Pre-Health
What are “pre-reqs”?
Prerequisite coursework, or “pre-reqs” for short, are courses that are required in order to apply and potentially be accepted into a specific program. In this case, it is courses that you are required to complete before you begin applying for your health profession school, whether those courses are during your undergraduate years or after you graduate. See the links below for pre-reqs for common health professions.
- Medicine
- Physician Assistant/Associate
- Dentistry
- Occupational Therapy
- Optometry
- Veterinary
- Pharmacy
- Physical Therapy
- Podiatry
Tips for choosing classes
Make a schedule or plan
Whether it be on an Excel sheet or on a table in a Google Doc, plan out generally which classes you want to take throughout your time at UVA. Start filling each semester with the classes you have to take for your pre-health track or, if you are still deciding which profession, start with core science classes (biology, chemistry, physics, etc.). Once you have this backbone, start adding in classes for your major(s)/minor(s) or UVA requirements. Make note of the introductory classes that are required before you take upper-level courses.
TIP: Leave some wiggle room in your plan! You won’t always be able to get exactly all the classes you want, so make sure you have different options.
Talk to older students on the same track
3rd and 4th years are great resources when choosing your classes (in addition to Pre-Health Advisors and professors)! They have been through the same process that you have and have first-hand experience with it. Talk to older students in your classes, that you work or volunteer with, or older students in CIOs that you are involved in.
TIP: Take quick notes when talking to older students (professor names, class numbers, etc) so you don’t forget their advice.
Here are some tips from some of our Pre-Health Advising Peers and pre-health students about things they wish they knew before they came to UVA:
“I wish I knew that nobody expects perfection and that you can mess up a lot and still be successful in your academics and extracurriculars” - Miriam Mindel, UVA ‘22
“I wish I knew how helpful it would be to find friends in the same or similar majors and classes as your own. Having a group of friends to study with or someone to compare notes with can make a world of difference, especially in a hard class.” - Veronica, UVA ‘23
Written by Veronica Gutierrez '23, Pre-Health Advising Peer