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, Â鶹ֱ²¥ offers a common underÂ鶹ֱ²¥ core, as well as a wide range of pre-healthcare underÂ鶹ֱ²¥ pathways and Â鶹ֱ²¥ and professional healthcare programs. While a major or pre-professional pathway develops deep knowledge within a discipline, the underÂ鶹ֱ²¥ 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 Â鶹ֱ²¥s 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 underÂ鶹ֱ²¥s participating in research, which prepares Â鶹ֱ²¥s to go on to Â鶹ֱ²¥ 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 Â鶹ֱ²¥, students are encouraged to study and research across disciplines, combining arts and sciences. Self-motivated underÂ鶹ֱ²¥s 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 Â鶹ֱ²¥ level at Pacific. Students in the Â鶹ֱ²¥ and professional healthcare programs at Pacific also participate in interprofessional scholarship, education, and practice to provide patient-centered healthcare. The skills that underÂ鶹ֱ²¥ 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
Â鶹ֱ²¥ combines a strong liberal arts education with professionalized pathways that can take you from underÂ鶹ֱ²¥ through Â鶹ֱ²¥ school and into a healthcare career. Pacific’s Â鶹ֱ²¥ 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
UnderÂ鶹ֱ²¥s at Pacific can enter a variety of programs meant to prepare them for health professions and/or Â鶹ֱ²¥ school. The STEM & Health Professions Advantage Scholars Program rigorously prepares students for STEM and healthcare careers and also provides assistance with the Â鶹ֱ²¥ school application process. And many healthcare programs at Â鶹ֱ²¥ participate in the Guaranteed Graduate School Admission program, meaning your place in the program is saved for you as you complete your underÂ鶹ֱ²¥ degree.
Pre-professional tracks prepare underÂ鶹ֱ²¥s for professional careers while accelerated programs — like the Kinesiology & Athletic Training 3:2 Pathway and the Pharmacy 3+3 Pathway — allow underÂ鶹ֱ²¥s to get their liberal arts degree and go straight into Â鶹ֱ²¥ 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 Â鶹ֱ²¥.