For a student planning a career in a health profession, the Health Studies Program offers valuable pre-professional curriculum and career advising. Students planning a healthcare career are encouraged to meet with the Director during their first year at the College. Pre-professional sequences have been established to meet the minimum admissions requirements of specific professional programs including human, dental, and veterinary medicine, podiatry, chiropractic, nursing, optometry, physical therapy, physician assistant and pharmacy. Additional curricular sequences can be planned with the Health Studies Director to meet individual pre-professional requirements.

The minimum admission requirements for most health professions programs are met when the courses listed for a specific area are combined with the pre-professional core curriculum. Students are cautioned that some of the courses listed may have other pre-requisites so it is important to refer to the detailed course descriptions elsewhere in this catalogue before planning a course of study. Note that Kalamazoo College does not offer degrees in nursing, medicine, pharmacy, etc.

Health Studies Concentration

The Health Studies Concentration offers a broad, multidisciplinary perspective of healthcare. It provides a broader survey of healthcare-related topics for the science major while providing a solid foundation in scientific principles and methods for the non-science major.

Health Professions Early Entry Program

A small number of Kalamazoo College students, by virtue of their superior academic performance and scores on admissions examinations, have been admitted to schools of veterinary medicine, dentistry, and physical therapy at the end of their third year. Other programs that may qualify for early entry are chiropractic, optometry, pharmacy, and podiatry. These students complete their general education requirements during their three years at Kalamazoo College and then begin study in a recognized professional school. At the end of one year of successful study at the professional school, they are awarded a Bachelor of Arts degree from Kalamazoo College. Students interested in this program should consult the Health Studies Director as early as possible.

Pre-professional Core Curriculum

BIOL 112 Evolution and Genetics with Lab
BIOL 246 Cell and Molecular Biology with Lab
CHEM 110 Introductory Chemistry I with Lab
CHEM 120 Introductory Chemistry II with Lab
CHEM 210 Organic Chemistry I with Lab
CHEM 220 Organic Chemistry II with Lab

Program-specific sequences to be added to the core curriculum:

Medicine (Allopathic, Osteopathic, Dental)
BIOL/CHEM 352 Biochemistry with Lab
PHYS 150 Introductory Physics I with Lab
PHYS 152 Introductory Physics II with Lab
Two units in psychology
Two units carrying the Literature Area of Study (in English)

Veterinary Medicine
BIOL 123 Form and Function with Lab
BIOL 322 General Microbiology with Lab
BIOL/CHEM 352 Biochemistry with Lab
BIOL 370 Advanced Genetics with Lab
PHYS 150 Introductory Physics I with Lab
PHYS 152 Introductory Physics II with Lab

Optometry, Podiatry
BIOL/CHEM 352 Biochemistry with Lab
MATH 260 Applied Statistics or MATH 261 Biostatistics
PHYS 150 Introductory Physics I with Lab
PHYS 152 Introductory Physics II with Lab
Two to three units in psychology
Two units carrying the Literature Area of Study (in English)

Pharmacy*
BIOL 123 Form and Function with Lab
BIOL 222 Vertebrate Biology with Lab
BIOL 322 General Microbiology with Lab
ECON 101 Principles of Economics
MATH 260 Applied Statistics or MATH 261 Biostatistics
PHYS 150 Introductory Physics I with Lab
PHYS 152 Introductory Physics II with Lab

Physical Therapy*
BIOL 123 Form and Function with Lab
BIOL 222 Vertebrate Biology with Lab
BIOL 376 Human Physiology with Lab
MATH 260 Applied Statistics or MATH 261 Biostatistics
PHYS 150 Introductory Physics I with Lab
PHYS 152 Introductory Physics II with Lab
Three units of psychology

Chiropractic
PHYS 150 Introductory Physics I with Lab
PHYS 152 introductory Physics II with Lab
PSYC 101 Introductory Psychology

Nursing, Physician Assistant*
BIOL 123 Form and Function with Lab
BIOL 222 Vertebrate Biology with Lab
BIOL 322 General Microbiology with Lab
BIOL/CHEM 352 Biochemistry with Lab
BIOL 376 Human Physiology with Lab
MATH 260 Applied Statistics or MATH 261 Biostatistics
Two units of psychology

*The pre-requisites for these programs vary, so students should use this as a general guide and consult individual programs for exact requirements.