Transfer & Pre-professional Programs
If you plan to enter a professional health science program, or to use existing courses to transfer to a program at a different institution, please make sure you know program entrance requirements. The path to each program is unique, and we encourage you to look at the specific website(s) associated with your program(s) for the most up-to-date information. For example, most medical schools, including the University of Saskatchewan College of Medicine, require a completed four-year degree for entrance. Additionally, even when programs do not require a degree, many students find that a four-year degree is helpful for gaining entrance into highly competitive programs. Thus, even if you don't think you will need a degree, it makes sense to plan your program in such a way that the pre-professional or transfer requirements are satisfied while still staying on track to complete a BSc degree in four years.
Many pre-professional or transfer programs require specific courses to be completed, or they may require a four-year degree that is completed within a certain time frame (i.e. there is a maximum time to completion). Thus it is very important to visit the website of the program of interest in order see the current admission requirements (and admission requirements often change over time).
In addition to checking with professional/transfer programs about their specific entrance requirements, we encourage potential applicants to contact the Faculty of Science Academic Hub (LB 238, science@uregina.ca, 306-585-4199) as they are well-versed in the requirements of various qualifying programs, and can also arrange an academic advising appointment for you. Information about professional and transfer program requirements may also be found in the Undergraduate Academic Calendar (see the section called Professional Pathways and Transfer Opportunities).
The information below summarizes some of the BIOL and related courses that may be part of various pre-professional programs. However, as the requirements for the various professional programs often change, it is a good idea to check the website of the specific program of interest (not only for required courses or course equivalents, but also for minimum GPA to apply, other requirements, and in many cases there are time limits to complete a degree or minimum course load requirements).
This information is for students who plan to apply to one of the following four programs:
- Veterinary Medicine (DVM) program at the Western College of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Saskatchewan
- Pharmacy (BSP) program of the College of Pharmacy and Nutrition at the University of Saskatchewan
- Dentistry (DMD) program of the College of Dentistry at the University of Saskatchewan
- Optometry (OD) program at the University of Waterloo (School of Optometry and Vision Science)
Entry into all four of these programs requires 3 credit hours of microbiology, but the courses that fulfill the microbiology requirements differ slightly between the programs:
| Veterinary Medicine | BIOL 222*, BIOL 224, BIOL 303, BIOL 310 |
| Pharmacy | BIOL 222*, BIOL 224, BIOL 303, BIOL 310 |
| Dentistry | BIOL 222*, BIOL 224 |
| Optometry | BIOL 222*, BIOL 224, BIOL 302, BIOL 303, BIOL 310 |
*BIOL 222 is restricted to Nursing students.
None of the programs will accept BIOL 223 (Microbes and Society) to fulfill the microbiology requirements, and only Optometry will accept BIOL 302 (Food Microbiology).
Both the DVM and BSP programs at University of Saskatchewan allow students to apply for entry after completion of 60 credit hours. Due to prerequisite requirements, students will not be able to complete 300-level microbiology courses within the minimum 60 credit hours; so, if you are confident you will not be completing more than 60 credit hours at the University of Regina, please take BIOL 224 to satisfy the DVM or BSP microbiology requirement.
The OD program requires students to complete 90 credit hours before applying for entry. The extra 30 credit hours will give you time to complete 300-level microbiology courses (e.g. BIOL 310).
The University of Saskatchewan Pharmacy program requires 6 credit hours of physiology in order to be eligible to apply for entry. University of Regina courses that fulfill these physiology requirements include: KIN 267 (Human Physiology I) and KIN 268 (Human Physiology II). KIN 267 has a prerequisite of KIN 260 (Human Anatomy). Alternatively, U of S Pharmacy also accepts the combination of KIN 261 and KIN 262 as meeting the requirement for 6 credit hours of physiology.
For those students who plan to apply for entry into Pharmacy after completion of 60 credit hours (four semesters at 15 credit hours per semester), the sequence for taking the KIN 260, 267, 268 courses should be:
semester #2 – KIN 260
semester #3 – KIN 267
semester #4 – KIN 268
Notes:
1) University of Regina BIOL 110 and 111 (Human Anatomy & Physiology I and II) are courses designed for the Nursing program, and are not open to non-Nursing students.
2) Athabasca University BIOL 230 or 235 also satisfy the physiology requirements for University of Saskatchewan Pharmacy.