Jump over the site's primary content.
Pre-Medicine
What Will I Learn?
By successfully completing an associates degree with emphasis in biological sciences pre-medicine you will be able to:
- Observe, hypothesize, experiment, and form conclusions in various settings.
- Integrate knowledge from multiple biological disciplines and apply to unfamiliar or challenging situations .
- Communicate about ideas coherently and logically.
What Is The Occupational Outlook?
Employment as physicians and surgeons will increase by 27 percent or more over the 2004-14 period. Increased numbers of aging individuals will demand more services from physicians. New physicians will need to replace all those who retire. Because of other available health care providers, such as physician assistants, nurse practitioners, optometrists, and nurse anesthetists, demand for physicians may shift. On the other hand, advancements in equipment and electronic prescription orders, billing, and scheduling will improve productivity. Employment opportunities are good in rural or low-income areas.1
A career in medicine is not limited to the above described jobs. Interested individuals may become audiologists, chiropractors, dentists, occupational therapists, pharmacists, registered nurse, and many other positions.
What Are My Options?
The associates degree with emphasis in biological sciences pre-medicine is designed for students planning to complete the first two years of study leading to a baccalaureate degree and major in biology at a four-year college or university.
Advantages to taking classes at Heartland Community College include:
- Small class sizes: Small classes allow for more interaction between students and the instructor. At a large university, lecture sections can be as large as 500 students.
- More access to a dedicated, highly qualified instructor: Most large universities employ graduate students as teaching assistants who have little or no experience teaching.
- Well-designed courses: Heartland courses include aspects of critical thinking, problem solving, and communication.
- Lower costs: Tuition and fees are considerably less at Heartland Community College.
- Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, Physicians and Surgeons, on the Internet at http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos074.htm
