Post-Baccalaureate Health Professions Program

Designed for career-changers who are seeking science prerequisite courses with guidance and support for a transition to a career in healthcare.

The Post-Baccalaureate Health Professions Program at CU Boulder is a highly selective program designed for career changers who need to take all of the science prerequisites needed to apply to professional school. We welcome students preparing to transition to a career in medicine (MD and DO), dentistry, physical therapy, veterinary medicine, optometry, pharmacy, and anesthesiologist’s assistant programs.

We are proud of the success of our program. Our professional school acceptance rates regularly fall in the 90-100% range and our students’ MCAT, DAT, and OAT scores regularly fall in the 90-99th percentile range.

Contact Us

Have questions about our program?

We hold live Zoom Information Sessions, which include a presentation and a Q&A period, once per month.
Or you may request information using the form below, and a CU Boulder representative will contact you to answer your question(s).

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Program Characteristics

A cohort-based experience for career-changers. Each year’s cohort consists of a closely knit group of 10-20 students who take all of their courses together. To preserve the cohort experience, all students in each cohort are required to take the entire post-baccalaureate curriculum.

Rigorous academics in an accelerated, one-year format. Each cohort begins their coursework in June, completes the program the following May, and typically takes the MCAT (or other required standardized test, such as the DAT or OAT) and applies to professional school in the following month.

Outstanding pre-health advising. Our pre-health advisors are post-baccalaureate specialists who have successfully guided thousands of students through the pre-health preparation and application process. Pre-health advising begins in the spring before you start the program and continues until you enroll in professional school. Our students benefit from individualized pre-health advising sessions as well as a rich assortment of pre-health workshops and special events throughout the year.

Personalized coaching to prepare you for the professional school application process. We will help you learn how to write compelling application materials and to present yourself authentically and effectively at interviews.

Dedicated tutors and mentors. Each year, we hire a small team of former post-bacc students who are in their application year to professional school to serve as tutors and mentors to the current cohort of students. They are talented, service-oriented individuals who are personally invested in supporting you throughout your post-baccalaureate journey.

Additional Resources. For students preparing to apply to medical school, the program provides MCAT Preparation materials (the AAMC MCAT Official Prep Bundle, a full set of Kaplan subject review books), and a one-year subscription to the AAMC's Medical School Admissions Requirements (MSAR) online database, at no additional cost. We also offer two MCAT prep groups workshops and two individual 60-minute sessions with our MCAT prep tutor.

Courses

Summer

General Chemistry 1 with Lab
General Chemistry 2 with Lab

Fall

Introduction to Cellular and Molecular Biology
Organic Chemistry 1 with Lab
General Physics 1 with Lab

Spring

Principles of Genetics
Biology laboratory course (equivalent to a full-year biology laboratory sequence)
Survey of Biochemistry
General Physics 2 with Lab

Please be aware that each professional school sets its own prerequisites. Our program covers the most commonly required prerequisites, but certain schools require additional courses that cannot fit into a one-year program. We encourage you to make a list of the prerequisites for your specific professional schools of interest.

If you plan to apply to professional schools that will require additional prerequisite courses, our advisors can explain options for taking such courses after completing the one-year Post-Baccalaureate Health Professions program. In many cases, it is possible to take the last remaining prerequisites during the application process to professional school.