Pre-Health Pathways
Baccalaureate degrees offered through the CBU School of Sciences in Biochemistry, Biology, Biomedical Science, Health Science, and Chemistry are designed to meet the entrance requirements of all health-related professional schools. The School of Sciences also has a well-established Pre-Health Pathways program to assist students in preparing for and then applying to a variety of professional- and/or graduate-level clinical healthcare programs.
Pre-Health Programs
In each of the Pre-Health Pathways above, admissions committees at health-related professional schools are looking for applicants who show promise to serve as role models for their peers and as healthcare professionals for their patients. The qualities they seek, therefore, include the following:
- Scholarship: You demonstrate some intellectual wattage in your performance on the appropriate national exam and in your GPA.
- Accomplishments: You show some ambition. Most majors at CBU require the completion of a senior project, which is small enough to be completed within the constraints of time, but comprehensive enough to get something meaningful out of the experience.
- Intellectual Curiosity: Because much of what you learn in the professional studies of your choice will be outdated within 5-10 years.
- Emotional Maturity: Because you will be interacting with patients who will be scared and emotionally vulnerable.
- Character: Because these professions require a considerable amount of time for preparation, and you must have the “stick-to-it-iveness” to persevere.
- Interest in Medicine: Because if you’re only in it for the money, it’s a lousy way to make a living.
- Sensitivity to Others: Because even if you don’t approve of your patients’ behaviors, they still deserve your attention and help.
- Communication Skills: You may know what the problem is and the solutions are, but the fact is that most of your patients — and most of their significant others — are functionally illiterate. In order to gain their trust and to get them to follow the correct protocols, you must use language that is appropriate for them;
- Critical Thinking and Problem-solving Skills: You are, after all, a detective, whose mission is to find out what the problem is and to find the appropriate course of action.
- Sense of Caring for Others and a Commitment to Service: Because healthcare professions are very demanding.
Other Pre-Health Opportunities
CBU has three-year agreements with several professional schools — including Southern College of Optometry, UTHSC College of Pharmacy, and Saint George’s University Limited — where students have the opportunity of interviewing and being accepted after three years at CBU. In some instances, students are able to complete a BS degree in Natural Science from CBU by completing the coursework in that professional school. For a full list of these opportunities, visit the Three-Year Agreements page.
There are also lists of Volunteer and Internship Opportunities that can provide invaluable experience for Pre-Health students.