Which courses should you take for Pre-Health? Students possessing a solid foundation in the natural sciences and enthusiasm for any topic, including choices from the humanities and social sciences, are attractive to medical and other health professional schools. Follow your passion! In addition, students must be able to deal with abstract ideas and express themselves with oral and written clarity.
Recommended Courses
- Health professional graduate programs generally prefer that Lake Forest students complete all their Pre-Health coursework at Lake Forest College, when possible. In some cases, such as when courses required by a health professional graduate program are not offered at Lake Forest College, students should find highly-ranked, rigorous institutions at which to take such courses.
- Below are some guidelines that are based upon our analysis of the major schools in Illinois and sometimes surrounding states, arranged by type of health professional graduate program.
- Please note that individual programs may have specific requirements not reflected here, and that requirements vary within a program.
- For some programs, all prerequisites must be completed before applying.
- Typically online science courses are not accepted.
- Grades in prerequisite courses must be a C or better.
- A specific course in speech generally is not needed since a speaking intensive course is in our curriculum.
- Due to the pandemic, many schools allowed and accepted pass/fail as a grade option. These policies and requirements may vary amongst different schools. Please be sure to verify current policies and requirements for each school you are interested in.
Jump to:
- Pre-Athletic Training
- Pre-Medicine/Pre-Podiatry
- Pre-Nursing
- Pre-Physician Assistant
- Pre-Dental Medicine
- Pre-Pharmacy
- Pre-Occupational Therapy
- Pre-Optometry
- Pre-Physical Therapy
- Pre-Veterinary Medicine
Students are responsible for researching the health professional graduate programs they will be applying to and making sure they meet all prerequisites.
Pre-Athletic Training
BIOL 120: Organismal Biology with Lab
PSYC 110: Introduction to Psychological Sciences with lab
CHEM 115 and 116: Chemistry I & II with Lab
PHYS 110 and 111 OR PHYS 120 and 121: Introductory Physics I & II with Lab OR General Physics I & II with Lab
HPPC 208: Human Anatomy with Lab
HPPC 209: Human Physiology with Lab
MATH 150: Intro to Probability and Statistics or ECON/BUSN130: Applied Statistics or PSYC 221: Research Methods and Statistics
A Kinesiology course is also required, but is not offered at Lake Forest College. Many local community colleges offer this course.
Aurora University Masters of Science in Athletic Training pre-requisites
Pre-Medicine (also Pre-Podiatry)
BIOL 120: Organismal Biology with Lab
CHEM 115 and 116: Chemistry I & II with Lab
BIOL 221: Molecules, Genes, and Cells with Lab
CHEM 220 and 221: Organic Chemistry I & II with Lab
CHEM 300: Biochemistry with Lab
PHYS 110 and 111 OR PHYS 120 and 121: Introductory Physics I & II with Lab OR General Physics I & II with Lab
PSYC 110: Intro to Psychological Science
SOAN 110: Introduction to Sociology and Anthropology (take in first two years, or take a different SOAN course later)
MATH 150: Introduction to Probability & Statistics (large percentage of schools) or ECON/BUSN130: Applied Statistics or PSYC 221: Research Methods & Statistics I
MATH 110: Calculus (small percentage of schools)
Two English courses
Recommended courses include: Spanish or other language
Rosalind Franklin program pre-requisites
Pre-Nursing
BIOL 120: Organismal Biology with Lab
CHEM 115 and 116: Chemistry I & II with Lab
HPPC 208: Human Anatomy with Lab
HPPC 210: Microbiology or BIOL 323: Microbiology with Lab
HPPC 209: Human Physiology or BIOL 340: Animal Physiology with Lab
MATH 150: Intro to Probability and Statistics or ECON/BUSN130: Applied Statistics or PSYC 221: Research Methods and Statistics
Recommended courses include: PSYC 210: Developmental Psychology; Sociology; Spanish or other language
- DePaul University School of Nursing
- Rush University College of Nursing
- Rosalind Franklin University Nursing Pathways Program
Pre-Physician Assistant
BIOL 120: Organismal Biology with Lab
CHEM 115 and 116: Chemistry I & II with Lab
HPPC 208: Human Anatomy with Lab
BIOL 221: Molecules, Genes, and Cells with Lab
CHEM 220: Organic Chemistry I & II with Lab
CHEM 300: Biochemistry with Lab
HPPC 210: Microbiology or BIOL 323: Microbiology with Lab
HPPC 209: Human Physiology or BIOL 340: Animal Physiology with Lab
PSYC 110: Intro to Psychological Science
MATH 150: Intro to Probability and Statistics or ECON/BUSN130: Applied Statistics or PSYC 221: Research Methods and Statistics
Two English courses
Speech*
Recommended courses include: Medical terminology (not offered at Lake Forest); Spanish or other language; additional Psychology
Note: most matriculants in Physician Assistant programs have over a thousand hours direct patient contact (e.g. CNA, physical therapy aide, EMT, etc).
