Pre-Health- C and D Terms

Course Planning Specifics: Pre-Health

WPI offers pre-health advising programs for students interested in pursuing a career in the health professions, including pre-med, pre-vet, pre-dental, or pre-PA. Students need to take specific courses to prepare for entry into professional schools and exams such as MCAT, DAT, GRE and OAT. In some cases, these courses will overlap with major requirements. In other cases, these courses may be additional. 

Students should be aware of the course requirements for their desired major and follow recommendations for that major. If consistent with your major, the suggested courses below will put you in a good position to begin fulfilling the prerequisites for most health-related professional programs. Students with specific questions regarding these programs can feel free to email Elizabeth Jacoby (erjacoby@wpi.edu) within the Office of Academic Advising to request to join the Pre-Health Canvas site or with any additional questions.

If you are considering Biomedical Engineering as your major and want to be on the pre-health track, please contact Prof. Sakthikumar Ambady directly regarding course selections, sambady@wpi.edu. 

In addition to the course recommendations below that are specific to your major, each student must complete 4 PE courses in their four years at WPI. You are welcome to add a Physical Education and Wellness course to any term. PE courses are worth 1/12 unit, unlike major subjects discussed in course recommendations which are worth 1/3 unit, and can be taken in addition to the 3 courses recommended below. 

C Term Recommendations

If you have taken CH 1010/CH 1020, continue with the Chemistry sequence. Otherwise, take CH 1010 and 1020. As a pre-health student, you should take the general chemistry sequence through CH 1030. If required by your major, you should also take CH 1040. Consult the major-specific recommendations to see if you should take CH 1040.  

If it is consistent with your major advice, it is recommended that you take Math in C and D terms, otherwise, you should take a major specific course. Note that many health professions programs require or recommend Statistics, such as MA 2610 or MA 2611.  

Every student at WPI must complete the Humanities and Arts (HUA) Requirement. This consists of 6 courses in HUA subjects. The subjects available for HUA listed below. Please note that many health professions programs require or recommend taking Writing courses.  

  • Art (AR)
  • Music (MU)
  • Drama/Theatre (EN/TH)
  • Foreign Language- Spanish (SP), German (GN), Arabic (AB), Chinese (CN)
    • For Spanish Placement Information, Please Email: Professor Angel Rivera (arivera@wpi.edu)
    • For German Placement Information, Please Email: Professor Daniel DiMassa (ddimassa@wpi.edu)
    • For Arabic Placement Information, Please Email: Professor Mohammed El Hamzaoui (melhamzaoui@wpi.edu)
    • For Chinese Placement Information, Please Email: Professor Wen-Hua Du (wdu2@wpi.edu)
    • For English Language (International Students) Information, Please Email: Professor Althea Danielski (amdanielski@wpi.edu) and Professor Esther Boucher-Yip (efboucher@wpi.edu)
  • Literature (EN)
  • Writing/Rhetoric (WR, RH)
  • International Student English (ISE)
  • History (HI)
  • International Studies (INTL)
  • Philosophy (PY)
  • Religion (RE)

You are required to take two Social Science Courses in your time at WPI. The subjects that are considered Social Science are listed below. Please note that many health professions programs require or recommend behavior sciences courses such as Psychology.  

  • Development (DEV) 
  • Economics (ECON) 
  • Environmental Studies (ENV) 
  • Government, Political Science, and Law (GOV) 
  • Psychology (PSY) 
  • System Dynamics (SD) 
  • Sociology (SOC) 
  • Social Science (SS) 
  • Society/Technology Studies (STS) 

Note: ID 2050 is a course that is required before you go away for IQP and counts as one of your Social Science Courses. If you are planning on going away for IQP in your junior year, you may only want to take one social science course in your first year. 

 

D Term Recommendations

If you have taken CH 1010/CH 1020, continue with the Chemistry sequence. Otherwise, take CH 1010 and 1020. As a pre-health student, you should take the general chemistry sequence through CH 1030. If required by your major, you should also take CH 1040. Consult the major-specific recommendations to see if you should take CH 1040.  

If it is consistent with your major advice, it is recommended that you take Math in C and D terms, otherwise, you should take a major specific course. Note that many health professions programs require or recommend Statistics, such as MA 2610 or MA 2611. 

Your third course should be a Humanities and Arts, Social Science, or a Major Specific course. More information is available about these courses below.  

