Pre-Professional Health Academic Program

Certificate Program

Many health professional schools are today admitting more postbaccalaureate students than ever before. These are students who have many years of experience in various fields and their decision to return to school is usually motivated by many reasons. Our prehealth postbac program is specifically structured for such students and is goal-oriented, focused and integrated with health professions volunteerships/internships, research experience, community service and prehealth association opportunities. Many health professional schools express the desire to admit students who show promise in scholarship as indicated by their academic performance, have competitive entrance test scores, have acquired quality health setting experience and have excellent personal characteristics including maturity, leadership, self-discipline, compassion and empathy among many others. Our program is cohort based, very competitive and combines high quality academic instruction with entrance test preparation opportunities, growth and development of important personal characteristics and includes mentoring, tutoring and general advising.

Students in the program take a minimum of 86 units worth of science courses comprised of both lower and upper division classes (Math 1305 & Biol 3122 optional in some programs). The program recommends a total of 98 quarter units as indicated below.

Program Objectives

By successfully completing this program, students will:

• Acquire the required baseline knowledge in entrance and advanced science courses to competitively apply to health professional schools
• Have opportunities to acquire the necessary health setting experiences required by health professional schools
• Have opportunities to train and prepare in taking the required national entrance tests like the MCAT, DAT, GRE and the OAT
• Have opportunities to participate in conducting either basic or clinical research both within and outside campus
• Have opportunities for community service participation both within and outside campus
• Have opportunities for mentoring, advising and tutoring producing competent and uniquely qualified individuals ready to apply to health professional schools
• Have an opportunity to grow and develop their personal characteristics important in health professional school admissions
• Acquire skill-based professional training for career advancement

Who Should Attend

• Students who have completed bachelor's degrees in non-science fields or if in science, have overall and science GPAs that are not very competitive and would greatly benefit from such an organized academic program.
• Students who desire to accomplish a life-long health careers dream; or those who lack meaningful human interactions in their current jobs they deem important in their lives; and those who are dissatisfied with their current job contributions that may have no direct community impact.
• Students who desire a career that is challenging, non-routine and satisfying; and those who are empathetic, passionate and committed to make a difference in people's health.

Program Highlights