Pre-Health and Study Abroad

The pre-health core requirements should not be taken abroad, but with adequate planning and communication with your major department, it is possible to both fulfill your pre-health requirements and to study abroad.

Most applicants who study abroad will take one gap year or two gap years to allow for all pre-health requirements to be completed before taking the MCAT.

Review the recommendations and resources from Rebecca Avery, Director of Study Abroad and International Exchanges. This includes programs that may be of interest to students who are pre-health or interested in health/psychology courses.

Tips for Pre-Health and Study Abroad

Meet with your pre-major/major advisor(s) to help map out remaining academic requirements. Some questions to ask:
- What courses do you absolutely need to take at Haverford?
- What courses can you take while abroad?
- Since we can never guarantee courses at host institutions abroad, do you have any back-ups?
The study abroad timeline outlines when students will actually be applying to study abroad, so this will give you a better idea regarding the application process.
The programs page allows you to filter programs by subject, so students can see which programs offer courses in their major.
Many study abroad program providers are offering their own virtual information sessions - all of these are posted on the study abroad website.

Programs of interest

DIS programs in Copenhagen & Stockholm include courses that may be of interest to students who are pre-med or interested in health/psychology courses

Copenhagen

Cognitive Neuroscience of Consciousness and Lab: Introduces the main theoretical models and the empirical methods employed to explain and measure consciousness
European Clinical Psychology and Practicum: Focuses on the way the field of clinical psychology is approached within a European context. We will start with the study of historical and cultural issues, and as the semester unfolds, we will study different psychotherapeutic schools and their view on the etiology of psychological problems. The main focus will be on adult mental health. Throughout the course, we will discuss controversial issues in the field and consider differences in American and European approaches to treatment. One goal of the course is to make these theoretical discussions concrete and applicable to real-life scenarios as experienced on field trips and study tours and via case studies.
Human Health and Disease: A Clinical Approach and Medical Simulation Lab: This course offers an introduction to the most important human diseases, their diagnoses and treatments, and to the clinical practice of physicians at Danish university hospitals. Students are taught at Copenhagen university hospitals by practicing physicians.; This hands-on lab course will focus on specific diseases and follow the diagnosis and treatment pathway of a surgical patient from admission to discharge. You will learn relevant anatomy and physiology through virtual reality (VR) alongside traditional approaches. Learn how to perform a basic ultrasound evaluation and how to diagnose common CT pathologies. Furthermore, you will learn basic surgical skills and interventions to perform surgical procedures with the use of laparoscopic simulators.
Medical Biotechnology and Drug Development: The emphasis of the course will be on biomedicine and drug discovery & development, showcased through a focus on the European pharmaceutical and biotech research community. Students will learn about the general principles of drug discovery & development, including safety, toxicology, formulation, and clinical trials. Furthermore, the course will explore the opportunities and challenges biotechnology has for medicine, such as the different new types of biotechnological drugs, gene therapy, personalized medicine, delivery problems, stem cells, etc.
Psychopharmacology: Substances and the Brain: This course examines neuroscience with a molecular approach. The course will focus on psychiatric disorders and their pharmacological treatments. Besides covering basic brain anatomy and function, the link between dysfunctional brain regions/circuits and different psychiatric symptom will be discussed. A strong focus will be on neurotransmitters and their receptors, as well as how the neurotransmitters interact.
Additional pre-med/ health science CPH core courses and electives
Copenhagen Lab and Research opportunities

Stockholm

Affective Neuroscience: Emotions, Cognition, and Behavior and Lab: How do we understand the interplay of human emotions and their neural networks? This course applies findings from the interdisciplinary field of neuroscience and the psychological study of cognition, emotion, and personality. Basic, complex, and social emotions are explored from the perspective of, for example, the subjective experience of emotion, non-conscious processes, how emotions are interpreted, expressed, or regulated. Affective systems, neural networks, and their relationship to cognitive processes such as attention, learning, memory, and decision making are addressed. Where relevant, human brain imaging findings, pathological conditions, treatment and cultural perspectives are considered.
Precision Medicine: Tailored Treatment in Clinical Practice and Medical Simulation Lab: Standard clinical care is shifting its focus towards precision medicine, where the choice for treatment relies on the specific physiological characteristics of a given patient. The rapid development of ‘omics’, including genomics, transcriptomics, and proteomics, is currently adding a new dimension to the advancement of precision medicine and clinical care. This course covers current clinical practices within precision medicine, as well as the potential clinical application of omics in the clinic. In addition, you study patient cases and address diagnosis and treatment by using the precision medicine approach. A special focus on precision molecular therapeutics in cancer will be included in the course.
Additional pre-med/ health science STO core courses and electives
Stockholm Lab and Research opportunities

Strong STEM Programs

Australia: IFSA University of Melbourne
England: IES University College London; IFSA King's College London; Oxford University Partner Colleges - Application process starts fall semester of a student's sophomore year
Ireland: IFSA National University of Ireland, Galway; University College Dublin
New Zealand: IFSA University of Auckland; IFSA University of Otago; IFSA Victoria University of Wellington
Northern Ireland: IFSA Queen's University Belfast
Scotland: University of Aberdeen; IFSA University of Edinburgh

Pre-Health Advising