Advising Health and Legal Professions Students

Pre-Health Advising

by Christine Richmond

Did you know the MCAT, the entrance exam that most medical schools require, is changing its content effective Spring 2015?  Current freshmen who decide to take the MCAT in their senior year, and the majority of next year’s incoming class, will take this new exam.  For that reason, advisors should encourage pre-med students to take SYG2000, PSY2012, STA2023, and BCH4024 or CHM3218 (biochemistry). Since these are not necessarily prerequisites for medical schools, there may be other ways students can gain competency in these areas (i.e. self-study, research, etc.). If you have any questions about the new recommendations, please contact Christine Richmond or Bobbi Knickerbocker.

So, we thought it might be fun to use this forum to take a look at some common misperceptions about pre-health students.

Pre-Health Myth #1:  Most freshmen who come to UF as pre-health students will probably change their minds after a year or two.

How many of you have said “Sure.  This student says he or she is pre-med, but how long will that last?”  It’s true, a lot of students come to Preview thinking they’re going to be doctors or dentists and, after one semester of chemistry, quickly change their minds. But did you know that last year we had over 2,300 current or former UF students apply to graduate health profession programs? That’s almost a third of our typical freshman class. Of the 2,300 applicants, over 800 applied to medical school and almost 1,500 applied to programs like dentistry, pharmacy, physical therapy, occupational therapy, or veterinary medicine.  So it’s important to realize that we have many, many students who continue on to become our doctors, dentists, or physical therapists.

As advisors, the best thing we can do for pre-health students is to acknowledge their interests and encourage them to explore all health care career options and to volunteer or shadow so that they can really figure out if this is what they want to do. Personally, I think it’s amazing that so many of our students come to UF genuinely wanting a “helping” career. So try not to fall into the trap of thinking these students just want to make a lot of money or are being pressured by their parents.  Surely some fall into that category, but many are genuinely interested in this career field.

Pre-Law Advising

by Sara Mock

Did you know that there are currently 200 American Bar Association (ABA)-approved law schools in the country?  And that for over five years now, UF has been the top applicant feeder school to ABA-approved law schools in the country, joining other peer institutions such as UCLA, UT-Austin, UC-Berkeley, and the University of Michigan, which are also near the top of that annual list?

 

So, how many UF students actually apply to law school each year?  Annually, an average of 1,150-1,200 UF undergraduates/alumni apply to ABA-approved law schools.  In a typical year, this consists of approximately 550 seniors, 425 recent alumni who apply one to three years after undergraduate graduation, and 225 more seasoned alumni who applied three or more years after undergraduate graduation.  On average, our students/alumni apply to seven law schools and receive an average of three offers of admission.  Each year, approximately 980 UF students/alumni are admitted to at least one law school, and roughly 830 of those applicants enroll in law school each year. 

In future articles, we’ll take a look at trends within law school admission as well as the legal job market in an effort to help our students make well-informed decisions regarding their aspirations to pursue graduate degrees and careers in the legal field.  As always, please let anyone on our pre-law advising team (Nick Mrozinske, Lou Powers, Liz Kazungu, and Sara Mock) know if you have any questions.  We’d be happy to help!