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Preparation

Preparing for a career as a health care professional is very challenging.  Similar to the AAMC’s E-A-M Model, we created the “Inside/Outside of the Box Model” below to help you visualize and understand the multiple factors needed to apply to health professional schools. To become a competitive applicant for admission, you need to be a STRONG applicant “Inside of the Box” AND have some “Outside of the Box” experiences that will make you interesting and unique from other applicants.

Pre-Health Student Experiences: Inside & Outside of the Box

WHAT MAKES YOU INTERESTING AND/OR UNIQUE?

“Inside of the Box” Experiences = Foundations to Competitiveness

The factors below are highly recommended to ensure you have the CORE academic and extracurricular experiences to become a competitive applicant for health professional schools.

ACADEMIC Preparation

Prerequisite Courses

*See a UCF PHPL Advisor to receive our prerequisite charts for the health professional schools in Florida and to discuss the specific prerequisite courses for your chosen health professional schools.

Overall GPA & Science GPA

  • Overall GPA should be 3.5 or above to be a competitive applicant for health professional schools.

  • Science GPA should be also be around 3.5 or above to be a competitive applicant for health professional schools. The types of courses that will be calculated into a Science GPA will vary by health professional school application system, but will typically include Biological Sciences (ex. General Biology, Anatomy, Microbiology, etc.), Chemistry courses, and Physics courses, and sometimes Mathematics and Statistics courses.

Admissions Tests

Treat your admission test as the most important test you will take in your life so far. Your score on your admission test can greatly affect your competitiveness for admission. Students who earn high scores on admission tests like the MCAT often study for 2-3 months, 5-6 days per week, 4-8 hours per day for their test. Different tests, different student learning styles, and different student life circumstances will necessitate different amounts of preparation time and different types of preparation though. PHPL Advisors can discuss test preparation options with you and help you determine the best test prep option for you.

EXTRACURRICULAR Preparation

All health professional schools desire for you to be a WELL-ROUNDED applicant. The types of experiences below are some of the most common we see from students who are successful in gaining admission to health professional schools. The recommended amounts of the experiences are not required by health professional schools, but based on evidence and observation from advisors in our office of successfully admitted students in the past. *Please see the PHPL webcourse for your specific health profession for additional information*.

Health-Related – Community Service/Volunteerism

Involvement in a service activity in a medical/clinical setting and without compensation.

Amount Recommended:

  • Pre-Med Students: 200 hours approximately
  • Other Pre-Health Professions Students: 75 hours approximately

**Check Tracking Your Path Webcourses to find average hours for your chosen health profession

Common Locations in Central Florida:

Non-Health-Related – Community Service/Volunteerism

Involvement in a service activity not in a medical/clinical setting and without compensation.

Amount Recommended:

  • Pre-Med Students: 200 hours approximately
  • Other Pre-Health Professions Students: 100 hours approximately

**Check Tracking Your Path Webcourses to find average hours for your chosen health profession

Common Organizations at UCF or in Central Florida:

Shadowing/Observation

The non-participant observation of a health professional as s/he cares for and treats patients and carries out other responsibilities of their profession. Health professional schools ideally want to see shadowing/observation multiple health professionals in many different specialties (breadth) and for extended periods of time (depth).

Amount Recommended:

  • All Pre-Health Students: 100 hours approximately

**Check Tracking Your Path Webcourses to find average hours for your chosen health profession

Common Sites to Search for Shadowing in Central Florida:
(Note: The websites below are resources to find health professionals; inclusion on the websites below does
not indicate the health professional has agreed to shadowing)

Leadership

A position of responsibility for others with a purpose to guide or direct the actions of others. Leadership can be demonstrated in a variety of settings, including at school, employment, church, community, and in organizations. Leadership is very broad and it can occur in many areas. The areas include, but are not limited to, being a student organization officer or director, RA, TA, tutor, mentor, trainer, or coach.

Amount Recommended:

  • Pre-Med Students: At least 2 leadership positions for at least 1 year combined
  • Pre-Dental, Pre-PA, and Pre-PT Students: At least 1 leadership position for at least 1 year
  • Other Pre-Health Professions Students: At least 1 leadership position for at least 1 semester

**Check Tracking Your Path Webcourses to find average hours for your chosen health profession

Common Opportunities at UCF to Show Leadership:

 Opportunities Outside of UCF to Show Leadership:

Research

Involvement in a scholarly or scientific hypothesis investigation that is supervised by an individual with verifiable research credentials such as a professor or physician. Research experience may be gained in any discipline and performed at any site. Health professional schools are not particular about what type of research a student does, they just want the student to have a familiarity with and background in research.

Amount Recommended:

  • Pre-Med Students: At least assist a professor (or physician) with their research and try to obtain a presentation (like at UCF’s SURE or a conference) and/or publication in a journal. An independent research project such as UCF’s Honors in the Major program is even more beneficial.
  • Other Pre-Health Professions Students: At least engage in a research project or experience from a class, such as UCF’s PILOT program. Assisting a professor with their research outside of class or an independent research project such as UCF’s Honors in the Major program are even more beneficial.

**Check Tracking Your Path Webcourses to find average hours for your chosen health profession

Common Opportunities at UCF to Show Leadership:

“Outside of the Box” Experiences

Experiences outside the traditional health professional school preparation experiences that will make an applicant interesting or unique from other applicants. Examples of “outside of the box” experiences include:

  • Sports/Athletics Involvement (even intramural sports)
  • Arts/Dance/Music Involvement
  • Study Abroad
  • Business Experience
  • Mission Trips (international or abroad, medical or non-medical)
  • Cultural Competency Experiences
  • Hobbies
  • Artistic Endeavors
  • Non-Science Major/Minor
  • Multiple Research Publications
  • Healthcare Work Experience (if Pre-PA, then this is highly recommended)
  • Military Experience
  • “Distance-Traveled”*
  • Life Experiences
  • Many others!

*“Distance Traveled” is defined as the road traveled to become a health professional school applicant. For example, the “distance traveled” by a socioeconomically disadvantaged applicant is often farther than other applicants.