Pre-Podiatry
About the Profession
Doctors of Podiatric Medicine are healthcare professionals that diagnose and treat diseases, injuries, or disorders of the foot, ankle, and structures of the leg.
Preparation Starts Now
From the time you begin college, you are assembling a complete dossier with which to apply to podiatry schools. Applicants are expected to have:
- Completed a bachelor's degree in any major, though many of SUNY Geneseo podiatry school applicants complete a major in Biology, Chemistry, Anthropology, or Psychology
- Completed podiatry school course requirements
- Achieve excellent grades; overall and science GPAs should, at a minimum, be at a 3.3
- Earn a good score on the MCAT; ideally scores should minimally be a 508
- PreMed Committee Letter; Letters of Recommendation in Interfolio are required for the PreMed Committee Letter (two science faculty, one non-science faculty, and one clinical)
- Involve yourself in sincere, sustained health-related shadowing, volunteer, and research experience
Course Requirements
Start planning as a first year student to meet the following course requirements for podiatry schools. Below are the courses at SUNY Geneseo that are recommended you complete to prepare for the MCAT and meet podiatry school requirements (please note, there may be some variation in course requirements for podiatry schools, so be sure to check the requirements of the schools you plan on applying to):
Course Requirements |
SUNY Geneseo |
Notes |
| One year of Biology | BIOL 117, 119, and 116 (lab) |
Pay attention to course offering schedule (i.e. Fall/Spring) One lecture with the lab can count as an N/ General Education requirement |
| One year of General Chemistry | CHEM 116, 118, and 119 (lab) |
Pay attention to course offering schedule (i.e. Fall/Spring) One lecture with the lab can count as an N/ General Education requirement |
| One year of Organic Chemistry | CHEM 211, 213, and 216 (lab) | Pay attention to course offering schedule (i.e. Fall/Spring) |
| One year of Physics |
General Physics: PHYS 113, 114 (lab), 115, and 116 (lab)
Analytical Physics: PHYS 123, 124 (lab), 125, and 126 (lab) |
Pay attention to course offering schedule (i.e. Fall/Spring) One lecture with the lab can count as an N/ General Education requirement |
| One year of English | INTD 105 and one ENGL course | INTD 105 is the Basic Communication General Education requirement |
| One semester of Math |
Some schools specifically require statistics and/or calculus This could count toward the R/ General Education course requirement |
|
| One semester of Biochemistry* | BIOL 335 or CHEM 300 |
If not a BIOL major, you will need special permission. Offered in the fall. Prereq: BIOL 300, which also has a prereq of BIOL 222, so plan accordingly. |
| One semester of Psychology* | PSYC 100 | |
| One semester of Sociology* |
SOCL 100 |
This could count toward one of the S/ General Education course requirements |
*Courses generally not required by schools, but MCAT covers this material.
It is recommended that course requirements are completed at SUNY Geneseo, but there are instances where a student would need to complete one or two courses elsewhere. If that is the case, it is suggested that coursework be completed at a four-year higher education institution. All course requirements must be taken for a grade and demonstrate mastery, no lower than a C, for most professional schools.
Review the American Association of Colleges of Podiatric Medicine (AACPM) website to learn more. The members schools of the association participate in a centralized application service sponsored by AACPM.