Health Professions Program

With healthcare predicted to have six of the 10 fastest growing jobs,* the Health Professions Program was created to innovatively prepare students to meet this demand and to become future leaders in a variety of healthcare careers.

The field of healthcare is rapidly evolving and growing at a pace well beyond the average rate for other professions,** highlighting the importance of the field. The innovative approach prepares you with the skills needed to practice in today’s rapidly evolving healthcare systems. A liberal arts curriculum is at the foundation of your undergraduate work, providing a grounding in the sciences and humanities, as well as problem solving, critical thinking, and solid communication skills.

This education model combined with access and early exposure to healthcare faculty, pioneering research labs, and graduate-level experiences at Rosalind Franklin University allows for hands-on exploration—taking the guesswork out of your future career path.

*CNBC 2019
 ** Bureau of Labor Statistics

The Health Professions Program is a unique program among liberal arts colleges designed to prepare students early in their academic career for a variety of professions in healthcare.

The innovative program consists of a core of health-related courses and opportunities for exploration along with clearly articulated joint-degree programs with nearby Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science. 

The Health Professions Program will prepare you for future success in the rapidly evolving field of healthcare by equipping you with the foundation of a liberal arts and sciences curriculum and interprofessional acumen—the core of Rosalind Franklin’s mission.

The curricular core merges four basic natural science/math/social science courses, two “SHIP” courses (Science and Health from an Interdisciplinary Perspective), and several experiential activities into a foundation that will prepare you for continued study or immediate employment in a host of health-related fields.

Part of the experiential activities are multiple seminar series that will take you to the Rosalind Franklin campus (only 10 minutes away) and expose you to the breadth of their programs and their interprofessional practices. The joint-degree programs clearly lay out your curricular path through Lake Forest College and the milestones to meet in order to have a seamless transition into a program at Rosalind Franklin. These joint-degree programs help take the guesswork and anxiety out of post-graduate planning.

The Health Professions Program recruits and supports a diverse and broad cohort of students interested in health professions. Our ideal student is not just the traditional pre-health student (interested in Medical School, Nursing, Pharmacy, Physical Therapy, Podiatry, and more), but also includes students outside of these tracks. You may be interested in Health Care Administration, Public Health, Global Health, Data Analytics, Biostatistics, Epidemiology, Clinical Counseling, Clinical Nutrition, and more. The Health Professions Program encourages you to think outside the traditional box and explore the future of where healthcare careers are headed.

Our “big tent” will admit all interested students into the Health Professions Program cohort, which we expect will grow to approximately 100 per entering class. Rosalind Franklin University believes strongly in the value of the College’s liberal arts education and our goal is to create an inclusive program that can draw students from any major. You can still pursue up to two majors and a minor. This program has no additional cost.

To apply, students submit a short essay describing their interests and motivations to study health-related professions. There is an application window in the fall and in the spring. There are milestones for continued participation, including a minimum semester GPA and progression through the requirements. 

Students can apply to join the Health Professions Program up through the fall of their junior year, to maximize flexibility for most of our current students and to create opportunities for incoming transfers to participate in the program.