Health Professions Course Requirements
If you are considering applying to medical, dental, veterinary medicine, physical therapy, nursing, physician assistant/associate, optometry, pharmacy, podiatry or any other health professions program you need to familiarize yourself with the various course requirements. Generally, physical therapy, nursing,and physician assistant/associate programs will require human anatomy and physiology with labs, pharmacy programs may require human physiology and the pre-requisite courses for podiatry are the same as medicine, including the year of English. To find courses that supplement your preparation for a health career, go to the Health Studies Cluster.
As you investigate further, you may note that individual schools may have other specific pre-requisite courses listed on their website. As an undergraduate, at least three academic years are needed to complete the required courses below:
- 1 year of introductory biology with laboratory
- 1 year of general chemistry with laboratory*
- 1 year of organic chemistry with laboratory*
- 1 semester of biochemistry (CHEM 383 or MB&B 228)
- 1 year of physics with laboratory
- 1 year of English
- 1 year of college math
Regarding Summer Scheduling, before completing a course that is required for your major at another educational institution, not including community colleges, check with your academic department. Notwithstanding, you may complete other pre-health courses elsewhere during the summer at an academically competitive four-year U.S. college or university. It is recommended that students not take more than the equivalent of one year of pre-health course requirements during their summers, as it may seem to be an avoidance of the more rigorous science courses offered at Wesleyan. Additionally, it is usually not advisable to split sequential courses between institutions for example PHYS 111 and 112, given that the sequence of topics covered in your science courses may differ between universities resulting in a gap in your knowledge of that course content.
Regarding nursing programs, our Wesleyan students will need to apply to accelerated nursing programs which will provide the pre-requisite courses they may be missing in addition to clinical nursing courses.
*NOTE: Medical and Dental schools are made aware that Wesleyan’s general chemistry lab, CHEM 152 serves as a year of general chemistry lab. Additionally, CHEM 257 and CHEM 258 satisfy the year of organic chemistry lab. Together, these three laboratory courses meet the chemistry laboratory requirements for medical, dental, veterinary schools, optometry, etc. All science courses need to be completed with a grade of C or higher. Students should repeat any pre-requisite course with a grade of C- or lower. As you are deciding on which chemistry course series to take (CHEM 141/142 or CHEM 143/144), go to the Chemistry Department’s website to view their recommendations on choosing the correct chemistry series based on your high school background.
The math requirement varies widely from school to school; many schools require no math at all, while a few require a full year of calculus, and others require statistics. In order to keep all options open, we recommend one semester of statistics and one of calculus, or linear algebra, or multivariate calculus, or vectors and matrices. Regarding the statistics requirements, students may take Math 132, Psych 200 or QAC 201. Most schools have other specific requirements, such as biochemistry and Social and Behavioral courses such as Psychology. The newly revised MCAT (Medical College Admission Test) now includes questions that require a knowledge of biochemistry and statistics, while some schools may not specifically require biochemistry, they do highly recommend foundational knowledge in the area of biochemistry.
Check the course requirements of every school that interests you by visiting the website of the medical schools you are considering and by checking the MSAR Premed Course Requirements Document. As noted on this table, many medical schools (and health professions schools) will accept AP Credits, but will expect to see an upper level course taken within the subject area of the AP course credit. Access the complete list of Medical School Admission Requirements Reports to learn how long your MCAT score will be valid at each institution (it varies from 2-4 years), or the wait list policy, or the early decision policy for each school and more.
For the one year English language pre-requisite coursework for students applying to medical school, English must be the spoken and written language for the discussion and written assignments for the two courses completed. The AMCAS and AACOMAS Team that reviews and processes these applications asks the applicants to designate their courses based on the “primary content of the material covered.” Due to the obvious prefix and title of the science and mathematics courses the classification designations are quite straight forward. However, whether a Wesleyan course merits an English designation is a bit more complex and requires a certain level of discernment. Medical school application services designate that the primary content of an English course must be either “Literature Based”, “Creative Writing” or “Composition and Rhetoric,” besides being taught in the English language. At Wesleyan, there are a number of courses that do not have the ENGL prefix that can be designated as an English course based on this “classification,” including some First Year Seminars. Another main component of a course that you may be considering as an ENGL pre-requisite course for your medical, dental or health professional program application is that the course includes discussion and/or persuasive presentations (demonstrating your ability to use language effectively and communicate ideas clearly) and entails significant writing assignments; consisting of at least three or more essays, short papers, critiques, weekly reaction papers and/or blogs. Attached are some examples of Wesleyan courses that satisfy the criteria for the English classification. This LIST will be updated periodically.
