Santa Clara University

Overview

So you want to be a doctor? Do you want to be a doctor of allopathic, osteopathic, podiatric, veterinary or some other kind of medicine? Or are you looking to specialize in optometry or dentistry or chiropractic or sports medicine? Or will other health care careers offer similar satisfactions? There is pharmacy, physician’s assistant, physical therapy, public health, graduate nurse practitioner, etc. It takes a minimum of 7-years of post-graduate work to become an MD or DO, only 3 to become a physician’s assistant.

The point is: there are many satisfying careers in health care, all of which need skilled, dedicated practitioners; try to learn as much as you can about each to find the best match for your skills, demeanor and lifestyle wishes.

Be very open minded about a health sciences career.

Pre-Health Career Possibilities

• Medicine (M)
• Dentistry (D)
• Veterinary Medicine (VM)
• Osteopathic Medicine (OSTEO)
• Podiatry (POD)
• Pharmacy (PHRM)
• Graduate Nursing/(nurse practitioner) (GN)
• Optometry (OPT)
• Physician’s Assistant (PA)
• Public Health (PH)
• Physical Therapy (PT)
• Occupational Therapy (OT)
• Chiropractic
  

Additional Comments

1. Careers in the health sciences include the following: allopathic medicine(M), osteopathic medicine (OSTEO), dentistry(D), veterinary medicine(VM), podiatry(POD), optometry(OPT), pharmacy(PHARM), nurse practitioner(NP), physician’s assistant(PA), physical therapy(PT), public health (PH), occupational therapy (OT), chiropractic(DC).
2. Be proactive; search web sites of health programs you find interesting. For allopathic medicine, aamc.org is an excellent starting point. Each pre-health area and/or school has slightly different requirements. Examples: physical therapy programs often require a psychology course but sometimes not organic chemistry, physician’s assistant programs usually require lots of clinical experience prior to application (but there is one in California that requires none), many programs require an anatomy course (which SCU students satisfy at a larger institution at an appropriate time), etc.
3. Although the most popular majors for pre-health students have traditionally been biology and combined sciences at SCU, significant numbers of chemistry, psychology and other majors are successful as well. Select your major based on what you are most interested in; the science requirements for graduate health program admissions can be built into the curriculum for any major. Some medical schools especially seek the “non-traditional” pre-health candidate.
4. Considerable flexibility can be introduced into the pre-allopathic medicine program can be introduced by taking a year off between SCU matriculation and beginning medical school. It allows the MCAT exam to be taken in the Spring of the senior year or the summer following matriculation. This allows the student nearly a full 4 years of University preparation before taking the most significant exam of his/her life AND allows more time in which to engage in the volunteer/humanitarian/research type of extracurricular experiences important to medical school acceptance. The year off can be used to strengthen one’s application via volunteer or paid clinical/hospital work, a year with Americorps or the Jesuit Volunteer Corps, a Peace Corps stint and/or additional coursework (like human anatomy, for example) and allows one to recharge his/her batteries a bit between undergraduate school and the rigors of medical school. It is also a good time to brush up on or learn Spanish, the language most pre-health programs strongly recommend.
5. The 3 initial criteria for allopathic or osteopathic medical school admission are GPA, MCAT scores, personal statement/extracurricular experiences. If still interested, medical schools will then request 2-3 letters of recommendation from undergraduate faculty (usually two from natural science faculty and one from a non-science faculty member). The final screening step is the personal interview. Here is where your genuine passion and motivation for the field must come through clearly, as well as your reasons for selecting a particular medical school.
6. All pre-health graduate programs seek applicants who are passionate about helping people (or animals in the case of veterinary medicine, of course) and so expect to see volunteering, work experience, research experience, practitioner shadowing, or some other evidence that you are serious in your devotion to pursuing a health care career. There is no set amount or type of experience. Humanitarian work outside of medicine like Habitat for Humanity or serving in the Peace Corps after undergraduate school are viewed very favorably. Be sure not to engage in so much of it during your undergraduate years that it interferes with your formal education at SCU, however.
7. AMCAS serves as a clearing house for medical school applications. It, as well as MCAT information, is accessed through the aamc.org web site.
8. SCU has traditionally been a source of students to schools such as UCSF, Georgetown and Creighton, and Loyola Chicago, but small numbers of students have attended a host of other medical schools and other health professions graduate programs. Official state residency is an important factor.