In almost all cases, baccalaureate degrees are required for admission to schools of medicine, dentistry and optometry. At the University of Georgia, 'pre-med,' 'pre-dental,' and 'pre-optometry' are not majors, so students who plan to attend medical, dental, or optometry school should select majors that follow established degree programs. There is no one 'best' major for students interested in these areas, but it is critical that course selection includes both those science courses needed to assure a competitive score on the standardized admissions tests and the course prerequisites for admission to the medical, dental or optometry schools to which the student is interested in applying.
The primary focus of the Pre-Health Advising Office is to advise students on the various graduate and professional programs available in the healthcare field, the admission pre-requisites for those programs, and the application and interview process. All students are invited to the Pre-Health orientation offered several times during the Fall and Spring semesters. The orientation addresses where course admission requirements can be found, specific requirements for several medical, dental, optometry and osteopathic schools, how specific courses are helpful, national application services, statistics on the most recent accepted applicant pools including national admission test scores, qualities of successful applicants, resources for volunteering and shadowing, and services of the Pre-Health Advising Office.
We strongly encourage all students interested in pursuing a career in healthcare to make an appointment with one of the Pre-Health advisors in our office located in 102 Memorial Hall and to also join our email list-serv Pre-HealthUGA.