Pre-Health Orientation 2024

Anh Do Author

10/04/2024 Added

8 Plays

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Geared toward new UNL pre-health students, this session will provide an overview of pre-health and discuss questions like: How do I find out what courses I need to take for my pre-health area and how do I plan when to take them? How do I explore different areas of pre-health? How can my co-curricular experiences enhance my application? And much more!

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[00:00:09.180]Anh Do: Hello, everyone! My name is Anh Do, and I am an advisor in the explore center welcome to this pre-health orientation.
[00:00:21.530]Anh Do: Before I go into the agenda for today, I want to share with you some uplifting statistics relating to healthcare jobs and career trends.
[00:00:31.400]Anh Do: Healthcare occupations is projected to grow much faster than the average for all occupations in the next 10 years. This means that your chance of finding a job after graduation is quite high.
[00:00:44.320]Anh Do: Here are the top 10 fastest growing health professions. Nurses occupy the top 2 spots. So if you are going into nursing, your your job prospect is looking very good; although, you do need to do more schooling beyond the bachelor's level.
[00:01:01.393]Anh Do: I was really surprised to see that Number 6, 7 and 8 on this list do not even require a 4 year degree. You can work in these fields fresh out of high school, or do a 2 years at a community college, and you're good to go.
[00:01:16.384]Anh Do: Not only are these... Not only are there going to be more jobs in the healthcare industry, the pay is not bad either. The median and...the median annual wage or income for healthcare practitioners was higher than the median annual wage for all occupations in 2023.
[00:01:38.990]Anh Do: Here are the top 5 highest paying healthcare jobs. Physicians, surgeons, and dentists are placed high on this list.
[00:01:53.735]Anh Do: Here are some other common health care professions. Their pay are also pretty high.
[00:02:00.160]Anh Do: So things are looking good for the healthcare career paths.
[00:02:05.930]Anh Do: So you're here today because you have an interest in pursuing a career in healthcare, which is fantastic. The Explorer Center is here to help you prepare for this career path. So, today I'm going to go over the basics of what it means to be pre-health. I will go over major and career exploration and how to be successful on this track, and then I will end with services that we provide at the Explorer Center, as well as some next steps that you can start thinking about.
[00:02:38.400]Anh Do: Pre-health is basically an advising category. It's not an official major that you can get a degree in. When you tell us that you are interested in healthcare, we add this advising label to your record, so that we know to send you notifications about opportunities in healthcare and other resources that may be helpful to you. It will also give us a chance to talk to you about pre-requisites or required classes that you need to take and how to prepare for a professional health school.
[00:03:10.000]Anh Do: Here are the most common pre-health areas that we advice. If you are interested in an area not on this list, we will also be more than happy to work with you to find the requirements and to help you get to your final destination.
[00:03:27.130]Anh Do: Some healthcare areas only need an associate degree, which is typically earned at a community college.
[00:03:34.260]Anh Do: Here at UNL, we prepare students for mostly bachelor's level health cares and health careers, and beyond
[00:03:42.150]Anh Do: The healthcare areas that are at the bachelor's level, like dental hygiene, medical lab science, nursing, radiation science, those you don't need to pick a major here at UNL. We typically work with you to enroll in pre-requisite classes so that you can apply to these health programs and get you your bachelor's degree through the respective health school.
[00:04:10.530]Anh Do: Other areas like clinical profusion, dietetics, genetic counseling, medicine, as well as OT, PT, PA and public health,
[00:04:20.618]Anh Do: those are usually masters or doctoral level professions. So you do need to pick a major and get a bachelor's degree here at the University first, while taking prerequisite courses so that you can apply to these graduate-level health programs.
[00:04:38.280]Anh Do: But, not all graduate-level health programs require you to have a major or get a bachelor's degree first. Areas like chiropractic, dentistry, optometry, and pharmacy only require that you take a certain number of credits, and then you can apply.
