Prospective Pre-Health Students

Acceptance rates reflect applicants who worked with HPA for advising support throughout the application process. Data is calculated over four application cycles (entering classes of 2022 through 2025). Our applicant success speaks to the personalized advising support and intentional planning that Puget Sound pre-health students receive. 

Medical School: 84% (compared to a national average of ~43%)
Dental School: 87% (compared to national average of ~54%)
Nursing: 100% (compared to national average of ~66%)
Occupational Therapy: 100% (compared to national average of ~23%)
Optometry: 100% (compared to national average of ~71%)
Pharmacy: 100% (compared to national average of ~87%)
Physical Therapy: 100% (compared to national average of ~73%)
Physician Assistant: 84% (compared to national average of ~36%)
Veterinary Medicine: 100% (compared to national average of ~11%)

For other professions, either comprehensive data is not available to us and/or the number of applicants to the profession is statistically small.

See list of pre-requisites sorted by professional health program. 

All students are eligible to participate in the University of Puget Sound's Health Professions Advising Program as soon as they arrive on campus, beginning with new student orientation. We help you decide which future career may be best for you and how to meet the academic and other requirements for your chosen path. In addition to frequent one-on-one advising meetings, regular group workshops take place throughout the year for potential applicants to all health professions. Once a student nears the application process, they are strongly encouraged to participate in interview preparation workshops, mock interviews, personal statement workshops, and guidance through the application process. Medical school and dental school applicants are eligible for a committee letter from the Health Professions Advising Committee, along with extensive support around the letter packet (letters of recommendation) component. Mock interviews are available to all professional health program applicants during the calendar year in which they apply. HPA also hosts representatives from different professional health programs to visit with students about the admissions process and their schools. 

Become a self-directed learner. Set goals. Become increasingly responsible. Exercise self-discipline. Diagnose, prescribe and evaluate your own learning, and use learning resources (Center for Writing and Learning, for instance). Recognize your own limitations. Gain experience working with diverse populations who have identities different from your own. As part of the learning process, volunteer or paid work experience in the health fields is very important*. Engage in community service opportunities in which you have great passion, and demonstrate a sustained commitment to the activity over an extended period of time (activities do not need to be limited to the healthcare field). You must know what a typical day is like in the life of the professional you wish to become. While grades and admissions test scores are important, they aren't the whole picture.
*Students can visit the HPA Gaining Experience webpage to explore opportunities.

A Committee Letter provides a comprehensive evaluation of an applicant’s background, competencies, and preparation for a desired health professional career in medicine or dentistry. Many medical and dental schools expect or require a Committee Letter if one is offered by an applicant's undergraduate institution. The letter contextualizes the applicant within the University of Puget Sound curriculum and campus, and allows Puget Sound to advocate on behalf of an applicant, while highlighting Puget Sound's rigorous approach to the pre-health advising model. 

Medical school (MD, DO, DPM), dental school (DDS, DMD), and dual-degree (MD/PhD, DO/PhD, DDS/PhD, DMD/PhD) applicants* are eligible to request a Committee Letter from the Health Professions Advising Committee (HPAC) if all of the following criteria are met during the calendar year in which an application is submitted:
1. Completion of a mock interview with HPAC;
2. Attendance at both Applicant Meeting Part 1 and Part 2, hosted by the Health Professions Advising Office (HPA);
3. Attendance at both Personal Statement Workshop Part 1 and Part 2, hosted by the CWL;
4. Advisor access granted for all centralized application services to which an applicant is submitting a primary application (AMCAS, AACOMAS, AADSAS, and/or TMDSAS); 
5. "Request for Committee Letter" form submitted to HPA by April 1;
6. Undergraduate cumulative GPA of 3.0+ and undergraduate science/math GPA of 3.0+**;
7. All individual letters of recommendation submitted by May 31; and
8. MCAT composite score of 500+, DAT** composite score of 18+ (old scoring scale) or DAT Academic Average of 390+ (new scoring scale) by July 1.  
*All other professional health programs do not accept committee letters.
**Applicants with one or both GPAs below 3.0, and/or applicants with MCAT/DAT scores below the listed minimum, are eligible for all other support services provided by HPA including a letter packet (which includes a cover letter introducing the University of Puget Sound, along with an applicant's individual letters of recommendation in their entirety). A letter packet does not include a Committee Letter/narrative, nor does it include a formal institutional endorsement of the applicant's candidacy for a graduate program. 

The Health Professions Advising Program doesn't recommend any one particular approach to test preparation. Whether it be a course which is taught in regular class sessions such as the Princeton Review or Kaplan or one that is computer-based, the choice is yours to make. Puget Sound students have been successful test takers using all methods of preparation: self-study, informal groups, class-based, and computer-based. The HPA Forms & Documents page includes several resources for applicants preparing for the MCAT, DAT, GRE and OAT. There is also a comprehensive library of test prep materials within the HPA Office (Thompson 203) that are available for students/applicants to borrow at no cost. 

