Pre-Health Advising: Choosing a Major

Earning a B.S. or B.A. degree in college requires selecting a major. Terms such as pre-med or pre-dental are only descriptive labels since Florida State University, like most other schools, does not award any pre-health degrees. 

Most graduate health professions programs require a four year college degree prior to acceptance.  These programs require applicants to have a strong foundation in the natural sciences, biology, chemistry, physics, and mathematics. In general, graduate health programs do not have a strong preference for what students choose to major in as long as the student successfully completes the prerequisite course work and is competitive for their program.

Students can use two criteria to help select a major:

Select a major that you are interested in; something which would be a backup plan if you are not successful in getting into a health profession program.
If you don’t have any specific interest outside of the health field, choose a major which includes the prerequisites required by your career field.
Over the years, most pre-health students have majored in the sciences either because they were interested in the course work or they felt it was the most practical way to compete a degree along with their  pre-health prerequisites course work.

The majors offered at FSU which come close to including the prerequisite course work are Biological Sciences (Biology), Chemical Science, Exercise Physiology, Biochemistry, Clinical Professions, Community Patient Care, and Health Management, Policy, & Information. Specific information about these and other degree programs offered at Florida State University can be found at: www.academic-guide.fsu.edu