PreHealth Paths
Evaluate your longterm goals and consider these possibilities as you plan your time as an undergraduate. Still not sure which field you're interested? Check out the wide range of health field options and learn more about the career path for you.
If you think you want to conduct biomedical research to understand disease mechanisms and develop cures:
| Your Major | One of the sciences |
| First Year Courses | Consider enrolling in calculus and chemistry or physics |
| Extracurriculars | Make contact with the Undergraduate Research Office and get some experience in the laboratory before your junior year in college |
| After Graduation | PhD or MD/PhD Program |
If you think you want to shape national or international health policy, or make contributions to the health of an entire community rather than trying to treat one patient at a time:
| Your Major | Consider the public health, health economics, and health care management courses |
| First year courses | There is no specific course sequence |
| Extracurriculars | Utilize the Career Center to look for internships in your sophomore and junior summer to help you narrow your focus and eventually choose a work setting |
| After graduation | Master’s degree in public health, public policy or health care administration |
If you think you want to work one-on-one with individual patients:
| Your Major | You can pursue any major as long as you fulfill the requirements for your intended professional school/program |
| First year courses | More detailed information about prerequisites for diverse professional programs can be found under Health Care Career Opportunities |
| Extracurriculars | Consider community, clinical, and/or public service. Both exposure to the field and commitment to service are key for choosing your ultimate career and for admission to professional school. |
| After graduation | Professional training program* |
*You should explore several health care practice settings to see what kind of patients would be the most rewarding for you to work with.
Course Planning & Recommendations
About half of PreHealth students choose to spread the coursework out, or take additional time to prepare for an entrance exam. These students apply the summer after the senior year, and work during their “gap year” while they are interviewing for professional school. Many students who opt for the gap year report that they wanted to create time to study abroad, or gain more experience outside the classroom in clinical settings, before they applied.
Many different arrangements and sequences of basic pre-requisite coursework lead to medical school, dental school and other science-intensive graduate professional programs. See Examples of Course Schedules. That said, specific course requirements vary. The following will meet requirements of most medical schools. That said, it's important to check specific requirements of institutions of which you plan to apply:
- One year of biology, chemistry, and physics, each with laboratory
- One year of organic chemistry with laboratory (some schools will allow biochemistry as a substitution for organic II)
- One semester of biochemistry
- One year of English/writing - Some schools accept WI courses from other departments (although NOT foreign language WI courses); others insist on English department courses.
- One semester of psychology and sociology
- The Mathematics requirement varies considerably, but AP credit for Calculus II is almost always sufficient, and AP credit for calculus I and a graded statistics course is often sufficient.
- Students should consider at least one applied ethics course in any discipline to prepare for CASPer (a situational judgment screening tool that is required by some schools) and MMI interviews.
PreMed Course Planning
There are many different roads to medical school, here is an outline of undergraduate course sequencing options: Examples of Course Scheduling Options.
Post-Baccalaureate Course Planning
Many WashU students do not complete or even begin taking pre-professional courses while enrolled as undergraduates. Post-baccalaureate programs allow college graduates to take one or all of the required courses. WashU students who choose to complete their requirements after graduation can still take advantage of our pre-health advising and resources. Some post-bacc programs cater to career changers (those who need to complete most or all of the science core), some to enhancers (students who have completed the core but are taking advanced science electives to improve their science GPA and/or prepare for the MCAT), and some accept both. For more information, explore the AAMC's list of post-bacc programs available nationally.
Course Credits & Grade Requirements
Students with a wide range of credentials apply successfully to medical school. Furthermore, holistic review of medical school applicants is real, and students with lower grades and MCAT can be successful applicants. See your prehealth advisor to develop a strategy.
Course Credit Requirements
The medical school common application (AMCAS) calculates a BCPM (biology, chemistry, physics, math) GPA. Students categorize which courses should be included, based on the courses’ primary content, not home department. For example, psych stats is offered by a non-BCPM department, but it is a math class. There is very little psychology covered. Students would classify psych stats as math, and it will be included in the science GPA. NSM classes are NOT necessarily BCPM. For example, experimental psych is a rigorous course on hypothesis-driven research, but the content is not primarily biology, chemistry, physics or math. Experimental psych should be classified as social and behavioral sciences on the AMCAS application, and will not be included in the science GPA. You can also check out the AMCAS Course Classification Guide. Furthermore, rules may differ by state, including Texas Medical and Dental School Application Systems (TMDSAS). Unsure which courses at WashU count towards your TMDSAS science GPA? Browse the list of TMDSAS science GPA approved WashU courses.
For most medical schools, Advanced Placement (AP) tests in biology, chemistry, and physics do not fulfill the premedical requirements in these areas. While AP Credit is sufficient for the math requirement of many programs, we advise students not to skip any required core courses and to consult the individual programs you are interested.
What courses do medical schools require me to take?
It is important to remember that while some courses may be taken pass/fail, any required courses should never be taken pass/fail. To find the latest list of required courses for medical schools, check out the (MSAR) Report for Applicants and Advisors: Premed Course Requirements.
Grade Requirements
Our Aggregate Matriculation Data is the best way to ascertain whether your numerical credentials are a fit for the schools where you want to apply. Some schools admit a wide swath of WashU students; others have a narrower range of academic credentials that they consider. You can also surmise how familiar the school is with our curriculum from the total number of matriculants.
A few things to keep in mind as you examine this data:
- The table includes re-applicants.
- The BCPM (science) GPAs on this chart are at time of application. Many younger students have more modest grades early on and build an upward trend.
- Numbers are only half the picture. How well you demonstrate the AAMC Core Competencies, how well you perform on the pre-interview situational judgement test (CASPer), how well you describe your narrative in the written aspects of your application, and how well you interview in both traditional and MMI formats are all important. These are all skills you can build.
- Rising seniors with a BCPM GPA < 3.4 may be well advised to spend an additional year building their portfolios before applying.