A pre-health student is one who plans to attend a health professional school following graduation. Health professional schools include those offering programs in such areas as:
For your curiosity, here is an updated list of Income ranges for different heatlh care professions.
Alternate Careers / Paths
Occasionally, students do not graduate from W&J with the appropriate background for health professions schools. Grades in science courses may not be where they need to be, experiences in health-care may be lacking, etc. There are a series of programs set up across the country called post-baccalaureate (post-bacc) programs that allow students to primary enhance their science coursework to attempt to become a better health professions school candidate. One of the best searchable post-bacc program databases (primarily programs that will prepare you for medical school) can be found at the AAMC website. Another excellent resource for these programs that list medical and dental post-bacc programs can be found at the Explore Health Careers website (once at the Explore Health Careers website, select "Career Explorer" Tab and then click on "find a Pre-Health Enrichment Program" in the drop-down menu. You are looking to find the Post-Bacc program search item on the left side).
Beyond the “typical” careers in the health professions (medical school, dental school, physical therapy school), there are numerous other careers in the health professions that you might consider: Emergency Medical Technician, Genetic Counselor, Speech-Language Pathologist, Nutritionist, Nurse, Vision Rehabilitation Therapist, etc. Explore more health professions that we have compiled.
Explore dozens of health professions careers and read through the descriptions in the Health Care Careers Directory, published annually by the American Medical Association (AMA). You can download a “chapter” in .pdf form for each listed health professions career. Alternatively, you can purchase the Health Care Careers Directory or examine a copy of this book in the pre-health library.
Another option is to consider a career in Public Health, “protecting and improving the health of communities through education, promotion of health lifestyles, and research for disease and injury prevention.” There are also numerous career options in Health Care Policy, including a program in Health Care Policy & Management at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.
