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FAQs
Below are answers to some of the most frequently asked questions we receive in the Pre-Health Office. If you do not see your question answered here, please send your question to premed@hunter.cuny.edu
Getting Started on the Pre-Health Track
Students who are new to Pre-Health are encouraged to join our email Listserv so you can receive daily information about workshops, events, resources, and opportunities. Students must register with their Hunter College email address in order to receive announcements. After subscribing, please review our steps on how to join the Pre-Health Program.
Students interested in pursuing Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapy, Pharmacy, or Physician Assistant Programs do not need to open a Pre-Health file in order to have letters of recommendation uploaded to their application. These students also do not need a Pre-Health file in order to receive advice or guidance on fulfilling course requirements or have their applications reviewed.
Any event hosted by the Pre-Health Advising Office or Pre-Health club/organization at Hunter College will fulfill this requirement. Events hosted by external institutions will not count towards this requirement.
All Pre-Health events are currently held on Zoom. To receive credit for having attended an event, the Zoom display name must be the same name that the student used to register for the event. Additionally, students must join the Zoom event at the scheduled start time and stay for the full length of the event.
Please review our Event Registration, Attendance Policies, and Best Practices for more information, including how to cancel your RSVP.
Coursework & Extracurricular Activities
Different health professions require different prerequisites. Please review our course requirements to view the prerequisites specific to your career-track.
While you may e-permit courses from other CUNY institutions, the Pre-Health Advising Office does not recommend students take more than one or two e-permit courses because these courses do not count toward your 38 science credits requirement, nor do they contribute to your Hunter science GPA calculation. Taking more than two e-permit courses will hinder your chances of qualifying for a Committee Letter, and/or qualifying for a Pre-Health file.
Only science courses taken at Hunter will count towards satisfying the required credits for opening a Pre-Health file and obtaining a Committee Letter.
Please note that the hours listed below are recommended minimums. We strongly suggest students select experiences they will enjoy rather than doing something to “check a box.” If a letter of recommendation is requested by a student for any of the below, the students' hours should be documented in the letter of recommendation.
| Type | Min. Hours | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Clinical—Paid or Volunteer | 200 |
|
| Non-Medical Community Service (Must Be Volunteer/Unpaid) | 150-200 |
|
| Research for MD/DO | 6 months or 1 summer | Volunteer clinical or bench lab research opportunities at Hunter or through an outside academic or medical institution. |
| Research for MD-PhD | 2 years, multiple labs preferred | Volunteer clinical or bench lab research opportunities at Hunter or through an outside academic or medical institution. Minimum of 1 publication. |
Students can visit the following websites to research community service opportunities in New York City:
Applying to Pre-Health Professions Graduate School
A student with a GPA of 3.6 or higher is considered competitive for the health professions. A competitive GPA and strong performance on the applicable standardized exam—MCAT, DAT, VAT, PCAT, OAT, or GRE—are strong indicators of success; however, there are many individual factors at play in the admissions process. Please view our successful student profiles to read where Hunter students have been accepted.
You must make the effort to get to know your instructors by going to office hours and/or staying after class to ask questions. It may seem intimidating to walk into office hours and start conversations, but the more you practice this, the easier it will be. Starting in your first semester, make it your goal to get to know one faculty member well; by the time you apply, you will have developed relationships with at least two professors.
You are also encouraged to participate in classroom discussions and recitations so that instructors can get to know you. Instructors should be informed early on of your interest in a career in the health professions. If possible, take multiple courses with the same professor so that you have a better opportunity to build a relationship with that professor.
Hunter students have been accepted to many schools. Below is an abbreviated list, to name a few:
- Albert Einstein College of Medicine
- Columbia Vagelos College of Physicians & Surgeons
- Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Saini
- New York Medical College
- New York University College of Dentistry
- Stony Brook University School of Medicine
- SUNY Downstate Medical College
- University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine
- Yale School of Medicine
- Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University
- Baylor College of Medicine
- Boston University School of Medicine
- Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine
- Chicago Medical School at Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science
- Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons
- Duke University School of Medicine
- Emory University School of Medicine
- Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth
- Georgetown University School of Medicine
- Harvard Medical School
- Howard University College of Medicine
- Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
- Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
- Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California
- Loma Linda University School of Medicine
- Medical College of Wisconsin
- Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine
- Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine
- Raymond and Ruth Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania
- Rutgers New Jersey Medical School
- Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
- Saint Louis University School of Medicine
- Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University
- Stony Brook University School of Medicine
- SUNY Upstate Medical University
- The George Washington U. School of Medicine and Health Sciences
- The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University
- Tufts University School of Medicine
- Tulane University School of Medicine
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine
- University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
- University of California, Davis School of Medicine
- University of California, Los Angeles David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA
- University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine
- University of Chicago Division of the Biological Sciences, The Pritzker School of Medicine
- University of Connecticut School of Medicine
- University of Hawaii John A. Burns School of Medicine
- University of Kentucky College of Medicine
- University of Louisville School of Medicine
- University of Texas Medical School at Houston
- University of Utah School of Medicine
- University of Virginia School of Medicine
- Vanderbilt University School of Medicine
- Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine
- Weill Cornell Medical College
- West Virginia University School of Medicine
- Yale University School of Medicine
The schools listed below use the MMI interview format:
- Albany Medical College
- California Northstate
- Central Michigan University
- Chicago Medical School at Rosalind Franklin University
- Cooper Medical School of Rowan University (hybrid—traditional + MMI)
- Duke University
- Michigan State University College of Human Medicine
- New York Medical College
- New York University
- Nova Southeastern (MD)
- Oregon Health and Science University
- Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
- San Juan Bautista (Puerto Rico)
- Stanford University
- SUNY Upstate
- Tufts University (Maine Track only)
- Universidad Central Del Caribe (Puerto Rico)
- University of Alabama (hybrid)
- University of Arizona
- University of California—Davis
- University of California—Los Angeles
- University of California—Riverside
- University of California—San Diego
- University of Cincinnati
- University of Colorado
- University of Massachusetts
- University of Michigan (hybrid)
- University of Minnesota Twin Cities
- University of Mississippi
- University of Missouri-Kansas City
- University of Nevada
- University of South Carolina Greenville (hybrid)
- University of Texas—Austin
- University of Toledo
- University of Utah (hybrid)
- University of Vermont
- Virginia Commonwealth
- Virginia Tech Carilion
- Wake Forest
- Wayne State (hybrid)
- Western Michigan University (hybrid)
- AT Still University—School of Osteopathic Medicine in Arizona
- Marian University College of Osteopathic Medicine
- Michigan State College of Osteopathic Medicine
- Pacific Northwest College of Osteopathic Medicine
- University of North Texas
- University of the Incarnate Word School of Osteopathic Medicine
- Western University of Health Sciences College of Osteopathic Medicine (hybrid)
Pre-Health students can enroll in General Biology 1 (including lab)—BIOL 100, or any science lab course, including General Chemistry Lab 1—CHEM 106, and Organic Chemistry Labs 1 and 2 ORGO 223/ORGO 225 during the Hunter College summer term.
Students can also take Statistics—STAT 213, and Introduction to Psychology—PSYCH 100 during the Hunter College summer term. Our office strongly recommends that Pre-Health students take all other pre-requisite courses during the regular term at Hunter College.