Pre-Professional Planning

Pre-Health

Many of our students aspire to careers in the field of health, and we have all the support and experience to help them succeed. If you're considering medical school, dental school, or veterinary school, you should begin working with the university's Health Sciences Advising Committee in your first year.

More about Pre-Health

The Health Sciences Advising Committee will provide your with information about professional school requirements and counsel you regarding your course undergraduate course choices and work experiences. Many pre-health sciences students take advantage of the following opportunities to explore the medical field and gain valuable experience:

• Local physician shadowing program
• Volunteer work with Southern Madison County Ambulance Corps (SOMAC)
• National Institutes of Health Colgate Study Group (semester-long and faculty-led)

Colgate has early assurance programs with medical schools at George Washington University and the University of Rochester.

Medical school acceptance rates for first-time applicants from Colgate have been 65 percent to 80 percent in recent years. The national average is 40 percent.

More about health sciences advising
Health sciences fact sheet

Pre-Architecture

Architecture schools consider a strong liberal arts background, like the one you'll receive at Colgate, to be advantageous for professional development. In addition to this liberal arts background, you can also receive targeted architectural instruction while on campus.

More about Pre-Architecture

There is an architectural studies emphasis within the university's Department of Art and Art History. While not required for graduate admissions, you're urged to consider pursuing the program if you're interested in pursuing architectural studies in graduate school.

As soon as you arrive at Colgate, you're are urged to speak to the art and art history department’s pre-architecture adviser.

There are several courses dedicated to the study of architecture, and it is also strongly recommended that you take one semester of calculus and one semester of physics. Both are expected for graduate school admission for architecture.

If you are interested in pursuing an advanced degree in architectural history and theory, foreign language study (reading proficiency) will be required. A semester abroad on an accredited art history or pre-architecture program is also recommended so that you may experience foreign architecture first hand. It is also recommended that you take our upper-level architectural design courses.

More about pre-architecture study
Pre-architecture fact sheet

Pre-Law

If you're interested in pursuing a law degree, consider this key statistic: 77 percent of Colgate seniors and alumni applying to law school are accepted. The national average is 59 percent. We can help you become one of the 77 percent!

More about Pre-Law

It is important to tailor your experiences at Colgate to match your goals. Our dedicated pre-law goals adviser and considerable informational programming throughout the academic year can help set you on the right track.

The pre-law adviser will assist you during every phase of the application process: helping you create a personal timeline; advising you regarding LSAT preparation; critiquing essays; reviewing applications; and helping you choose schools to apply to.

In addition to individual advisement meetings, the adviser will conduct group and panel discussions and workshops. You will also have access to extensive reference materials, catalogues, research and career-related reports, articles, and task-oriented handouts.

Also, each year more than 70 law school representatives come to campus to meet with interested students and discuss what their schools have to offer.

More about pre-law study
Pre-law fact sheet

Business

Business/management and financial services are two of the top career fields for our graduates. More than 25 percent of recent Colgate graduates have pursued a career in financial services or business-related fields.

More about Business

Experiential Learning Opportunities:

• Our semester-long economics study group in London concludes with student internships in fields that include banking and business.
• The Entrepreneurs and Finance clubs engage students in issues and business ventures, and offer career exploration and alumni networking.
• Alumnus Andy Greenfield ’74 offers a practical entrepreneurship course for Colgate students called Thought into Action.
• Through the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program, you can volunteer to file income taxes for low-income families in Madison and Chenango counties -- an educational and fulfilling experience. In 2010, 50 Colgate students prepared tax returns for 1,300 families in Central New York.
• The Aaron Jacobs ’96 Endowed Fund provides stipend support for Colgate students who wish to intern in the financial or business fields.
• The Investment Studies Program, supported by a permanent endowment, works with the Colgate Finance Club and other student groups to plan speakers, certificate courses, and workshops that address the changing landscape of investing and finance, and Colgate students’ interests.

Download fact sheet

Pre-Engineering

Future engineers at Colgate have several great options to choose from, including cooperative plans with several prestigious engineering schools.

More about Pre-Engineering

If you're interested in engineering, you have several options to pursue at Colgate, including cooperative plans with prestigious engineering schools.

One option is that you can major in physics at Colgate and then attend graduate school in engineering. Alternatively, you can pursue one of our cooperative plans between Colgate and an engineering school.

The cooperative plan option allows you to combine three years of education in the liberal arts with two years of engineering training at a cooperative institution (the 3-2 plan). We have cooperative agreements with Columbia University, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and Washington University.

If you declare your concentration and intention to pursue such a program, you will begin consultation with the pre-engineering adviser to ensure that you fulfill all of Colgate's requirements and engineering school prerequisites.

In a cooperative program you will spend three years at Colgate and two at the engineering school to earn bachelor’s degrees from both institutions. It may also be possible for you to continue study for a master of science (MS) degree from the engineering school with as little as one additional year of study.

Catalog copy on pre-engineering
Pre-engineering fact sheet

Communications/Media

Communications/media is among the top career fields for our graduates — more than 12 percent of recent Colgate graduates have pursued careers in the field, with their liberal arts backgrounds providing the foundation for thinking, writing, and communicating that they need.

More about Communications/Media

Experiential Learning Opportunities:

• The Colgate Maroon-News is the oldest collegiate weekly newspaper in the nation. A staff of more than 100 students produce the print and online publications which are distributed around campus, as well as to subscribers across the country.
• Colgate’s Blackmore Media Center, a purpose-built 2,350 square-foot space in the O’Connor Campus Center, is home to the student-run radio station WRCU.
• CUTV, an entirely student-run organization, is one of the nation’s oldest running college television stations.
• The Colgate International is a magazine that covers a wide range of international topics, from current and historical events, to research and academic work focused on international issues.

Colgate resources:

• Colgate is a member of the Central New York Communications Consortium, providing recruiting events for students who wish to work in the communications industry.
• The Department of Writing and Rhetoric offers courses to position students to become critical language users, preparing them for postgraduate training and eventual careers in publishing, journalism, and other communications media in an increasingly global society.

Download fact sheet