Pre-Health

Gain a healthy advantage.

Millsaps students have an advantage when it comes to career options. Our rigorous curriculum and small class sizes allow for close professor/student interactions, which result in better comprehension and understanding of material. When you come to Millsaps, you are taking the first step along your path into any one of numerous health-related careers, including: medical, dental, pharmacy, physical therapy, occupational therapy, nursing, physician assistant and more.

Our distinctive strengths

Our proven record of success is why so many Millsaps students have an advantage when it comes to career options. One of the great things about pre-health pathways at Millsaps College is how many schools already want you to join their program. Millsaps has cooperative agreements with nursing and pharmacy schools, and the state and region’s only automatic acceptance program into osteopathic medical school. At Millsaps, the doors you hope to walk through are already open. Freshmen must contact the Pre-Health director upon arriving on campus to declare intent to participate in these cooperative/affiliate agreement programs and to check that they meet the program requirements. Millsaps College and the majority of medical and dental schools strongly recommend that the student obtain a baccalaureate degree in an area of interest. It is not required that this degree be in a science, and students are encouraged to achieve a broad background in the humanities and social sciences.
  • Our Pre-Health Advisory Committee is here to guide you, sponsor seminars with key personnel from the health-related schools, provide mock interviews and much more.
  • The pre-health honor society, Alpha Epsilon Delta, also sponsors programs with admissions officers and practitioners in these fields.
  • The medical mentoring program pairs you with medical professionals (many of whom are Millsaps alum) for a semester-long experience.
  • Millsaps maintains cooperative agreements with The University of Mississippi School of Pharmacy and the William Carey University School of Pharmacy to help students interested in careers in this field.
  • Millsaps maintains cooperative agreements with The University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC) School of Nursing and The University of Alabama, Birmingham (UAB) School of Nursing.
  • Millsaps College and the William Carey University College of Osteopathic Medicine (WCUCOM) offer qualified Millsaps students guaranteed admission into WCUCOM at the next registration date following their college graduation. Students must apply to this program by seeing the Pre-Health Director first semester of their freshman year.
  • Millsaps College and the Baptist University College of Osteopathic Medicine offer qualified students a guaranteed interview for their osteopathic medicine admissions program.
  • Millsaps students have the opportunity to do medical research in the Yucatan through our Study Abroad program.
  • Millsaps students have the opportunity to obtain clinical experience through working with AED’s Community Outreach program performing blood sugar and blood pressure checks.
  • Our large number of affiliate agreements gives you a strong pathway into professional programs.
  • Both a pre-health director and committee are here to guide you step-by-step.

Pre-Health Options

Discover your courses, degrees, certifications, and partnership options available for these fields of study.

Pre-Med

Required Courses include:

Biology, General Inorganic Chemistry, Genetics, Organic Chemistry, Physics, Calculus or Pre-calculus, Biochemistry, Introduction to Psychology, Introduction to Sociology, Statistics and two upper level biology or chemistry courses.

In addition, the following courses are strongly recommended:

Anatomy and Physiology, Microbiology, and Immunology

Pre-Dental

Required Courses include:

Biology, General Inorganic Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, Physics, Calculus or Pre-calculus, Biochemistry, Microbiology and Statistics.

In addition, the following courses are strongly recommended:

Anatomy and Physiology, Genetics, Introduction to Psychology, and Introduction to Sociology

Pre-Nursing

Required Courses include:

College algebra, Statistics, Nutrition, General Chemistry I&II (required by many schools but not all), Cell Biology, Zoology, Anatomy & Physiology I&II, Microbiology and Psychology life cycle.

Partnership Agreements

2-2 B.S.N. program — 2 years at Millsaps taking prerequisite courses and finish with 2 years at School of Nursing at UMMC. To be considered for early entry admission, students must contact the Millsaps’ Pre-Health Director by the end of September of their freshman year and formally apply to the program. Students must have a high school GPA of at least 3.5/4.0 and an ACT score of 25 or higher.

3-2 B.S./B.S.N. program — 3 years at Millsaps taking prerequisite courses and finish with 2 years at School of Nursing at UMMC. To be considered for early entry admission, students must contact the Millsaps’ Pre-Health Director by the end of September of their freshman year and formally apply to the program. Students must have a high school GPA of at least 3.5/4.0 and an ACT score of 25 or higher.

3.5/1 B.S./M.S.N. program — 3.5 years at Millsaps taking prerequisite courses and finish with 1 year at The University of Alabama, Birmingham School of Nursing.

Pre-Veterinary Medicine

Required Courses include:

Biology, General Inorganic Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, Physics, Calculus or Pre-calculus, Biochemistry, Microbiology, Introduction to Psychology, Introduction to Sociology, Statistics, and two upper-level Biology courses.

In addition, the following courses are strongly recommended:

Genetics, Vertebrate Zoology and Invertebrate Zoology

Pre-Chiropractic

Required Courses include:

Biology, General Inorganic Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, Physics, Calculus or Pre-calculus, Human Anatomy and Physiology, and Nutrition.