Rosalind Franklin program pre-requisites
Pre-Dentistry
BIOL 120: Organismal Biology with Lab
BIOL 221: Molecules, Genes, and Cells with Lab
CHEM 115 and 116: Chemistry I & II with Lab
CHEM 220 and 221: Organic Chemistry I & II with Lab
CHEM 300: Biochemistry with Lab
PHYS 110 and 111 OR PHYS 120 and 121: Introductory Physics I & II with Lab OR General Physics I & II with Lab
MATH 150: Intro to Probability and Statistics or ECON/BUSN130: Applied Statistics or PSYC 221: Research Methods and Statistics
ECON 110: Principles of Economics
Two English courses, including composition
Recommended courses include additional Biology courses: BIOL 208: Human Anatomy; BIOL 322: Molecular Biology; BIOL 323: Microbiology; BIOL 340: Animal Physiology; BIOL 352: Molecular Genetics; PSYC 110: Intro to Psychological Science; Sociology; Spanish or other language
Midwestern University Doctor of Dentistry Prerequisites
Pre-Pharmacy
BIOL 120: Organismal Biology with Lab
HPPC 208: Human Anatomy with Lab
BIOL 221: Molecules, Genes, and Cells with Lab
PSYC 110: Intro to Psychological Science
HPPC 210: Microbiology or BIOL 323: Microbiology with Lab
HPPC 209: Human Physiology or BIOL 340: Animal Physiology with Lab
CHEM 115 and 116: Chemistry I & II with Lab
CHEM 220 and 221: Organic Chemistry I & II with Lab
CHEM 300: Biochemistry with Lab
PHYS 110 and 111 OR PHYS 120 and 121: Introductory Physics I & II with Lab OR General Physics I & II with Lab
MATH 110: Calculus
MATH 150: Intro to Probability and Statistics or ECON/BUSN130: Applied Statistics or PSYC 221: Research Methods and Statistics
ECON 110: Principles of Economics
Two English courses, including composition
Speech*
Genetics*
Recommended courses include: PSYC 110: Intro to Psychological Science; Sociology; Spanish or other language
Rosalind Franklin program pre-requisites
Pre-Optometry
BIOL 120: Organismal Biology with Lab
BIOL 221: Molecules, Genes, and Cells with Lab
CHEM 115 and 116: Chemistry I & II with Lab
CHEM 220: Organic Chemistry I with Lab
CHEM 221: Organic Chemistry II with Lab
CHEM 300: Biochemistry
HPPC 210: Microbiology or BIOL 323: Microbiology with Lab
PHYS 110 and 111 OR PHYS 120 and 121: Introductory Physics I & II with Lab OR General Physics I & II with Lab
MATH 110: Calculus
MATH 150: Intro to Probability and Statistics or ECON/BUSN130: Applied Statistics or PSYC 221: Research Methods and Statistics
PSYC 110: Intro to Psychological Science
Two English courses, including composition
Recommended courses include: BIOL 208: Human Anatomy; BIOL 340: Animal physiology; BIOL 352: Molecular Genetics; CHEM 300: Biochemistry; business; economics; sociology; additional psychology course; Spanish or other language
Midwestern University Pre-Optometry Requirements and Courses
Pre-Occupational Therapy
BIOL 120: Organismal Biology with Lab
HPPC 208: Human Anatomy with Lab
HPPC 209: Human Physiology or BIOL 340: Animal Physiology with Lab
CHEM 115 and 116: Chemistry I & II with Lab
MATH 150: Intro to Probability and Statistics or ECON/BUSN130: Applied Statistics or PSYC 221: Research Methods and Statistics
PSYC 110: Intro to Psychological Science
PSYC 210: Developmental Psychology
2 English courses
Speech*
Recommended courses include: Medical terminology (not offered at Lake Forest); Abnormal Psychology, Spanish or other language
Pre-Physical Therapy
BIOL 120: Organismal Biology with Lab
HPPC 208: Human Anatomy with Lab
HPPC 209: Human Physiology or BIOL 340: Animal Physiology with Lab
CHEM 115 and 116: Chemistry I & II with Lab
PHYS 110 and 111 OR PHYS 120 and 121: Introductory Physics I & II with Lab OR General Physics I & II with Lab
MATH 150: Intro to Probability and Statistics or ECON/BUSN130: Applied Statistics or PSYC 221: Research Methods and Statistics
PSYC 110: Intro to Psychological Science
PSYC 210: Developmental Psychology
Medical terminology (not offered at Lake Forest)
Two English courses, including composition
Speech*
Recommended courses include: Spanish or other language
Rosalind Franklin program pre-requisites
Pre-Veterinarian Medicine
BIOL 120: Organismal Biology with Lab
BIOL 221: Molecules, Genes, and Cells with Lab
CHEM 115 and 116: Chemistry I & II with Lab
CHEM 220 and 221: Organic Chemistry I & II with Lab
CHEM 300: Biochemistry with Lab
PHYS 110 and 111 OR PHYS 120 and 121: Introductory Physics I & II with Lab OR General Physics I & II with Lab
Two English Courses
Speech*
Genetics*
Two other science courses, below
Other recommended courses include: BIOL 208: Human Anatomy; BIOL 220: Evolution and Ecology; BIOL 323: Microbiology; BIOL 326: Immunology; BIOL 340: Animal Physiology; BIOL 352: Molecular Genetics; MATH 150: Intro to Probability and Statistics or ECON/BUSN130: Applied Statistics or PSYC 221: Research Methods and Statistics; MATH 110: Calculus; PSYC 110: Intro to Psychological Science; Sociology; Economics; Business; Accounting; Personal Finance; Animal Sciences (including Nutrition) not offered at Lake Forest; Spanish or other language
* Pre-Health Advising can provide a formal letter explaining how this course material is covered at Lake Forest.
Did you know?
…that the health professions look for individuals who can demonstrate they are ready and able to work with those from other cultures? Study off-campus or abroad for such diverse opportunities as engaging in public health in Costa Rica or gaining a South African perspective on HIV!
…that the health professions are always looking for individuals who speak a different language? If possible, build on a language strength to become more proficient.