Pre-Medical/Health
Students who are interested in medical, dental, optometry, veterinary medicine, nursing, or pharmacy school are generally part of Brooklyn College's Pre-Health Track. Pre-health students spend their undergraduate years at Brooklyn College preparing for application to and study in one of these options. Toward the end of their undergraduate program, students take a standardized exam. This, along with their grades, extracurricular activities, and internships, will be used for consideration by medical and health schools. Students will spend four years at Brooklyn College earning a bachelor's degree and then apply to and attend a medical or health school relative to their area of study for two to four years. In addition, most medical and health licensing requires a residency of about two to five years, depending on the program, and that students pass a national or state board examination.
Students may choose to major in one of the sciences; however, this is not a requirement for all medical or health schools. In fact, you can major in a subject that you find exciting (other than science) all while earning the best grades possible. Medical and health schools look for students who are well rounded, work hard, and can demonstrate a commitment to things they are passionate about. To identify these qualities, schools look at a variety of things, one of which is your GPA (at least a 3.60 is considered competitive). Medical and health schools are also interested in the grades you earn in a specific group of classes such as General Biology, General Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, Pre-Calculus and Calculus, General Physics, Advanced Molecular Biology, Bio-Chemistry, Statistics, Intro to Epidemiology, Medical Ethics, Intro to Psychology, Abnormal Psychology, Intro to Sociology/Anthropology and Human Anatomy/Physiology. Therefore, it is important to get the best grades possible in these classes. Schools are also interested in extracurricular activities such as internships at hospitals as well as any other medical or health-related area or research at a lab or facility.
CSTEP works with its pre-health students to make sure they are making academic progress toward their degree and are successful in their classes and provides guidance to students as they are applying to any health schools or programs. It works with students to find internships and research experiences. CSTEP students are also eligible for a significant discount on Kaplan preparation courses such as the MCAT, PCAT, and TEAS.
