Preparing for a career in the health professions involves both academic preparation and intentional career planning. In addition to guidance from your health professions faculty advisor, you’ll find a wide range of resources here to help you explore career paths, understand application requirements, and prepare for your next steps.
Whether you’re interested in medicine, dentistry, nursing, veterinary medicine, or another health field, these tools will connect you with advising, professional organizations, admissions information, and application support. Use the links below to learn more about specific fields, strengthen your application, and take the next step toward your professional goals.
Planning for Health Professions School
- Planning for Medical School
- Planning for Dental School
- Planning for Nursing School
- Planning for Optometry School
- Planning for Pharmacy School
- Planning for Physical Therapy and Occupational Therapy School
- Planning for Veterinary School
- Planning for PA School
- Write the Right Personal Statement
Audiology
Chiropractic Medicine
Dentistry
- American Dental Association - Learn about dental careers and the educational paths to attaining them.
- American Dental Education Association - Links to dental schools and the Associated American Dental Schools Application Service (AADSAS)
- American Student Dental Association - Membership information and publications for dental and pre-dental students
- GoDental.org - Provides pre-dental students advice for entering the field, introduces them to the world of dentistry through mentorships and offers direction for navigating the application process
Genetic Counseling
- National Society of Genetic Counselors - Career information and links to genetics counseling programs
Health Administration
- Association of University Programs in Health Administration - Links to graduate health administration program
Medicine
- American Association of Medical Colleges - Find information on applying to medical school, taking the MCAT, requesting information and more.
- American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine (AACOM) - Everything you need to know about applying to osteopathic programs around the country, including the ability to apply online through AACOM Application Service.
- American Association of Naturopathic Physicians - Physician locator, state licensing information, and links to naturopathic schools
- AAMC’s Aspiring Docs - Individual stories in podcasts and advice on everything from MCAT to finances
- American Medical Association - Career information
- American Medical College Application Service - Applying to med school outside of Texas? Start here with this centralized application service!
- American Medical Student Association - Membership information, student reviews of medical schools, and a premed guide
- Joint Admission Medical Program (JAMP) - Created by the Texas Legislature, this program supports and encourages highly qualified, economically disadvantaged Texas resident students pursuing a medical education. Apply as a first-year to earn financial support, mentoring and personal assistance, hands-on experience and guaranteed admission to a Texas medical school if you meet all program requirements.
- Princeton Review Medical School Information - Includes information on deciding on a medical school, researching medical schools, taking the MCAT, applying to schools, paying for medical school and more.
- Summer Health Professions Education Program (SHPEP) - SHPEP offers students a variety of academic and career experiences related to the health professions, including academic enrichment in the basic sciences and quantitative topic, study skills development, clinical exposure through small-group clinical rotations in health care settings, simulation experiences, and seminars, career development sessions directed toward exploration of the health professions, the admissions process, and the development of an individualized education plan, financial literacy, a health policy seminar series to expose scholars to a larger view of health care, health systems, and the social determinants of health, and an introduction to interprofessional education that addresses effective collaboration across health professions.
- Student Doctor Network - Information for medical students about applying to med school, surviving in med school, medical news, interns and residency programs and more. Also contains resources for other health professions areas.
- Student National Medical Association - Resources, journal and conference aimed at Black medical and pre-medical students
- Texas Medical and Dental Schools Application Service - If you’re applying to medical or dental school in Texas, this page is where you start!
- U.S. News Medical School Rankings - This site has great articles for anyone headed to med school or pursuing a job in the health industry, as well as ranking information.
University of Michigan’s Multiple Mini Interviews (MMIs) Preparation Prezi - Learn about a special style of med school interviews through this Prezi/YouTube presentation.
Nursing
- American Association of Colleges of Nursing - Career and admissions information and links to nursing programs
- NurseJournal.org - Provides individuals with informative and accurate information to help guide them in their educational and career decisions. Each resource has been reviewed by leaders in the field and builds on data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the American Nurses Association, and organizations within the specialization.
- NursingExplorer.com’s Nursing Career Guide - Additional helpful links on other pages, too!
- NurseJournal.org - Scholarship and publishing opportunity
- Nurse.org Career Guides:
- NursingSchool411.com: Descriptions of different nursing roles and interviews with current professionals
- Nursing Specialties (out of hospital) - Overview of position descriptions for nursing career options
- RegisteredNursing.org - A nursing advocacy organization that aims to enable nurses and future nurses in their path towards a long and rewarding career by providing free support resources, such as info on nursing programs, career paths, salary, job search, resumes, licensing exams and more.
Nutrition
- American Society for Nutrition - Links to graduate programs
Optometry
- American Optometric Association
- Association of Schools and Colleges of Optometry - Information about optometry education.
Pharmacy
- American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy
- Pharmacy School Admissions Requirements
- Practice PCAT Tests - Via the SU library, this direct link only works from on campus. Otherwise, log in through the SU library page > Databases A-Z > LearningExpress Library > go to All Centers menu tab at top and choose College Center > use the right arrow to tab over to Prepare for Graduate School Admission Exams > defaults to GMAT, but use the left-hand navigation bar to select for PCAT (as well as LSAT and GRE).
Physician Assistant
- American Academy of Physician Assistants - Learn about how to become a physician assistant and the career field.
- Physician Assistant Education Association - Get information on careers, admission information and links to PA programs, as well as the Central Application Service for PAs
- PA Shadow Online - Matches PAs with students who are looking for shadowing experiences. Students need to register at the site to access potential PAs in their region. Some PA programs may also keep a list of their graduates who are willing to provide shadowing experiences for area students or applicants.
Podiatry
- American Association of Colleges of Podiatric Medicine - Career and admission information and links to podiatric programs and the American Association of Colleges of Podiatric Medicine Application Service
- American Podiatric Medical Association - Career and education information for prospective podiatrists.
- PHYSICAL/OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY
- American Occupational Therapy Association - Information for prospective students about OT careers and education.
- American Physical Therapy Association - Information for prospective students about PT careers and education.
Public Health
- Association of Schools of Public Health - Links to schools; career information at www.aspph.org/discover/
- CareersinPublicHealth.net - Features salary comparisons, articles, directory of graduate programs and more.
Veterinary Medicine
- American Veterinary Medical Association - Career and education information for prospective veterinarians.
- Association of American Veterinary Colleges - Career and admission information and links to veterinary programs and the Veterinary Medical Colleges Application Service
General Health Professions Resources
- ExploreHealthCareers.org - Comprehensive website including news, career information, internships listings, profiles of various professionals and more.
- GradSchools.com - Searchable database for domestic and international programs in medicine and other health fields.
- National Institutes of Health - Health news and information, research internships and links to individual institutes and other federal health agencies
- Paying for Graduate and Professional School - CollegeAffordabilityGuide.com’s comprehensive resource
- Petersons.com - Search for graduate and professional programs (e.g. “Allopathic Medicine” and select “First Professional Degree”). Also click on “Advice Center” and scroll down to “Medical School” for advice relating to applying for medical school.
- Student Doctor Network - Information for medical students about applying to med school, surviving in med school, medical news, interns and residency programs and more.
- UT Health Professions Office - Links to exploring careers in the health professions, including pharmacy, physical therapy, medicine, physician assistant programs, dentistry, podiatry, optometry and veterinary medicine, and tips for applying to various health professions graduate programs.