Information for Medical, Dental, or Similar Health Professions
Schools Arranging Visits to Xavier Through the University’s
Premedical Office
General information about Xavier
Xavier University of Louisiana is America's only historically black, Roman Catholic institution of higher
education. The University is composed of a College of Arts and Sciences, a College of Pharmacy (offering
Pharm.D. degrees only), and a Graduate School. Although Xavier is a small liberal arts institution in philosophy,
the University has one of the nation's largest enrollment of African Americans in science-related fields. Go to
http://www.xula.edu/opira/ir/ir.html to view the current University Profile. Please visit www.xula.edu/premed for
more information about the Premedical Office at Xavier.
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Specific Information for Individuals Wishing to Arrange Campus Visits Through Xavier’s Premedical Office
General: Xavier's Premedical Office does not sponsor a single "health professions day.” Instead, recruiters from
health professions schools are invited to arrange recruitment visits on an individual basis at their own convenience
during the fall or spring semester. Representatives from approximately 50 health professions schools from across
the nation arrange visits through the Premedical Office each academic year. FYI, the Office of Graduate Placement
at Xavier organizes the Fall GradFair, usually held in October, for graduate and professional school programs. If
you are interested in participating in Xavier’s GradFair, please go to http://www.xula.edu/gradstar/ or contact the
Office of Graduate Placement at (504) 520-7633.
Suggested Dates for a Recruitment Visit:
Fall: Any M-F between Labor Day and the Friday before Thanksgiving break begins.
Spring: Any M-F from the last week of January through the third week of April except the Mardi
Gras/Easter break.
Summer: None. Although XU has a rather large summer school, most students only come to campus for
classes and immediately leave for jobs when classes dismiss.
Suggested Time of Day for a Recruitment Visit: Xavier students who may be interested in learning more about
health professions programs are all on different class schedules throughout the day, and many have work (or other
obligations) to tend to during the day and/or once classes are over. As a result, there is no single time of day when
all or even a majority of XU’s premedical students are free to attend recruitment meetings. Therefore, recruitment
visits are generally more effective if they extend for two or more hours during the day so that students can obtain
information from representatives at their convenience. Past experience has shown that a two-three hour period
between 10 am and 4 pm will attract the most students. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, when most classes are in
session for 75 minutes, we recommend that recruitment representatives be available to interested students for at least
three hours. Further, in order to maximize the number of student contacts made during a recruitment visit, we
HIGHLY recommend utilizing the “table” format, which allows students to stop by to speak with professional
school representatives at their leisure during a specific time frame. Alternately, a classroom can be reserved at 4 pm
or later (i.e. when rooms become available in the Science Building) to conduct a recruitment meeting, but due to the
variety of obligations our students have after classes, attendance at late afternoon or early evening meetings may be
low.
How to Make Arrangements for a Visit: Contact Xavier 's Premedical Office via email at xupremed@yahoo.com
to see if the day and time you wish to come is available. Please be sure to include your name, the professional
school you are representing, and your position at the school when contacting the Premedical Office. Once your visit
is scheduled, you will be sent a confirmation email from our office that includes visit details and a link to our
campus map. The Premedical Office will publicize your visit via email and signs posted around the Science
Building approximately a week in advance. On the day of your visit, the Premedical Office will set up a recruitment
table in the atrium of the NCF Science Addition (an area frequently travelled by premed students) where you can
meet with interested students at their leisure. If you made a request to utilize the “classroom” format as opposed to
the “table” format, the Premedical Office will reserve a room on your behalf and advertise your visit accordingly.
Typically, the Premedical Office only arranges recruitment visits by individuals who are recruiting for the health
professions for which XU’s Premedical Office primarily provides support—Medicine, Osteopathic Medicine,
Dentistry, Veterinary Medicine, Optometry, and Podiatry. However, we do welcome representatives from other
types of health professions schools (and related graduate programs) to schedule visits through our office.
Individuals wishing to recruit for other types of schools should contact the University’s Office of Graduate
Placement or individual departments.
Housing While in New Orleans: Xavier is located in the approximately geographic center of New Orleans about a
ten minute drive from the Central Business District-Superdome-French Quarter area where every national chain has
at least one major hotel (There are 25,000+ hotel rooms in that area of the city).
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Additional information about Xavier’s Premedical Program is on the Premed website at www.xula.edu/premed/
(Xavier’s website is www.xula.edu).
ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
A Brief Overview of Graduate and Professional Advising at XU
Xavier's system for advising students interested in attending graduate or professional schools distributes
responsibilities among five offices in order to ensure that such advice is readily available when needed by students.
Because Xavier is a small institution with a strong tradition of doing whatever is best for its students, these offices
readily share information and work together cooperatively as need arises.
The following is a brief description of the five offices that are available to XU students who are interested in
entering graduate or professional school.
Office of Graduate Placement: The Office of Graduate Placement is the most general of the five. It
provides assistance to students interested in graduate programs. The Fall GradFair, usually held in October,
welcomes representatives from graduate and professional school programs. If you are interested in participating in
Xavier’s GradFair, please go to http://www.xula.edu/gradstar/ or contact the Office of Graduate Placement at (504)
520-7633.
Pre-Engineering: Pre-Engineering is officially a part of the Physics/Engineering Department. As the
name suggests, it serves primarily to help students at Xavier who wish to become engineers. Because PreEngineering is within an academic department, it provides academic advising for students.
Pre-Law: The Pre-Law Office is officially housed within the Department of Social Sciences but serves
students from any major who are interested in attending law school. The Pre-Law Office and the Office of Graduate
Placement also work jointly in conducting reviews for the LSAT, recruiting students to the University, etc.
Pre-Medicine (including dentistry, optometry, veterinary medicine, podiatry, and other health
professions): XU's Premedical Office offers professional school application assistance to students (regardless of
major) who are interested in gaining entry into health profession schools. This assistance is offered in a very
structured and systematic way beginning freshman year and continuing throughout enrollment. Students are
encouraged to sign-in with the Premedical Office when first enrolling at the University and to engage in all
premedical advising activities until they gain acceptance into professional school or change career paths. Activities
include, but are not limited to, group meetings, individual assessment meetings, advising emails, etc. The
Premedical Office is not an academic department, and therefore, does NOT provide academic advising. Students
receive academic advising through their major academic departments (FYI, “premed” is not a major).
Pre-Pharmacy: The Pre-Pharmacy Office is officially a part of Xavier’s Chemistry department. The
advisers in this office provide both academic advising and guidance regarding the application process for students
interested in entering XU's College of Pharmacy.
A note about academic advising at Xavier: All undergraduate students enrolled at Xavier are assigned a
faculty member as an academic adviser at the time they matriculate at the University. In most cases, a student's
academic adviser is in the academic department in which he/she is majoring. More than 90% of the freshmen
entering XU each year declare a major at the time they apply for admission.