Curriculum and Coursework

Pre-Health Professions Curriculum and Coursework

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Fordham's pre-health concentration constitutes the academic preparation for application to any health profession program. Pre-health students may choose to pursue a major in or outside of the sciences. The following information sheet summarizes different paths that students might take to completing pre-health requirements. Students planning on pursuing an application to a health professions program should be in regular contact with your academic and pre-health advisor for guidance on course selection, extra-curricular activities, clinical and research experiences.

The courses listed below constitute the minimum requirements for an application to most health profession programs, regardless of major:

  • One year of general biology with lab  (BISC 1403, 1404, 1413, 1414)
  • One year of general chemistry with lab  (CHEM 1311, 1312, 1321, 1322, 1331, 1332)
  • One year of organic chemistry with lab* (CHEM 2521, 2522, 2541, 2542)
  • One year of general physics with lab (PHYS 1501, 1502, 1503, 1511, 1512) or (1601, 1602) or (1701, 1702)
  • One year of English (satisfied by core requirements)

*General chemistry, including labs, must be successfully completed before enrollment in organic chemistry.

Students planning on completing additional coursework in the sciences should note that the biology and general chemistry foundation courses, plus all applicable labs (all listed above), must be successfully completed prior to enrollment in all upper division biology courses.

In addition, students applying to medical school are required to take the following coursework to meet the required competencies:

  • One semester of biochemistry** (BISC 3521)
  • One semester of psychology (PSYC 1200)
  • One semester of sociology (SOCI 1100)
  • One semester of statistics (MATH 1205, SOCI 2606, ECON 2140, PSYC 2000)

**Biology, general chemistry and organic chemistry plus all labs must be completed before enrollment in biochemistry.

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All pre-health students, no matter what their primary fields of study, should learn the major concepts and skills of science and mathematics, and would be well served by taking additional upper-level science coursework to help prepare for standardized entrance exams. In addition, some programs may require calculus as a prerequisite.

Subtle variations in this coursework may be necessary for application to programs specific to each discipline. It is the obligation of each student to investigate the requirements for their program of interest. Information summarized in the linked handouts may be useful to students pursuing admissions in MD, DO, DDS/DMD, PA, and PT programs as well.