Allied Health Programs at the University of Washington
The UW Seattle campus offers a number of majors and graduate programs that prepare you for a career in health sciences.
Bachelor's degrees
Master's degrees
Professional degrees
In addition, we offer minors in Medical History and Ethics, Environmental Health, and Public Health. We also offer a degree completion program in Dental Hygiene for students who have completed a dental hygiene training program at another college.
How do you decide which program to pursue?
If you think you are interested in a career in the health sciences, but are not sure of what kind of career, there are a number of factors to consider.
- Are you interested in direct patient care?
Nurses are the health-care professionals who probably have the highest degree of direct patient contact. (Nurses -- actually all health professionals -- can also enter fields like administration and education, in which there may be little or no patient contact.) Physical therapists, occupational therapists, prosthetists, physician assistants, medical doctors, and dentists also have a lot of patient contact. Most medical technologists work in hospital laboratories and have little patient contact. Environmental health specialists are seldom involved in the delivery of health care, and public health specialists usually work in more administrative positions.
- Do you enjoy challenging math and science courses, and perform well in them?
Medicine, dentistry, and pharmacy require two or three years of difficult college coursework, including calculus, a year of general chemistry, and a year of organic chemistry. Medicine and dentistry also require biochemistry, making a total of three college years of chemistry. Medical technology and environmental health require many of the same courses. UW's physical therapy program will accept a shorter chemistry sequence, but most pre-PT students complete the longer chemistry sequence because they plan to apply to more than one PT program, and the longer chemistry sequence is commonly required by the PT programs at other colleges. And you must achieve high grades to be competitive for admission to most of these programs, particularly medicine, pharmacy, and physical therapy.
- How much time are you willing to invest in preparing for a health career?
The bachelor-degree programs listed above take at least four years to complete. If you don't start the program prerequisites in your freshman year and complete them in your sophomore year, a program might take five or six years to complete. The master's programs generally take two years to complete, after you have completed a bachelor's degree. Pharmacy is a six-year program: two years of science prerequisites (including two years of chemistry), and four years of professional coursework. Dental school is four years, generally after you have completed a bachelor's degree, and if you are interested in a dental specialty you might be required to complete several years of additional training. Medical school is also four years, followed by a residency of anywhere from two years to ten or more years, depending on your specialty.
If you are looking for a health profession with a shorter training program, consider the one- and two-year programs offered by community colleges.
- Have you had any experience delivering health care, or working in a health-care setting?
One of the best ways to decide where you might fit in to the health-care field is to gain some experience working in a health-care setting, either as a volunteer or as a paid employee. Volunteer experience is readily available; most large hospitals have a volunteer coordinator. You can also volunteer at many clinics and nursing homes. Some students make arrangements to be an observer at a private practice. Other related volunteer experiences can also help you make decisions about your future, such as work in classrooms, homeless shelters, consumer advocacy groups, etc.
- Have you considered other alternatives in health care?
There are many other health professions in addition to the ones offered by the UW. A librarian could help you locate books about health careers, or look in the self-help section of a bookstore.
Community colleges offer one- and two-year training programs in a variety of health fields. Some of these have excellent job opportunities. UW Extension offers evening certificate programs in gerontology and health information administration.
Admission to bachelor-degree allied health programs is competitive.
All the bachelor-degree programs have competitive admission, and most admit students only once per year. Some of the programs have extremely competitive admission. For a chart comparing the admission requirements of UW's bachelor-degree allied health programs, consult Professional Majors at the University of Washington.
All except Speech and Hearing Sciences allow transfer students to apply directly to the program; that is, they don't require that you attend the UW before applying to the program. The application deadlines for these programs are generally much earlier than the April 15 UW transfer student deadline. You must submit applications for admission to the program and to the University. If you are denied admission by the program but are admitted to the University, you will be offered admission as a premajor. The UW requires students to declare a major by the time they complete 105 credits, and most of these programs admit students only once per year. Because of this, if you are admitted to the UW but are denied admission to your first choice of major, you will almost certainly have to choose an alternate major. You are allowed to apply to the program again, but in the meantime you will be required to make progress toward an alternate major.
Familiarize yourself with the admission requirements and the application procedures of the major(s) in which you are interested, by following the links above. To determine which courses at your community college are equivalent to the prerequisites of the majors you're considering, check Course Equivalencies for Washington Community Colleges.
Get more information.
If you are in the Seattle area, many of the programs listed above hold information sessions.
Almost all health professions have a professional organization. The websites of these organizations often include information about the profession, advice for prospective students, and a list of all the accredited training programs in the U.S. The websites of some of the programs above have links to these professional organizations, or use a search engine to find them.
