Lafayette’s Health Professions Advising Program

1. Lafayette’s Health Professions Advising Program Prof. Haug Health Professions Advisory Committee (HPAC) Co-Chair Sept. 10, 2018

2. Introduction • We want to provide you with an overview of the necessary steps to achieve your goal of a career in the health professions. • What health professions? • Medical Doctor (allopathic, osteopathic) • Dentist, Optometrist, Veterinarian(focus of HPAC) • Physician’s Assistant, Nurse Practitioner, • Physical Therapist, Public Health positions, and • others(focus of Career Services)

3. Health Professions Advisory Committee (HPAC) • HPAC focuses on medical, dental, optometry, and veterinary students. • Key Advisory members: • Kenneth Haug, Committee Co-Chair, Dept. of Chemistry. • Five other faculty assist in HPAC committee work and applicant evaluations. • Simona Glaus, Committee Co-Chair, Coordinator of Health Professions Program, Scott Hall. • Melissa Schultz, Senior Assoc. Director, Career Services. • Gateway counselors also assist with career planning • Chelsea Emrick, Administrative Coordinator Career Services – 201 Hogg Hall: Great help with career plans, internships/externships, and additional health profession programs and information • Health Professions Club – student organization • Colleagues also are of great importance in career planning

4. Undergraduate Preparation for Admission to Graduate Schools in the Health Professions • Each HP school has its own criteria, but all give special consideration to several key areas : • Academic/Science grades • Admissions tests • Health-related experiences • Research experiences • Community service and volunteer work • People skills & Humanist competencies • Letters of recommendation • HP school interview

5. Undergraduate Preparation – Academic coursework • Required Undergraduate Coursework • As a health professions (HP) student you may graduate with any major/minor. Follow your own intellectual and academic interests – we want everyone to have a life plan they love. • HP schools expect students to have a strong foundation in the natural sciences - you are usually required to take the following courses (individual HP schools can have other requirements). • 1 Year of: • Biology with labs (e.g., 101 & 102) • Physics with labs (e.g., 111 & 112; 131 & 132/133; 151 & 152) • Mathematics (e.g., 125 & 186, 161 & 186, 161 & 162 ) • Writing-Intensive Coursework (e.g. FYS, English xyz, other additional “W” courses). • 2+ Years of: • Chemistry with labs (General Chem 121 & 122, • Organic Chem 221 & 222 , Biochem 351)

6. Undergraduate Preparation – coursework continued • Other courses which you may have to take (premeds): • Psych 110 and A&S 103 (Intro Psych and Intro to Anthropology and Sociology) which are recommended pre-requisites for the MCAT • Some other courses which you may wish to take, as your major and course scheduling allow: Bio 251, Human Physiology Chem 452, Advanced topics in Biochemistry Phys 220, Medical and Biological Physics Psych 240, Health Psychology Econ 332, Economics of Health Care Phil 145,Bioethics Rel 223, Religion and Medicine A&S 222, Medical Anthropology (See a selection of others on our HP website) Be aware that some HP schools have additional requirements

7. Undergraduate Preparation – coursework continued • Students seeking admission to veterinary, nursing, physician’s assistant, physical therapy and other programs may need to take additional biology courses. Course requirements vary among programs and not all are offered at Lafayette, so plan ahead to take them at another institution during the summer. • (For example: Human Anatomy is not currently offered at Lafayette)

8. Undergraduate Preparation – other aspects of coursework • Advanced Placement. AP Credit may sometimes be used to satisfy the Mathematics and English/writing requirements. However, it should not as a general rule be used to satisfy the science requirements because HP schools want you to experience college-level science laboratory coursework. • If you accept AP credit in one of the sciences, you should take upper-level science courses with labs in the same science to generally satisfy the health professions school requirements. Individual schools will differ! • Summer School. If you are majoring in the social sciences or humanities, you may want to take physics, biology or chemistry during the summer. Most HP schools would rather you take all your science courses during the academic year because they want you to demonstrate your ability to handle the laboratory coursework with a full course load. Don’t make a habit of taking core courses in summer. • Pass/Fail; 3 credit semesters.Avoid this! In no instance should you take a science or mathematics course pass/fail. Since HP schools like to see that you are successful in a variety of disciplines and courses while carrying a full load, we discourage you from taking any courses on a pass/fail basis.

9. Undergraduate Preparation – additional experiences • Study Abroad: Most health professional schools consider a study abroad experience a good thing; especially if you combine it with healthcare-related experiences. If you are interested in studying abroad—DO IT! But plan your other coursework appropriately to keep on schedule. • Research: Independent research, honors thesis research, and/or EXCEL work are important educational experiences that are becoming essential in preparing you for graduate-level work in the health professions. • Electives. Take elective courses that are meaningful or interesting to you, including courses in the arts and humanities. Do not try to guess “what looks good to health professional schools.” Instead, get the most you can out of your undergraduate education. It is who you are and howwell-educated you are that are important when you seek admission to a health professions school or go anywhere else in life.

10. Undergraduate Preparation – additional experiences • Internships/Externships. There are many opportunities for health care involvement and shadowing: including volunteering at a hospital, shelter, clinic, with your personal physician, or a Lafayette alumnus/alumna in the health professions. The Career Services Office can offer you resources to arrange internships/externships. • Extracurricular Activities / People Skills. You are strongly encouraged to participate in extracurricular activities while in college. Through participation in activities outside the classroom you will learn to manage a complex time schedule, learn about organizational hierarchy, and develop communication, leadership and teamwork skills. Especially important are activities in which you demonstrate a long-term and sincere commitment to helping others. But do NOT become overly involved to the extent that you damage your GPA! • Read widely on the subject of healthcare. Keep up-to-date with current health news. Also a list of suggested readings for students interested in the health professions is maintained on the HPAC web site.

