Preprofessional Studies

A SPECIAL NOTE HERE FOR RETURNING STUDENTS

First of all, if the previous sections have not been read, that should be done NOW. If the returning student has not had any science courses for 5 or more years, it is strongly advised they re-take the sciences. Sciences are changing too fast to rely on older course content for doing well on the standardized exams. For people with no science background, or for people with nursing or allied health backgrounds, all required science courses should be taken prior to taking any standardized exam. Recall that it was stated in the general information section that nursing and allied health courses do not meet the science requirements of professional schools, regardless of the level at which the courses were taken. Time-wise, the returning student is usually looking at a 3 year course of undergraduate study, including the year of application.

This three year course of study is the norm for people returning to school who already have a degree in something other than the sciences. Usually, any sciences taken during the undergraduate career were those for the non-science major which do not carry credit for professional school application. This results in students needing all sciences. For those who have science courses that were for the major, each individual will be counseled regarding course selection.

In the first year, biology and inorganic chemistry would be taken along with any desired math. In the second year, organic chemistry and physics would be taken. At the end of the second year, the standardized exam should be taken and application for admission filed. If full-time status is required for the admission process, this would be the year to take necessary additional courses. During the third year, during the application process, the applicant should take specific specialized courses that will help understanding and comprehension in the professional program applied to. Not taking courses during this application year suggests to the admissions committee that the applicant is non-competitive and their application will not be looked at seriously.

Often a returning student will state that they were not "focused" as an undergraduate. Therefore, their GPA would probably not be considered "competitive" at this juncture by any professional school. Upon application, the professional schools of Indiana University look at EVERYTHING the applicant has done course-wise. Other professional schools do likewise. Here are some suggestions for these cases. First, the student should take all of the required courses and be THE number one student in each class. Secondly, the student needs to take a full time course load to demonstrate they are now focused and can handle the course load. Lastly, the student needs to score in the "double digits" on the MCAT, or well above the mean on the standardized exams, to be placed at least in the upper 75-85th percentile of the people who took the exam. Statistics for the American Association of Medical Schools indicate that the returning student usually gets lower scores than the national average on the MCAT. Therefore, returning students need to prepare well for the standardized exam they wish to take. None of these suggestions will guarantee acceptance. But the ideas, if done, will probably prompt the admissions committee to closely examine the student's application.

Students returning to school from a health-related career may face additional hurdles. As stated earlier, the course content from the required courses form the basis of the standardized exams. Trying to rely on specific information from a given health-related career tends to hinder the student from doing well academically in the required courses. Not doing well academically virtually ruins any chance of doing well on the standardized exams. A returning student from a health-related career must literally "divorce" themselves from their career and totally "clean out" their minds, in order to do well as a professional school applicant.

The returning student is always welcome at IUN. Regardless of the individual's background, IUN has had excellent success in placing returning students into various professional schools. It is realized that each case is unique and, therefore, each is handled on an individual basis to maximize the success rate.