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Healthcare Professional Course Requirements

  • Students should search on the internet to be actively involved in getting this information, and to look at schools they might be interested in and find their specific requirements. This is important because there are variations and will also insure the information they get is up to date.
  • Be sure to refer students across all of the allied health professions to Marion Ficke in Biology () for advising.
  • Students may benefit from learning about these professions on explorehealthcareers.org

Pre-Med/Pre-Dent/Pre-Vet/Chiropractic/Podiatric

  • CHEM 103/113 and 104/114 (General Chemistry with lab)
  • CHEM 203/213 and 204/214 (Organic Chemistry with lab)
  • BIOL 105 and 106 (General Biology includes lab)
  • PHYS 205/225 and 206/226 (College Physics with lab)
  • BIOL 454 (Biological Chemistry)
  • PSY 201 or SOC 101
  • Statistics (PSY 322) -- a few still require Calculus
  • PHIL 303 (Biomedical Ethics) may be helpful (recommended)

Physical Therapy

  • CHEM 103/113 and 104/114 (General Chemistry with lab)
  • BIOL 105 and 106 (General Biology includes lab)
  • BIOL 232 and 233 (Anatomy & Physiology includes lab)
  • PHYS 205/225 and 206/226 (College Physics with lab)
  • Experience volunteering or working in a PT setting
  • See American Physical Therapy Assoc.website APTA.org for a chart that lists all PT programs

Occupational Therapy

•BIOL 232 and 233 (Anatomy & Physiology includes lab)

  • PSY 201,379 (Life-Span Development), and 380 (Abnormal Psychology) required at many
  • Statistics (PSY 322)
  • SOC 101 (Intro to Sociology) or ANTH 101 (Cultural Anthropology)
  • Medical Terminology
  • Probably will want experience volunteering or working in an OT setting
  • May want a semester of Physics (e.g., PHYS 205/225)
  • Probably won’t want more Biology (e.g., BIOL 105 and 106)

Physician Assistant – Biology major may be best

  • CHEM 103/113 and 104/114 (General Chemistry with lab)
  • BIOL 232 and 233 (Anatomy & Physiology includes lab)
  • BIOL 223 (Microbiology includes lab)
  • Statistics (PSY 322)
  • Many require PSY 201
  • Many require BIOL 105 and 106 (General Biology includes lab)
  • Organic Chemistry, Genetics, Biochemistry may be helpful
  • health-related volunteer or work experience in health care setting or direct patient care
  • Programs vary on requirements and needed experience; looking at individual programs is essential.

Second Degree Nursing

•CHEM 109/119 (General, Organic, and Biochemistry for the Health Sciences with lab)

•BIOL 232 and 233 (Anatomy & Physiology)

•BIOL 223 (Microbiology)

•PSY 201 and 379 (Life-Span Development)

•Statistics (PSY 322)

•NURS 257 (Nutrition and Health)

  • check with individual programs to be sure OUR courses (e.g., chemistry) will be okfor other schools

Pharmacy

  • BIOL 105 and 106 (General Biology includes lab)
  • BIOL 232 and 233 (Anatomy & Physiology includes lab)
  • CHEM 103/113 and 104/114 (General Chemistry with lab)
  • CHEM 203/213 and 204/214 (Organic Chemistry with lab)
  • BIOL 223 (Microbiology includes lab)
  • PHYS 205/225 (College Physics with lab)
  • Statistics (PSY 322)
  • MATH 111 (Calculus)
  • PSY 201
  • DR 403 (Public speaking)
  • Ethics (e.g., PHIL 303 Biomedical Ethics)
  • May require Biochemistry, Genetics

Speech and Language Pathology

  • BIOL 232 and 233 (Anatomy & Physiology includes lab)
  • PHYS 205/225 (College Physics with lab)
  • PSY 201, 379 (Life-Span Development), and 380 (Abnormal Psychology)
  • Statistics (PSY 322)
  • Courses in Phonetics, Language Acquisition/Development, Audiology, Communication Disorders, Anatomy and Physiology of Speech, Aural Rehabilitation, Introduction to the Clinical Process – students may need to do a preSLP

Nutrition – still not 100% sure about these

  • NURS 257 - Nutrition and Health
  • BIOL 105 and 106 (minimum of one course in Biology required)
  • CHEM 103 and 104 General Chemistry
  • CHEM 203 and 204 Organic Chemistry
  • BIOL 232 and 233 Anatomy and Physiology
  • BIOL 454 - Biological Chemistry
  • Some may want Statistics (PSY 322)

Child Life Specialist Certification

What is a Child Life Specialist? According to Wikipedia, “Child Life Specialists are pediatric health care professionals who work with children and families in hospitals and other settings to help them cope with the challenges of hospitalization, illness, and disability.” See

Requirements for becoming a Certified Child Life Specialist (CCLS):

  1. A college degree
  2. At least 10 college-level courses in Child Life or a related department (a Psychology major at CUA satisfies this). Starting in 2019 course requirements will become more specific, and starting in 2022 students must have a master’s degree in child life to sit for certification.
  3. One college course specifically taught by a certified Child Life Specialist (includes online courses). In the DC area, there are two possibilities, and I suggest you take it from a major university (see
  • George Mason University (Fairfax VA): in Human Development and Family Science program u
  • Towson University (Baltimore MD): FMST 240 Intro to Child Life I highly recommend this online course. Lisa Martinelli Beasley is a CCLS and has directed the program at Towson for 10 years, and seems to be VERY well-connected in the field.
  1. 480 hours of clinical experience in a Child Life internship, under the direct supervision of a CCLS (600 hours starting in 2019). Not many are available, and they are very competitive. Even undergrad Child Life majors find it hard to one, but master’s students are more successful (they’ll apply for 20 or more CL internships all over the country in the hopes of matching at one). Any CUA student interested in becoming a CCLS should plan on applying to a M.S. in Child Life program. See this list and article:

Be sure to find out what their internship match rate is, and thus consider strong programs like Towson.

  1. So what do you need to be competitive for these master’s programs? Lisa Beasley suggests:
  • > 3.5 GPA (preferred)
  • Courses in Research Methods, Statistics, and a writing-intensive course
  • Courses in Infant/Child Development, Adolescence, and Life-Span Development
  • An Intro to Child Life course (see #3 above)
  • Tons of experience with children that demonstrates a continuous commitment, including:
  • First start by volunteering at Children’s National Medical Center (contact CL volunteer coordinators Courtney Baines or Katie Webb ). They’ll want a total of 60 hours, probably 4-5 hrs/wk.
  • Then you can apply for an official 120-hour semester-long (or summer) Child Life “practicum” either at CNMC or somewhere else (e.g., INOVA Fairfax, at home over the summer, etc.). These are more competitive and would be for 10 hours/week; you could do 12 hours/week and seek permission to count this as a Psych Internship (PSY 495). See for information on applying to the CNMC CL practicum.
  • Well-kid experience (e.g., day-care center, after-school program, nanny, summer camp)
  • Possibly also experience at non-profit organizations for child welfare (e.g., Make a Wish Foundation, Cool Kids Campaign)
  1. Eventually you’ll want to become a member of the Child Life Council: student dues are $72/year