Career Success Pre-Professional Advising

Current Students FAQ

Step-by-Step Instructions for Making BoilerConnect Appointments

Making an appointment with most advisors on campus is through a system called BoilerConnect.

To make an appointment with Pre-Professional Advising on BoilerConnect (PDF instructions)

1. Select a Care Unit: Career/Pre-Professional Advising

2. Location: Pre-Professional Advising

3. Service:

  • Health/Law Career Exploration
  • Health/Law Personal Statement
  • Health/Law Progress Check-in
  • Health/Law School Application
  • Health Mock Interview

4. Advisor Selection: We all advise in every area of health care and law

You can choose Cristy Gosney, Caralynn (Cara) Hines-Pham, or Amy Terstriep

5. Then select your time

6. Review appointment details and add a note in the comments letting us know what you want to discuss at the appointment. Click Schedule.

Note: You will not be able to schedule a same day appointment. Generally you can find an appointment for that week other than during the busiest times of the school year when we might be scheduled a week out. If you are having trouble finding a time, please email preprofessional@purdue.edu and we will see what we can do to find a time for you.

Who is My PPA Advisor

You are not assigned to one of our pre-professional advisors. All of our advisors work with students interested in all professional fields. Each of us (Amy Terstriep, Cristy Gosney & Cara Hines-Pham) can help you whether you are interested in vet school, med school, law school, physical therapy, occupational therapy, physician assistant, genetic counseling, etc.

Some students meet with one of us for the first time, get to know us and keep meeting with us through the years. Other students will just take the first available appointment and see whoever that is. This is completely your preference.

You will also not hurt our feelings if you want to switch to one of the other PPA advisors. We do ask, however, that you not try to meet with all of us to ask the same questions. We provide consistent advice and a lot of students are trying to make appointments. We really do not have the luxury of each of us seeing the same student. 

How Often to Visit PPA

Ideally we recommend that you come in about every semester. We know that you are busy and that this might not happen exactly, but this is what we would like you to try to do.

It is especially important that we see you sophomore year. Typically you are preparing to apply in your junior year. We want to make sure that sophomore year you are getting ready for this so that junior year does not feel so chaotic.

How Can PPA Help?
One-on-One Advising Appointments

Appointments are made through BoilerConnect and are typically virtual appointments. If you feel you need an in-person appointment, email the person you want to see or preprofessional@purdue.edu to make a request. Over the past 5 years, we have found that virtual appointments work best for most students because much of what we discuss is resources you will need which are all online.

Not sure what to ask us in a meeting? Here are some ideas.

E-Newsletter and Instagram

Sign up for our monthly e-newsletter (on our homepage) and follow us on Instagram @purdueppa to learn about opportunities.

Interview Preparation
  • As interview season gears up, remember we can help you prepare for your interviews.
  • First, make sure you keep up with current events and news from your professional area.
  • Email a pre-professional advisor for lists of practice questions.
  • Practice online with Big Interview.
  • Set up a mock interview once you have an interview scheduled. Our graduate assistant works with you on these.

For more information on online practice and mock interviews, please check out the interview practice information in the Interview section of our Learning Center.

Personal Statement Reviews

Submit your personal statement to preprofessional@purdue.edu and one of us will provide comments via email. If you are struggling to write the personal statement or want to review the comments you received, then make a Health/Law Personal Statement appointment.

Please keep in mind that we have a high volume of personal statements and it does take time for us to return them. We review them as quickly as possible.

 

Coursework Questions

PPA can help you understand how your coursework fits with the expectations of professional programs.

Where to Find Recommended Prerequisites for Your Field

In the Careers section of our website, we highlight a number of fields and provide what we call a Career Guide. This Guide explains more about the field, the job outlook, finding program information, and the typical prerequisite courses.

Ultimately, schools can require whatever they want. As you move closer to applying, you will need to research the specific programs at which you plan to apply to ensure you have completed all their necessary coursework.

Occasionally struggling with Classes is Normal

First of all, please know that you are not the only one. It isn't just you. Also, don't give up on your idea of going to professional school. Learn from what happened and make a plan.

Gather Information and Make a Plan
  • Your academic advisor can be very helpful here as they know all the resources available on campus.
  • It can also be very useful to talk to the TA and the professor in the course.
  • Come talk to us.
  • Talk to professional programs as well. Get their advice.
  • For pre-health students our Health Programs Expo in the spring is a great opportunity to do that.
  • For pre-law students, attending the Law School Forum in Chicago in the fall or even a Digital Forum which provides a chance to speak with law school representatives directly.
Resources on Campus

The Academic Success Center

Supplemental Instruction is available in some courses

The Writing Lab

Free Resource Centers and Help Rooms (Biology, Chemistry, Physics, etc)

Using Your AP/IB Credits or Not

More and more often we are seeing students entering college with considerable AP, IB, CLEP and dual credit. Yeah you for being so smart and driven!

