Academic Advising
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Starting Your Pre-Health Career

YESHIVA COLLEGE/WILF CAMPUS ACADEMIC ADVISING

You can make an appointment with the Pre-Health Advisor through YSN. 

Thinking of a Pre-Health Career? 

Students interested in health professions should attend the New Student Pre-Health Orientation offered each Fall semester. The orientation introduces students to the pre-health staff, resources available to students, and what students need to be doing to build a competitive application profile.  This year's orientation information is below. 

WILF Campus New Pre-Health Student Orientation
Tuesday, September 17th, 5:45-6:45pm
Belfer Hall Room 430


Slides: Fall 2024 New Student Pre-Health Orientation (YU log-in required.  If you do not have one, please email wilf-prehealth@yu.edu for assistance.)
Recording: Fall 2024 New Student Pre-Health Orientation (YU log-in required.  If you do not have one, please email wilf-prehealth@yu.edu for assistance.)

 

YU Pre-Health Listserve and Registration with the Pre-Health Office

One of the very first things you should do if you want to pursue a career in healthcare is to register with the Pre-Health office and to join the YU Pre-Health Listserve. Registering with the pre-health office not lets us know who you are and that your are interested in healthcare professions.  Joining the listserve will allow you to stay in-the-loop on all events, opportunities, and other important information. To register and join the listserve, click the link at the top of the pre-health homepage.  



Pre-Health Peer Mentors

Pre-Health Peer Mentors are upperclassmen completing the application process who were specially chosen by the Pre-Health Advisor to assist underclassmen on a variety of issues, including course selection, MCAT and DAT prep, extracurricular activities and other topics. They are a valuable resource, so please feel free to contact them at the emails listed below.

Pre-Medical Mentors

Moshe Carroll 
mcarrol2@mail.yu.edu

Abraham Nordlicht 
anordlic@mail.yu.edu

Jonah Tripp 
jtripp@mail.yu.edu

Pre-Dental Mentor

Benyamin Davidov
bdavidov@mail.yu.edu

 

Pre-Health Requirements

 

Year-By-Year

These are links to two google docs where you can track your progress for each year.

Suggested Timeline--BIOLOGY FIRST (Coming Soon!)

Suggested Timeline--CHEMISTRY FIRST (Coming Soon!)

 

Pathways, Dual Degrees and Undergraduate Partnerships

Pathways, Dual Degrees and Undergraduate Partnerships - The value of your undergraduate experience at Yeshiva University is enhanced through an array of opportunities for graduate school pathways, dual degrees, and undergraduate partnerships. Learn more about the various opportunities available, including programs through YU! In addition to opportunities at YU, we have Partnerships with Other Universities. Meet with the Pre-Health Advisor to learn more.


Making Your Decisions

All health professions require evidence of your solid understanding of, and consistent excellence in, your science courses.  Excellent grades in science and math, with a strong B or better GPA (3.20-4.00) will give you the greatest number of options as you consider which career you aspire to. You must also show a commitment to health care through extracurricular activities in health care settings. And demonstrating the personal characteristics that any health care provider should display is important.  Qualities and experiences that showcase your leadership ability, your empathy and patience, a demonstration of tenacity and resilience and your willingness and success in working in a group will be important features of your application. Doing well on standardized exams will also be necessary.  If you feel that this is your weakest “link” begin working on this early in your college career! 

Most importantly, you will need to develop relationships with your pre-health advisor and with your science and math faculty in particular; these are the people who will be asked to assess your suitability for a graduate training in a health care field.

