Health Professions

• Complete Pre-Requisite Courses in the U.S.: Most U.S. medical and health professions schools strongly prefer—or require—that core prerequisite science courses (like General Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, Biology with labs, Statistics, Psychology, etc...) be completed at an accredited U.S. institution. 
• Take Major/Minor-related coursework: Working closely with your academic department, it is possible to take 1-2 courses within your major and, often, those courses can relate to your pre-health goals.
• VU Core: Use your time abroad to fulfill your College-core requirements, language proficiency, etc. 
• Watch Your Timeline: Studying abroad during your junior year can overlap with MCAT prep and medical school applications; many students choose to plan a semester early/late or take a gap year.

Studying abroad during your junior year can overlap with MCAT prep and medical school applications; many students choose to plan a semester early/late or take a gap year.

It is important to maintain communication with your academic advisor and the Health Professions Advising (HPA) office to ensure clarity of these details. Much of this timing depends on choice of health profession, summer commitments, if pre-requisite(s) can be pushed to senior year, etc.

For most health professions schools, if you are planning to not take a gap year, you will complete MCAT/DAT/OAT/GRE prep and professional school applications at the end of your junior year.

This means you should have all or most of your pre-requisites complete by the end of junior year if you do not want to take a gap year. This may mean taking a summer class or two - work with your academic advisor and consult with HPA.

Study abroad opportunities are not limited to formal instruction. Consider taking advantage of the unique research, internship, and fieldwork opportunities available overseas.

Arcadia University College of Global Studies

• King's College London - Health and Society
  
• University of Glasgow
  One of the largest biology departments in the UK, including a Functional Anatomy class that is popular with pre-med majors.

CIEE Community Public Health: Gabarone, Botswana

DIS - Study in Scandinavia (DIS)
Sites in Copenhagen and Stockholm, offering programs in Biomedicine, Medical Practice and Policy, Public Health, Sustainability as well as research and lab opportunities. 

IES Abroad

• Health Studies: Santiago, Chile
• Health Practice & Policy: London, England
• Politics & Public Health: Cape Town, South Africa

IFSA Biosciences Career Accelerator

School for International Training (SIT) - Global Health & Well-being Programs

Looking for more? 
If a program is not listed above, it does not limit your eligibilty to study abroad. Perhaps you're looking for something different. Visit Passport Villanova to discover other programs. 

Course Approval Database 
Students should consult with the  OEA Course Approval Database  to view a full list of pre-approved courses for most programs.  The Course Approval Database may not contain updated/new courses and students may need to submit additional courses for review and approval. Programs and universities are continually updating course offerings and the program’s website will list most accurate course offerings for the planned term abroad. 

Arcadia Abroad - STEM Summer Research Programs

CIEE Summer Community Public Health: Buenos Aires, Argentina

CIEE Summer Community Public Health: Santiago de lost Caballeros, Dominican Republic

CIEE Summer Comparative Public Health Systems i + II (London + Amsterdam)

CIEE Summer Community Public Health: Gabarone, Botswana

DIS Summer Study Abroad: Copenhagen - Stockholm

IES Abroad - Summer Health Studies: Cape Town, South Africa

School for International Training (SIT) - Summer Global Health & Well-being Programs

Looking for more? 
If a program is not listed above, it does not limit your eligibility to study abroad. Visit Passport Villanova and explore other opportunities.

Course Approval Database 
Students should consult with the  OEA Course Approval Database  to view a full list of pre-approved courses for most programs. The Course Approval Database may not contain updated/new courses and students may need to submit additional courses for review and approval. Programs and universities are continually updating course offerings so and the program’s website will list most accurate course offerings for the planned term abroad.   

It is important to plan ahead as it is not uncommon for scholarship deadlines to occur much earlier than a Villanova or program application deadlines.

There are many scholarships available for students through Villanova University, our partner programs and other external sources, like the US Government. The OEA can help students with the scholarship search and application process. If a scholarship is found outside of the OEA scholarship page, students should have it reviewed by the OEA to determine if it is a viable option.

Browse the scholarships opportunties found on the OEA website.