The School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences is home to the “other” 60 percent of the health care workforce. The graduates of this school are ushered into an in-demand workforce that provides diagnostic, technical, therapeutic, and patient care services that directly complement the other medical professions.
As I currently have the intent of attending medical school, the Health Sciences and Medical Laboratory Sciences majors (two of the seven undergraduate degrees offered) have garnered my interest. These two majors provide pre-med students with a more comprehensive look at healthcare, equipping them with a solid knowledge base about the various activities that are crucial to the practice of medicine; this knowledge ultimately helps students to become better doctors in the future. In addition to these majors being a good fit for my career interests, they also line up with my academic interests. The natural sciences, especially chemistry and anatomy & physiology, are endlessly fascinating to me. These majors, while still allowing me to explore some other interests (analytics, etc), give me the opportunity to focus most of my time and effort on learning things that I genuinely find interesting. I dragged myself out of bed at 7:30am for this lecture because of my interest in pursuing a medical profession; needless to say, I am gladly walking away with a couple majors that I may soon declare mine.
Before, I was strongly considering a degree in the pure natural sciences. I thought the HRS majors were for students not planning on going on to professional school. Now I know that several majors, namely the two previously listed, greatly complement a medical education. They provide a sturdy foundation of medical care education (and experience) that can be used to springboard a future doctor’s learning.
Now, of course, what would a lecture be without learning some new tidbit that shatters past misconceptions. The truth has been revealed; medical schools don’t really care about what major an applicant has declared. As long as the student has completed the listed prerequisites, they are (or should be) academically equipped to enter medical school.
Finally, there are a few questions that have been brewing after the session. While most of the majors have clinic time built in, what about the majors that don’t? Would those students still be able to obtain some clinical experience? If yes, are they at a severe disadvantage when looking for those opportunities? Lastly, the question that encompasses a great fear, what if I don’t receive admission into the programs? What are my next steps?