[00:04:53.840]Anh Do: If you are pursuing these areas, you can get a bachelor's first, if you want. But again, it is not required. We do encourage you to come by and talk with one of our advisors to see whether it would be advantageous for you to do so.
[00:05:11.630]Anh Do: In the case that you do need or want to pick a major, here is how you can kind of approach that major exploration.
[00:05:20.770]Anh Do: The majority of health schools do not have a major of preference, so you can major in basically, anything that you want, as long as the major is offered here at the University.
[00:05:30.928]Anh Do: So think about: what you're good at, what you're interested in, the population that you want to work with, the kind of setting that you want to work in. Many pre-health students do go into science majors mainly because they like science, and they're also good at science, as well as there are many overlaps between the pre-health prerequisites and the science major requirements.
[00:05:56.326]Anh Do: Others pick a major that is more flexible, like psychology, art, or history, where they can add the pre-health requirements on top of their major coursework.
[00:06:07.910]Anh Do: What's important is that you pick a major that you can do well in to maintain a high GPA and something you're passionate about. This can also help you to stand out when you're applying to health schools.
[00:06:22.210]Anh Do: I mean, if you think about it, if there's a pool of applicants who are all majoring in the sciences, and you major in Dance or English, it makes you look more interesting.
[00:06:33.620]Anh Do: My point here is that you don't have to pick a major
[00:06:38.270]Anh Do: to show health schools that you can handle the rigor of health school. You can demonstrate that in different ways. It's important to show that you're also a well-rounded applicant.
[00:06:50.712]Anh Do: It's not enough to just say that you're interested in medicine, so you're gonna take the classes and do well on the MCAT and then get into medical school. Health school is expensive. It is a major time commitment, not only for you, but also for the schools that are accepting you. They are putting their resources and time in developing you as young professionals. So, they want to know that you've done your research. They want to know that you know what you're getting yourself into.
[00:07:17.816]Anh Do: If you say that you love medical lab science, but you want a career working with and helping people, you will be in a big surprise to discover that medical lab scientists do not work directly with people on a daily basis. They mainly work with biological specimens and data.
[00:07:37.290]Anh Do: So it's always important to take your time to explore to learn what the profession entails and what the day-to-day work life looks like. So, here are some ways that you can do that exploration.
[00:07:52.028]Anh Do: One way is to conduct informal interviews with people who work in the health area that you're interested in. You can also attend school fairs. Lots of programs put up events, and some of them are virtual, so you can attend that if you're not close to the schools that you're interested in.
[00:08:10.761]Anh Do: You can also do job shadowing.
[00:08:13.110]Anh Do: If you need help getting started. You can always talk with one of our advisors at the Explore Center, and we can brainstorm some ideas with you.
[00:08:21.585]Anh Do: Sometimes students tell us that they just don't have time, or that they try to do job shadowing, but they feel awkward doing it, or just haven't had any luck and so they give up.
[00:08:33.309]Anh Do: I think it's important to make time, especially if you have some downtime during winter or summer break. Then that would be a great opportunity to look for job shadowing opportunities.
[00:08:50.110]Anh Do: We also encourage you to get out of your comfort zone and try different approaches until you get a "yes" from someone who's willing to let you shadow. It may take time and effort now, but if you don't explore and find out later, when you get into health school, that is not what you really want to do, at that time, it will be a bigger waste of time and money.
[00:09:14.790]Anh Do: Here are other resources you could use to explore. Podcasts are great ways to kind of get
[00:09:22.880]Anh Do: some information about different health areas, especially if you have long commutes to class.
[00:09:28.340]Anh Do: Candid careers is a wonderful website. It has a lot of cool videos of people talking about their careers. That's another way to learn. You also have YouTube at your fingertips. So, you can search different professional associations or videos about, for example, "a day in the life of a scientist"," a day in the life of a dentist or a sonographer", or something like that, and you can kind of get some insights into that as well.
