What We Do

“Preparing for Professional Programs in Health Care” is our most-trafficked advising interface with first-year students, and we ask that all first-year students complete this orientation before meeting with a pre-health advisor in an appointment after your first year on campus. We designed it with first-year students in mind. But we encourage anyone with interest in a health profession to enroll. It is a robust guide to all things pre-health.

Please sign up here.

The Center for Pre-Health Advising sends a bimonthly newsletter to pre-health students who sign up to receive it. Get information about pre-health events, opportunities, resources, and recommended reading. Look for it the second and fourth Thursday every month.

Please sign-up here.

Welcome to UW-Madison! We are excited for you to begin an exciting phase of life and are eager to work with you. Dr. Michael Hill is our first-year pre-health student specialist. He facilitates our pre-health orientation (“Preparing for Professional Programs in Health Care”). This is your first step to all things pre-health. Dr. Hill also offers drop-in advising for first-year students every Friday during fall and spring semesters (“First Year Fridays”) and runs four-year planning workshops for first-year students. And as a first-year student, you also have access to pre-health advisors five days a week (Monday-Friday) via email at questions@prehealth.wisc.edu.

Please make use of all these first-year student resources:

• Preparing for Professional Programs in Health Care (sign up here)
• First-Year Fridays every Friday during fall and spring semesters (9-12 at CPHA, Suite 205 in the Middleton Building)
• Four-Year Planning Workshops (look for announcements in the CPHA newsletter)
• Quick question? Please email us at questions@prehealth.wisc.edu!

And please make an appointment to have a longer conversation with a CPHA advisor after your first year on campus!

As a UW-Madison alum, you have access to all the advising services The Center for Pre-Health Advising offers for as long as you need them. We are eager to work with you as you continue to take steps toward a health profession — whether you are progressing on a path you planned as an undergraduate or shifting to a field you began pursuing your fourth or fifth year in college or after graduating. It is not uncommon for people to decide on a health profession after experience in another field. Please get in touch with us!

• Make an appointment. (You can use your Campus ID to make an appointment using our Scheduling Assistants. If you have any difficulty with this, please call our office at 608.263.6614 to schedule an appointment.)
• Come to drop-in advising.
• Write to our questions box at questions@prehealth.wisc.edu.
• Enroll in an application course. Ask about this by email (questions@prehealth.wisc.edu) or in an appointment!
• Sign up for the pre-health orientation, if health care is a new interest!

Drop-In Advising happens at the Center for Pre-Health Advising. Please find us in Suite 205 of the Middleton Building.

Drop-In Advising during the Summer:

• Summer is application season. For this reason, we dedicate drop-in advising to applicants in the summer.
• Tuesdays, 9-12, 1-3
• Wednesdays, 1-3

Drop-In Advising during Fall and Spring semesters:

• Second-year, third-year, fourth-year, fifth-year, and transfer students
  • Tuesdays, 1-3:30
  • Wednesdays, 1-3:30
• First-year students: Fridays, 9-12

Appointment Advising happens at the Center for Pre-Health Advising. Please find us in Suite 205 of the Middleton Building. If you are an alum, second-year, third-year, fourth-year, fifth-year and or transfer student, please make an appointment to talk with us about your interests and plans:

Meet with Dija Selimi

Meet with Beth Currier

Meet with Mike Hill

What to include in your appointment note:

• Your pre-health interest (e.g. pre-PT, pre-OT, pre-vet, pre-med, pre-PA)
• What you want to talk about (e.g. courses, volunteering, research, shadowing)

We recommend:

• 30-minute appointments if you want to talk about one or two of the above topics
• 60-minute appointments if you want to talk about more than two of the above topics or applying to a health professions program

If you are an alum and cannot find an appointment at a time you are free to meet, please call our office (608.263.6614) or email us (questions@prehealth.wisc.edu) and we will find a time for you.

Four-Year Planning for First-Year Students

What To Do During a Gap Year

Preparing for the MCAT

Every spring the Center for Pre-Health Advising invites interested students to read with us about important issues in health care. Spring 2019 will be the third book group we hold.

• Spring 2018   The Death Gap — How Inequality Kills by Dr. David Ansell, MD.
• Spring 2017   Black Man in a White Coat by Dr. Damon Tweedy, MD. We also watched the critically acclaimed documentary The Waiting Room. (24 hours. 241 patients. One stretched ER.)

Sign up to receive the CPHA newsletter to find out what the CPHA book group will read in spring 2019.

The Center for Pre-Health Advising offers Canvas courses for applicants. They are resource libraries that give guidance on every dimension of applications to health professions programs that we could think of. Dr. Dija Selimi has written and runs each one.

Please talk with a CPHA advisor about being enrolled. You can also email us at questions@prehealth.wisc.edu to inquire. We currently offer the following:

Applying to Dental Programs

Applying to Medical Programs (MD & DO)

Applying to Physician Assistant Programs

Applying to Physical Therapy Programs

And we are developing:

Applying to Occupational Therapy Programs

Health professional programs are eager to come to our campus to tell interested students about their programs and answer any questions you might have about what sets their program apart from others — and how to make yourself stand out to them as an applicant. The Center for Pre-Health Advising shares information about their visits in our newsletter.

Sign up to receive the CPHA newsletter to keep informed about who is coming when.

The Health Professions Shadowing Program (HPSP) is a two-week residential program for students from groups who are underrepresented in health care. Students accepted into the program spend over thirty hours shadowing providers at UW Health and affiliated area clinics, visiting healthcare facilities and learning about current trends in health care from providers in the community. The program supports students who are first generation, ethnic and racial minorities, from rural areas or socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds. HPSP takes place each year in the first two weeks of August.