- Students interested in the health sciences should get involved with the CU Premed society. From that page you can subscribe to their mailing list to receive announcements of activities of interest.
- Review the material on the CU Prehealth sciences pages to find information on choosing courses, applying to medical school, finding a pre-health science adviser at Creighton, extra-curricular activities, letters of recommendation, and other resources.
- Students who are not majoring in biology should be sure to take upper-division biology courses (in addition to BIO 211 and BIO 212). Particularly useful courses include BIO 317 - Genetics and BIO 449 - Animal Physiology. It would be best to take one or both of these courses prior to taking the MCAT in the spring of your Junior Year.
- Some medical schools now require Biochemistry for admission. The chemistry department offers CHM 371 - Biochemistry of Metabolism for premed students. They also offer CHM 381 - Fundamentals of Biochemistry (by instructor consent) that may be of interest to those seeking a more mechanistic approach to Biochemistry. Both of these courses can be taken after CHM 323 - Organic Chemistry Lecture II. These courses are also helpful in preparing for the MCAT.
Pre-Medical Education (PMED)
Starting in the fall of 2009, Creighton will offer a non-credit, Pre-Med Educational Seminar (PMED) series to students planning to attend medical school after their undergraduate careers. The co-curricular program and its activities are designed to complement the student’s academic and scholarly achievements.
- A five-semester series of weekly seminars and other activities designed to strengthen the candidacy of Creighton students as they prepare for the medical school application process.
- The series begins in the second semester of the freshman year and ends in the second semester of the junior year.
o Seminar activities will include workshops on interviewing, preparing an AMCAS application, writing personal statements and developing solid shadowing experiences among other important topics. - PMED will allow students to develop and maintain quality relationships with advisors and those providing input to the committee letter (see below). The impact will be visible across the University.
Creighton will be joining many other top-ranked universities in offering students university-level committee letters to include in their applications to medical school.
- Medical schools are looking for these letters as an important part of an applicant’s dossier.
- The letter is not required, but does help to give the student an edge in the admissions process.
- Students who register for and successfully complete all 5 semesters of the seminar offered during their 4-year undergraduate program will be eligible to have a committee letter sent on their behalf.
- For the 2009-10 academic year, rising sophomores will need to complete 4 semesters of the seminar and rising juniors will need to complete 2 semesters of the seminar in order to apply for the campus letter.
To obtain more information about pre-medical education and/or to be put on our email distribution list, please contact Tricia Brundo Sharrar, Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs, at pmed@creighton.edu or 402-280-1845.
Please remember to sign up for the correct section of PMED. In most cases, that's based on when you plan to graduate (even if by credit hours you already have the next year's class status). So in most cases, that means the following:
- If you plan to graduate in May 2011 (and thus will be a junior in fall 2009), then ...
- sign up for the junior section, which is Pre-Medicine Seminar - 73196 - PMED 301 - JR
- If you plan to graduate in May 2012 (so will be a sophomore), then ...
sign up for the sophomore section, which is Pre-Medicine Seminar - 73195 - PMED 201 - SO - If you will be taking a "real" (for credit) class that meets at the same time (from 3:30 - 5:30 p.m. on Fridays) which conflicts with PMED, you might check with Ms. Sharrar.
Pre-Optometry
To learn about the profession, admission requirements, the OAT exam and application procedures, consult the Association of Schools and Colleges of Optometry (ASCO) Website
"GENERAL REQUIREMENTS for all schools include at least one year of Biology or Zoology, General Chemistry, General Physics, English and College Math."
In addition, most schools require students to have successfully completed Organic Chemistry (1 year), Biochemistry (1 course), Anatomy, Physiology, Microbiology, Psychology, and Statistics. So you should review the list of School- Specific Course Requirements.
GPA: In 2009, the average GPA of students entering 16 of the 20 reporting optometry schools varied from 3.10 to 3.61.