also must be said that a high undergraduate GPA is no guarantee of acceptance to a health professions school: among medical school applicants with a GPA greater than 3.8, only about 62% are actually admitted.

Admissions committees are not necessarily looking for intellectual superstars or academic grinds: this is why even a perfect GPA of 4.00 will not guarantee admission. Admissions committees, not surprisingly, look for candidates who will be successful practitioners of the profession. There are numerous factors that enter into their judgments on who will, or who will not, be a worthy candidate. Generally, these break down to these criteria:

  • Personal characteristics: The health professions are service professions, and successful practitioners must be of good character and integrity. Admissions committees will look for evidence of this, which may include psychological maturity, self-discipline, good judgment, compassion and concern, reliability and dependability, intellectual curiosity and enthusiasm, resilience, a sense of accountability, leadership, and tangible experience in the profession. Generally, disciplinary actions during your undergraduate career will weigh heavily against you.

  • Academic ability: The health professions require people who can master large quantities of complex information, and who can keep up to date with new developments in their fields. You can look upon your undergraduate career as being largely a demonstration of your ability to do this. Admissions committees will look to grades, credit hours carried per semester, whether coursework is reasonably distributed among the sciences and other disciplines, numbers of incompletes and withdrawals, need for remediation (i.e. taking courses over), how long you took to complete your degree, and so forth. You should keep in mind that admissions committees have seen every trick in the book to "game" the system: tricks like boosting GPA by taking easy courses, or light loads will to increase your GPA but will not help you in the end.

  • Performance on standardized exams: The MCAT or the GRE is your demonstration that you have mastered the body of material that your undergraduate career has comprised, and that you can recall it on demand. Sometimes, a high score on these tests can mitigate a low GPA, but it can work the other way, too: low scores can undermine an otherwise strong GPA. It can also be noted that many programs and individual schools are no longer requiring these exams, and students will be rated much more strongly on academic performance.

  • Letters of recommendation: These letters represent personal testimony from professionals and others in a position to comment on your character, capabilities and suitability to become a respected practitioner of the profession. They should be garnered from professors and professionals who can attest to these attributes. Internships are an especially effective way to develop strong letters of recommendations from professional practitioners.

  • Prior experience: Almost all programs now require that students have some sort of professional experience. Veterinary schools look for students to have experience with companion animals, large animals, exotic animals and lab animals. Medical schools will be looking for students to have both shadowing and community experience (between 200-500 hours), and Physician Assistant programs will often require 750-1000 patient contact hours.

  • Dedication to your career: You need to explain, both in your letter and in your interview, WHY you want to be in your chosen field. For Medical School, 'wanting to help people' is not an answer. You can 'help' people in any number of ways that does not require the dedication to finish medical school. Similarly, 'I like animals' is not a good reason to go to Veterinary school—you might be happier volunteering at an animal shelter. So you need to be able to explain why you want THIS career.

  • Interview: The interview, if one is granted, is your opportunity to demonstrate "in the flesh" that you are a suitable candidate for admission. Interviews can cover a host of topics, ranging from your poise and professionalism, to your motivation and desire to pursue the profession, to your personal experiences, to your future plans.

Pre-health professions students at ESF are commonly enrolled in one of five programs:

All these programs enable students to meet the minimum requirements for applying to health professions schools, although meeting them requires more careful planning for some majors than others. The ENB degree, for example, requires only one semester of organic chemistry: most health professions schools require two semesters. The bottom line is this: students must consult with BOTH their academic advisors and the health professions advisor to ensure they meet the requirements both for their chosen degree and for applying to their chosen professional school.

Your choice of a major should be based primarily upon what interests you, rather than what will "get you in" to a professional school (see "Should I have a plan B?""). That said, your choice of program should also consider which one enables you to build your credentials most effectively. Look carefully at the respective curricula and ask questions like:

  • How many open electives are there in that major?