[00:09:56.440]Anh Do: After you've explored and found an area that you want to pursue, how do you ensure that you will be successful on the path?
[00:10:03.990]Anh Do: Pre-health success is made up of 2 overarching components. The 1st is academics.
[00:10:09.414]Anh Do: That consists of your performance in your classes, your grades, your GPA and entrance exams, if your profession requires it.
[00:10:20.401]Anh Do: The second component is non-academic. So, things like your involvement, your experiences and interpersonal skills.
[00:10:31.010]Anh Do: Academics, that part is pretty straightforward. Gaining experiences is a little harder, because there are many different ways to gain experiences.
[00:10:40.830]Anh Do: One is through job shadowing, which we have our kind of touch on earlier.
[00:10:46.610]Anh Do: Because of Covid, virtual shadowing has become available to a lot of students, but whenever possible, we always encourage you to do job shadowing in person. That way, you get to be in that space and have direct connections with what... with what.. with things that are going on. And you can also gain experience by volunteering, whether that is on campus or off campus.
[00:11:12.727]Anh Do: There are lots of opportunities that are available, and I'll go over some of those in a little bit.
[00:11:21.310]Anh Do: You can also gain experience by studying abroad. You don't have to do a whole semester abroad to get that kind of experience.
[00:11:31.882]Anh Do: In fact, there is a faculty-led a trip to Rwanda over winter break. So if you're interested in that, let me know, and I'll be happy to share that information with you. That one is a a short-term trip.
[00:11:46.180]Anh Do: So if you want to kind of get a head start or kind of explore studying abroad, that would be a great way to to get started.
[00:11:53.460]Anh Do: You can also serve as a T.A. or a research assistant for one of your professors. And, if you have time, you can also get a part-time job as a C.N.A., pharmacy tech, or something like that related to healthcare.
[00:12:08.212]Anh Do: Many of these jobs, though, do require certification, so that's... that does require a little bit more time.
[00:12:17.540]Anh Do: I've been mentioning job shadowing, but the questions that students often ask us is, how do I get started?
[00:12:24.950]Anh Do: The quickest and most effective way would be to use your personal connections.
[00:12:30.259]Anh Do: Maybe you have a friend whose mother is a pharmacist, so you can talk to your friend to see if you can shadow...
[00:12:39.810]Anh Do: you can do your job shadowing that way. Maybe talk with your healthcare providers, your dentist, your family doctor, to see if you can do shadowing
[00:12:51.080]Anh Do: as well. So utilize your social network.
[00:12:54.750]Anh Do: That's a good way to get started.
[00:12:57.370]Anh Do: Many of you here are in CASC 150, the Intro to Health Profession class, so, you will definitely talk more about job shadowing later in class
[00:13:07.540]Anh Do: In the Explore Cente, we also invite representatives from different healthcare programs to come to the Center to meet with students.
[00:13:14.320]Anh Do: We call those professional school visits. So you're always welcome to schedule a visit and talk with one of these representatives about opportunities that they are aware of.
[00:13:30.420]Anh Do: Another way is by joining different pre-health clubs here on campus. Their purpose is to connect their members with different opportunities.
[00:13:42.220]Anh Do: And then, the last one is just simply to call different health clinics, hospitals, and places like that to see if they're open to letting you come to job shadow.
[00:13:58.310]Anh Do: For volunteering, it can be healthcare-based, but it doesn't really have to. You can volunteer with different community organizations, nonprofits, or different events that come up throughout the year. Again, we will be happy to talk to you about specific opportunities if you're wanting to do this.
[00:14:20.210]Anh Do: Here are some more opportunities to get involved on campus. These are our our health-focused student organizations, and you can find them on the and NvolveU website.
[00:14:34.560]Anh Do: A major part of pre-health success is building relationships. Unfortunately, many students put this off until later in the academic careers, when they need letter of recommendations to apply to health school, and by then it's really too late, because relationship takes time and effort to build, so you can't just do it overnight.
