Planning for a Career

1. 1
PREPARING FOR A
HEALTH CAREER AT
GUSTAVUS
Jeff Stocco
Career Center Director and
Health Professions Coordinator

2. 2
OVERVIEW OF HEALTH
CAREERS
 Health Services largest industry in 2003 with 12.9
million jobs
 10 out of 20 occupations projected to grow the
fastest are in health services
 16% of all new wage and salary jobs from 2003-
2012 will be in health services

3. 3
WHY THE GROWTH?
 Aging Population
 Advances in Medical Technology
 Shift from in-patient to out-patient
care

4. 4
FASTEST GROWING
OCCUPATIONS
Psychologists
Social Workers
Physicians/Surgeons
Occupational Therapists
Physical Therapists
Clinical Lab Technologists
Medical Records Technician
Many Assistant-type Positions

5. 5
Q: How many students do “Health
Careers” at Gustavus?
A: over 200 each year say pre-health
 Fall 2007 enrollment in
medical programs:
 14 medical school
 4 pharmacy
 5 dentistry
 2 optometry
 2 chiropractic
 2 veterinary medicine
 1 podiatric medicine
 3 graduate nursing
 3 physical therapy
 2 speech pathology
 2 physician assistant
 2 exercise physiology
 1 public health
 1 audiology

6. 6
Fall 2008 Admits, medical schools
 Medicine
 Loyola Stritch
 U of MN
 U of MN – Duluth
 Wake Forest
 Medical College of Wisconsin (’08 & ’04)
 Harvard (’07)
 Colorado (’00)
 Chicago (’06)
 Mayo Medical School (’07)

7. 7
Fall ’08 Admits
Other health professions
 Physical Therapy
 Mayo School of Health Sciences
 U of MN
 Occupational Therapy
 U of Iowa
 College of St. Catherine
 Optometry
 Ohio State
 Dentistry
 U of MN
 Pharmacy
 U of MN
 U of Colorado
 Nursing (BSN)
 MN State, Moorhead
 Chiropractic
 Northwestern Health Sciences

8. 8
Fall ’08, Health-related specialties
 Kinesiology/Exercise Physiology
 Kansas State
 UW – LaCrosse
 Montana State
 Sports Medicine
 U of Colorado
 Fitness Management
 MN State, Mankato
 Biomedical Engineering
 U of MN
 Epidemiology
 London School of Hygiene
 Biomedical Science
 Colorado State

9. 9
Q: What health-related bachelors
degrees are offered at Gustavus?
A: Athletic Training
Health Fitness
Nursing
Health Education

10. 10
Q: For pre-health professions, how
would Gustavus help?
 A: Extremely strong science departments
and many research opportunities.
 Liberal arts degree in any area as long as
prerequisites are completed…
Possible Majors:
Biology, Chemistry, Psychology, English,
Biochemistry, Art, Music, Health Education, Health & Exercise
Science

11. 11
Q: Where does the Career Center fit
in?
 A1 Career Planning – assist students with the
process of identifying careers
 A2 Internships
 January Term shadowing experiences
 Semester internships
 A3 Health Professions advising
 Information on health careers
 Specific advising for medicine, dentistry, and
pharmacy
 General advising for all other health professions
 Health Professions Guide for 13 professions
 http://gustavus.edu/careercenter/health/

12. 12
CAREER CENTER
 Resources
-books, journals, pamphlets
-general career information
 Staff
-classes/fairs related to careers
-1:1 career counseling
-job search & graduate school application
assistance
 Web site
-Internships
-G-Net - Mentors
-Health Professions Guide

13. 13
Health Professions Coordinator
 -career counseling on various health
professions - explore talents and interests
-advice on prerequisites, training and
program selection
-assistance with application &
recommendation process
-advice on MCAT preparation
-health professions events (on and off campus)
-relationships with professional schools
-work with pre-health club on campus
-prospective student presentations/meetings

14. 14
Q: Two advisors – how does that
work?
 Faculty advisor
 Academic dept.
 Register for classes
 Work on graduation
requirements
 Work on major
requirements
 Pre-health advisor
 Career Center
 Requirements for med
school
 Med school app.
process
 MCAT
 Personal statement
 AMCAS
 Secondary app.
 Strengthen app.
 Practice interviews

15. 15
PROGRAM ADVISORS
 John Mattson Pre-Occupational Therapy
Pre-Physical Therapy
 Bruce Van Duser Health Fitness
 Margaret Bloch-Qazi Pre-Veterinary
 Paula Swiggum Nursing & Pre-Public Health
 Jeanne Herman Health Education
 John Mattson Athletic Training
 Jeff Stocco Pre-Medical, Pre-Dent,
& Pre-Pharmacy
 Career Center Other Health Professions

16. 16
STUDENT PREPARATION
 Study hard and take required courses
 Maintain good grades (in college, 2 As for
every B)
 Career Exploration & Volunteer Work
 Shadowing of health professionals
 A pattern of commitment to service
 “the distance traveled”
 Internships in college

17. 17
Q:WHAT ARE THE REQUIRED
COLLEGE COURSES?
A: Biology 2 courses
Chemistry 4 courses
Physics 2 courses
Calculus 1-2 courses
Social Sciences 2 courses
Literature 3 courses
Humanities 2 courses

18. 18
Q: How do parents help?
 Encourage exploration into health professions
 websites, career resource books, mentoring and shadowing
opportunities
 Summer jobs…leadership skills & experience in health
care and human service settings
 Your student may change directions – be open,
encouraging, and flexible

19. 19
Who Gets Admitted to Medical
School?
 Cumulative GPA of 3.7 or better, especially in science courses
 MCAT composite score of 30 or better with a grade of P or Q on
the writing portion of the test
 Well-rounded background including community service
 “a pattern of service to others”
 Demonstrating that you’ve moved from
 “I like the IDEA of being a physician” to
 “I want to BE a physician”
 Experience, including internships and Career Explorations
 Personal statement, interviews, letters of recommendation

20. 20
QUESTIONS?
Good luck with your decisions!