This page offers you a myriad of links to:
Each link has been carefully developed to share the services of our prehealth advisors, links to information sources, contacts for the various UB student prehealth organizations, links to national sites, recommended readings, and a number of leads to help you secure clinical shadowing, volunteering and research opportunities. There is also a section to investigate the numerous summer clinical and research opportunities available.
Most Prehealth students can schedule an appointment with a Prehealth Advisor using the Navigate app. If you can’t schedule through Navigate, call the EPAC office at 716-645-6013 between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. to request an appointment. New students are required to complete an online workshop through UB Learns before meeting with a prehealth advisor. To enroll in these workshops and connect with Prehealth Advising, fill out the form on our Getting Started page.
For general advising services, please see the Undergraduate Academic Advisement website.
Because appointments are generally 30 minutes and are often booked back-to-back, please arrive no earlier than 5 minutes before your scheduled appointment. Also, please arrive on time so we can address all your concerns within the allotted time.
Subscribe to the prehealth listserv for frequent email updates pertaining to events of interest to UB prehealth students!
To subscribe to the prehealth listserv, send an email to listserv@buffalo.edu with the following text in the message body (not the “Subject” line – the subject should be blank):
Your email address will be automatically obtained from the email message, and you will be added to the listserv.
To unsubscribe from the prehealth listserv, send an email to listserv@buffalo.edu with the following text in the message body (not the “Subject” line):
Your email address will be automatically obtained from the email message and removed from the listserv.
Please consider emailing any of the current presidents to be added to these organization email lists. You can also find additional information at UB Linked.
There are numerous health programs to explore that may be a great fit for you! Please read Resources for Exploring Careers in Health Care to learn more. Also, check out Explore Health Careers.
What is “prehealth”?
This jargon is shorthand for: pre-med, pre-dentistry, pre-physician assistant, pre-vet, pre-optometry, and pre-podiatry students. There is no prehealth major; rather, it is a curricular program students follow to complete the requirements for entry into these professional schools upon graduation.
What do students need to do to qualify for admission into these professional schools?
To be a qualified, competitive applicant, students must do the following:
Should a student major in biology or at least a science?
Maybe! Students should major in the disciplines they truly enjoy. If it includes the prerequisite courses, fine; if not, they will take those courses in addition to their major. Professional schools want students skilled in science, but not exclusively.
What’s a prerequisite?
These are courses required for admission and also may be the basic preparation for the admission tests. Common to all these professions are four sciences and a year of English/writing. The science courses include the following with a year of lab in each:
What if a student is waived out of the UB English requirements?
Students should take other higher-level English/Communication Literacy courses of their choice to equal 2 semesters, but see a Prehealth Advisor to confirm your options.
Which UB courses meet these prerequisite requirements?
Is this all?
For medicine, dentistry, and podiatry, individual schools may have additional prerequisites that are required or strongly recommended. Optometry, veterinary, and physician assistant have additional requirements depending on the school:
Couldn’t a student take BIO 129/130?
It is not recommended as sufficient preparation for admission tests or entrance into the professional schools.
When do students apply to these schools?
Students hoping to attend after graduation would apply in the spring and summer of their junior year, but senior year and later is appropriate for others and actually very common.
When do students take admissions tests?
They can take them as soon as they have the basic prerequisites done, but the real answer is when they feel best prepared. Students hoping to start professional school the fall after graduation should plan to be ready for the tests by the spring of their junior year.
How many references do students need?
Students will need a minimum of 3-4 references, mostly academic and at least 2 in science and 1 from clinical experiences. You should research the schools you are thinking of applying to in order to be confident you have the correct letters they each require.
How can they get them in these big science classes?
By asking!! We receive hundreds of letters each year, the majority from UB professors of large science courses. Students must take the steps to meet faculty at office hours and get to know them. This can feel pretty awkward at first, but it is part of the process and a measure of a student’s initiative.
Should a student give up on a professional health school if they got a bad grade in a prerequisite or had a really bad semester?
Not necessarily. It depends on why, how often, and what they have done since. Obviously, it doesn’t help to have such a record, but it is recoverable depending on the circumstances and the rest of the record. However, lots of good volunteering or references will not balance out a weak or so-so overall record.
Is it true that prehealth students should never resign a class?
No, but several will be a problem. A resignation, especially early in the student’s career, is not fatal. However, students unable to do two sciences in one semester will not be as competitive.
What are the required GPAs to get into professional health schools?
For better or worse, there are no cutoffs. The national average GPAs for admitted students:
What should prehealth students remember?
Where can a student find help with these questions?
See your academic advisor today to talk about your program at UB.