a pre-health guide

Here are tips on being pre-health at UCD!

• 2 of the best resources: Health Professions Advising (HPA) & your major advisor

  • HPA offers advising for the health professional field you are interested in! You can also find information on pre-requisite courses for medical/dental/pharmacy school etc.

  • Your major advisor will help you succeed in courses and help you find the correct classes you need to take.

FINDING A COMMUNITY

• Having friends that are also pre-health is extremely helpful. Whether it's joining pre-health clubs, organizations, or fraternities, finding other people who are like-minded and taking similar classes as you will motivate you to do well.

  • I found that when I took classes with friends, I did much better because if I had short questions it was convenient to just ask them!

• Connections are also very important! Knowing the right people can help guide you and find experiences to take advantage of.

  • Don't be afraid to ask questions and reach out to people you don't know! I reached out to a UCD grad/UCSF dental student because I had ask pre-dental questions and he was so kind and helpful even though I did not know him.

OPPORTUNITIES

Student-Run Clinics

• One of my favorite things about going to UCD is that there are tons of student-run clinics to get involved with!

• Application cycles usually open up for most clinics during fall and spring

• Clinics are generally competitive so don't let it get to your head if you don't get accepted in your first try! A lot of people get in their 2nd, 3rd, or even 4th time.

Internships

• If you're interested in a health-related internship, UCD conveniently has a program called Health-Related Internships!

• Just like how you have a pass time for classes, you have a pass time for HRIs. Be sure to check for specific registration times.

Research

• Whether it's by cold emailing professors or utilizing connections to faculty, getting involved with research is an amazing opportunity!

Clubs

• There are so many different organizations to get involved with at Davis. Here is a list of health-related organizations on campus: https://hpa.ucdavis.edu/sites/g/files/dgvnsk4121/files/docs/resources_assets/HPA_PreHealthClubs.pdf

ACADEMICS

• My biggest piece of advice is to know when to reach out. Sometimes you think that you're doing okay when your not and to prevent yourself from going down a downward spiral, you need to ask for help.

• Office hours are very helpful, whether it's your TAs or professors!

  • Sometimes if I have a quick question, I send an email to my TA and they're very responsive.

  • If you need tutoring, there are great tutors at the dorms for lower-division chem & math. AATC also offers tutoring for Biology, Chemistry, Economics, Engineering, Math, Physics, Statistics, and writing.

  • Going to tutoring consistently is very helpful to understand concepts. After going to tutoring consistently for Chem 2C, I got As on my midterms!