Every student at WPI must complete the Humanities and Arts (HUA) Requirement. This consists of 6 courses in HUA subjects. he subjects available for HUA listed below. Please note that many health professions programs require or recommend taking Writing courses. 

  • Art (AR)
  • Music (MU)
  • Drama/Theatre (EN/TH)
  • Foreign Language- Spanish (SP), German (GN), Arabic (AB), Chinese (CN)
    • For Spanish Placement Information, Please Email: Professor Angel Rivera (arivera@wpi.edu)
    • For German Placement Information, Please Email: Professor Daniel DiMassa (ddimassa@wpi.edu)
    • For Arabic Placement Information, Please Email: Professor Mohammed El Hamzaoui (melhamzaoui@wpi.edu)
    • For Chinese Placement Information, Please Email: Professor Wen-Hua Du (wdu2@wpi.edu)
    • For English Language (International Students) Information, Please Email: Professor Althea Danielski (amdanielski@wpi.edu) and Professor Esther Boucher-Yip (efboucher@wpi.edu)
  • Literature (EN)
  • Writing/Rhetoric (WR, RH)
  • International Student English (ISE)
  • History (HI)
  • International Studies (INTL)
  • Philosophy (PY)
  • Religion (RE)

You are required to take two Social Science Courses in your time at WPI. The subjects that are considered Social Science are listed below. Please note that many health professions programs require or recommend behavior sciences courses such as Psychology. 

  • Development (DEV)
  • Economics (ECON)
  • Environmental Studies (ENV)
  • Government, Political Science, and Law (GOV)
  • Psychology (PSY)
  • System Dynamics (SD)
  • Sociology (SOC)
  • Social Science (SS)
  • Society/Technology Studies (STS)

Note: ID 2050 is a course that is required before you go away for IQP and counts as one of your Social Science Courses. If you are planning on going away for IQP in your junior year, you may only want to take one social science course in your first year.  

Once you go through the above recommendations, please be sure to review Registration Information so you know how to register on November 15th.

Registration Information

To build your schedule you should use the Course Listings page and the WPI Planner. Below are instructions on how to use the Planner tool and how to search for courses before inputting this information into Workday, WPI's registration platform.

  1. Navigate to the WPI Planner.
  2. On the first tab, select the class subject area you are interested in (ex. Chemistry, Mathematical Sciences). Note: Great Problems Seminars are listed under First Year.
  3. Once you select the subject, the available courses will appear. As you select courses, they will appear in the box at the bottom right.
    • You should select three courses for each term. It is also a good idea to identify some back-up schedules in case your first choices are full when you register.
    • You can also select a Physical Education course, and 1/6 unit music courses, as an additional fourth course in addition to your three courses. This is common for first year students.
    • ROTC Members: please select your Military Science course in addition to your three courses. Your Physical Training will count towards your physical education requirement, so you do not need to select PE courses.
  4. On the second tab, Time, you can eliminate times of day you do not want classes. Note: This may limit your course options, so use this one sparingly.
  5. The third tab, Schedules, shows all the possible schedules that can result from your course selections. Make sure you are looking at the correct term, and look to see if there is any overlap between class times. You can change the term you would like to take the course by clicking on the term bubbles.
    • When you are satisfied with how your schedule looks it is time to identify the sections of the classes you plan to register for.
    • At the top of the Schedules tab, you will see two boxes, one labeled “Grid” and another labeled “Detail.” Click the “Detail” box to see a listing of selected courses with information including course name, course section, professor, location, and meeting days and times.

PRE-REGISTRATION PREP​

  • Watch the 10 min. overview video
  • Login to Workday​
  • Use Find Course Sections to build at least one Saved Schedule for C-Term, D-Term, and if you're taking any 10 or 14 week classes, Spring Semester (instructions)​​​

November 15, 7AM ET: REGISTER​

  • Login to Workday​
  • Open a browser tab or window for C-Term, D-Term, and Spring Semester (if you have any 10 or 14 week classes) and View My Saved Schedules for each​
  • [Optional] Open tabs for alternate course sections from other Saved Schedules or search results​
  • When registration opens, click Start Registration, then click Register (instructions)
  • Open View My Courses, scroll right to Drop or Swap (instructions)​
  • Waitlisted? If a spot opens, a notification will be sent to your WPI email asking you to login to Workday and take action