Pre-Professional Studies

Liberal Studies offers several important options for students whose goal is professional or graduate school.  Liberal Studies, because it supports a broad education, allows undergraduates to focus on preparing for their intended graduate program.

A bachelor's degree in Liberal Studies provides an excellent foundation for entering a professional program. A Liberal Studies background helps students to think critically, analyze problems and pose feasible solutions, write and speak effectively, understand the individual in the context of the social group, recognize the role of culture in the individual's life, and appreciate the arts. Liberal Studies prepares students to think more broadly and creatively. The pre-professional concentrations allow students to begin to focus early on the issues facing their chosen careers and the clients they will serve. These issues are often highly complex, requiring novel approaches and judgment. (Based on the Health Sciences Site linked below.)

You can combine several minors into a single major or you can build your own foundation in the work recommended by the professional program to which you plan to apply.

To plan your own pre-professional school or pre-graduate school major:

• Contact the admissions committees, or web sites, at several programs of the type to which you plan to apply.
• Find out the course preparation that is expected of successful applicants.
• Build it into your personally designed program in Liberal Studies.

Just keep in mind the minimum expectations for a Liberal Studies major:

1. Social Sciences, 16 Credits
2. Fine Arts and Humanities, 16 Credits
3. Natural Sciences / Quantitative Literacy, 16 Credits
4. Free Electives, 18 Credits
5. Total = 66 Credits (beyond GenEd)