Advising Plans

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. 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

You can most easily study abroad during the summer and can take some of your University Core courses then. Otherwise, it's possible to study abroad during a semester or for an academic year; however, this will likely delay your graduation by one year.

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.