Timeline

Pre-Health Timeline

Use this general guide to help prepare for applying to professional school.

Freshman Year

• Meet with your pre-health advisor once a semester to learn the prerequisites for the field you are pursuing and make adjustments to your schedule as necessary.
• Follow @MSU_PreHealth on Twitter and like MSU Pre-Health Students on Facebook.
• Explore majors on your own, with advisors and by attending the Marathon of Majors in November or March.
• Develop study skills (form study groups and use campus resources such as help rooms and tutoring)
• Establish and maintain a competitive GPA.
• Begin co-curricular activities such as joining student groups and engaging in community service.
• Volunteer in a health or medical setting (clinic, hospital, private office, etc.).
• Talk to upperclassmen with similar goals.
• Look for Summer Enrichment Programs geared towards your health profession.
• Get to know a person in your goal career field.
• Begin financially saving for applying to professional school.
• Build a relationship with at least one faculty member per semester.
• Make an appointment or attend an open house at the professional schools you are interested in.
• Attend the Education Abroad Expo (Formally known as the Study Abroad Fair) in October and start considering whether you want to study abroad and how it would fit into your plan.
• Record every experience for review at a later date, including reflections on noteworthy community service or clinical experiences.

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Sophomore Year

• Meet with your pre-health advisor each semester.
• Volunteer in a health or medical setting (clinic, hospital, private office, etc.).
• Select a major and adjust your course schedule as necessary.
• Maintain a competitive GPA.
• Consider participating in research with a faculty member.
• Look for Summer Enrichment Programs geared towards your health profession.
• Learn more about your chosen field through shadowing, internet research, and engaging in conversation with advisors, classmates and the professional schools themselves.
• Maintain relationship with faculty from the previous year and continue to build new relationships with at least two new faculty members.
• Continue to be involved in student groups and community service. Look for leadership opportunities within them.
• Continue saving money for admission tests and applications.
• Start researching the entrance exam required for your chosen field and begin to formulate a plan for preparing.
• Consider what your parallel plan would be, in case you are not able to get into professional school right away.
• Record every experience for review at a later date.

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Junior Year

• Meet with your pre-health advisor each semester.
• Maintain a competitive GPA.
• Continue co-curricular activities in a health or medical setting, community service, research, and leadership.
• Attend the College of Natural Science’s Application Seminars in the fall semester.
• Study, register and take the appropriate entrance exam for your chosen field.
• Maintain relationship with faculty from the previous year and continue to build new relationships. Determine who to request Letters of Evaluation from and sit down to talk to the faculty members about the possibility of this.
• Research which centralized application system your field utilizes and find out when it opens. These systems open on varying dates ranging from April to September and application are on a rolling basis. Be ready to apply as soon as it is open.
• Make a list of the schools you are looking to apply to. Set up a visit or a phone appointment with these schools.
• Plan a budget for the application and interview process.
• Research and prepare for your parallel plan.

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Senior Year

• Meet with your pre-health advisor each semester.
• Maintain a competitive GPA.
• Continue co-curricular activities in a health or medical, community service, research, and leadership.
• Attend the College of Natural Science’s Interview Seminar in the fall semester.
• Complete any secondary applications in a timely manner (in the summer prior to senior year and into the fall).
• Interview at professional schools as invited, giving your professors as much advanced notice for your absence as possible.
• Complete FAFSA in the spring semester.
• Consider your parallel plan.
• Accept any offers and place deposits.
• Write thank-you notes to your references and the professional schools.
• Actively pursue your parallel plan if you are not admitted to professional schoo