  • Are the courses I need required for by major or will I have to use elective credits to take them?

  • Will my summers be free to pursue activities like internships, research experiences, and other classes that are essential to building a strong application?

The best way to answer these questions is to consult the curricular outlines available in the College catalog, and to speak with the Pre-Health advisor. Some majors are better suited to certain professional programs, and the Pre-Health advisor can discuss this with you.

At ESF, you can change majors at any time, but the change becomes more difficult the further you progress in your program.

The most common curricula at ESF for health professions students are virtually identical in the freshman year, so there is some flexibility. However, thoughtful discussion with the Pre-Health advisor can help with this decision. Orientation courses your freshman year help you to learn about the requirements of your major, and start you on the path to becoming part of an academic community. Thus, choosing the best major at the start will be beneficial.

However, if you decide that your original choice of major is not for you, you can switch. By Sophomore year, many majors are starting to specialize in their courses, so it is best if you know where you want to be by that time.

Switching between majors become more difficult the more time passes, and you may need to take an extra semester or year to complete the requirements for your new major.

Not really. Admissions committees base their decisions on a variety of criteria and there is little evidence that a designated "Pre-Health" program gives prospective students any advantage. Surprisingly, students coming out of designated "pre-med" programs have among the lowest rates of admission to medical school. Conversely, applicants from "non-traditional" programs have fairly high rates of admission, probably because students from unusual backgrounds "stand out from the crowd". This gives ESF students an edge over students from more traditional "pre-med" or "pre-vet" programs: There is growing interest in the health professions in emergence of new diseases, epidemiology, natural pharmaceuticals, and environmental medicine, all with significant connections to the ESF's mission. Indeed, ESF students often stand out from the crowd. 

 

The MCAT (Medical College Admissions Test) consists of four parts:

  • Chemical and Physical Sciences

  • Biological Sciences

  • Critical Analysis and Reasoning

  • Psychological, Social, and Biological Foundations of Behavior

Detailed coverage of the subject matter, including practice exams, is available at the MCAT page of the American Association of Medical Colleges (AAMC) web site.

Most vet schools require only the General GRE (Graduate Record Exam). The General GRE consists of three parts:

  • Analytical Writing

  • Verbal Reasoning

  • Quantitative Reasoning

Detailed coverage of the subject matter, including practice exams, is available at the GRE page of the Educational Testing Service web site.

At ESF, you can change majors at any time, but the change becomes more difficult the further you progress in your program.

The most common curricula at ESF for health professions students are virtually identical in the freshman year, so there is some flexibility. However, thoughtful discussion with the Pre-Health advisor can help with this decision. Orientation courses your freshman year help you to learn about the requirements of your major, and start you on the path to becoming part of an academic community. Thus, choosing the best major at the start will be beneficial.

However, if you decide that your original choice of major is not for you, you can switch. By Sophomore year, many majors are starting to specialize in their courses, so it is best if you know where you want to be by that time.

Switching between majors become more difficult the more time passes, and you may need to take an extra semester or year to complete the requirements for your new major.

Not really. Admissions committees base their decisions on a variety of criteria and there is little evidence that a designated "Pre-Health" program gives prospective students any advantage. Surprisingly, students coming out of designated "pre-med" programs have among the lowest rates of admission to medical school. Conversely, applicants from "non-traditional" programs have fairly high rates of admission, probably because students from unusual backgrounds "stand out from the crowd". This gives ESF students an edge over students from more traditional "pre-med" or "pre-vet" programs: There is growing interest in the health professions in emergence of new diseases, epidemiology, natural pharmaceuticals, and environmental medicine, all with significant connections to the ESF's mission. Indeed, ESF students often stand out from the crowd.

 

The MCAT (Medical College Admissions Test) consists of four parts:

  • Chemical and Physical Sciences

  • Biological Sciences

  • Critical Analysis and Reasoning

  • Psychological, Social, and Biological Foundations of Behavior

Detailed coverage of the subject matter, including practice exams, is available at the MCAT page of the American Association of Medical Colleges (AAMC) web site.