Successful students in the past have done the following: Taken the required courses and done well in them, studied hard for the relevant admission test (if required) and done well, had a consistent record of community service and clinical experience through paid or unpaid experiences, applied in a timely manner to a reasonable mix of schools matching their interests and accomplishments, developed the kinds of relationships with professors and others that will enable them to obtain strong letters of recommendation, practiced interviewing skills, and had a clear understanding of their motivations for healthcare as well as the ability to articulate this in writing and in interviews.

See the complete historical list of medical schools our students have been accepted to over the years. 

The Health Professions Advisors are well prepared to support students interested in nursing, including Accelerated BSN, Entry-Level MSN, Direct-Entry NP and Direct-Entry DNP programs. Pre-nursing students are strongly encouraged to begin working closely with a Health Professions Advisor early in their time at Puget Sound to ensure nursing pre-requisites are fulfilled. Pre-nursing students can select any academic major while fulfilling nursing prerequisites.

Beyond the required professional health graduate program prerequisite courses (most often, select offerings from biology, chemistry, physics, biochemistry, statistics, psychology, sociology, etc.), a broad liberal arts background is encouraged and expected, as is majoring in the field of greatest interest. When a student is “pre-health”, that typically suggests that they are completing the courses required for admission to a professional health graduate program (i.e. medical school, dental school, PT school, etc.), but have selected a major in a specific subject matter (such as biology, psychology, music, neuroscience, etc.).

The Health Professions Advising (HPA) Student Ambassadors are a group of pre-health students who are available to connect directly with prospective pre-health students. They can share a bit about their journey as a pre-health student at Puget Sound, answer questions about health professions advising support, and provide valuable insight into the life of a pre-health student. To contact an HPA Student Ambassador, simply visit the HPA Contacts page and scroll to the section titled "HPA Student Ambassadors". 

Yes! Each spring, the Health Professions Advising office awards 8-10 financial scholarships to pre-health students who are in their sophomore, junior or senior year of study. All pre-health students who have reached sophomore standing are eligible to apply, provided they have a 3.5+ cumulative GPA at point of application and are actively working with the Health Professions Advising office for pre-health advising support. Half of the scholarships require demonstrated financial need as determined by the FAFSA, and the other half do not require financial need to qualify. Scholarship award amounts vary from an average of $1,000 to $12,000 per award. 

Yes, all pre-health students are eligible to enroll in our Human Anatomy & Human Physiology courses (a 2-semester series), which includes a human cadaver in the lab component of the courses.  Pre-health students typically enroll in the Human Anatomy & Human Physiology series during their sophomore, junior or senior year. As a powerful teaching tool for pre-health students, students are taught to practice the utmost respect for cadavers and to acknowledge the significance of the donor's gift. 

Yes! Nearly 40% of pre-health students are also student-athletes! Pre-health student-athletes participate in collegiate athletics, while remaining firmly on-track for a 4-year graduation. Our pre-health student-athletes often reference the skills, qualities and traits learned through athletics within their professional health program application materials, including leadership, teamwork, grit, overcoming adversity and time management. As student-athletes, Puget Sound pre-health students are able to commit to both their athletic commitments and professional health career plans, without sacrificing one for the other. Want to learn more about what it's like to be both a student-athlete and pre-health at Puget Sound? Many of our HPA Alumni Ambassadors wore both hats while at Puget Sound, and are happy to discuss their experience with prospective students. 

Puget Sound currently maintains the following articulation agreements/MOUs with professional health graduate programs:

• Idaho College of Osteopathic Medicine (ICOM): Guaranteed interview invitation to qualifying applicants from University of Puget Sound
  • Eligibility Criteria: 3.2+ cumulative GPA, 3.2+ BCPM GPA, 50th+ percentile MCAT composite, and 35th+ percentile in each MCAT subsection 
• Pacific Lutheran University, Entry-Level Master’s of Science in Nursing: Application fee waiver & GRE waived to qualifying applicants from University of Puget Sound
  • Eligibility Criteria: Attend an information session with a PLU School of Nursing admission representative
• Pacific Northwest University of Health Sciences (PNWU) College of Osteopathic Medicine: Guaranteed interview invitation to qualifying applicants from University of Puget Sound
  • Eligibility Criteria: 3.5+ cumulative GPA and 500+ composite MCAT
• University of Puget Sound, School of Physical Therapy: Guaranteed admission to qualifying applicants from University of Puget Sound, application fee waived, and GRE waived
  • Eligibility Criteria: 3.5+ cumulative GPA and 3.75+ prerequisite GPA (all prerequisite courses must be completed at Puget Sound)
• University of Puget Sound, Master in Public Health: Guaranteed admission to qualifying applicants from University of Puget Sound
  • Eligibility Criteria: 3.3+ cumulative GPA
• Western University of Health Sciences of the Pacific Northwest (COMP-NW) College of Osteopathic Medicine: Guaranteed interview invitation to qualifying applicants from University of Puget Sound
  • Eligibility Criteria: 3.0+ cumulative GPA and 505+ composite MCAT

Parents, guardians and caregivers of prospective students are welcome to contact Nova Fergueson, Health Professions Advisor, for conversation: nfergueson@pugetsound.edu or 253-879-2708 (direct office phone).