FAQ

You can start shadowing any time you feel comfortable adding the time to your schedule! We typically see students start shadowing in the spring of their freshman year or the summer between freshman and sophomore year, but it’s never too late to start! Just remember, only hours accumulated after high school should be included on your application to professional school. To start shadowing, identify a few providers in the specialty/specialties you are interested in and reach out to ask about their availability to host you.

There are many ways to get involved in research, and we highly recommend speaking with the Office of Undergraduate Research to discuss their programming. You can also reach out to professors or research faculty whose work interests you, and ask if they have any availability for an undergraduate to get involved! 

Most students will take their entrance exams in their junior year, generally after completion of organic chemistry and/or biochemistry. However, the tests are usually valid for 2-5 years, so you may be able to take them sooner depending on the content knowledge and preparation required.

This is a question we hear all the time, and the answer depends on so many factors! In most cases, if you like your major and are able to take the prerequisite courses required for your target program, you don’t need to change your major! Factors that could influence that include degree pursuant credits for financial aid, major restriction on prerequisite courses, your desired timeline to apply for schools, or your interest in/ability to perform well in the coursework. You’ll also need to check with the program you are considering transferring into to see which of your course credits will carry over to the new major.

ABSOLUTELY! It happens all of the time, and we promise, it is not the end of the world! What is much more important than getting the C is how you respond to it–did you adjust your study style, go to tutoring, reach out for help, attend office hours? Professional school will be challenging, and your response to this challenging course shows your dedication and ability to seek help and adapt! You should be prepared to address the issues and your response in an interview, but it is certainly not disqualifying!

Same idea as the question about getting a C – a W on your transcript is not an immediate disqualification! Again, you will likely be asked about what happened in an interview, and you should be prepared to discuss the challenges you were facing at the time that led to the withdrawal.

We typically recommend 100 hours each of healthcare experience (working, volunteering, shadowing), research, community service, and leadership. Different programs may require more or less of one of those categories, but 100 hours of each is a good goal. Here are some examples of things that fall into each category:

• Healthcare experience: anything you do that helps you get a feel for the clinical environment, including shadowing, scribing, working as a technician or assistant, or volunteering in service to patients
• Research: any type of scholarly research that you are a part of conducting (not that you are serving as a subject in!)-including computational, bench, animal, and clinical research
• Community service: both health-related and non-health-related community service. You want to demonstrate that you care about your community and helping people!
• Leadership: the most ambiguous of the categories, this includes things like being a TA, RA, tutor, coach, or holding an elected position in a club. It can also include positions at a job, such as being a shift manager or training new employees.

It can definitely seem intimidating-400 hours of extra stuff on top of classes and fun?! It is a lot less scary when you break it down by hours per week. For example-to get 100 hours of shadowing, you could do 10 hours/week over one summer and still take a few weeks off for vacation. To get 100 hours of service, you could do 3 hours/week during one school year. Spread out over 2-3 years, it’s much more manageable!

Unfortunately, there is not a universal policy for AP course acceptance in the majority of programs. You will need to check the policies of the individual schools you are applying for to determine whether or not they will accept AP credits.

The Pre-Health Office is happy to discuss your course list to ensure you are getting all of your prerequisite requirements, but we are not experts on your academic major or their policies. We frequently meet with students to discuss their course progression and timeline, but questions about what does or does not count for a major requirement, how to release a registration hold, or when specific courses will be offered should be discussed with your academic advisor.

We are happy to serve all prospective students, current students, transfer students, and alumni of WVU at any stage in their journey to a health profession. We regularly meet with high school students, graduate students, or alumni out in the workforce that are considering health professional programs. We are housed in the Honors College, but our services are not restricted to Honors students or alumni. In addition, while we would love to have you remain at the WVU health professional programs, it is our goal to get you into whatever program at whatever school you are interested in applying to. You do not have to be applying to WVU health professional programs to work with us!