Pre-Health Studies

CLA: A Destination College of Pre-Professional Health Preparation and Careers in Healthcare

The College of Liberal Arts (CLA) at the University of Minnesota is your destination for comprehensive pre-health preparation. Our interdisciplinary degrees provide a robust education for students aiming for further study or careers in fields such as:

Why Choose CLA for Pre-Health

CLA undergraduate degrees expose students to a broad range of academic fields, critical for   becoming medical or health practitioners. Philosophy, geography/public health, and history, for instance, are at the center of health practice.

As a CLA student, you will develop essential skills and competencies, specifically the professional competencies under The Premed Competencies for Entering Medical Students through American Association of Medical Colleges (AAMC).

While the AAMC competencies are labeled as being for premedicine specifically, they apply to virtually all fields in healthcare. Students in a liberal arts program will be able to demonstrate:

• Their commitment to learning and growth
• How their empathy and compassion has evolved
• An ethical responsibility to self and others
• Strong oral communication and interpersonal skills
• The ability to reflect on and document self-awareness
• New ways of understanding others

Additionally, CLA degrees are built upon interdisciplinarity. Students will have plenty of room in their degree programs to take all science prerequisite coursework and testing prerequisites, no matter what they major in. CLA departments offer a large number of courses in the medical humanities and social sciences. It is a diverse education.

Bottom line, a degree from the College of Liberal Arts prepares you to empathize with patients, collaborate with diverse teams, and solve complex challenges—essential qualities in the ever-changing field of healthcare.

Learn More: 

Pre-Health Academic Planning 

Pre-Health Resources

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