Pre-professional health career advising

VCU offers pre-professional health career advising to students seeking competitive admission into medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, occupational therapy, physical therapy, veterinary, optometry or physician assistant programs.

Students may declare a pre-professional health minor after meeting the declaration and eligibility requirements. Our Pre-Professional Health & STEM Career Counselors help prepare students for professional school application through guidance finding experiential opportunities (e.g. shadowing, volunteering, research, and more), admissions test preparation, and application competitiveness.

Students should declare a major in an academic discipline, in addition to a pre-professional health minor in one of these pre-professional health areas:

Students can only be on one track at a time. If you are interested in an unlisted health professional program, email careers@vcu.edu.

Advising process

Students can meet with a career advisor at any point during their declaration or maintaining process.

It is highly recommended that students meet with a Pre-Professional Health & STEM Career Counselor at least once an academic year to ensure that they are engaging in experiences and staying on track to becoming a competitive candidate for their chosen path.

Schedule an appointment

Student can make an appointment with a Pre-Professional Health & STEM Career Counselor in Handshake:

Log into Handshake with your VCU ID and password
Click Career Center
Click Appointments
Click VCU Career Services
Select what you want to discuss and a time that works for you
Select how you want to meet and enter some notes on what you want to talk about for the Career Counselor to read before your appointment

You will receive an email confirmation of your appointment from Handshake.

Declaring a pre-professional health track

Students interested in a pre-professional health program must complete the following requirements prior to declaring a track and being assigned to a pre-professional health advisor:

Step 1: Curricular requirements

The process to gain admission to a professional training program is competitive. Minimum academic standards to declare and continue in these minors are in place to ensure students can successfully complete minor programs and become competitive applicants to their intended professional training program. Average cumulative grade point averages to gain admission into professional training programs often exceed the minimum standards to declare and maintain these minors.

Students are restricted from declaring pre-professional health minors until they meet the following minimum requirements.

Complete a minimum of 12 graded credit hours
Obtain a minimum cumulative VCU GPA of 3.0
Complete BIOL 151 and BIOZ 151 with minimum grades of C (or BIOL 101 and BIOZ 101 if pursuing pre-occupational therapy)

Step 2: Declare your minor

After completing the declaration requirements students must complete the Change of Minor Form. You must indicate which pre-professional health minor you wish to declare. Students are strongly encouraged to declare one pre-professional health minor at a time. Please consult with your Academic Advisor if you have any questions regarding completing the Change of Minor Form.

Requirements to Maintain a Pre-Professional Health Minor

Students must maintain a minimum 3.0 VCU cumulative GPA.

If a student's VCU cumulative GPA drops below 3.0, they will be placed on probation in the minor and allowed one semester to raise their cumulative GPA to 3.0 — provided it is mathematically possible to do so. If it is not mathematically possible to do so, or if the student fails to raise their minimum cumulative GPA to 3.0 during their probationary semester, they will be removed from the minor and can re-declare the minor once eligible. Students are strongly encouraged to meet with their pre-professional health minor adviser to discuss their academic plans/progress.

Students cannot exceed more than three attempts of any course within the minor including withdrawals and historical repeat attempts. If a student exceeds three attempts for any course within the minor, they will not be eligible to maintain and graduate with the minor.

Step 3: Declare your track

Once the curricular and professional development requirements listed above are successfully completed, students are eligible to declare their pre-professional health advising track.

Satisfactory progress

In order to maintain your Pre-Professional Health Track, you must maintain a 2.7 GPA.

Fulfilling the requirements to declare and maintain a pre-professional health track does not guarantee admission to a professional health program. These requirements are the minimum acceptable standards to apply to a professional health program. It is imperative that students meet with their pre-professional health advisors to develop plans to become a competent and competitive candidate.

Note: Remove a Pre-Professional Health Minor

Students who are no longer interested in pursuing their designated pre-professional health minor must complete the Change of Minor Form. Please consult with your Academic Advisor if you have any questions regarding completing the Change of Minor Form.