Advising Plans & FAQs

Pursuing pre-med preparation as a Human Physiology major is no different than in any other major. A good place to start is by visiting the Association of American Medical Colleges website to get an idea of what is required to be eligible for applying to any medical school in the United States. Also, consider joining the Health Sciences Club at Gonzaga by contacting one of the club student leaders. They can get you listed as a club member, which gives you Blackboard access to their very informative site. This site includes information on pre-med, pre-vet, pre-dent, pre-optometry, pre-pharmacy, and other pre-med alternatives.

In general, we recommend you complete the Human Physiology curriculum and also take the following courses:

• BIOL 106 (Energy Flow) - 3 credits
• BIOL 207 (Genetics) - 3 credits
• CHEM 231/231L (O-Chem II) - 4 credits
• CHEM 245 (Biochem) - 3 credits

You should also meet with your Human Physiology faculty advisor and review additional information on how best to prepare for your medical school application.

In general, if you complete the BS in Human Physiology you will have all the necessary prerequisites. However, you should look up the particular schools you might apply to just to be sure. Importantly, you should be aware that most PA schools require over 1000 hr of practical experience in a health care setting. For more detail on this, visit the American Academy of Physician Assistants web site.

The majority of PA programs have the following prerequisites:

• Chemistry
• Physiology
• Anatomy
• Microbiology
• Biology

In general, if you complete the BS in Human Physiology you will have all the necessary prerequisites. However, you should look up the particular schools you might apply to just to be sure. For more information, visit the Physical Therapist Centralized Application Service (PTCAS) web site.

Here is what PTCAS data indicates:

• 98% require at least one course in anatomy, physiology, anatomy & physiology I (A&P I), or anatomy & physiology II (A&P II)
• 85% require one or more courses in biology or biological science
• 15% do not require a course in biology or biological science
• 98% require one or more courses in chemistry
• 99% require one or more courses in physics
• 25% require one or more courses in math

In general, if you complete the BS in Human Physiology you will have all the necessary prerequisites. Another good resource is the American Occupational Therapy Association. However, you should look up the particular schools you might apply to just to be sure. For example, the University of Washington has the following prerequisites:

• Anatomy and Physiology
• Chemistry
• Statistics
• Abnormal Psychology
• Developmental Psychology
• Sociology

Human Physiology majors have 12 elective credits as part of their degree requirements.  Often, fulfilling this requirement is accomplished by taking four, 3-credit classes (4 classes x 3 credits/class = 12 credits).  We offer multiple upper level elective courses on a range of topics in the Fall and Spring semesters.  Students may elect to take all of their 4 courses (12 credits) as upper division electives.  

One course, or 3-credits, out of the 12 elective credits may come from a lower division course.  We offer one course, HPHY 244 Nutrition, as a lower division course.  However, students may instead take a course in BIOL, PHYS, CHEM, or MATH and have that course substituted for the lower division course.  A course in one of these other disciplines may not be a required course for the major, and it must be a course higher than the required course (i.e. BIOL 105 is required, so BIOL 106 could be used to fulfill the lower division elective).

Other options to meet the upper division electives include:
• HPHY 304 Practice in Lab Teaching.  This is a 1 credit course, and students may elect to be a Teaching assistant in two semester for a total of 2 credits to count toward their elective credits
• HPHY 498 Directed Research: This course can be either 1 or 2 credits, and generally involves working on a research project and is to be arranged with an individual faculty member.


One common question is whether HPHY 497 Internship will count towards upper division elective credit.  This course is designed to fulfill specific needs of internship programs, and will not count toward elective credit.

Yes, many of our students study abroad.  Most students choose to study in GU Florence over the summer between academic years.  This option works well for a number of reasons: 1) you stay within the GU system, and it makes it easy to register for classes and get credit for them. 2) Studying abroad over the summer will not disrupt your regular academic year and degree progression.  3) Students report having great experiences at GU Florence, while taking courses that lighten their course load during the regular academic year.

If you desire to study abroad elsewhere, or during the academic year, there may be possibilities.  Please contact the Study Abroad office in the Engagement, located in the Hemmingson Center.

Yes, many of our majors pursue a minor in Psychology (PSYC).  This often aligns well with the pre-requisites students take for their post degree paths.  

For a PSYC minor, the following lower division requirements are easily met with a HPHY major:

Lower division requirements for a PSYC minor:
• PSYC 101 General Psychology – This course can be used to fulfill a core requirement and is most commonly chosen by our students
• PSYC 202 Statistics for Psychology – The requirements for this course are fulfilled by taking our HPHY 205 course
• PSYC 206 Scientific Principles of Psychology – The requirements for this course are fulfilled by taking our HPHY 210 course

To complete the minor, students must complete 4 upper division electives in psychology. 

Check the undergraduate catalogue to be sure you have completed all of the prerequisites for the course in which you are trying to enroll. Also, check Zagweb to see if the course is already full (see maximum enrollment column and compare the numerator – the number of students currently enrolled, to the denominator – class maximum). If you have met the prerequisites and the class is full, obtain a course authorization form for each course and lab you would like to add and get your advisor's signature and seek the signature and initials of the instructor for that course. An instructor may or may not give you permission to add his/her class. If you do get the instructor's permission (initials and signature) then obtain the signature of the department chair, and take the completed course authorization form to the Registrar's Office to be added to the course.