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PRE-PROFESSIONAL PROGRAMS

    Incoming freshmen who have passed all parts of the TASP need to see an counselor in College of Arts and Sciences Advising Center in order to obtain the information they need for registration.  If you are transfer student beyond the freshman year and don't have an assigned advisor, please contact the Advising Center to determine who will be your advisor.  The Advisor Center can be reached at 409-880-7679.

    The Pre-Professional Advisory Committee for the Health Professions, was created as a service to all University students preparing for and seeking admission to professional schools of dentistry, medicine, optometry, podiatry, pharmacy, and veterinary medicine.  The services provided include basic advising and counseling in pre-professional matters, academic advising, information on professional school application procedures and providing composite evaluative information on the student to professional schools.  It is extremely important that the pre-professional student works closely with their advisor from the time they initiate their studies at the University.
    Admission to health professional schools is highly competitive and, in general, the most competitive applicants will have credentials which significantly exceed the stated minimum admissions requirements.  For example, while many dental and medical schools may have stated requirements of only two or three years of college preparation, greater than 90 percent of the students actually accepted will have had four years of college.  Thus, since "pre-dent" or "pre-med" majors do not lead to a degree, such students should pursue a degree granting program.  The student is then not only a more competitive professional school applicant, but has also prepared for an alternate career should admission to a professional school not be possible.  Any degree granting program at the University may be chosen; however, programs within the sciences are generally the most appropriate as their required curricula contain many of the courses also required for professional school admission.  In addition, careful use of elective hours in the curricula will allow for the selection of other pre-professional courses.
    Students considering courses at junior colleges should contact the professional school(s) they plan to attend because many professional schools are reluctant to accept transfer hours form junior colleges.
    Various standardized examinations are required as part of the admissions process to professional schools (dentistry-DAT; medicine and podiatry-MCAT; optometry-OAT; veterinary medicine-MCAT or GRE; pharmacy-PCAT).  Students should consult with the program advisor concerning preparation for a particular examination and the appropriate time at which the examination should be taken.