Pre-Professional Health Advising

The Pre-Professional Health Programs Advising Office in Rudman Hall provides advising for all students preparing for postgraduate careers in healthcare including medicine, dentistry, chiropractic, naturopathic medicine, optometry, pharmacy, physical therapy, and physician assistant programs. There is no pre-health major at UNH since professional healthcare programs do not evaluate applicants based on undergraduate major. Interested UNH students should register with the Pre-Professional Health Programs Advising Office online by joining the pre-health email list and be kept informed of important events, opportunities, and deadlines regarding preparation for application.

Identifying as a pre-health student at UNH consists of the following:

1. Taking the prerequisite courses for admission. A list of the specific prerequisite courses for each intended health profession can be found on the UNH Pre-Health website.
2. Gaining volunteer and healthcare experience. Applicants to health professional programs will be expected to demonstrate a sustained involvement in volunteer and community service. It is also expected that applicants have shadowed healthcare providers. Many students volunteer in various healthcare settings and some students seek out licensure and certificates to provide hands-on patient care. These experiences often include working as an EMT, LNA/CNA, or phlebotomist.
3. Preparing for entrance exams. Many professional healthcare programs require their applicants to take a standardized entrance exam prior to matriculation.  Students applying to medical school are required to take the MCAT exam. Students applying to dental programs are required to take the DAT.  Student applying to optometry programs must take the OAT, and student applying to pharmacy programs must take the PCAT.  The MCAT, DAT, OAT, and PCAT are standardized, comprehensive exams that test students' knowledge of biological and physical sciences as well as verbal reasoning and writing skills. Exams are usually taken once the student has completed prerequisite coursework. Students applying for physician assistant and physical therapy programs may be required to take the GRE, a more general exam similar to the SAT in structure and content.

Application Process

The Pre-Professional Health Programs Advising Office works with the Pre-Professional Health Advisory Committee, a group of 12-15 UNH faculty members and local healthcare providers, to provide students with comprehensive, confidential evaluation services at the time of application. An application information meeting is held each fall to outline the application process and establish timetables and deadlines. Students should note that the medical and dental school application process begins a full two years before matriculation; e.g., in the fall of a student's junior year if they wish acceptance following graduation. However, a delay of a year or more between graduation and admission is neither unusual nor detrimental, and in many cases, students can use this time to improve their credentials by taking additional courses and/or gaining exposure to the profession.

It is important that students understand that in order to gain admission to a health professional program they must not only satisfy the prerequisite requirements, they must satisfy these requirements at a high level of achievement. The Pre-Professional Health Programs Advising Office can provide students with information on competitive GPA and entrance exam scores for each of the postgraduate health professional programs.

The Pre-Professional Health Programs Advising Office is located in Rudman Hall and can be contacted by phone at (603) 862-3831 or by email at Premed.Advising@unh.edu. The office also has a website at https://colsa.unh.edu/academics/pre-professional-health-advising