11. Pre-professional Competencies from the Association of American Medical Colleges Service Orientation: Demonstrates a desire to help others and sensitivity to others’ needs and feelings; demonstrates a desire to alleviate others’ distress; recognizes and acts on his/her responsibilities to society; locally, nationally, and globally. Social Skills: Demonstrates an awareness of others’ needs, goals, feelings, and the ways that social and behavioral cues affect peoples’ interactions and behaviors; adjusts behaviors appropriately in response to these cues; treats others with respect. Cultural Competence: Demonstrates knowledge of socio-cultural factors that affect interactions and behaviors; shows an appreciation and respect for multiple dimensions of diversity; recognizes and acts on the obligation to inform one’s own judgment; engages diverse and competing perspectives as a resource for learning, citizenship, and work; recognizes and appropriately addresses bias in themselves and others; interacts effectively with people from diverse backgrounds. Teamwork: Works collaboratively with others to achieve shared goals; shares information and knowledge with others and provides feedback; puts team goals ahead of individual goals. Oral Communication: Effectively conveys information to others using spoken words and sentences; listens effectively; recognizes potential communication barriers and adjusts approach or clarifies information as needed. Ethical Responsibility to Self and Others: Behaves in an honest and ethical manner; cultivates personal and academic integrity; adheres to ethical principles and follows rules and procedures; resists peer pressure to engage in unethical behavior and encourages others to behave in honest and ethical ways; develops and demonstrates ethical and moral reasoning. Reliability and Dependability: Consistently fulfills obligations in a timely and satisfactory manner; takes responsibility for personal actions and performance. Resilience and Adaptability: Demonstrates tolerance of stressful or changing environments or situations and adapts effectively to them; is persistent, even under difficult situations; recovers from setbacks. Capacity for Improvement: Sets goals for continuous improvement and for learning new concepts and skills; engages in reflective practice for improvement; solicits and responds appropriately to feedback.

12. Thinking, Reasoning, and Science Competencies Thinking and Reasoning Competencies Critical Thinking: Uses logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions, or approaches to problems. Quantitative Reasoning: Applies quantitative reasoning and appropriate mathematics to describe or explain phenomena in the natural world. Scientific Inquiry: Applies knowledge of the scientific process to integrate and synthesize information, solve problems and formulate research questions and hypotheses; is facile in the language of the sciences and uses it to participate in the discourse of science and explain how scientific knowledge is discovered and validated. Written Communication: Effectively conveys information to others using written words and sentences. Science Competencies Living Systems: Applies knowledge and skill in the natural sciences to solve problems related to molecular and macro systems including biomolecules, molecules, cells, and organs. Human Behavior: Applies knowledge of the self, others, and social systems to solve problems related to the psychological, socio-cultural, and biological factors that influence health and well-being.

13. Academic Dishonesty / Conduct Violation problems! • Maintain a high standard of ethics and personal deportment. Students who do not have high standards of character and integrity in both academics (cheating, plagiarism) and in personal behavior (alcohol, drugs, vandalism, etc., …) will be greatly diminished if not eliminated as applicants. • As part of the application process, the Dean of the College will be asked whether you have been disciplined for academic and/or conduct violations and this information will be reportedto the health professions schools to which you apply. Graduate schools will also do background checks for off-campus violations.

14. Application Time-line • For most people, the optimal time to apply to HP graduate school is in spring/summer of the senior year. This will give you a gap year between college and HP graduate school. • If you plan to attend HP graduate school the fall semester after graduation, then you will need to apply in spring/summer of the junior year. Apply when it is right for you – Jr, Sr, Alum. • HPAC will work with you when you have all the components in place: completed science requirements by the time of application; have taken or be ready to take the Admissions Test (MCAT, DAT, OAT, or VCAT/GRE); have a competitive profile of research, medical internships/externships, and suitable extra-curricular experience. Your application (letters of recommendation, HPAC interview, etc.) will occur in the spring semester of your application year.

16. Lafayette’s Health Professions Advising Program • All of us at Lafayette look forward to helping you succeed in your plans for a career in the health professions. Visit our web site: • http://healthprofessions.lafayette.edu/ , • Please attend HPAC and related events!

17. Useful Resources – explore our web site! • Pre-med: • Aspiring Docs (the AAMC’s Aspiring Docs website provides resources and inspiration to help pre-med students get started on their path to medicine) • the Premed Navigator (a monthly email that includes relevant information, resources, tools, tips, and important dates for pre-med students at every stage of their journey to medical school) • Aspiring Docs Diaries blog • Pre-dental: • ADEA GoDental (The ADEA GoDental website provides comprehensive resources to help prospective dental students get started on their path to dentistry) • ADEA GoDental Newsletter • ADEA Dental Blogs • Pre-vet: • The AAVMC’s portal (provides information, resources and tools to help pre-vet students get started on path to medicine • The Pathways Newsletter (the AAVMC’s monthly newsletter designed specifically for pre-vet students) • Pre-optometry: • The ASCO website (provides information and resources to help students get started on exploring a career in optometry) • ASCO’s Eye on Optometry blog (provides timely and useful information to anyone who is interested in applying to optometry school)

18. Some Upcoming Events – watch web site and email for details Tues, Oct. 9, 2018: Trip to NIH Friday, October 12, 2018: Professionalism in Medicine Saturday, Oct. 13, 2018: HP homecoming Open House Friday, October 19, 2018: HP Mock Interview Session Thursday, Nov. 8, 2018: Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine Presentation October TBD: Study Abroad in Health Professions November TBD: Bioethics in the Health Professions Student Club Events – I don’t have a schedule, but we want to coordinate – we will keep everyone in the loop!