Many students at UCF are “Pre-Health Transfer Students” meaning they are 1) pursuing admission to a health professional school (ex. medical school, dental school, pharmacy school, etc.) and 2) they transferred to UCF from another college or university. If they transferred from a community/state college where they earned an A.A. degree, hopefully they earned good grades there and began involvement in some extracurricular experiences/involvement prior to transferring to UCF. See our Pre-Health Student Preparation page for more information.
Advising for Pre-Health Transfer Students from PHPL Advising
- We are Individualized in our advising; we are NOT prescriptive in our advising
- We really try to get to know our students and help them make the best decisions based on their individual life situations (ex. finances, distance/commute to campus, work/class schedules, family responsibilities, hardships, etc.)
- We are Evidenced-Based with students when we can be
- We can share evidence from accepted applicants (ex. GPA averages, test score averages, and average amounts of extracurricular experiences, etc.) to help students know how much more they need to become a competitive applicant and we can help you create a timeline for when you could be ready to apply to health professional schools
- We are the “Middle People” between the health professional schools and Pre-Health students
- We gather information from multiple health professional schools and provide the information to students to help them strategize ways to become the most competitive applicant to the multiple schools of interest to them
Common Advisement and Recommendations we provide to UCF Pre-Health Transfer Students
Q: Can Pre-Health Transfer Students take science courses at community/state colleges?
A: YES!* But be strategic!
If a Pre-Health student takes science courses while at a community/state college, after transferring to a four-year university like UCF, they must:
- Continue to earn very good grades in science courses at the four-year university (i.e., don’t let grades dip after transferring)
- Get a high score on their health professional school admissions test (ex. MCAT or DAT )
- Stay at the four-year university for courses after transferring (i.e., don’t be transient to take courses back at a community/state college – esp. not to take more science courses)
Grades must be very strong at the community/state college and continue to be very strong at the four-year university to be a competitive applicant for health professional schools.
For more information, see the Pre-Health Students Transferring to UCF with an A.A. Degree from a Community/State College: Health Professional School Course Recommendations document created by PHPL Advising & Other UCF Stakeholders.
Services for Pre-Health Transfer Students
UCF has a very large population of Pre-Health Transfer students, therefore the PHPL Advising office has taken special steps to assist these future and current students. For example, we host multiple webinars for Pre-Health students at state college campuses (see webinar flyer below), we visit state college campuses to make presentations on a variety of topics of interest to Pre-Health students, we host Pre-Health Transfer Student Panels (see flyers and videos below). Additionally, we have hosted the Annual UCF/State College Pre-Health Advising Assembly in an effort to connect UCF Pre-Health advisors and faculty/advisors from our local Central Florida state colleges. If you would like request that we host a webinar for your campus or make a presentation on a Pre-Health topic on your campus, contact Kimberly Finley, PHPL Advisor, at Kimberly.Finley@ucf.edu.
Handouts and Flyers for Pre-Health Transfer students:
- Pre-Health Students Transferring to UCF with an A.A. Degree from a Community/State College: Health Professional School Course Recommendations – by PHPL Advising & Other UCF Stakeholders
- Webinars for Pre-Health Students at State Colleges – Spring 2021 – by PHPL Advising
- Pre-Health Transfer Student Panel Flyer – Fall 2017
- Bios – Pre-Health Transfer Student Panelists – Fall 2017
- VIDEO – Pre-Health Student Transfer Panel – Fall 2017
- 3rd Annual UCF/State College Pre-Health Advising Assembly – Fall 2020
State Colleges – Pre-Health Advisor/Faculty Contacts
Valencia College – East Campus:
Pre-Health Advisor: Gabrielle Younker, gyounker@valenciacollege.edu
Valencia College – West Campus:
Pre-Health Advisor: Hannah Jenkins, hjenkins7@valenciacollege.edu
Valencia College – Osceola Campus:
Pre-Health Advisor: Chris Klinger, cklinger@valenciacollege.edu
Lake-Sumter State College:
Jen Manson: mansonj@lssc.edu
Anne Kennedy: kennedya@lssc.edu
Seminole State College:
Dr. Simone Nelson, nelsonsm@seminolestate.edu
Daytona State College:
We are working on identifying
Eastern Florida State College:
We are working on identifying
College of Central Florida:
Chad Christlieb: christlc@cf.edu
We are working on getting the contact info for Pre-Health student contacts at other campuses.
Scholarly Publications or Presentations on Pre-Health Transfer Students by PHPL Advising Staff
- Myszkowski, E. (2014, June). Advising pre-health students who complete prerequisite courses at community colleges. Presentation at bi-annual meeting of National Association of Advisors for the Health Professions. (NAAHP). San Francisco, California.
- Myszkowski, E. (2014, June). Advising pre-health students who complete prerequisite courses at community colleges. Presentation to Community College Focus Group during the bi-annual meeting of the National Association of Advisors for the Health Professions (NAAHP). San Francisco, California.
- Myszkowski, E. (2013, April). Medical school prerequisite courses completed at two-year colleges by medical school matriculants: An analysis at the University of Central Florida. Presentation at bi-annual meeting of Southern Association of Advisors for the Health Professions (SAAHP), Louisville, Kentucky.
- Myszkowski, E., & Cintrón, R. (2013). Medical school prerequisite courses completed at two-year colleges by medical school matriculants: An analysis at the University of Central Florida. The Advisor, 33(1), 28-33.
- Myszkowski, E. (2013, February). Medical school prerequisite courses completed at community/state colleges by medical school matriculants: An analysis at the University of Central Florida. Presentation at annual meeting of Florida Pre-Health Advisors, Gainesville, Florida.
- Medical School Prerequisite Courses Completed At Two-year Colleges By Medical School Matriculants: An Analysis At The University Of Central Florida – Dissertation by Erin Myszkowski, Director of PHPL Advising, University of Central Florida, Fall 2012
*Note: A small number of health professional schools may require that all courses be completed at a four-year university.