[00:14:57.395]Anh Do: So now that you have time, start talking to your professors, both in your science and non science classes. The earlier you start, the more time you have to build those relationships. You can meet with them during office hours. You can find out if there are ways to serve as their teaching assistants. Maybe get involved in one of their research projects.
[00:15:18.496]Anh Do: Also meet with an advisor in the Explore Center. Keep us updated on your progress.
[00:15:24.780]Anh Do: And another way is to make connections in the community, whether that is through job shadowing, volunteering, or your work experiences.
[00:15:35.800]Anh Do: So at the Explore Center, we are here to help you. We have a lot of resources, including the professional school visits that I just mentioned.
[00:15:46.800]Anh Do: There's also the Intro to Health Profession class,
[00:15:51.470]Anh Do: and our advisors can also work with you to create a 2- or 4-year plan, depending on your healthcare track, to look at your prerequisites, and when you should be thinking about taking those.
[00:16:04.260]Anh Do: We also offer workshops on things like, how to budget for health school, how to prepare for different entrance exams, how to write your personal statement for your application. We can also review these statements and your applications in general, and give you some feedback.
[00:16:19.270]Anh Do: And, when the time comes, if you do need to do an interview, we also offer mock interviews to help you get ready.
[00:16:28.771]Anh Do: Have you ever heard of the expression, "If you fail to plan, then you plan to fail"? That's not to say that you have to know exactly what to do every moment of your life,
[00:16:39.280]Anh Do: but if you're planning to pursue health school, planning will help to reduce a lot of stress. And it will also help you pivot, if something comes up and you need to make a change.
[00:16:50.018]Anh Do: Our advisors can help you plot out your pre health courses, help you thinking, help you to think about adding in non-academic experiences,
[00:16:59.140]Anh Do: think about the application timeline, and when to take different entrance exam, if you need that.
[00:17:08.690]Anh Do: For those of you who do or want a major before you go into health school, you will most likely have 2 advisors, one from your major to help you with your major coursework and degree requirements. You will also have access to our advisors at the Explore Center for the Pre health part of your program.
[00:17:27.796]Anh Do: We also talk about coursework, but only those pertaining to your pre-health requirements.
[00:17:34.960]Anh Do: And, we can also help with other components, like gaining experiences, application, support, and things like that.
[00:17:42.592]Anh Do: If your pre health area does not require a major, you will only have a pre-health advisor from the Explore Center and not one from the major.
[00:17:53.410]Anh Do: So what's next? If you have not told us or if the pre-health prep plan is not listed on your SSH, feel free to email us, and we will be happy to add it for you. That way you will get your email notifications and we can work with you to help you on your pre-health track. So, our email is listed here on the slide. When you do email us, please include your name, your NU ID and the health care area that you're interested in.
[00:18:21.780]Anh Do: If you're still exploring, that's perfectly fine. You can simply say that you're interested in "pre-health", and we can add that for you as well.
[00:18:32.090]Anh Do: Even if you're not sure about pre-health yet, we do encourage you to come in, meet with one of our advisors, and kind of do that career exploration.
[00:18:44.540]Anh Do: Here are the staff at the Explore center. Anyone with an advisor title can talk to you about prehealth requirements.
[00:18:54.410]Anh Do: We are located in Love Library South, in room 127, behind the reference desk. You can schedule a meeting through your SSH or call the Center, and the phone number is there on the slide. We also have drop-ins every day from 10 AM to 4 PM. So if you have some time between classes, you are more than welcome to just drop by and have a chat.
[00:19:17.810]Anh Do: If you do want to work on a 2- or 4-year plan, it would be better done....That would be better done in an appointment. So, if you can schedule that, that would be great.
[00:19:29.270]Anh Do: That's all that I have for today. If you have some time to fill out the evaluation for this workshop to tell us what you like, what you don't like, what you want to see change, we would really appreciate your feedback.
[00:19:42.130]Anh Do: Thank you!

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Pre-Health Orientation 2024

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