The Department of Natural Sciences at Northwest Missouri State University provides students with a number of different ways of preparing themselves for admission to professional programs in medicine (both M.D. and D.O.), dentistry, and veterinary medicine. Students are encouraged to speak with faculty advisors in order to identify the best path for them to achieve their goal.

Students interested in attending a medical program should be aware of prerequisites for admission to their intended school. These include minimum coursework in biology, chemistry, physics, and classes in our general education curriculum. In addition to these minimum requirements, students should select a major that provides them with enough additional coursework to give them the best possible chance of scoring well on the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT). This would include coursework in genetics, microbiology, physiology, anatomy, psychology, and sociology. For this reason, a number of different majors will successfully prepare students to go on to medical school. These include majors such as Comprehensive B.S. in Biology: Biomedical Track, Comprehensive B.S. in Biology: Cell/Molecular Track, B.S. in Chemistry: Biochemistry Emphasis, and B.S. in Chemistry: Medicinal Chemistry Emphasis.

Students interested in attending a dental program will find that entrance requirements are very similar to the entrance requirements for medical school. For this reason, majors such as Comprehensive B.S. in Biology: Biomedical Track, Comprehensive B.S. in Biology: General Biology Track, and B.S. in Chemistry: Medicinal Chemistry Emphasis would be appropriate selections.

Students planning on applying to programs in veterinary medicine would be wise to select a major such as Comprehensive B.S. in Biology: Biomedical Track or the Animal Science (Pre-Veterinary Option) offered through the School of Agricultural Sciences. Both of these major programs should provide students with the necessary prerequisites for admission. Students that take the Biology path are encouraged to complete additional elective coursework in Animal Science to supplement their educational background.

In addition to coursework, students intending to apply to medical school, dental school or veterinary school will need to gain additional experience shadowing, observing, and working in the work environment or their chosen field. This experience should be gained throughout the student's undergraduate career.