The new Office of Pre-Health Professions is a campus-wide resource

Undergraduates can easily get lost on the winding road to health professions school—whether it’s medicine, nursing, dentistry, physical therapy or veterinary school, among others—but now RIT’s new Office of Pre-Health Professions provides them with both a road map and roadside assistance.

Students in any major can prepare for health professional school as long as they complete the prerequisite courses and meet the admission requirements, said Amber Charlebois (“Dr. C”), director of the Office of Pre-Health Professions. Planning ahead is essential for students to become competitive applicants, and the Pre-Health Advising Office helps students navigate the application process, whether they are studying for their entrance exams and writing their personal statements in their third year or waiting until graduation.

Charlebois provided committee letters to 30 students who applied to medical and dental schools during the admissions cycle last June. Five of the applicants were third-year students, six were seniors and the rest were returning students. That reflects a national trend in which gap years are becoming the norm and students are entering medical school later. Twenty-four is now the national average age of students admitted to medical school, she said.

Students can use this extra time to gain more experience, take entrance exams and complete the nearly year-long application process to health professional schools.

“We’re trying to change the culture to recognize and accept the idea that any extra time spent preparing for medical school is going to make you more competitive,” Charlebois said. “A gap year or two, used strategically, could make you a much better candidate and give you the maturity that can dramatically increase your chances of getting admitted. I think we need to start calling it a growth year rather than a gap year.”

The new advising office helps students plan their coursework to ensure they are following the proper sequence of science and math prerequisites and maintaining a high GPA. An advisor helps students stay on track and learn how to balance academics, research and professional experience. Depending on the health field, students will be required to complete anywhere from 60 to more than 1,000 hours of patient care. Different ways to gain clinical experience include volunteering, shadowing, working as paramedics, patient care and pharmacy technicians, and medical scribes, or animal care assistants for students pursuing veterinary studies.

The office encourages students to volunteer for community service, conduct research, and explore leadership opportunities. Charlebois works with the Health Professions Advisory Committee, comprised of faculty and staff from across campus, to conduct mock interviews for students. Alumni participate in these practice interviews and provide input during roundtable discussions and “White Coat Wednesday” events. Charlebois’ office helps students prepare personal statements, gather letters of reference, study for entrance exams, and apply for scholarships.

Charlebois encourages new students to come to her office “early and often to begin their journey together.” She shows them how to plan their four or five years at RIT and take advantage of opportunities to strengthen their resumes while prioritizing academic excellence.

“I ask first-year students to focus solely on excelling in their courses,” Charlebois said. “As soon as they feel they are struggling, they should ask for help. They should be proactive and maintain a high, competitive GPA. Then they can start thinking about adding patient care hours to their schedule.”

The Office of Prerequisite Health Professions also helps educate students about all possible health professional careers. For example, a Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (DO) program takes a holistic approach to becoming a physician, and the admission requirements for these programs, while still rigorous, are not as strict as for traditional allopathic medicine (MD). Interested students can take advantage of RIT’s affiliation with the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine and apply early for a spot in osteopathic medical school after graduation. This option, which does not require the MCAT exam, is available to prospective students and RIT students enrolled in their first or second year of study.

Charlebois, who joined RIT last year, created a centralized pre-health advising office that would be easily accessible to students in all majors. So far, most students interested in a health professional school are enrolled in the College of Health Sciences and Technology, the College of Science, the Kate Gleason College of Engineering, the College of Liberal Arts and the School of Individualized Study. Charlebois also advises two students in the College of Art and Design’s BFA program in medical illustration.

When Charlebois arrived at RIT, she formed a student advisory committee of nearly a dozen pre-health students from several colleges to help develop the program and provide input on resources and events to offer.

“Their feedback helped me change the existing upper-level Premedical Studies Seminar course (which students take as they prepare to apply to professional school) into a more inclusive experience by reducing the number of credit hours to zero and offering it as both a synchronous and asynchronous course,” she said.

The student advisory committee has morphed into the Pre-Health Society, a campus club that will launch this fall to continue its efforts.

Morgan Long, a third-year biomedical sciences student from Victor, New York, is the president of the Pre-Health Society.

“We hope to be a resource club,” Long said. “We wanted to create a community for the pre-health population so that everyone can find answers to their questions.”

Pre-health advising services were established within the Faculty of Science, then moved to the Faculty of Health Sciences and Technology, and last year were moved to a central location within the Division of Academic Studies in the School of Individualized Studies. Charlebois also supports pre-veterinary advising in collaboration with Larry Buckley, senior associate dean of the Faculty of Science.