Are you considering a career in health care, particularly one that involves advanced education past your bachelors degree? First advice: contact the CCSU Pre-health Committee. They will help you investigate your options and navigate the application process. Whether you are interested in becoming a Physician, Nurse, Physician’s Assistant, Dentist, Pharmacist, Therapist, Veterinarian, or other health career you should begin your preparation while completing your undergraduate degree. The BMS degree program will provide you with the basic Biology, Chemistry, Math, and Physics for any health career. Some may require specific electives within the BMS department (Anatomy and Physiology I and II and Biochemistry are required in many programs) and / or specific courses within your general education program.
We also offer some courses that may help advance your career in the health sciences. For students interested in applying to medical school the School of Engineering, Science, and Technology offers a course designed to prepare you to take the medical entrance exam:
MCAT review course
Other students require patient contact hours in order to be a successful applicant. For example, many students applying to Physician's assistant programs work as Emergency Medical Technicians or Certified Nurses Assistants. We offer an Emergency Medical Technician course here at Central:
EMT course
In addition to meeting with the Pre-Health Committee, you can begin investigating health careers on the following sites:
- Standard ("allopathic") medical schools for an MD degree, in the US and Canada, at AAMC's Medical School Membership Page. General information at students-residents.aamc.org. There are two medical schools in the Caribbean that you can also consider: Ross University, on Dominica, and American University of the Caribbean, on St Maarten.
- Osteopathic medical schools for a DO degree, in the US, at www.aacom.org.
- Pharmacy schools in the US, at www.aacp.org
- The Physician Assistant Education Association (paeaonline.org) lists programs for a PA degree in the US at http://directory.paeaonline.org/
- Optometry schools for an OD degree, in the US, at www.opted.org
- Chiropractic programs for a DC degree, in the US, at www.chirocolleges.org
- Occupational Therapy programs, in the US, at www.aota.org
- Dental schools for a DDS degree, in the US, at www.adea.org or www.ada.org
- Physical Therapy programs, in the US, at www.apta.org
- Veterinary schools for a DVM degree, in the US, at aavmc.org
- You can become a nurse through an accelerated Nursing program or an A.P.R.N through a program that combines a Bachelors and Masters in Nursing. Begin investigating here: http://www.aacn.nche.edu/education-resources/nursing-education-programs