Post-Baccalaureate Certificate Program in Health Careers Preparation

The Post-Baccalaureate Certificate in Health Careers Preparation Program is designed for students who wish to enter a professional program in medicine, dentistry, optometry, podiatry or veterinary medicine but whose undergraduate education does not meet the requirements for these programs. Students interested in entering programs in nursing, nutrition, physical therapy, pharmacy or physician assistant studies are not eligible for the Post-Baccalaureate Certificate Program.

Admission Criteria

We encourage prospective students who meet the admission criteria to apply to our certificate program. All applicants must:

Hold a baccalaureate degree from an accredited institution with a minimum overall GPA of 3.00 (students with undergraduate degrees in progress are not eligible to apply). Internal Hunter College second degree candidates must have a minimum overall GPA of 3.5 and have completed no more than 12 credits of required science courses (Biology, Chemistry or Physics) at Hunter in order to apply to the program.
Apply for admission to City University of New York (CUNY), Hunter College.
Submit a completed Post-Baccalaureate Certificate Program supplemental application by the December 15th deadline.
Demonstrate their commitment to a career in the health professions through paid or volunteer experience.

Application Procedures

Admission to the program is limited to the fall semester. Application to the program is a two-step process. For detailed, step-by-step instructions for completing the application procedures, please refer to the Prospective Post-Baccalaureate Student section of the Pre-Health Website at:

http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/prehealth/the-post-baccalaureate-certificate-program/prospective-students/information-for-prospective-post-baccalaureate-students/

All prospective students must submit a supplemental application directly to the Pre-Health Advising Office at Hunter College. The supplemental application is completed electronically and is available on the Pre-Health website in mid-fall. In addition to a supplemental application all candidates for the Post-Baccalaureate Certificate Program must apply to CUNY as transfer students. The 4-digit code for Hunter’s Post-Baccalaureate Certificate Program is 0339, and this must be selected in order for the student to be considered for the program. All students must submit their official transcripts directly to CUNY through the CUNY Application Portal. High school transcripts are NOT required. The Admissions Committee may also request an interview and/or letters of recommendation for applicants sometime after the supplemental application has been submitted.

Deadlines

Both CUNY and supplemental applications must be received (by CUNY and the Hunter College Pre-Health Office) by December 15 of each year to be considered for admission to the Program in the fall. Applications received after December 15 may not be considered.

Program Requirements

To complete the Program, all Post-Baccalaureate Certificate students starting in fall 2010 and after must:

Complete one year of college-level English. This requirement can be fulfilled by undergraduate transfer credit and/or by taking courses at Hunter College.
Complete one year of college-level mathematics beyond pre-calculus. This requirement can also be fulfilled by undergraduate transfer credit and/or by taking courses at Hunter. There are two ways to fulfill this requirement at Hunter:

1. MATH 15000 (STEM) (calculus) and MATH 15500 (STEM) (calculus II)

2. MATH 15000 (STEM) (calculus) and STAT 21300 (STEM) (STAT 113 does not fulfill this requirement)

Complete 38 credits in science (biology, chemistry or physics) at Hunter College.
Maintain a 3.3 GPA for every semester in the program with no individual course grade below B-.
Provide 56 hours of service to the Hunter College Community during their time in the program. Tutoring in science courses, mentoring undergraduate students, and assisting with activities sponsored by the Pre-Health Advising Office are examples of activities that fulfill the service commitment requirements.
Obtain a committee letter from the Pre-Health Advisory Committee at Hunter College.

Courses and Requirements

The exact titles and sequence of courses for Post-Baccalaureate students depend on their individual academic needs and availability of courses at Hunter College each semester. Students typically take 9–12 credits of mathematics/science per semester but individual students’ course loads can vary depending on their schedules of extracurricular activities and other factors.

In addition to the mathematics and English requirements stated above, typical course work for pre-health students includes the following:

One year of general biology with lab: BIOL 10000 (STEM) and BIOL 10200 (STEM) (4.5 credits each, including lab) offered in spring and fall semesters, respectively.
One year of general chemistry with lab: CHEM 10200 (STEM) and CHEM 10400 (STEM) (lecture, 3 credits each) and CHEM 10600 (STEM) (lab, 3 credits). CHEM 10400, which serves as a pre-requisite to CHEM 10600 may be taken concurrently to satisfy requirements.
One year of Organic Chemistry lectures: CHEM 22200 and CHEM 22400 (4 credits each); and one year of Organic Chemistry labs: CHEM 22300 and CHEM 22500 (2.5 credits each).
One year of general physics with lab: PHYS 11000 (STEM) and PHYS 12000 (STEM) (4.5 credits each, including lab).
One semester of Biological Chemistry BIOL 30000 or a year of Biochemistry CHEM 37600 , CHEM 37700 and CHEM 37800

Additional Courses

Students may use classes from the following list of upper division biology and chemistry courses to fulfill the requirements for the program:

Courses

New Required Courses for Medical School

Students intending to apply to medical school are now required to complete
PSYCH 10000 - Introduction to Psychology
and
SOC 10100 - Introduction to Sociology
Consult the Sociology department or the Pre-Health Advising Office for information about the specific section recommended. These courses can also be satisfied with equivalent transfer credits.

Note:

Please refer to the Pre-Health Office website and publications for information regarding the specific coursework and extracurricular activities required by the individual health professional schools.

Time to Completion

Students must complete all of the required courses within 36 months in order to receive the certificate. A typical post-baccalaureate student completes the minimum coursework required to take standardized tests such as the MCAT or DAT within this same time period. Many students also go on to take additional upper division courses recommended by many health professional schools during the third (application) year. Decisions about professional school admissions are usually made one year after applications are submitted. Hunter College also has linkage agreements with several medical schools, which allows highly qualified Post-Baccalaureates who have completed all pre-medical requirements to matriculate in the same year in which they apply.

Additional Fees

Hunter College Post-Baccalaureates are required to pay additional Academic Excellence fees, which are used to improve the resources available to them. Among other things, these fees entitle students to the additional support of a dedicated Post-Baccalaureate advisor and preparatory courses for standardized tests such as the MCAT. The following is a breakdown of the Academic Excellence Fee structure:

Resident Full-time students: $500 per semester for 12 credits or more
Resident Part-time students: $50 per credit
Non Resident Full-time and Part-time students: $90 per credit