Program Description
WSU provides excellent preparation for medical school and other health care fields (such as optometry, dentistry, nursing, pharmacy, physician assistant, or physical/occupational therapy).
Pre-medicine is not a major in itself. It is a preparatory track that can be incorporated into any major. (Most other fields of professional health care are the same way.) As long as students complete the general core requirements for schools in their professional area, students can select any major they like.
Whatever major is chosen, be sure to see an advisor in the Health Professions Student Center when you enroll at WSU. The pre-medicine specialist advisors can help students plan for success.
To become a medical doctor, students first have to complete a bachelor's degree, then go through professional school in their medical field.
When it comes to the bachelor's degree, professional programs in medicine don't give preference to any particular major — in fact, national statistics show that there is no “best” major for getting into medical programs. They welcome applicants with majors in a wide variety of areas.
Of course, there are benefits to a major that incorporates medical school prerequisites in its core courses. Several majors at Washington State University have tracks specifically for pre-med students:
- Basic medical sciences
- Bioengineering
- Genetics and cell biology
- Microbiology
- Neuroscience
- Zoology
