Prepare

Pursuing any health professional program requires significant planning and creating a plan to be a competitive applicant.

Holistic Review

Health professional schools use a holistic review process, which means they look at everything in your application—not just your GPA or test scores. They consider:

  • Academic performance (GPA, coursework, test scores)
  • Experiential learning (direct patient care/clinical experience, volunteer work, research, leadership)
  • Personal qualities and competencies (communication, resilience, ethical reasoning, etc.)

This approach helps schools understand your readiness for the program, how you might contribute to their community, and your potential as a future healthcare professional.

Prerequisite Requirements

Applicants will need to ensure they complete the prerequisites for their desired program(s) in addition to the requirements of their major(s) here at URI.

visit each program in explore
There’s no single part of your application that will make or break your acceptance. Success comes from a well-rounded, authentic story built across all parts of your application.

Patient Care/Clinical

Gain experience

Research

start searching

Volunteer

get involved

Leadership

make your mark

Pre-Health Competencies

These professional, science, and thinking and reasoning competencies are relevant for all health professions

identify where you excel

Breadth, Depth and Rigor:

Professional schools don’t just look at your GPA. They closely review what you’ve taken and how you’ve challenged yourself.

Here’s how to think about your classes through the lens of breadth, depth, and rigor:

Breadth in well-rounded learning:

You’ve explored meaningful coursework outside the sciences.

  • Shows you’re a curious, culturally aware thinker—important qualities for healthcare providers.
  • Consider upper-level courses in the social sciences, humanities, or languages.
  • Examples: Death, Dying, and Bereavement (HDF 421) or Health, Illness and Medical Care (SOC 224), or any class that deepens cultural or behavioral understanding.
  • Tip: Get a letter of recommendation from a non-science professor to reflect your engagement in these areas.

Depth of subject mastery

You’ve gone beyond the basics in a specific area of interest.

  • Demonstrates commitment and the ability to think like a future expert.
  • Choose upper-level courses that build on earlier ones (examples might include Inorganic Chemistry or Pharmacology).
  • Get involved in research or independent study to further deepen your expertise.

Rigor and Academic Challenge

You’ve taken, and succeeded in, challenging courses.

  • Shows schools you can handle the intensity of health professional programs.
  • Your science GPA (BCPM) matters, so be strategic with your STEM course choices.
  • Take more 300- and 400-level courses as you advance, especially in biology, chemistry, physics, or math.

A Level of Awareness

There should be a level of “knowing” that this is the career for you.

  • You can show you are passionate about pursuing this health profession, more than just “wanting to help people”
  • Building a passion for the field by doing work through direct patient care/clinical experience to know what the work is like.
  • Arming yourself with information from resources available online: AAMC, ADEA, PAEA and more.

AP Credits

AP credit can be a great way to move ahead in your academic requirements at URI. However, that’s not always the case when it comes to applying for health professional programs.

  • Many schools do not accept AP credit in place of required science or math courses and may expect to see that you’ve completed these subjects at the college level. 
  • AP credit may also impact your preparation for entrance exams like the MCAT, DAT, or GRE, which assume a college-level foundation in core sciences.

Some programs will accept AP credit if it is supplemented by higher-level coursework in the same subject area. For example, if you have AP Chemistry credit, taking upper-level Chemistry classes, like Inorganic Chemistry, which can help demonstrate your academic readiness.

When in doubt, plan to take the full sequence of prerequisite courses here at URI. This not only strengthens your application but also ensures you’re fully prepared for the academic rigor of professional school.

Timelines

The application process for health professions schools can be lengthy and intensive. Applicants formally begin the process during the Fall semester one and a half years prior to when they plan to matriculate to health professional school.

make your plans now
For students who are planning on applying, the first step is to attend our “Am I Ready to Apply?” interactive workshop held in the Fall semester.

Upcoming Workshops and Events:

All events, information sessions and workshops are posted to URI Events and Handshake: