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Pursuing pre-med preparation as a Human Physiology major is no different than in any other major. A good place to start is by visiting the to get an idea of what is required to be eligible for applying to any medical school in the United States.  

The Health Professions Pathway Program (H3P) at GU has more specific information on pre-requisite courses and other advice for pursuing a career in medicine. In addition, you should meet with your Human Physiology faculty advisor and review additional information on how best to prepare for your medical school application.

In general, the required pre-requisite courses for applying to PA programs varies more so than other professional programs. However, the Human Physiology curriculum, along with some other courses, will prepare you very well for PA school. If PA is an interest, start by looking up the particular schools you would be interested in and look at their requirements. Importantly, you should be aware that most PA schools require over 1000 hr of practical experience in a health care setting. For more detail on this, visit the .

The Health Professions Pathway Program (H3P) at GU has more specific information on pre-requisite courses and other advice for pursuing a career as a PA. In addition, you should meet with your Human Physiology faculty advisor and review additional information on how best to customize your 4-year plan to prepare for applying.

In general, if you complete the BS in Human Physiology you will have all the necessary prerequisites. However, you should look up the particular schools you might apply to just to be sure. For more information, visit the .

The Health Professions Pathway Program (H3P) at GU has more specific information on pre-requisite courses and other advice for pursuing a career in physical therapy. In addition, you should meet with your Human Physiology faculty advisor and review additional information on how best to prepare for pursuing a path as a physical therapist.

In general, if you complete the BS in Human Physiology, along with a few additional courses, you will have all the necessary prerequisites. The  website is a great resource for finding additional information for preparing your application. And it is always a good idea to look at the requirements of specific OT programs you might be interested in applying to.

For more information regarding OT and courses to take while at 91³Ô¹ÏÍø, the Health Professions Pathway (H3P) office at GU has some great information.

Human Physiology majors need to complete 12 elective credits as part of their degree requirements.  Often, fulfilling this requirement is accomplished by taking four, 3-credit classes (4 classes x 3 credits/class = 12 credits).  We offer multiple upper level elective courses on a range of topics in the Fall and Spring semesters.  Students may elect to take all of their 4 courses (12 credits) as upper division electives.  

One course, or 3-credits, out of the 12 elective credits may come from a lower division course.  We offer one course, HPHY 244 Nutrition, as a lower division course.  However, students may instead take a course in BIOL, PHYS, CHEM, or MATH and have that course substituted for the lower division course.  A course in one of these other disciplines may not be a required course for the major, and it must be a course higher than the required course (i.e. BIOL 105 is required, so BIOL 106 could be used to fulfill the lower division elective).

Other options to meet the upper division electives include:
• HPHY 304 Practice in Lab Teaching.  This is a 1 credit course, and students may elect to be a Teaching assistant in two semester for a total of 2 credits to count toward their elective credits
• HPHY 498 Directed Research: This course can be either 1 or 2 credits, and generally involves working on a research project and is to be arranged with an individual faculty member.

One common question is whether HPHY 497 Internship will count towards upper division elective credit.  This course is designed to fulfill specific needs of internship programs, and will not count toward elective credit.

Yes, many of our students study abroad.  Most students choose to study in GU Florence over the summer between academic years.  This option works well for a number of reasons: 1) you stay within the GU system, and it makes it easy to register for classes and get credit for them. 2) Studying abroad over the summer will not disrupt your regular academic year and degree progression.  3) Students report having great experiences at GU Florence, while taking courses that lighten their course load during the regular academic year.

If you desire to study abroad elsewhere, or during the academic year, there may be possibilities.  Please contact the Center for Global Engagement office, located in the Hemmingson Center.

Yes, many of our students pursue minors in addition to their Human Physiology courses. Minors represent a good opportunity to learn and observe the world from a different perspective. Some students choose health related minors while others choose minors in the arts or humanities. If you want to declare a minor, meet with your Human Physiology advisor about planning for and pursuing a minor.

Some common examples of minors that our Human Physiology students pursue include:

• Psychology
• Environmental Science
• Physics
• Health Equity
• Dance
• Theater
• Leadership Studies
• Business

Check the undergraduate catalogue to be sure you have completed all of the prerequisites for the course in which you are trying to enroll. Also, check Zagweb to see if the course is already full (see maximum enrollment column and compare the numerator – the number of students currently enrolled, to the denominator – class maximum). If you have met the prerequisites and the class is full, obtain a course authorization form for each course and lab you would like to add and get your advisor's signature and seek the signature and initials of the instructor for that course. An instructor may or may not give you permission to add his/her class. If you do get the instructor's permission (initials and signature) then obtain the signature of the department chair, and take the completed course authorization form to the Registrar's Office to be added to the course.