Considerations About Fulfilling Pre-Requisites

Community College Credit

If you have credit for any professional health programs' pre-requisite coursework by earning community college credit, please know that some professional health schools do not accept community college credit to fulfill pre-requisites; these restrictions most commonly occur with biology, chemistry, physics, and mathematics. Other schools may strongly recommend that you take additional, advanced coursework in the subject area to be a competitive applicant. These restrictions and recommendations are particularly true for students that (a) have taken courses at the community college during high school (a.k.a. Dual Enrollment) or (b) have taken courses at the community college after they have begun taking coursework at a 4-year institution.

Therefore, if you:

• Earned Dual Enrollment credit, you can opt to (a) take additional, advanced coursework in the same discipline or (b) decline the community college credit earned and enroll in the same course at JMU or another 4-year institution for graded credit. If you decline the credit and take the same courses again, understand that the preparation and knowledge you previously obtained increases the likelihood of strong academic performance.
• Are considering to take pre-requisite courses at a community college after you have begun taking courses at JMU, we advise you to check admission requirements of individual schools where you intend to apply to see if they accept community college credit for pre-requisite courses. If you later expand the number of schools in which you choose to apply, please know that community college credit may limit your options.

Test Credit

If you have credit for any professional health programs' pre-requisite coursework by earning Advanced Placement (AP), International Baccalaureate (IB), Cambridge International Exam (CIE), or departmental test credit, please know that these courses do not include grades on a college transcript. Due to the absence of a performance measure, some professional health schools do not accept these credited-courses to fulfill their pre-requisites; these restrictions most commonly occur with biology, chemistry, physics, and mathematics. Other schools may strongly recommend that you take additional, advanced coursework in the subject area to be a competitive applicant.

Therefore, if you have AP, IB, CIE, or departmental test credit, you can opt to (a) take additional, advanced coursework in the same discipline or (b) decline the AP, IB, CIE, or departmental test credit earned and enroll in that same course for graded credit with the understanding that the preparation and knowledge you obtained increases the likelihood of strong academic performance.

If you need help making decisions, please contact Pre-Professional Health Advising (540-568-6652 | pph@jmu.edu) to schedule an appointment with an advisor.