{"id":1929,"date":"2020-04-21T12:30:34","date_gmt":"2020-04-21T16:30:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/casreg\/?page_id=1929"},"modified":"2026-04-17T10:30:44","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T14:30:44","slug":"pre-professional-programs","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/casreg\/pre-professional-programs\/","title":{"rendered":"Pre-Professional Programs"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>If you are planning a career in law or healthcare, you should work with advisors in the Pre-Professional Advising Office. Our pre-professional advising staff can help you navigate pre-requisite courses and curricula, professional goals, and professional school admission\/application requirements.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.bu.edu\/prehealth\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Pre-Health<\/strong><\/a><strong>:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Pre-health advisors support students who are interested in a broad range of health-related professions, including dentistry, medicine, nursing, optometry, pharmacy, physician assistant, podiatry, veterinary medicine, and other fields.<\/p>\n<p>Pre-health studies do not constitute a major or a minor program at the University. However, since you must declare a major by the end of your sophomore year, you are encouraged to pick an area in which you have a strong academic interest.<\/p>\n<p>We encourage you to review the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/prehealth\/academics\/prehealth-faqs\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Pre-health FAQs<\/a> for more details about the pre-health pathway.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Registering as a pre-health student:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Review the<span>\u00a0recommended <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/prehealth\/academics\/prehealthcurriculum\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Pre-Health Curriculum<\/a><span>\u00a0<\/span>carefully.<\/li>\n<li>First year pre-health students typically take a general chemistry and\/or a biology (or neuroscience) course in their first semester. Whether you take both chemistry and biology (or neuroscience) in the same semester <strong>or<\/strong> take just general chemistry depends on your major, level of preparation, and advanced credits (e.g. AP, IB, etc.):\n<ul>\n<li><em>Chemistry<\/em>: Plan to take <strong>CAS CH 101<\/strong> General Chemistry 1 as your first pre-health course. However, if you are starting in the fall semester and have an advanced knowledge of high school chemistry, you can consider CH 109 Advanced General Chemistry 1; if you are starting in the spring semester and have external or advanced credit (such as IB scores) for chemistry, you may be eligible to take CAS CH 110 Advanced General Chemistry II or CH 112 Intensive Chemistry II. Please review the<span>\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.bu.edu\/chemistry\/undergrad\/general-chemistry\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Chemistry department\u2019s registration guidelines<\/a><span>\u00a0<\/span>for more information.<\/li>\n<li><em>Biology<\/em>: If you want or need to take a biology course in addition to your chemistry course, plan to take CAS BI 107 Biology 1 (fall) or CAS BI 108 Biology 2 (spring). BI 107 and 108 are not sequential, so you can start with either course.<\/li>\n<li><em>Neuroscience:<\/em><span> Instead of a biology course, students majoring in Neuroscience typically take NE 101 and CH 101 (or equivalent) in the fall.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><span>Students on the pre-health pathway who are <\/span><span>transferring into BU<\/span><span> as second or third year students often take a combination of courses that is unique to their situation. This combination will be based on your major and transfer credit equivalencies. Transfer students are strongly encouraged to complete the <\/span><i><span>Summer Orientation <\/span><\/i><span>module (see below) and schedule an appointment to meet with a pre-health advisor to discuss their fall\/spring schedule to ensure you\u2019re on the right track!\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li>This summer, you must complete the <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/prehealth\/appointments\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Summer Orientation<\/a><\/em> module to learn about the recommended pre-health curriculum and courses to consider registering for this fall. Once you complete the module, you will have an opportunity to meet with a pre-health advisor this summer to discuss specific questions regarding your fall schedule. Instructions on how to complete the module can be found on the Pre-Health<span>\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/prehealth\/appointments\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">website<\/a><span>\u00a0<\/span>under \u201c<span>New Incoming Students Starting Academic Year 2026-2027<\/span>\u201d \u2013&gt; &#8220;Meet with a Pre-Health Advisor to Discuss Your Fall Course Registration.&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>Before you are eligible to meet with a pre-health advisor this fall, you must first complete the<span>\u00a0<\/span><em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/prehealth\/appointments\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Introduction to the Pre-Health Pathway<\/a><\/em><span><em>\u00a0<\/em><\/span>module. Instructions on how to complete the module can be found on the Pre-Health<span>\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/prehealth\/appointments\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">website<\/a><span>\u00a0<\/span>under \u201cCurrent undergraduates and alumni\u201d \u2013&gt; &#8220;Scheduling Your Appointment.&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul><\/ul>\n<ul><\/ul>\n<ul><\/ul>\n<p><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.bu.edu\/prelaw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Pre-Law<\/a>:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Pre-law is neither a major nor a minor, and there are no specific pre-requisite courses for applying to law school. We encourage you to follow a path you will find intellectually stimulating and challenging that also helps you develop relevant skills such as: <span>research, writing, oral expression, analytical and critical thinking, logic, and knowledge of current political and social issues. For more information on academic planning and law school, please review the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/prelaw\/preparing-for-law-school\/academicschoosing-your-major\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Pre-Law Academic Planning page.<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Registering as a pre-law student:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Use the registration guide for your intended major(s) (Step #4 of the <a href=\"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/casreg\/cas-first-year-registration-checklist\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">checklist<\/a>). Most first-year pre-law students balance major coursework\/exploration with their language and Hub requirements.<\/li>\n<li>Popular majors among pre-law students include Economics, English, History, International Relations, Philosophy, Political Science, and Psychology. However, this is not an all-inclusive list of majors to consider. Students from all majors, including natural sciences, computer science, and mathematics, are encouraged to pursue these disciplines!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If you are planning a career in law or healthcare, you should work with advisors in the Pre-Professional Advising Office. Our pre-professional advising staff can help you navigate pre-requisite courses and curricula, professional goals, and professional school admission\/application requirements. Pre-Health: Pre-health advisors support students who are interested in a broad range of health-related professions, including [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4971,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":83,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/casreg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1929"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/casreg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/casreg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/casreg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4971"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/casreg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1929"}],"version-history":[{"count":50,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/casreg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1929\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8518,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/casreg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1929\/revisions\/8518"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/casreg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1929"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}