Preprofessional Programs

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Prelaw Studies (Back to Top)

The discipline of law is for students who are interested in combining precision in thinking, researching, and writing with a desire to work with people. While many choose to practice law in the courtroom, many law graduates leverage their newly developed skills to excel in other fields. A law education equips students for success in a law practice, public service, teaching, and business.

Through a structured four-year process, the TTU Prelaw Program cultivates the undergraduate to become a confident and articulate law school applicant bearing exceptional qualifications. Participants will focus on the three essential areas identified by law school professionals nationwide:

1. Writing and speaking with comprehension and clarity
2. Understanding social institutions and human nature
3. Thinking creatively and analytically

To excel in these areas, students in the program will:

• Early Decision Program
  
  The Early Decision Program is binding. Applicants admitted under this program commit to attend the Texas Tech School of Law, will withdraw all other applications, and will not apply to other law schools.

• Summer Entry Program
  
  The Summer Entry Program is designed to prepare students with lower academic predictors for the rigors of the first year of law school. Applicants designated for the Summer Entry Program are those whose backgrounds, activities, and accomplishments indicate they are outstanding candidates for admission, but their LSAT scores or grade point averages fall below the mean scores for entrance to law school.


• Honors College '3+3' Early Admission Program
  
  This joint program between the College of Arts and Sciences, the College of Visual and Performing Arts, the Honors College, and the Texas Tech University School of Law allows exceptional, qualified applicants with a minimum of 100 semester hours of baccalaureate study to seek acceptance to the Law School during the fall of their third year of undergraduate study and take the LSAT by December of that year. Students who accept early admission must enroll at the Texas Tech School of Law and may not apply to other law schools. The applicant for an undergraduate degree under this plan must submit an official transcript from the Texas Tech School of Law after completion of the first year of law school. Successfully completed coursework (totaling 29 hours) at the Law School will substitute for the 18 hours required for the undergraduate minor and any electives needed (totaling up to 11 hours) for the baccalaureate degree.
  

Preprofessional Health Careers (Back to Top)

Professional health schools include dentistry, medicine, nursing, optometry, pharmacy, and allied health sciences. Most professional schools in the field of health care require the completion of specific college level science and general education courses prior to admission. The Preprofessional Health Careers Office maintains a collection of related information on various health careers.

Contact information: Preprofessional Health Careers Office, 340 Chemistry Building, 806.742.3078.

Individual advising regarding preparing students for admission to professional health schools is done by advisors in the Preprofes­sional Health Careers Office up to the time students file a degree plan. Most professional health schools do not specify particular majors as part of their admission requirements. Texas Tech does not offer degrees in premedicine, predentistry, or other prehealth areas. Each preprofessional health career student who intends to earn a baccalaureate degree must choose a major by the junior year and complete the courses required for admission into the professional health school. Preprofessional health career students are advised to choose a major offered within any of the colleges at the university. The major should suit the student’s individual interests and abilities and offer alternative career options in the event initial career plans change.

Courses listed as prerequisites for professional schools must be college-level courses taken for letter grades. However, credit by examination, using the standardized tests described in this catalog, is also acceptable for certain courses. Science courses required by professional health schools are those required of science majors. Students are responsible for knowing any special requirements of the professional schools they plan to attend. The Preprofessional Health Careers Committee will assist Texas Tech University students in coordinating their evaluation packets for application to schools of dentistry, medicine, optometry, or podiatry. Evaluation forms are available in the Preprofessional Health Careers Office.

Predentistry

The minimum admission requirements for most dental schools in the United States are 16 semester hours of biology, 8 semester hours of general chemistry, 8 semester hours of organic chemistry, 8 semester hours of physics, and 6 semester hours of English. Applicants to dental schools are required to take the Dental Admission Test and submit their applications approximately one year prior to the planned matriculation. For admission requirements of a specific dental school, students should consult the latest edition of Admission Requirements of United States and Canadian Dental Schools or the dental school Web site. A formal minimum of 90 semester hours is stated for some schools. However, students should plan to complete a baccalaureate degree in the field of their choice before entering dental school.

Premedicine

The minimum admission requirements for most medical schools in the United States are at least 90 semester hours in an accredited college or university, including 6 semester hours of English, 3 semester hours of calculus, 14 semester hours of biology, 8 semester hours of general chemistry, 8 semester hours of organic chemistry, and 8 semester hours of physics.

All applicants to medical schools are required to take the Medical College Admission Test and submit their applications to the schools approximately one year prior to the date of the planned matriculation. For admission requirements of medical schools, students should consult the latest edition of Medical School Admission Requirements or the medical school Web site.

