Pre-Professional Program (P3)
The Pre-Professional Program (P3) is a rigorous, competitive program for students pursuing admission to health professions schools after obtaining their undergraduate degrees. P3 assists students with academic and career goals to prepare them to be qualified candidates for these professional programs. In this respect, “Pre-Professional” refers to most medically related fields, including medical, dental, veterinary, physician assistant, optometry, podiatry, and physical therapy, but does not apply to nursing or to pre-law studies and other paths that lie outside of the natural sciences and health professions.
In this program, students will participate in specific activities that encourage ongoing exploration of the health care field and prepare them for success in this highly competitive arena. Activities include workshops, classes, one-on-one advising, and professional observation and volunteer experiences. Students completing the program are well prepared to submit a holistically competitive application to outstanding professional programs.
Students should review the Program Guidelines for comprehensive information on the program requirements, eligibility, and applications.
Although any FSC student may pursue a pre-health track, only the most competitive students will be accepted into P3. Students who do not apply to P3 or who are not accepted are still able to receive pre-health advising from the Director of Career Development and attend workshops and events geared towards pre-health students.
Program Benefits
Students participating in the Pre-Professional Program (P3) at FSC are provided all of the following benefits:
- Students who complete all program requirements will be awarded a distinctive graduation honor cord and will have a notation added to their transcript.
- Students in P3 may request a letter of evaluation (commonly referred to as a committee letter) from the Health Professions Advisory Committee (HPAC), to be sent directly to professional schools when applying.
- Students in P3 have the opportunity to attend special advising sessions with HPAC members where they can receive specific feedback and recommendations, based on the available information and the experience of the committee, as to possible courses of action for future career success.
- Students in P3 receive access to special pre-health events and opportunities only available to P3 students.
- Students in the P3 program are provided a timeline of activities and recommendations to ensure they have built competitive profiles by their intended application date.
Students accepted to the LECOM Early Acceptance Program (EAP) are required to apply to Part 1 and Part 2 of P3.
Program Aspects
The Pre-Professional Program (P3) consists of 2 parts:
- Part 1 - Acceptance into P3 requires completion of specific coursework, a competitive GPA, a personal statement, and completion of an application by January 15th of the second or third year*.
- Part 2 - Completion of P3 requires submission of an extensive application by February 1st of the third or fourth year* and culminates in a formal Committee Interview and Letter of Evaluation.
*P3 is designed to be fully completed immediately prior to the submission of a student's professional school application. Therefore, completion of both part 1 and part 2 of P3 is dictated by a students intended application date, rather than their year in school. Transfer students, students planning to graduate from Florida Southern in less than 4 years, and students planning to take one or more gap years, should consider this information when determining the appropriate application date.