12. What if I’m not accepted? What can I do about a back-up plan?
Hopefully, you’ve looked into the health profession you’re considering enough to know that competition to get into these schools is quite intense. Just because you have earned all A’s in your undergraduate work, or have scored very high on the admission test does not mean that you will be admitted to medical, dental, optometry or other professional school.
There are certainly steps you can take to make your application as strong as possible and improve your chances, but there are no guarantees for any applicant. It is for this reason that we recommend you have a back-up plan in place in the event that you are not successful the first year you apply.
What are my options?
• If you have given the necessary thought to selecting the right major for you, one option would be to consider other career opportunities afforded by your major. There are many resources at the U of A to help you with this type of exploration and the Pre-Health Professions Advising Office is a good place to start. Make an appointment with us to discuss other career possibilities.
• You may consider completing your degree and beginning some graduate work to either prepare you better for health professions or to pursue another field of interest.
• It is possible that another one of the health professions would be a better fit for you. While this can be tricky—no health profession would want you to consider their field as a “back-up”—it may be that you have been heading in slightly the wrong direction and, for example, optometry may be better for you than pharmacy or physical therapy better than a physician assistant. You may decide to explore preparing for another career in health care in this case.
• Another consideration for you is whether you might have applied before your application was its strongest. Some applicants have success with a reapplication IF they have made significant changes to their preparation as well as their application. If your application was not as strong as it could be in one or more areas and you can correct this, you may be a good candidate for reapplication.