Students should plan to complete a baccalaureate degree in the field of their choice before entering medical school. Premedical and predental students may obtain a baccalaureate degree in one of two ways:

Option A. The degree may be obtained by completing the requirements as stated in the catalog for the degree desired. The major selected depends on the interest of the student. This major will usually be in one of the sciences; however, other majors are acceptable and may be chosen in colleges other than the College of Arts and Sciences.

Option B. The Arts and Sciences B.A. or B.S. degree may be obtained by completing course work totaling a minimum of 100 semester hours in the College of Arts and Sciences and then graduating from an accredited U.S. or Canadian school of medicine, osteopathy, or dentistry. The following regulations apply:

• Of the 100 semester hours of preprofessional work, at least the last 30 must be completed in residence at Texas Tech. This minimum will apply to transfer students from other colleges, provided they have satisfactorily completed the work outlined in the freshman and sophomore years or its equivalent.
• The three years of work must satisfy all graduation requirements for the B.A. or B.S. degree at Texas Tech, with the exception of requirements in the major.
• The applicant for a degree under this plan must submit properly approved credentials from an accredited U.S. or Canadian school of medicine, osteopathy, or dentistry to the effect that the applicant has completed satisfactorily the work leading to a degree of Doctor of Medicine or Doctor of Dental Surgery. Evidence of the degree will substitute for the baccalaureate degree requirements in a major field.

Any student selecting Option B should plan carefully in consultation with the associate dean at least one year prior to leaving the university to begin professional school.

Preoptometry

Admission requirements differ among the various optometry schools. These courses fulfill requirements in general: 8 semester hours of biology; 4 semester hours of human anatomy; 4 semester hours of physiology; 4 semester hours of microbiology; 8 semester hours of general chemistry; 4 semester hours of organic chemistry; 3 semester hours of biochemistry; 8 semester hours of physics; 6 semester hours minimum of mathematics including algebra and trigonometry, analytical geometry, or precalculus and 3 semester hours of calculus; 3 semester hours of statistical methods; and 3 semester hours of general psychology. For the admission requirements of a specific optometry school, students should consult the Association of Colleges and Colleges of Optometry or the optometry school Web site. Applicants to optometry school are required to take the Optometry Admission Test and submit all admissions-related documents in a timely manner. Some optometry schools require the completion of a baccalaureate degree prior to matriculation.

Prepharmacy

The specific admission requirements for schools of pharmacy differ, but most include 8 semester hours of biology; 8 semester hours of general chemistry; 8 semester hours of organic chemistry; 4 semester hours of physics; 4 semester hours of microbiology; 3 semester hours of calculus; 3 semester hours of statistical methods; 6 semester hours of English; 3 semester hours of literature; 3 semester hours of economics, 3 semester hours of public speaking; and 15 semester hours spread across humanities and social sciences. For the admission requirements of pharmacy schools, students should consult the Web sites of the pharmacy schools and take the Pharmacy College Admission Test before applying to the professional schools.

Allied Health

Before being admitted to the professional level within a school of allied health, a student must complete 60 to 90 semester hours of preprofessional course work in either a preclinical laboratory science; prespeech, language, and hearing sciences; preoccupational therapy; prephysical therapy; or prephysician assistant program. Most programs require a minimum of 6 to 9 semester hours of English, 6 semester hours each of U.S. history and political science, and 8 semester hours each of biology, chemistry, and physics. Requirements for additional courses in advanced biology and chemistry, zoology, computer science, mathematics, anthropology, psychology, sociology, speech, and statistics vary with each program and with each school of allied health. For the admission requirements of allied health programs, students should consult the Web sites of the schools of allied health.

Prenursing

Admission requirements differ among the various nursing schools. These courses fulfill requirements in general: 6 semester hours of English, 3 semester hours of statistics, 8 semester hours of human anatomy and physiology, 4 semester hours of general chemistry, 4 semester hours of microbiology, 3 semester hours of nutritional sciences, 3 semester hours of visual and performing arts, 3 semester hours of humanities, 6 semester hours each of U.S. history, and political science, 3 semester hours of psychology, 3 semester hours of sociology or cultural anthropology, and 3 semester hours of lifespan growth and development. Contact information to obtain admission requirements of a specific school of nursing can be found on the Web sites of the nursing schools.

Applicants to schools of nursing are required to submit all documents related to admission and take the Nurse Entrance Test in a timely manner.

Other Preprofessional Health Careers

Students who plan to apply to other professional programs (e.g., dental hygiene, radiologic technology, and respiratory therapy) should consult an advisor in the Preprofessional Health Careers Office for further information and the Web sites of the professional schools.

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