Title: Preparing for a Health Career | Undergraduate Admissions
Headings: Preparing for a Health Career
Preparing for a Health Career
Close to one out of six undergraduates at Cornell University intends to pursue a career in either human or veterinary medicine.
What Medical and Veterinary Schools Look For
Prerequisite courses for medical school
Prerequisite courses for veterinary school
Additionally:
To Help You Along

Content: and your individual qualities, as seen in part through faculty evaluations and interviews. Prerequisite courses for medical school
Biology (with lab) 8 semester credit hours
Inorganic Chemistry (with lab) 8 semester credit hours
Organic Chemistry (with lab) 8 semester credit hours
General or Intro Physics (with lab) 8 semester credit hours
English Composition 6 semester credit hours
Mathematics (required by some schools; recommended by others)
Advanced Biology (recommended by most)
Prerequisite courses for veterinary school
Biology or Zoology (with lab) 8 semester credit hours
Intro/Inorganic Chemistry (with lab) 8 semester credit hours
Organic Chemistry (with lab) 8 semester credit hours
Biochemistry 4 semester credit hours
Physics (with lab) 8 semester credit hours
General Microbiology (with lab) 3 semester credit hours
English Composition 6 semester credit hours
Additionally: If you’re set on a pre-med or pre-vet path from the start, you’ll probably be able to complete the minimum number of required courses at many health professional schools by the end of sophomore or junior year in most of the colleges or schools at Cornell. You’ll be a much more attractive candidate for admission to schools of human and veterinary medicine if, in addition to your science courses, you’ve taken courses in the social sciences and humanities. Cornell students with equivalent academic credentials from the Colleges of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Arts and Sciences, Engineering, or Human Ecology are equally successful in gaining admission to medical schools. Most pre-vet students major in biology or animal science, applicants to veterinary schools aren’t required to complete a specific undergraduate degree program or a designated pre-vet major. Veterinary medicine applicants should be prepared to present evidence of firsthand experience with animal care and some understanding of the duties and responsibilities of veterinarians and the scope of veterinary medicine. To Help You Along
The Health Careers Program
Career Library
Health Careers Evaluation Committee
Attending Cornell as an undergraduate does not automatically guarantee you admission to either the College of Veterinary Medicine or Weill Medical College of Cornell University.