In addition, the following courses are strongly recommended:

Upper-level Biology and Chemistry courses.

Public Health

Public Health, B.A. >

Public Health, B.S. >

Minor in Public Health >

Partnership Agreements

Millsaps has an agreement for automatic acceptance with Tulane’s Masters of Public Health. Millsaps’ students with a 3.3 GPA are given priority admission and, if accepted into the program, are awarded a $25,000 scholarship paid out over four semesters.

Pre-Physician Assistant

Recommended Courses include:

Statistics, Calculus or Pre-Calculus, General Chemistry I&II, Organic Chemistry I&II, Biochemistry (required by some schools), Cell Biology, Zoology, Anatomy & Physiology I&II, Microbiology, Physics I&II, and Intro to Psychology.

In addition, the following courses are strongly recommended:

Medical Terminology, Psychology Life Cycle, Genetics and Immunology

Pre-Osteopathic Medicine

Required Courses include:

Biology, General Inorganic Chemistry, Genetics, Organic Chemistry, Physics, Calculus or Pre-Calculus, Biochemistry, Introduction to Psychology, Introduction to Sociology, Statistics, and two upper-level biology or chemistry courses.

In addition, the following courses are strongly recommended:

Anatomy and Physiology, Microbiology, and Immunology

Partnership Agreements

Millsaps College and the William Carey University College of Osteopathic Medicine (WCUCOM) offer qualified Millsaps students guaranteed admission into WCUCOM at the next registration date following their college graduation.

** Entering freshmen must have a minimum of 26 on the ACT and interview with the Millsaps’ Pre-Health director and a representative from WCUCOM to be admitted into the program.

Pre-Physical Therapy/Pre-Occupational Therapy

 Required Courses include:

Biology, General Inorganic Chemistry, Physics, Medical Terminology, Human Anatomy and Physiology, Introduction to Psychology, Psychology Life Cycle and Statistics.

In addition, the following courses are strongly recommended:

Higher-level biology, chemistry, psychology and/or neuroscience courses

Pre-Pharmacy

Required Courses include:

Statistics, Calculus I, Cell Biology, Zoology, General Chemistry I&II, Organic Chemistry I&II, Biochemistry I (and sometimes II), Physics I&II, Anatomy & Physiology I&II, Medical Microbiology, Speech, Economics, and Ethics.

In addition, the following courses are strongly recommended:

Pharmacology

Partnership Agreements

3/4 B.S. – Pharm.D. Program — Millsaps students are given preferred admission to the University of Mississippi School of Pharmacy allowing them to finish their prerequisite courses for pharmacy school at Millsaps in three years. Upon completion of the pre-requisite courses, they will go to the Oxford campus to take two years of pharmacy courses and then transfer to the UMMC campus in Jackson to complete the final two years of pharmacy school courses, earning their B.S. from Millsaps and their doctorate in pharmacy from UMMC. To be eligible for preferred admission, students must apply to the program by seeing the Pre-Health Director at the end of their first freshman semester at Millsaps. Elgible students will have a 3.25 GPA with no grade lower than a C in pharmacy pre-requisite courses as well as have demonstrated volunteer experiences.

4/3 B.S. – Pharm.D. program — Students complete 4 full years at Millsaps before joining the School of Pharmacy at the William Carey University School of Medicine. The William Carey program is an accelerated program where students finish in three years instead of the normal four to complete the Doctorate of Pharmacy degree. To be eligible for preferred admission, students must apply to the program by seeing the Pre-Health Director at the end of their first freshman semester at Millsaps. Eligible students will have a 3.5 GPA with no grade lower than a C in pharmacy pre-requisite courses, a minimum GPA of 3.00 in all science and math courses, as well as have demonstrated volunteer experiences.

Pre-Optometry

Required Courses include:

Biology, Genetics, General Inorganic Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, Physics, Calculus or Pre-Calculus, Biochemistry, Introduction to Psychology, Introduction to Sociology and Microbiology.

In addition, the following courses are strongly recommended:

Anatomy and physiology and upper-level biology or chemistry courses.

Population Health

Recommended Courses include:

Biology, General Inorganic Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, Biochemistry, Human Anatomy and Physiology, Introduction to Psychology, Introduction to Sociology, and Statistics.

In addition, the following courses are strongly recommended:

Research experience of any sort is very helpful.

Mental Health

Psychology, B.A. >

Psychology, B.S. >

Minor in Psychology >

Neuroscience, B.A. >

Neuroscience, B.S. >

Minor in Neuroscience >

Students planning on becoming psychiatrists need to follow the pre-med or pre-osteopathic medicine route. Students planning on becoming psychologists will apply to graduate school.

Gain hands-on experience

Pathways

Our curriculum emphasizes problem solving and critical thinking skills essential to any career (and therefore any Pathway), as well as scientific writing and experimentation skills that may be especially critical to students interested in any of our six Pathways tracks.

Ready? Take the next step!

Faculty

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