Premedical and Other Preprofessional Health Career Preparation
Prehealth Studies
Because medical schools place a priority on well-rounded achievement, the prehealth course requirements can be integrated into any major at Northeastern. Medical school admission committees generally give no preference to any particular undergraduate major. As such, students should focus on meeting the course requirements of their chosen field of study, together with the prehealth professions requirements, with demonstrated academic rigor and excellence. For some majors it may be necessary to complete additional credit hours of course work, with associated tuition, to fulfill all prehealth requirements. Prehealth students should research requirements and plan a program of study as early as possible in consultation with both major and prehealth advisors to ensure that requirements will be completed in a timely fashion.
The PreHealth Advising Program provides support for Northeastern students who are planning to pursue doctoral-level training in medicine, including allopathic medicine (MD), dentistry, optometry, osteopathic medicine, podiatric medicine, and veterinary medicine.
Prerequisite Courses
Most health professional schools require a common set of courses. The following program meets the minimum requirements of most health professional programs. Students should work with prehealth advisors to review their course selections.
Note: Corequisite laboratories are required for most science courses.
Biology
Introductory biology (typically two semesters)
The following course work is required or recommended by many programs and necessary for MCAT preparation:
- Genetics and molecular biology
- Biochemistry
Additional biology courses are required or recommended by many programs and may be helpful for admission exam preparation.
Chemistry
- General chemistry
- Organic chemistry
Physics
Two semesters
Mathematics
Two semesters of calculus and/or statistics
English
Two semesters
Some programs require both writing and literature courses.
Behavioral Sciences
The following course work is required or recommended by many programs and necessary for MCAT preparation:
One semester each of psychology and sociology
Additional courses may be required or recommended by individual schools or programs. Students should refer to school websites as well as the appropriate official admission guidebooks for up-to-date information: