OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY
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OSU pre-medicine and allied health professions programs provide extensive resources to support students through all aspects of their preparation and application, and this is reflected in the high success rate of our students who are admitted into professional programs and medical school.
Recent data released by the Association of American Medical Colleges show that medical school candidates come from diverse academic backgrounds and a wide variety of majors. Medical schools take a holistic view of candidates, considering their achievements, motivation, leadership, service, life experiences and other factors.
Students can apply to medical school with any major, as long as they also complete required coursework in the sciences and mathematics. In 2019, the most common undergraduate majors for candidates accepted to medical school were:
Pre-med students at OSU have the opportunity to combine a major they are passionate about with specialized premedical training and resources that will enable them to succeed in the MCAT. Learn how you can begin preparing for medical school from day one at OSU.
Allied health professionals are considered independent practitioners. These professionals provide therapeutic treatment and diagnostic procedures, and work in conjunction with physicians. For most health professions, your chosen major isn’t as important as getting the pre-requisite courses and experiences in the field.
The most common allied health careers for students in the College of Public Health and Human Sciences are athletic training, physical and occupational therapy, nursing and physician assistant. For more detailed information, visit the CPHHS pre-health professions page.
Generally, 65% of our pre-med students are admitted to medical schools all across the United States, compared to about 40% nationally. Our students have been admitted to competitive medical programs at Harvard, Yale, OHSU, University of Chicago, UCLA, Brown, Western University, Ohio State University and others.
Acceptance rates into allied health professions programs — such as nursing, dietetics, athletic training, physical or occupational therapy and more — also are at or above average.
OSU offers the greatest variety of majors of any university in the state. Our pre-dental students choose majors in Science (Biology, Biochemistry/Biophysics, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, BioHealth Sciences, Chemistry, Microbiology), Public Health and Human Sciences (Kinesiology, Nutrition, Public Health), Engineering (Bioengineering, Chemical Engineering, Radiation Health Physics), Agricultural Sciences (BioResource Research), and Liberal Arts (History, Music, Psychology, Spanish, etc.).
Learn more about pre-dental at OSU.
Oregon State undergraduates who are interested in becoming pharmacists can choose any major, but should complete all of the prerequisite courses for the Pharm.D. program. Most pre-pharmacy undergraduates choose majors in the College of Science, and receive academic advising and other support services from that college. Many students choose to major in BioHealth Sciences with a Pre-Pharmacy option. Completing the prerequisite courses prepares students to apply to the College of Pharmacy Pharm.D. program.
Learn more about pre-pharmacy at OSU.
“Being mentored by all the great doctors at the Cardiovascular Center has taught me that I, too, want to be a doctor who does similar things. The big takeaway for me is that as a physician you can do so many things that involve outreach and service to the community,”
“A big part of medical school is experience, and because I’ve been working so long, my experience is basically on par with everyone else – even though they’re older than me.”
“Tentatively, I will be transitioning from working in health insurance to providing medical care to patients, and even potentially developing health laws and policies within a system, state or federal level in the future.”
