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Are you planning on pursing a Health Profession at UT Austin?

Pre-Health Professions @ UT: Two Routes – Endless Possibilities

Pursuing a career in the health professions can be tremendous sacrifice. Not only are you committing to an arduous academic path, but you are also choosing to be held accountable at the highest level. Recent changes to the MCAT gauge abilities beyond the sciences, and many professional health programs are looking for students who have “the complete package” – smart, resilient, empathetic, collaborative, compassionate, and reliable.

The Pre-Health Professions Certificate is designed for every kind of UT Austin student. You choose the route that is right for you.

1. Pre-Health Certificate for College of Natural Sciences Majors

As a CNS student, your science-focused major will lay the foundation in mastering the most common requisites needed for professional health programs. The Pre-Health Professions Certificate will help you diversity your degree.

You will gain invaluable skills in ethics, social sciences, communication, and other areas of interest increasing your skill-set and marketability.

2. Pre-Health Certificate for Majors outside College of Natural Sciences

As a non-CNS student, your major in business, arts, and humanities often provides the framework for interdisciplinary study. The Pre-Health Professions Certificate helps in accessing the prescribed prerequisites for professional health programs.

You will take the same chemistry, biology, math, and physics courses as College of Natural Sciences students ensuring you gain the math and science skills needed to help you succeed.

How do I Join?

There is no need to apply for the Pre-Health Professions Certificate as part of your admissions application. Once admitted to UT, you can simply inform your academic advisor anytime after New Student Orientation that you wish to pursue the Pre-Health Professions Certificate as part of your academic curriculum at UT Austin.

Your academic advisor can then guide you on how to get started.

Learn more about applying to UT Austin as a College of Natural Sciences student: https://cns.utexas.edu/students/future

Learn about applying to other colleges at UT Austin: http://admissions.utexas.edu/

Debunking 5 Myths about Pre-Health Professions at UT Austin

Every year, students enter The University of Texas at Austin with a singular goal in mind: to study to become a doctor. A dentist. A physical therapist.

These students know what their goal is, but they’re less clear on how to achieve it, often because they’ve bought in to popular “myths” about study in the health professions.

Here, we debunk five of them:

1. “Pre-Med” is a major.

Contrary to popular belief, Pre-Med is not a major.

When you enroll at UT Austin, you will choose a major in an academic discipline such as business, chemistry or psychology. Because you plan to apply to medical school, you will also complete specific prerequisite coursework (mostly in the sciences).   

2. I will be more competitive if I major in Biology.

Not true.

Medical schools actively seek students who’ve majored in one of any number of academic disciplines. According to data collected and analyzed by UT Austin, students’ chances of acceptance to medical school were relatively unchanged whether they majored in Biology (52%), Anthropology (50%), Economics (57%) or Government (50%).

3. Medical schools don’t really look for “well-rounded” candidates; they secretly prefer hard-core scientists.

Actually, admissions committees really do look for students with a robust interdisciplinary educational background—and UT Austin is creating new fields of study and the Pre-Health Professions Certificate as a result.

4. Professional schools prefer that all of your college activities and experiences occur in the context of health care.

Admissions committees prefer that you be well-rounded.

While you do need to gain exposure to your chosen field, you could also choose to join a student organization that focuses on an activity or cause you feel passionately about. For instance, if you are concerned about the environment, you could join Environmental Brigades. This will show another dimension of who you are. Plus, involvement in any type of student organization provides the same opportunity to develop skills in networking, collaboration and conflict resolution. The same goes for volunteer activities.

5. Pre-Health Professions really just means Pre-Med.

There are lots of choices in the health professions!

Our Health Professions Office assists students with applications to eight types of professional schools: