Looking for Good Colleges for Health Professions? A Liberal Arts Education is Excellent Preparation for a Healthcare Career
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In addition to practical experience and training, healthcare professionals also benefit from having a well-rounded education. As a private liberal arts university, °ÅÀÖÊÓƵ offers a common undergraduate core, as well as a wide range of pre-healthcare undergraduate pathways and graduate and professional healthcare programs. While a major or pre-professional pathway develops deep knowledge within a discipline, the undergraduate liberal arts core at Pacific builds the broad knowledge and critical thinking skills that are the cornerstones of successful and meaningful careers in many different industries, including healthcare.
The Purpose of Liberal Arts Education
A liberal arts education is designed to teach students skills they can use across any career. This type of education helps graduates to prepare for future job changes and career evolutions. A strong liberal arts education will help you to move across professions, keep up with advancements in your industry and develop your career in the directions you want to take it. The purpose of a liberal arts education is to give you a well-rounded foundation that will help you continue to learn, grow and professionalize throughout the course of your life and career.
Educating Healthcare Professionals
Liberal arts has long been a part of . Alongside clinical skills, healthcare professionals also need well developed critical thinking skills and an understanding of cultural, social, economic and historical forces that impact patients and the medical field. Blending a liberal arts philosophy with practice-based education is for future healthcare professionals.
Private liberal arts colleges are known for the individualized attention they are able to give to students. At private liberal arts universities like Pacific, this extends to undergraduates participating in research, which prepares graduates to go on to graduate degrees and to excel in medical and scientific fields.
Humanities & Arts in Medicine
are an essential part of a healthcare education and practice. A liberal arts education also helps students to think across disciplines, bringing together different fields of study to better help patients. For example, a degree in music therapy combines music with psychology and neuroscience in a program that leads to professional certification as a music therapist.
At °ÅÀÖÊÓƵ, students are encouraged to study and research across disciplines, combining arts and sciences. Self-motivated undergraduates can also choose a Self-Designed Major in Interdisciplinary Studies to create their own course of study that crosses fields.
This cross-disciplinary focus continues at the graduate level at Pacific. Students in the graduate and professional healthcare programs at Pacific also participate in interprofessional scholarship, education, and practice to provide patient-centered healthcare. The skills that undergraduate students build by making connections between different subjects in the arts & humanities, also help them make connections to work collaboratively as part of a healthcare team of professionals.
Private Liberal Arts Colleges for Health Professions
°ÅÀÖÊÓƵ combines a strong liberal arts education with professionalized pathways that can take you from undergraduate through graduate school and into a healthcare career. Pacific’s graduate and professional programs in clinical healthcare include:
- Applied Pyschology
- Athletic Training
- Audiology
- Clinical Psychology
- Dental Hygiene
- Dental Therapy
- Occupational Therapy
- Optometry
- Pharmacy
- Physical Therapy
- Physician Associate
- Speech-Language Pathology
Undergraduates at Pacific can enter a variety of programs meant to prepare them for health professions and/or graduate school. The STEM & Health Professions Advantage Scholars Program rigorously prepares students for STEM and healthcare careers and also provides assistance with the graduate school application process. And many healthcare programs at °ÅÀÖÊÓƵ participate in the Guaranteed Graduate School Admission program, meaning your place in the program is saved for you as you complete your undergraduate degree.
Pre-professional tracks prepare undergraduates for professional careers while accelerated programs — like the Kinesiology & Athletic Training 3:2 Pathway and the Pharmacy 3+3 Pathway — allow undergraduates to get their liberal arts degree and go straight into graduate programs for healthcare. Similarly, Pacific students earning a Bachelor of Science in Visual Science can enter the optometry doctorate program at Pacific one year early.
If you're seeking colleges for health professions, you may want to consider a private liberal arts college. A liberal arts education gives students the breadth and depth of study they need to flourish in a healthcare career. Discover the value of a liberal arts education for preparing healthcare professionals of the future at °ÅÀÖÊÓƵ.