In scheduling courses, we recommend that first year students take at least one science course in their first semester (or no more than two, this will depend on the student’s high school preparation). The first year in college is a transitional year and involves new ways of learning and studying. College-level science courses, especially those with a laboratory, can be unexpectedly time-consuming and demanding, particularly for students who have not had a strong science preparation. Be sure to consult your academic advisor and the health professions advisor if you have questions or concerns and would like to plan a tentative four-year plan. Please peruse the sample schedules provided below.
Besides avoiding overloading on courses and engaging in too many extracurricular activities, health professions students should also avoid dropping below the expected four courses per semester (at least 4 credits). To be competitive for the health professional school you are considering, applicants should demonstrate an ability to handle a science-intensive curriculum and a love of learning through in-depth study of a particular area or areas of interest.
Creating a tentative four-year plan will allow you to prepare for a semester abroad or for your application to your health professions program after your third year, if that is your current goal. Besides the sciences and the required courses for the major the student has chosen, we encourage students to incorporate coursework that will prepare them for the ‘Psychological, Social, and Biological Foundations of Behavior’ section of the MCAT. This would entail courses in Psychology, Sociology, Science in Society, and possibly Anthropology. Take a look at the Health Studies Cluster to examine the number of health related courses offered on campus. Included here are some Sample Schedules for different academic plans. Use them as a model and modify them to fit your goals for your four years here at Wesleyan.
Schedule 1 is a sample schedule [PDF] showing the possible positioning of science pre-requisite courses in a four-year plan for a student that is considering studying abroad in their third year and applying to medical school after their THIRD year of college. This schedule would prepare the student for the MCAT for a late spring test date in the third year. Schedule 2 is a sample schedule [PDF] showing the possible positioning of science pre-requisite courses in a four-year plan for a student that is considering applying to medical school after their THIRD year of college. This schedule would prepare the student for the MCAT for a late spring test date in the third year. Schedule 3 is a sample for a student that is considering studying abroad and applying to medical school after their FOURTH year of college [PDF]. This schedule would prepare the student for the MCAT for a late spring test date in their fourth year. Schedule 4 is a sample for a student that is considering applying to medical school after their FOURTH year of college [PDF]. This schedule would prepare the student for the MCAT for a late spring test date in their fourth year. This schedule can also be used by students who plan to pursue two years of growth and professional development (GAP), however, the MCAT test date for these applicants can be delayed until the end of that first summer or to the spring of their first GAP year.
At most medical schools, Advanced Placement or departmental exemption will not excuse you from the requirements. Hence, if you have placed out of the first introductory science course of a two-part series and that department here at Wesleyan has allowed the student to enroll in the part 2 course, the medical school will still expect the student to take at least one higher level course in that particular discipline. AP Calculus is an exception. If you took AP Calculus in high school and scored a 4 or 5 on the AP exam, and then take “Vectors and Matrices,” or an even higher level math class, earning a grade of C or better, you may request that the AP credit appear on your Wesleyan transcript. If your AP calculus credits are on your Wesleyan transcript, they will be accepted by the medical schools requiring calculus that accept AP credits towards pre-requisite course work. When starting at Wesleyan having completed AP credits, visit the academic department that matches the AP courses you are hoping to include on your transcript. Please see the relevant pages on the Registrar’s website.
Be aware that there are many myths about medical school requirements. If you are unsure, or hear something unusual about a particular school that you are interested in, talk to the Health Professions Advisor/program Coordinator or contact the medical school admissions office directly (they are always happy to help). The Health Professions Advisor/Program Coordinator is available to assist you in creating a plan by which you may complete the admission requirements.
For those of you who began considering medicine well into or beyond your undergraduate years, there are Post-Baccalaureate Pre-Medical Programs throughout the country. These programs allow you to complete medical school requirements in one or two years of intense study. These required courses may also be taken while enrolled as a non-degree student at most four-year, US institutions that offer them. There are also post-bac programs that prepare post-grads for other health professions such as physician assistant and dental. For preparation for nursing schools, there are accelerated nursing programs that prepare students for the BSN degree or that of nurse practitioner.
