Good news for professional school hopefuls

Well I should say I assume this is good news for professional school hopefuls, or at least is showing things are changing in the world of traditional education at least as to how they view us nontraditional students. I have for several years looked at the admission requirements to several medical/health professional programs (ex. pharmacy school, medical school, optometry school, nursing school, etc.), and noticed that several of those schools had no problem with students taking some of the non-science prerequisite courses in a nontraditional manner, but a good many of those schools were not open to the science courses being taken in a nontraditional way (even if this was a hybrid (online lecture in person lab type class)). Specifically the University of Florida College of Pharmacy used to state that all prerequisite courses had to be completed in a traditional face to face format at a regionally accredited school. Looking today over the admission requirements for those looking to enter in 2011 I noticed that the school now states that online courses in science prerequisites that include a lab may be accepted, and all non-science prerequisites taken online will be accepted to fulfill admission requirements. I assume the wording "may be" is intended to allow the school to make sure the online course meets the same educational requirements as an on-campus course, but I still see this as a huge step forward especially for those of us that some day hope to work in the medical/allied health field but must complete prerequisites in a nontraditional, or creative, way. Just thought others on the board might want to be made aware of this too.

 

I'd be interested to see how many students who have taken their courses via non-traditional means have been admitted into that program at Florida.

 

Not sure, but I can tell you admission into the UF PharmD program is highly competitive.

From their admission info:

"In-class lecture and lab formats are preferable for completion of pre-professional coursework. Online preprofessional
coursework involving sciences with labs may be accepted. Online coursework in subjects such as English, history, social studies, humanities, and mathematics are acceptable. An in-class course on public speaking is
preferred."

Given this, I think the PharmD applicant with online labwork would be at a disadvantage to the applicant with in-class labs. At least they will consider online lab work, which in the world of UF admissions, is a step forward.

 

I've always been a fan of professional studies. At one time I was making six figures with only a professional studies certificate program. Now I'm persuing a degree in ESM. There are great career aspects for someone with a degree in professional studies. I'm a big fan overall.