1. Lafayette’s Health Professions Advising Program
Prof. Haug
Health Professions Advisory Committee (HPAC) Co-Chair
Sept. 8 and 11, 2017

2. Introduction
We want to provide you with an overview of the necessary steps to achieve your goal of a career in the health professions.
What are the health professions?
Medical Doctor (allopathic, osteopathic)
Dentist, Optometrist, Veterinarian,
Physician’s Assistant, Nurse Practitioner,
Physical Therapist, Public Health positions, and others.

3. Health Professions Advisory Committee (HPAC)
HPAC focuses on medical, dental, optometry, and veterinary students.
Key Advisory members:
Kenneth Haug, Committee Co-Chair, Dept. of Chemistry.
Five other faculty assist in HPAC committee work and applicant evaluations.
Simona Glaus, Committee Co-Chair, Coordinator of Health Professions Program, Scott Hall.
Melissa Schultz, Senior Assoc. Director, Career Services.
Gateway counselors also assist with career planning
Career Services – 201 Hogg Hall:
Great help with career plans, internships/externships, and
additional health profession programs and information
Health Professions Club – student organization
Colleagues also are of great importance in career planning

4. Upcoming Events
Tuesday, October 3, 2017: Studying Abroad in the Health Professions
Noon-1:00pm; 115 Hugel
Thursday, October 12, 2017: Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine Presentation
Noon-1:00pm; 103 Hugel
Saturday, October 21, 2017: Health Professionals Open House
10:00am-11:00am; 1st floor Scott Hall

5. Useful Resources Pre-med:
Aspiring Docs (the AAMC’s Aspiring Docs website provides resources and inspiration to help pre-med students get started on their path to medicine)
the Premed Navigator (a monthly that includes relevant information, resources, tools, tips, and important dates for pre-med students at every stage of their journey to medical school)
Aspiring Docs Diaries blog
Pre-dental:
ADEA GoDental (The ADEA GoDental website provides comprehensive resources to help prospective dental students get started on their path to dentistry)
ADEA GoDental Newsletter
ADEA Dental Blogs
Pre-vet:
The AAVMC’s portal (provides information, resources and tools to help pre-vet students get started on path to medicine
The Pathways Newsletter (the AAVMC’s monthly newsletter designed specifically for pre-vet students)
Pre-optometry:
The ASCO website (provides information and resources to help students get started on exploring a career in optometry)
ASCO’s Eye on Optometry blog (provides timely and useful information to anyone who is interested in applying to optometry school)

6. Undergraduate Preparation for Admission to Graduate Schools in the Health Professions
Each HP school has its own criteria, but all give special consideration to several key areas :
Academic/Science grades (45-55%)*
Admissions tests (20-25%)*
Health-related experiences
Research experiences
Community service and volunteer work
Letters of recommendation
HP school interview
* Percentage of relative importance reported in a 2001 study by the NAAHP.

7. The importance of good grades!
Medical school applicant data (Jr & Sr applicants) from recent years:
Acceptance ratio for
GPA  3.60
GPA
Acceptance
ratio for
GPA < 3.20
Overall acceptance ratio for all GPA’s
Lafayette 4-yr
aggregate data
MD+DO
74%
(85% w/ Reap)
52% 0%
(No reap’s)
65%

9. Undergraduate Preparation – Academic coursework
Required Undergraduate Coursework
As a health professions (HP) student you may graduate with any major/minor. Follow your own intellectual and academic interests – we want everyone to have a life plan they love.
HP schools expect students to have a strong foundation in the natural sciences - you are usually required to take the following courses (individual HP schools can have other requirements).
1 Year of:
Biology with labs (e.g., 101 & 102)
Physics with labs (e.g., 111 & 112; 131 & 132/133; 151 & 152)
Mathematics (e.g., 125 & 186, 161 & 186, 161 & 162 )
Writing-Intensive Coursework (e.g. FYS, English xyz, other additional “W” courses).
2+ Years of:
Chemistry with labs (General Chem 121 & 122,
Organic Chem 221 & 222 , Biochem 351)

10. Undergraduate Preparation – coursework continued
Other courses which you may have to take (premeds):
Psych 110 and A&S 103 (Intro Psych and Intro to Anthropology and Sociology) which are recommended pre-requisites for the MCAT
Other courses which you may wish to take, as your major and course scheduling allow are:
Bio 251, Human Physiology (recommended)
Chem 452, Advanced topics in Biochemistry
Phys 220, Medical and Biological Physics
Psych 240, Health Psychology
Rel 223, Religion and Medicine
A&S 222, Medical Anthropology
(See a selection of others on our HP website)
Be aware that some HP schools have additional requirements