Ten Things To Do To Prepare For Your Health Professions Career

  1. Make an appointment to see your advisor. With us you can develop a plan to get you to where and when you want to go!  Your advisor will help you determine the courses you need to complete and the timeline for taking any exams needed for admission.  We can also help you with the health-related experiences you will want to have before you apply.
  2. Attend career and health professions fairs. Career fairs give you the opportunity to learn about multiple schools, programs, and admissions requirements at one event. It can be expensive and time-consuming to visit every school that you are thinking about attending, so participating in career fairs can help you narrow down your medical school selections and be more cost effective.
  3. Seek out on-campus resources and mentors. Make connections with mentors in various academic departments who can help you find opportunities for volunteering, lab work, or shadowing, or just give you their perspective on applying to graduate school.
  4. Increase your activity and responsibility in clubs. When admissions committees look at your experiences, the kinds of clubs you belong to are just one part of the equation. They also like to see growth in various areas—like activity level and responsibility. You don’t need to be the president of every club but by taking on a leadership role, planning large events, or helping to shape the direction of a club highlights your leadership abilities.
  5. Get experience in research. This can mean working on a year long project on asthma, or it can be a genetics lab studying flies!  Research can be in psychology, religion, or any other subject.  The most important aspect of any research experience is your level of independence.  Did you design the question to be asked? Were you the one able to determine the steps needed to get to an answer?  Washing test tubes for a Nobel Prize winner is not impressive—but designing your own experiment or problem to solve is! 
  6. Shadowing. Shadowing a health care professional gives you a better understanding of what their typical day is like, and whether it would be something you enjoy. Ask your own doctor, nurse, or physical therapist if they know of shadowing opportunities. You can also ask your peers, professors, and pre-health advisors as they might know health professionals who have allowed other students shadow them.
  7. Start Collecting Letters of Recommendation. Speak with your advisor or anyone else who you’ve asked to write a letter on your behalf (i.e. a professor you’ve had for several classes, or the person supervising your lab work ) early in order to give them time to write a letter of evaluation for you. Some programs want specific letters so you should start looking at the requirements for admission to your chosen career path early! 
  8. Think about summer plans. Do you need the summers to complete required classes?  Do you need to work in the summer to earn money? Are you interested in training as an EMT or as a certified nursing assistant?  These programs are generally too intensive to complete during the school year so summer is ideal. Many schools want to see a formal summer research experience so research them early.
  9. Talk To Your Parents. Start talking to your parents about your plans and help them understand what you hope to accomplish in college.
  10. Enjoy college! This is not a stop gap between high school and your career.  College is where you will grow intellectually, emotionally, and socially.  Do not discount the experience and lose sight of its role in determining your direction.  Be open-minded and flexible and your time with us will fly by! 

 

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Standards and Resources

Your application to any health profession school depends on many factors. The two quantitative factors are your science grades and your test scores. But there are many, many other considerations that schools look at when they assess your potential candidacy. For instance, schools look at how many science course you take in a semester and how difficult the other courses in your schedule are. So, the student with a 4.0 with only one science class every semester and carries only 13 credits a semester is not as strong as the student with a 3.6 with two or more sciences every semester and 16-17 credits each term. You should avoid taking big science courses in the summer. Schools are looking for hard-working, honest, tenacious students who have a proven track record of success in their sciences. Success can mean a B+ in Orgo with lab and 17 credits that semester. Success can also be two B's in first year Biology and Chemistry and A grades in Orgo and advanced biology courses. 

The average BCMP (science) GPA for allopathic medical schools in the northeast has historically been 3.7 for accepted students. For osteopathic schools in the northeast, the average BCMP has been 3.5 for accepted students. 

The average BCP GPA for dental schools is 3.3 or higher. (Dental schools do not include math as part of their science GPA.)

The average for other health professions range from 3.2 to 4.0.

But these are statistics without test scores or resumes! There are many students who fall short of this average science GPA who still go on to successful careers in health care. Your extracurricular activities, your leadership skills, and your ability or manage a heavy course load will be important factors in the admissions process. Showing improvement as your courses get harder, working while in school, having a great research experience--these are activities that will get noticed!

Bottom line: doing well is about more than grades. for more information, please contact our office. We are happy to help.

GPA Calculator:  To calculate your GPA, use this link available on the YU Registrar's Office site 

Please note that these numbers apply to the tri-state region and California. Programs in the south or mid-west might be slightly lower, but all students should visit each school's individual site for their exact requirements.

Research is an important part of your medical school application (and a plus for dental applications.) Finding the right opportunity takes time. The Career Center can help you identify opportunities, pursue leads, and hopefully secure a position.  The Career Center holds annual trainings and info sessions on these topics.  Below are slides from from a recent training.  

Health profession schools want to know that you understand what a career in their profession is like. They also want to see that you are the type of person that is committed to the care of others.  For dentistry you will need to complete a minimum of 100 hours shadowing a dentist.  For medicine, you will need to complete a minimum of 150 hours in a clinical setting where you interact with patients.  Other health professions have their own requirements for experience as well.  The pre-health office will discuss these requirements during you first meeting with Dr. Camara.  

After GPA, test scores, and healthcare experience, health programs are most concerned with an applicant's maturity, ability to deal with others, compatibility...in short, their professionalism. All students in the pre-health track should review these articles and videos.