When it comes to these credits, you basically have to consider things on several levels

  • Level 1: Do you need the course for your major and will they accept it?
  • Level 2: Is the course required at professional schools and will they be willing to accept this credit?
  • Level 3: Is this material on your admission test for professional school and will you remember it by the time you need to take the exam?

Level 1--Whether you need the credits for your major is something you work out with your academic advisor.

Level 2 is more complex because individual schools can create their own policies.

  • This is mostly an issue for healthcare programs and AP/IB credits because these credits do not have a grade.
  • Dual credits are typically ok, because you will have a college transcript with a grade.
  • AP credit, especially in required science courses, is generally where problems can arise. Schools have very few courses with which to compare their applicants. When you are missing grades, it makes their work harder.
  • Medical and dental programs are often the most strict, but it can still be problematic for other fields (such as physician assistant, physical therapy, etc).
  • Some schools are ok with this.
  • Some schools would require that you "replace" those credits with higher level courses in the same areas.
  • Some schools are ok with AP in math and English, just not in science.
  • Some schools say they accept AP/IB credit, but don't really consider it as equally competitive. Would you? If you were on the admissions committee and had 2 applicants who looked otherwise equal and one had all the grades and the other one had this unknown factor--which would you choose? Probably the one with the grades.

Level 3 is something to think about as well.

You took these courses in high school. Typically your admission test is at the end of your junior year of college or later. Will you remember all that material by then or should you take the college classes to review the material?

Just things to think about to decide what is right for you. You can read more about it on our AP/IB/CLEP Handout.

 

 

Repeating Courses--or Not

Generally, repeating courses is frowned on by professional schools.

Here are a few things to consider before making the decision to repeat a course.

  • Many schools have policies that you need at least a C in their required courses. If you have below that, then you would have to repeat the class if you want to apply to that school. (Policies differ, some say C-, some say B)
  • Before repeating it, make sure you know what happened the first time. They will expect you to ace it the next time.
  • Generally the only way to show you mastered the material is to take the course at the same institution. If you take it at another school, programs where you apply might believe it was just an easier course.
  • The online common applications (called an application services) often include both grades if you retake a course. This means that while the grade may be replaced here at Purdue, it IS NOT replaced when you apply to professional schools. Both grades and the credit hours for both courses are used when the application service calculates the GPA.

Our handout on calculating a GPA not only tells you how to calculate your GPA it also tells you how a number of the application services handle repeated courses.

The College of Science also has a great GPA calculator that makes it really easy to plug in different scenarios and see where you are at.

Taking Courses Pass/No Pass

If it is a course required for your field, professional programs will expect to see a grade.

If the course is not a prerequisite for your field, you can consider taking a course P/NP, but professional programs will not want to see a pattern of this.

Study Abroad and Prerequisite Courses

We do not recommend taking prerequisite courses while studying abroad.

While there are several reasons for this, most professional programs prefer that your prerequisites be taken from a U.S. based institution.
Online Courses and Professional Programs
  • If it is a Purdue course and is only taught online, then it should be fine though you may need to explain to a school that this is the only way the course was offered.
  • For prerequisite courses, schools will typically want to see in-person courses and in-person labs.
  • Before taking a summer prerequisite science course with an online lab, you should check with schools where you plan to apply. You may need to wait until the regular semester to take the lab in-person.

Preparing for National Admission Tests

Preparing for national admission tests required by your field is a time-consuming and daunting task. PPA can provide tips about timing of your test, how to prepare, and information about what other students have used to prepare.

Admission Test Preparation Time

Probably longer than you think. People who study these things at the national level tell us that overall those who tend to do well on these tests have spent an average of about 400 hours or more preparing.

So whether you choose to take a preparation course (in which case the time in the prep course DOES NOT count toward the 400 hours) or choose to study on your own, you need about 400 hours. You can stretch that out over a longer period of time or condense it, but you still need about that amount.

For most students who are looking at taking a test in April, May or June, this means 3-4 months of 10-15 hours a week. This is the work of a class you are adding to your life. Plan accordingly.

Preparing for the LSAT

Generally people who do well have studied about 300-400 hours for the LSAT over about 3-6 months. While some people do take a test prep course, the vast majority of students get a set of review books or use online study resources and study on their own.

Fortunately, LSAC's LawHub has great free materials and additional materials for a reasonable price. You will need to create a free account in LawHub to see the materials.

One of the most important things, however, is to take timed practice tests. The pace of the LSAT is really important. You have to move really quickly through the test so it is important to practice your speed on the test.

Preparing for the Graduate Record Exam

Most of our students who need to take the GRE use online materials from the GRE website and also purchase a commercially available book with practice questions.

We suggest starting to prepare early in the spring semester before you need to take the test.

Register for and take the exam when you feel prepared. For some students this is 1-2 months of preparation, but it is an individual process.