Pre-Health Advising

The rigorous liberal arts curriculum helps students build an excellent foundation in both the humanities and sciences. Core requirements allow students to explore a wide-range of topics and help develop excellent critical reading and writing skills. You’ll learn to communicate effectively and collaborate with your peers.

• Oxy offers excellent research opportunities for students to work closely with faculty who are leaders in their respective fields.
• With a ratio of students to faculty of 9:1, students have ample opportunities to interact and collaborate with faculty in and out of the classroom. Through those interactions, faculty and staff get to know our students well and become advocates of the students in all their future endeavors.
• Our focus is on educating undergraduate students. Without graduate students on campus to compete for resources and opportunities, our undergraduate students engage in high quality research with faculty and take on leadership roles.
• Students receive individualized attention from faculty and staff.
• There is a strong commitment from alumni who offer shadowing or volunteering opportunities to our pre-health students in a variety of medical specialties.

There is no “premed” major and no one major has an advantage over others when applying to medical school. Medical schools do not require a specific major. We recommend that you explore the variety of courses that Oxy offers and study diverse topics during your first and second year of college and then select a major that you find intellectually challenging and interesting. You can major in any subject as long as you meet all the basic academic requirements required by the medical programs to which you plan to apply. Work with our advisers to learn what those required courses are and schedule your corresponding Oxy classes carefully as you will need to take some of the courses sequentially.

Actively engage yourself in activities that you care deeply about, on- and off-campus. You can start by investigating what types of clubs and organizations are active on campus, and join the groups that interest you. You may even want to start a new club! You will find that Oxy has a rich tradition in community service, political activism, arts, and sports. As a pre-health student, you will also need to participate in clinical shadowing and volunteering opportunities in the medical specialty that you plan to pursue. The level of commitment and the length of your service or engagement are more important than the clubs and organizations with which you are affiliated. When choosing activities, manage your time wisely and be careful not to over-commit yourself.