Pre-Professional and Pre-Graduate School Advising
Pre-Health Advising
All Barnard students interested in careers in medicine (allopathic and osteopathic medicine and physician's assistantship), dentistry, veterinary medicine, optometry, nursing, public health and physican and occupational therapy receive advice on academic and experiential prerequisites, and application procedures from Health Professions Advisor, Dean Starks, in the Dean of Studies Office, 105 Milbank Hall. All current and prospective health professions students should:
a) Fill out a pre-health professions registration form. This will allow us to set up a file for you and keep you posted as to meetings and updated information. As you begin to accumulate letters of recommendation, you may ask that they be sent to our office and placed in your file. These files remain in our office long after you graduate, in case you decide to apply to a professional school at a later date. Ask Paula Hercules, the Pre-Professional Assistant, for a registration form.
b) Make an appointment to meet with Dean Starks. We can't help you if we don't know who you are! Come by and make an appointment to ask all-those-questions-that-you're-too-embarrassed to ask about the health professions. Even if you have no questions at the moment, we can get acquainted and help you plan for the future. There are walk-in hours each week. All other appointments must be made by phone or in person. Call 854-2024.
c) An orientation session for new pre-health professions students is held each September. All first-year, transfer, and potential pre-health professions students must attend, or risk missing out on important information. d) An electronic bulletin board for pre-health professions students allows our office to post notices of internships, lectures and other events of interest and deadlines. Check it regularly.
e) Applications for standardized tests for health professions schools (MCAT, DAT, OAT, VCAT, GRE) are available in our office.
Pre-Law Advising
Barnard students who are interested in a career in law should seek the advice of the pre-law advisor, Dean Kuan Tsu, no later than their junior year at Barnard. Alumnae who wish to pursue legal study also are encouraged to meet with the prelaw deans in the Office of the Dean of Studies. Please also see "A Guide to Working With the Pre-Professional Office", which is part of the pre-law packet. The Pre-Professional Office maintains a collection of law school catalogues as well as guides including the pre-law handbook and other resource materials about legal education and practice. Each semester the prelaw deans hold a pre-law informational meeting. Every September, there is an on-campus law fair, where approximately 70 law schools are here to recruit Barnard students. There are also many law-related programs planned throughout the year. In order to receive notice of pre-law programs, students are encouraged to join the pre-law listserv by contacting Paula Hercules, the Pre-Professional Assistant, at phercules@barnard.edu and to open a pre-law file in the Office of the Dean of Studies.
Pre-Business Advising
Because business schools expect applicants to MBA programs to have accumulated several years of pertinent, full-time working experience, Barnard students typically do not attend business school directly after graduation. Nevertheless, students interested in applying later to an MBA program are welcome to discuss their intentions and plans with Dean Runsdorf.
Pre-Graduate School
Graduate school counseling is usually done by the appropriate undergraduate department. Dean Schneider can give some general advice, however, including information on application procedures, deadlines, the need for GRE's, etc. Please also see "Thinking about graduate school in the arts and sciences?" In addition, the Dean of Studies Office provides a recommendations service for current students and alumnae. Students interested in opening a recommendations file should speak with the Graduate Recommendations Assistant, Ms. Katrina Baker, in 105 Milbank Hall. Other resources available in 105 Milbank include: A Guide to Graduate Study Programs Leading to the Ph.D. Degree and Peterson's Annual Guide to Graduate Study. Other reference materials are also available in the Office of Career Development. That office also has an extensive collection of graduate and some professional school catalogues. If you are unsure about the kind of postgraduate training you might need for a particular career, make an appointment to see a counselor in the Office of Career Development. If GRE examinations are needed by the schools to which you are applying, the recommended time for taking those by November 1. The December GRE date is possible, but it comes close to the time of final exams and the due dates for papers. Science majors who plan to graduate in February and who need the GRE for the major examination should take the appropriate subject test in November or December. (See the GRE Information Bulletin, available in 105 Milbank, for further details.) The deadline for graduate school admissions when financial aid is being requested is usually early January. The deadline for application is somewhat later if financial aid is not needed.
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