Most vet schools require only the General GRE (Graduate Record Exam). The General GRE consists of three parts:

  • Analytical Writing

  • Verbal Reasoning

  • Quantitative Reasoning

Detailed coverage of the subject matter, including practice exams, is available at the GRE page of the Educational Testing Service web site.

Like the GPA, there is no "good" MCAT score: individuals with low MCAT scores gain admission to medical school, while some candidates with very high scores are not accepted. The most common total numeric score for admitted applicants is over 500. 

 

Yes! Internships can give you college credit for getting the professional experience required by Pre-Health programs. These experiences can also give you vital insights into the way your profession works and how you would fit into it. They can often garner you valuable letters of recommendation from practicing professionals. Admissions committees look very closely at an applicant's experiences in professional settings. Please read the Prior Experience section under 'What do Admissions Committees Look For?'.

 

Internships can be either formal, undertaken for credit or as part of an organized internship program, or informal, undertaken in agreement with a practicing professional on an ad hoc basis. Both can be extremely valuable. Some curricula at ESF have a formal requirement that you do an internship. ESF also has formal requirements and paperwork that must be filled out for credit-bearing internships. These can be found on ESF's internship web page, but do discuss with your advisor and the Pre-Health advisor prior to starting an internship to make sure it is right for your career goals.

 

Internship opportunities abound, but you do have to work to find them.

One way is to avail yourself of the resources of Career Services at ESF, and the Pre-Health advisor. Both will have information about internship opportunities that are available.

There is also the old-fashioned way: arrange your own internship! Most practitioners were interns themselves at one time, and may be pleased to be a mentor themselves if asked. But again, please check with both your advisor and the Pre-Health advisor to make sure what you will be doing will get you credit in your major, and will help you progress in your career goals.

There's no magic number but remember this. You do not undertake internships to "get" yourself into medical school/vet school. You undertake internships as opportunities for your own intellectual growth. Looked at in this way, the answer to this question is quite simple. It's never too early to start growing intellectually: there's nothing wrong with starting before your freshman year. And it's not possible to intellectually grow too much: there's nothing wrong with doing internships throughout your undergraduate career.

 

Absolutely. Remember that even very highly qualified candidates are turned down for admission. Remember also that your undergraduate career is a golden opportunity for growth and exploration: take full advantage of it. As you explore other fields, what starts as a Plan B often matures into a primary career goal.

 

ESF and UMU have several joint programs that ESF students can take advantage of. ESF students can apply to be accepted into the Upstate Accelerated Scholars program which pre-accepts students into the MD program, provided the student continues to meet the admissions requirements. Students must apply to both ESF and Upstate for admission into this program.

In addition, ESF students can participate in ESF/Upstate 3+3 program for the Doctor of Physical Therapy degree. More details are here and in this FAQ.

This program is intended to remove some of the uncertainties in applying to medical school. This program is geared to highly qualified and highly motivated applicants, and have fairly demanding requirements for admission, including evidence of consistently high academic performance and demonstration of volunteer/internship experiences that show "commitment to the profession."" They are not meant for students who are "still exploring."

Students apply to the program as high school seniors.

Students spend their first three years (seven semesters) at ESF, then transfer to Upstate for another three years (nine semesters). Courses taken the first year at Upstate complete the requirements for the ESF degree. Like the Accelerated Scholars Program, ESF students must apply to both ESF and Upstate for admission. The home page for the Upstate DPT program can be found here.

ESF students can participate in the 3+3 DPT program from one of three majors: Environmental Biology, Biotechnology, or Environmental Science (with the Health & Environment option area). As this is a very compressed program, all three majors will require students to take summer courses while at ESF. As is always the case, participation in this program involves careful academic planning: you should work closely with the Pre-Health advisor.