11. Undergraduate Preparation – coursework continued
Students seeking admission to veterinary, nursing, physician’s assistant, physical therapy and other programs will need to take additional biology courses. Course requirements vary among programs and not all are offered at Lafayette, so plan ahead to take them at another institution during the summer.
(For example: Human Anatomy is not currently offered at Lafayette)

12. Undergraduate Preparation – other aspects of coursework
Advanced Placement. AP Credit may sometimes be used to satisfy the Mathematics and English/writing requirements. However, it should not as a general rule be used to satisfy the science requirements because HP schools want you to experience college-level science laboratory coursework.
If you accept AP credit in one of the sciences, you should take upper-level science courses with labs in the same science to generally satisfy the health professions school requirements.
Summer School. If you are majoring in the social sciences or humanities, you may want to take physics, biology or chemistry during the summer. Most HP schools would rather you take all your science courses during the academic year because they want you to demonstrate your ability to handle the laboratory coursework with a full course load. Don’t make a habit of taking core courses in summer.
Pass/Fail; 3 credit semesters. Avoid this! In no instance should you take a science or mathematics course pass/fail. Since HP schools like to see that you are successful in a variety of disciplines and courses while carrying a full load, we discourage you from taking any courses on a pass/fail basis.

13. Undergraduate Preparation – additional experiences
Study Abroad: Most health professional schools consider a study abroad experience a good thing; especially if you combine it with healthcare-related experiences. If you are interested in studying abroad—DO IT! But plan your other coursework appropriately to keep on schedule.
Research: Independent research, honors thesis research, and/or EXCEL work are important educational experiences that are becoming essential in preparing you for graduate-level work in the health professions.
Electives. Take elective courses that are meaningful or interesting to you, including courses in the arts and humanities. Do not try to second-guess “what looks good to health professional schools.” Instead, get the most you can out of your undergraduate education. It is who you are and how well-educated you are that are important when you seek admission to a health professions school or go anywhere else in life.

14. Undergraduate Preparation – additional experiences
Internships/Externships. There are many opportunities for health care involvement and shadowing: including volunteering at a hospital, shelter, clinic, with your personal physician, or a Lafayette alumnus/alumna in the health professions. The Career Services Office can offer you resources to arrange internships/externships.
Extracurricular Activities / People Skills. You are strongly encouraged to participate in extracurricular activities while in college. Through participation in activities outside the classroom you will learn to manage a complex time schedule, learn about organizational hierarchy, and develop communication, leadership and teamwork skills. Especially important are activities in which you demonstrate a long-term and sincere commitment to helping others. But do NOT become overly involved to the extent that you damage your GPA!
Read widely on the subject of healthcare. Keep up-to-date with current health news. Also a list of suggested readings for students interested in the health professions is maintained on the HPAC web site.

15. Academic Dishonesty / Conduct Violation problems!
Maintain a high standard of ethics and personal deportment. Students who do not have high standards of character and integrity in both academics (cheating, plagiarism) and in personal behavior (alcohol, drugs, vandalism, etc., …) will be diminished if not eliminated as applicants.
As part of the application process, the Dean of the College will be asked whether you have been disciplined for academic and/or conduct violations and this information will be reported to the health professions schools to which you apply.

16. Application Time-line
For most people, the optimal time to apply to HP graduate school is in spring/summer of the senior year. This will give you a gap year between college and HP graduate school.
If you plan to attend HP graduate school the fall semester after graduation, then you will need to apply in spring/summer of the junior year.
HPAC will work with you when you have all the components in place: completed science requirements by the time of application; have taken or be ready to take the Admissions Test (MCAT, DAT, OAT, or VCAT/GRE); have a competitive profile of research, medical internships/externships, and suitable extra-curricular experience. Your application (letters of recommendation, HPAC interview, etc.) will occur in the spring semester of your application year.

17. Lafayette’s Health Professions Advising Program
All of us at Lafayette look forward to helping you succeed in your plans for a career in the health professions. Visit our web site: ,
Please attend HPAC and related events!
Upcoming NIH trip for Tues, Oct. 10 if you can make it!