Health Professions: Pre-Nursing
Office of Health
Professions Advising
(OHPA)
http://www.career.vt.edu/OHPA
Ms. Carol Robinson
Smith Career Center (0128)
231-6241 carolrob@vt.edu
Be sure to meet with your departmental Academic Advisor on a regular basis in addition to meeting with a
Health Professions Advisor once a semester.
MAJORS INFORMATION
Any major is acceptable as long as admission requirements are met. Students may need to consider transferring as
early as the end of their freshman year if they want to stay on a 4-year plan for BSN degree. Also, many creative
options are now available with accelerated programs to earn BSN and MSN with nurse practitioner. Johns Hopkins
has a 13-month or 17-month accelerated BSN program, and a BSN to MSN option as well. VCU has a 3 year post
degree program leading to an advanced practice nurse role (clinical nurse specialist or nurse practitioner). Will need
to take GRE for this program. UVA also has second degree program.
John Hopkins School of Nursing: students major in in any subject and complete their Bachelor’s degree and then go
through an accelerated nursing program at John Hopkins; competitive Virginia Tech students would be considered
favorably in the application process.
Common Majors: Biology (BIOL), Human Development (HD), Human Nutrition, Foods, and Exercise (HNFE),
Biochemistry (BCHM)
SPECIFIC COURSE REQUIREMENTS
*** Requirements vary greatly among Virginia schools. Below are listed the most usual courses. Students should
target particular schools of interest and check requirements for those schools. ***
Course Number
BIOL 1005, 1015
BIOL 1006, 1016
OR
BIOL 1105, 1115
BIOL 1106, 1116
CHEM 1035, 1045 (lab)
CHEM 1036, 1046 (lab)
CHEM 2535, 2545
CHEM 2536, 2546
BMSP 2135, 2145
BMSP 2136, 2146
MATH 1015, 1016 or
other calculus sequence
ENGL 1105, 1106
STAT 2004
HNFE 1004
PSYC 2034
Title
Credits
General Biology, General Biology Lab
OR
Principles of Biology, Principles of Biology
Lab
8
General Chemistry, General Chemistry Lab
8
Organic Chemistry
8
Human Anatomy & Physiology
8
Elementary Calculus with Trigonometry
OR
Other calculus sequence
Freshman English
Introductory Statistics
Foods and Nutrition
Developmental Psychology
*Some schools require research methods.
Specific course would vary by department
6
6
3
3
3
Prerequisites
Must be taken in
sequence.
CHEM 1036
BIOL 1005,1006 or
BIOL 1105, 1106
MATH 1015
PSYC 2004
COMMUNITY COLLEGE / ADVANCED PLACEMENT INFORMATION
Check with specific schools to make sure that credit from a community college, Advanced Placement, or
International Baccalaureate are accepted. Some schools prefer that science courses are taken at a four-year
institution with a normal credit load.
Health Professions: Pre-Nursing
July 2013
rev: CR
GET INVOLVED!! VT Student Organizations, Courses, and Opportunities
Course: UH 2004: Careers in Medicine 1 credit, sophomore or higher (Fall only)
Office of Health Professions Advising http://www.career.vt.edu/OHPA
Alpha Epsilon Delta Pre-Med Fraternity http://www.alphaepsilondelta.org.vt.edu/
American Medical Student Association (AMSA) www.vtamsa.org.vt.edu
Minority Assoc of Pre-Health Students (MAPS) http://www.snma.org/premedical.php
The Nursing Club – Currently no website available.
INFORMATION SESSIONS
Health Professions Group Information Sessions: Twice per week in the Smith Career Center
Online registration required, there will be specific sessions for Freshmen/Sophomores (Wednesdays at 8am) and
Juniors/Seniors (Fridays at 8am).
Check the OHPA website frequently for dates and times.
Visit OHPA website for information about Graduate & Professional School Information Day (fall) as nursing
schools are usually present.
APPLICATION & ADMISSION INFORMATION

Admission Test – Graduate Record Examination (GRE) A computer-based test with emphasis on verbal
reasoning, quantitative reasoning, analytical writing. It is recommended that students take the GRE in the spring
or summer a year before planning to apply to medical school.

GPA: 3.0 or better, depending on current applicant pool, is generally competitive.

Experience: It is highly recommended that students participate in volunteer service, shadow/intern for a
semester or over the summer in local hospitals, clinics, hospice, etc.

Application: Apply through NursingCAS - Nursing College Application Service
(http://www.nursingcas.org/). Not all professional nursing programs participate in NursingCAS. Applicants who
wish to apply to a NON-participating NursingCAS program must apply directly to the institution using that
nursing program’s local application. Filling out of the nursing school application through the online service is
time consuming thus students should plan accordingly.

Campus Interviews: Conducted by the Health Professions Evaluation Committee in the spring of each
academic year (March - May)

Nursing School Interview: Some schools do application interviews while others do not.
OTHER RESOURCES




www.ExploreHealthCareers.org, an exceptional resource for students
National Institutes of Health Career Finder, http://scienceeducation.nih.gov/LifeWorks.nsf/feature/index.htm
American Association of Colleges of Nursing http://www.aacn.nche.edu
AACN: Your Nursing Career: A look at the facts http://www.aacn.nche.edu/students/your-nursingcareer/facts
The Office of Health Professions Advising assists students and alumni pursuing a health care career in medicine,
dentistry, optometry, pharmacy, chiropractic, occupational therapy, nursing, physician's assistant, veterinary medicine,
or other graduate health professions.
Health Professions: Pre-Nursing
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Any student of Virginia Tech, regardless of major, can use the services of OHPA. Although the majority of pre health
professions students major in a science field, it is not required.
Students should meet with their departmental Academic Advisor on a regular basis to ensure requirements are being
met for graduation. The Office of Health Professions Advising is an important complement to academic advising.
Health Professions: Pre-Nursing
July 2013
rev: CR