Frequently Asked Questions
Health Professions Advising assists and advises UH students interested in pursuing careers in healthcare. Our team provides assistance with both the preparation and application process for admission into health professional programs, including those in medicine, dentistry, optometry, pharmacy, and allied-health. Your academic advisor in your major will assist you with graduation requirements, degree progress, etc.
NOTE: Our office is not an official department or major. We cannot release financial/advising holds nor enroll you in courses. You cannot major in pre-med, pre-dental, etc. While working with our office, you will still need to meet with your major advisor to discuss your individual graduation requirements and degree progress. Our office also does not advise nursing or pre-nursing students; this is handled through the Gessner College of Nursing.
Your primary focus should be acclimating to life at the University of Houston and establishing a strong academic foundation. Your major advisor can assist with providing initial information on your chosen healthcare career pathway as well as your overall class schedule for your first-year.
After you have completed New Student Orientation and met with your major advisor, we encourage you to:
- Join the Health Professions Advising listserv.
- Review information on your specific healthcare pathway.
- Attend an Introductory Pre-Health Orientation
- Consider enrolling in BIOL 1125 Survey of the Health Professions (acceptable for any semester)
- Email us with any specific questions/issues you may have: prehealth@uh.edu
Once classes have started, you may schedule an appointment with one of our Health Professions Advisors to discuss your specific healthcare career goals. First year students (freshmen) can wait until their second semester at UH to meet with us; we encourage transfer students to meet with us in their first semester at UH if possible.
Houston Premedical Academy
Enrolled students at the University of Houston can make an appointment with our office in Navigate. Freshmen students are strongly encouraged to attend an introductory orientation before scheduling an appointment with our office.
Pre-Nursing students should meet with advisors in the Gessner College of Nursing: nursing@uh.edu.
Please review the information available on this website and direct questions to prehealth@uh.edu.
If you are a prospective student or alumni, please direct questions to prehealth@uh.edu. Please note we are only able to offer appointments to current UH students, but we will do our best to assist over email.
No. You cannot major as pre-medical, pre-dental, etc. at the University of Houston. Instead, you should major in the area in which you are most interested and then add in any additional requirements you may need to apply to medical, dental, PT, PA school, etc.
Pre-Nursing is a major at the University of Houston, but is very competitive. If you are not accepted into pre-Nursing major as a major, you can select another major and complete the course requirements to switch majors (the major change is done through the Gessner College of Nursing). For more information on this, please see Your major advisor and our office can assist you with planning. For more information, please see the College of Nursing's Pre-Nursing page.
While it is more practical to major in a life or physical science when completing the pre-requisites for most health professional programs, it is not required nor even necessarily recommended. Most admission committees appreciate applicants that have sought out challenges and opportunities to learn and grow, rather than taking the classes applicants feel they are "supposed" to take.
Our office can assist students in deciding on their major and developing their own timeline for applying to professional school.
Our office has provided a number of resources to support students preparing to apply to the various health professional programs, including information on:
- Clinical & Community Volunteering Opportunities
- Research Opportunities
- Summer Programs
- Admissions Exams
- Interview Preparation
- Letters of Evaluation
- Personal Statements
and much more!
The Health Professions Advisory Committee (or HPAC) consists of 18 University of Houston faculty members tasked with evaluating UH applicants to medical and dental school each application cycle.
It is strongly recommended that Texas applicants to medical and dental school complete the HPAC review process and receive a committee letter of evaluation to accompany their application.
For more information, see the HPAC section of our site.
The Joint Admission Medical Program (JAMP) is a unique program, created by the Texas Legislature to provide support and encouragement for economically disadvantaged students from across the State of Texas to successfully matriculate into medical school and pursue a career in medicine.
If you have an interest in becoming a physician, you should explore what JAMP has to offer you. It will provide you with valuable academic and personal assistance as you prepare to enter the medical profession.
If you are ready to get started, the JAMP Quick Guide will provide step-by-step instructions regarding the path prior to entering college and during your first year as a freshman as you begin the application process.
Health Professions Advising assists students with collection of their materials for HPAC Review, including Letters of Evaluation; however, neither our advisors nor Director provide individual letters to students. Students are encouraged to contact faculty, healthcare professionals, or other individuals for letters of evaluation to health professional programs.
Letters of Evaluation collected for HPAC are not stored beyond the current application cycle. Students who wish to re-apply to medical or dental school are required to submit new letters.
For students interested in healthcare careers other than medicine or dentistry (i.e., PA, physical therapy, optometry, etc.), letters of evaluation should be submitted directly to the application service. Health Professions Advising provides guidance to applicants regarding letters of evaluation, but does not collect, store, or submit letters on your behalf.
Our office recommends that all pre-health professions students utilize their letter grades for all courses, especially courses that count as pre-requisites for your specific healthcare pathway (i.e., medical, dental, PA school, etc.). While a limited number of programs will accept Pass/Satisfactory grades for a limited timeframe, letter-grades are preferred among admissions committees over Pass/Satisfactory as a Pass/Satisfactory does not give a good indicator of performance in the course. Both TMDSAS and AACOMAS have indicated that NCR grades will be treated the same as F(ailing) grades within the GPA calculation. For this reason, students who previously chose to accept an S/NCR are able to reverse the decision and have the letter grades put back on their transcripts. The reversal can only be done once, and this change will be final- no exceptions. To initiate the reversal, please email the Registrar’s Office at uhour@uh.edu.