One of Gannon University’s newest and most intriguing undergraduate programs doesn’t end in a degree and is intended for people who already have one. So, how does that work?
The program is the pre-health qualification, and according to Lisa Nogaj, Ph.D., the director of pre-professional programs, it opens a corridor that can lead to careers in the health professions that are much in demand.
“It’s for career changers,” she explained, “for anybody who has a Bachelor’s degree, but not the qualifying science courses to be eligible for professional school in the health professions.”
At Gannon, those professions are typically chiropractic, dentistry, medicine (allopathic, osteopathic and veterinary), optometry, pharmacy and podiatry.
The amount of time to completion of the program varies, depending on the kind of courses the student has already taken as part of his or her previous degree work and on the scheduling of pre-requisite courses in the qualification program.
"We have a good reputation of sending students on to professional schools."
At the end, the student receives a committee letter of recommendation; a seemingly innocuous document that Nogaj says carries enormous weight.
“I think it’s extremely important. It’s an objective assessment by the writer and the committee that compared a student to everyone we’ve ever seen. If we say a student is excellent, the professional schools take that seriously.” She added, “We have a good reputation of sending students on to professional schools.”
Call it the power of qualification.