The University of Puget Sound's Health Professions Advising program is experiencing unprecedented growth, now supporting 523 students and alumni as they pursue careers in healthcare. This year, 442 undergraduate students — 28% of the student body — identify as pre-health, while 81 alumni are actively preparing applications for professional health graduate programs. The numbers reflect a program built on relationships and sustained commitment.
"Pre-health advising requires relationships. This is never work done in isolation," says Nova Fergueson, health professions advisor. "On average, we spend four to six years working with each applicant before they ultimately apply to their respective professional health graduate program."
That investment is producing remarkable results, Fergueson says. In the current application cycle, medical school applicants utilizing Health Professions Advising (HPA) for support have received interview invitations from 20 top-ranked institutions, including the University of Washington School of Medicine. The majority of medical school applicants have already secured acceptances for programs. All of Puget Sound’s dental school applicants and occupational therapy applicants working with HPA have received official acceptance offers, and physician assistant applicants have received interview invitations from 13 programs across the country. In addition, 12 students have applied to Puget Sound’s highly ranked graduate programs in physical therapy and occupational therapy, and several have already been accepted and are committed to continuing their graduate education at Puget Sound.
In Fall 2025, Health Professions Advising welcomed 127 first-year students who identified health professions as their future career goal — 33% of the incoming class. Students like Hayden Teeter ’26, a chemistry major and starting quarterback for the football team from Arlington, Washington, exemplify the caliber of pre-health students at Puget Sound. Holly Poole ’26, from Colorado, serves as a student coordinator for the Campus Visit Program while serving on the Pre-Health Club leadership team as she prepares to apply to occupational therapy programs.
Supported by exceptional preparation and mentoring at the University of Puget Sound, recent graduates are launching into competitive medical and healthcare programs around the world. Jordan Holman ’22, a four-year volleyball player, is in her first year at University of California, Riverside School of Medicine. Liv Hauge ’25 earned multiple acceptances to veterinary medicine programs and is now studying at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. Sofia McLaren ’22 is pursuing her Doctorate in Nursing Practice at Seattle University with plans to work internationally as a nurse practitioner and midwife. Coby Rodriguez ’24, from Yakima, Washington, is completing his first year in Johns Hopkins University's Master of Science in Nursing program, driven by a passion for addressing healthcare inequities in rural and underserved communities.
Visiting Assistant Professor of Biology Gregory Johnson serves as the faculty chair of the Health Professions Advising Committee, which supports pre-health students in Puget Sound’s HPA program. “At its heart, my work as a faculty health professions advisor is about long-term mentorship rather than transactional advising,” Johnson says. “Preparing Puget Sound students for careers in healthcare means meeting them where they are and helping them navigate a complex, high-stakes process with honesty, empathy, and realistic guidance. My goal is to empower our students to make thoughtful and intentional decisions about how they realize their dreams to become future health professionals.”
The program's comprehensive approach distinguishes it from other institutions. Advising begins before students arrive on campus and extends indefinitely for alumni. “When many other schools have eliminated the use of committee letters for medical and dental school applicants, we are still fully committed to this added service as it meaningfully enhances the admission outcomes for our applicants,” Fergueson says. “We are also committed to inviting all upcoming applicants to fully participate in the mock interview process, with no barriers to participation.”
This year, the university formalized articulation agreements with four institutions: Idaho College of Osteopathic Medicine, Pacific Lutheran University's entry-level Master's of Science in Nursing program, Pacific Northwest University of Health Sciences College of Osteopathic Medicine, and Western University of Health Sciences of the Pacific Northwest College of Osteopathic Medicine. These partnerships provide Puget Sound students with unique benefits, including guaranteed interviews, application fee waivers, and standardized exam waivers.
“I see articulation agreements as one more resource we have at the ready to support our students in accomplishing their professional goals, and indicate an important institutional commitment to supporting career outcomes for Puget Sound graduates,” Fergueson says.
For Fergueson, the program's success is measured not just in acceptances, but in the character of the students it serves. “The care and compassion for others that I see in our students and applicants is sincerely humbling,” she says. “Our students and applicants are disarmingly humble. They feel deeply called to the work of healthcare because it allows them to live out a life of meaning and purpose, one that directly impacts the well-being of others.”
By the time applicants submit their applications, the advisors know their interests, struggles, goals, and dreams. “Each step in their professional journeys feels personal to me, because I know what they've sacrificed to achieve that moment, that milestone,” Fergueson says.
Across the country, communities are feeling the strain of ongoing shortages in medicine, nursing, and allied health — a need that continues to grow. The University of Puget Sound is preparing the next generation of dedicated, compassionate providers through a program that combines strategic support with genuine care for each student's journey, ensuring graduates are ready to step into roles where they are needed most.
Learn more about Health Professions Advising at pugetsound.edu/health-professions-advising.
