Gap Year Certificate

Class Type:

In person

Cost:

$925 per credit hour

Upcoming Start Dates:

August 27, 2024

Program Options:

Graduate Certificate

Credit Hours

Years (Avg.)

*full-time enrollment

Gap Year Certificate

Are you planning on taking a gap or bridge year after college while you apply for medical, dental, or PA school? The question is, what can you do with your gap year that will be attractive to professional health schools?

EMU's Gap Year Certificate program provides a structure that allows students to build and strengthen their application, even while they’re in the current application cycle. Gap Year Certificate students take graduate-level natural science courses to demonstrate they are ready for the rigors of professional health school, complete a semester-long research or health care-related internship in Washington D.C., and travel to Central or South America to learn how health care is delivered in another country.

Our internship options in Washington D.C. provide students with the opportunity to conduct research at sites such as the National Institutes of Health or Georgetown University Hospital or serve the community in one of the many non-profit clinics our program partners with.

Our Gap Year Certificate curriculum is structured so that you can work to strengthen your science GPA during the fall semester, which can then serve as a significant update to your professional health school application. You can additionally communicate with admissions counselors about your upcoming internship in Washington D.C. in the spring and cross-culture health care experience in the summer.

Don't waste your gap year! Boost your GPA, land a rewarding internship, and travel abroad to learn and serve, all the while taking your professional health school application to the next level.

Admission Requirements
Gap Year Certificate program entrance is based on:
- Baccalaureate degree from an accredited institution with a minimal undergraduate grade point average of 3.0
- An appropriate standardized test score. GRE, MCAT, DAT, OAT and others are accepted.
- Prerequisite coursework for pre-medical, pre-dental, and pre-veterinary applicants (8 courses, 32 hours total):
  - Two general biology courses with laboratories (8 SH)
  - Two general chemistry courses with laboratories (8 SH)
  - Two organic chemistry courses with laboratories (8 SH)
  - Two physics courses with laboratories (8 SH)
- Prerequisite coursework for all other pre-professional health applicants (6 courses, 24 hours total):
  - Two general biology courses with laboratories (8 SH)
  - Two general chemistry courses with laboratories (8 SH)
  - One organic chemistry course with laboratory (4 SH)
  - One physics course with laboratory (4 SH)
Certificate Curriculum

Gap Year Certificate students take courses at EMU’s Harrisonburg campus in the fall, EMU’s Washington Community Scholars Center in Washington D.C. in the spring, and complete cross-cultural travel in the summer.

Fall Courses (Harrisonburg campus) (9-14 SH)
Choose from the following courses:

BMC 552 Cell Biology (3 SH)
BMC 561 Biochemistry Foundations (3 SH)
BMC 612 Human Gross and Microscopic Anatomy (4 SH)
BMS 517 Developmental and Stem Cell Biology (4 SH)
BMS 561 Immunology (3 SH)
BMS 571 Abnormal Psychology (3 SH)
One course from any other master’s program at EMU

Spring Courses (Washington, D.C. campus) (9-11 SH)

BMS 599 Internship (6-9 SH)
BMS 654 Internship Theory and Practice (1 SH)
BMS 655 Servant Leadership (2 SH)

Summer Course (off campus) (3 SH)

BMX 603 Cross-Cultural Health Care (3 SH)

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Gap Year Certificate

Gap Year Certificate

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