Admission

SPS uses a holistic admissions approach for the professional health programs that allows for the academic and professional achievements of each applicant to be considered. Please review the application requirements below. Our programs are not intended as record-enhancement programs. AAMC has helpful information about alternative professional health programs.

If you have specific questions about the admissions process contact the Admission Advising team.

APPLY NOW

Application Deadlines

Application Checklist

Preparatory Coursework

International Applicants

Quarterly Application Deadlines

Due to the sequential format of the science courses, students can only start the premedicine and prephysician assistant program in the spring or fall quarters. Prephysical therapy students can only start in the fall quarter.

Premedicine

Prephysician Assistant

Prephysical Therapy (fall only)

Fall: May 1

Spring: December 1

Due to the sequential format of the science courses, students in the completion programs below can only start in the fall or summer quarters.

Premedicine Completion

Prephysician Assistant Completion

Prephysical Therapy Completion

Fall: June 1

Summer: March 1

Prespeech Pathology

Preclinical Psychology

Fall: June 1

Winter: Nov 1

Spring: Feb 1

Summer: March 1

2024–25 Quarter Dates

Fall quarter: September 24 – December 14, 2024

Winter quarter: January 6 – March 22, 2025

Spring quarter: March 31 – June 14, 2025

Summer quarter: June 23 – August 30, 2025

Application Checklist

The following materials are required to apply:

A completed online application
A $50 application fee (non-refundable)
Official transcripts from ALL previously attended college-level institutions
One letter of recommendation
Statement of purpose
Current resume or CV

Standardized test scores such as GRE and GMAT are not required. However, if an applicant feels that such a test score would bolster their application, the score may be submitted.

Supplemental materials, with the exception of transcripts, must be uploaded to the online application. Official transcripts may be sent to our Admissions office at spsadmissions@northwestern.edu or mailed to our Chicago office. Please be sure to include the name of your intended program when addressing transcripts.

Professional Health Admissions
Northwestern University School of Professional Studies
Wieboldt Hall, 6th floor
339 E. Chicago Ave.
Chicago, Illinois 60611-3008
Phone: 312-503-2579
Email: prohealth@northwestern.edu

Applicants will be notified of their admission status approximately four weeks after the deadline.

International Applicants

SPS welcomes international students to apply to our post-baccalaureate programs. SPS does not process I-20 or DS-2019 forms for full-time student or exchange visas. Our programs are designed as part-time programs for working professionals and cannot be used to maintain legal status in the United States. Please contact the International Office with any questions.

International Transcripts

Official transcripts from institutions outside of the U.S. are required to be evaluated by a member of the National Association of Credential Evaluation Services (NACES). Applicants are required to have an official course-by-course evaluation completed. The course-by-course evaluation will serve as the official transcript for studies completed outside of the U.S.

Northwestern University School of Professional Studies will only accept official course-by-course evaluations if the evaluation explicitly indicates that the individual’s course of study is the U.S. equivalent of a bachelor’s degree (or master’s degree).

Additionally, an applicant that has earned a U.S. master’s degree and has a bachelor’s degree from outside of the U.S. must still submit an official course by course evaluation that indicates that the applicant has the equivalent to a U.S. bachelor’s degree.

Applicants are also required to ensure that the language of instruction is included in the course-by-course evaluation.

NACES approved evaluation companies, ECE and Educational Perspectives, are highly recommended by Northwestern University School of Professional Studies.

Additional instructions for international applicants are listed below.

English Proficiency

All applicants to SPS programs whose first language is not English must demonstrate language proficiency in one of the following three ways:

Provide official scores for either the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) or the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) exam. The test must be taken no more than two years before the intended quarter of entry. For the TOEFL, applicants must score 600 or higher on the paper-based test, 250 or higher on the computer-based test, or 100 or higher on the internet based test. SPS's institutional code for the TOEFL is 9019. For the IELTS exam, applicants must receive a score of 7.0 or higher.
Provide official transcripts verifying an undergraduate degree from an accredited four-year institution or equivalent, where the language of instruction is English.
Provide official transcripts verifying a graduate degree from an accredited institution where the language of instruction is English.

Please contact the admissions office for more information on TOEFL, IELTS, and transcripts for international applicants.

Preparatory Coursework

Premed, Pre-Physical Therapy, Pre-Physician Assistant

Applicants are required to show proof of proficiency in college algebra or a higher-level math course (excluding statistics) within the past seven years. Students may meet the proficiency requirement through one of the following ways:

Completion of a college algebra (or higher) level math course with a grade of B or better within the past seven years
AP calculus credit appearing on the student's official college transcript within the past seven years
GRE quantitative scores of 153 within the past seven years (Institution Code: 6256)
College Algebra CLEP exam credit with an ACE score of 63 or better within the past seven years

For applicants who have not completed the prerequisite may take college algebra (MATH 101) at SPS as a student-at-large .

Students are able to apply for the Premedicine, Pre-PT, and Pre-PA program prior to completing the preparatory coursework.

Admission decisions will not be released until the admissions office receives proof of successful completion of both a bachelor's degree and college algebra proficiency.

Preclinical Psychology and Prespeech

No preparatory coursework is required for this program.

Pre-Med Completion

Students should have a cumulative and science GPA of 3.0 or higher, and more than eight semester hours or 12 quarter hours of the required pre-medical science sequences completed. Students who have only completed eight or fewer semester hours, or 12 quarters hours, of the required coursework may apply to the premedicine certificate program, and may transfer in their previously completed sequences.

Pre-Physical Therapy Completion

Students should have a cumulative and science GPA of 3.0 or higher, and more than eight semester hours or 12 quarter hours of pre-PT science courses completed. Students who have completed eight or fewer semester hours, or 12 quarter hours, of the required coursework may apply to the prephysical therapy program, and may transfer in their previously completed sequences.

Pre-Physician Assistant Completion

Students should have a cumulative and science GPA of 3.0 or higher, and more than eight semester hours or 12 quarter hours of pre-PA science courses completed. Students who have completed eight or fewer semester hours, or 12 quarter hours, of the required coursework may apply to the prephysician assistant program, and may transfer in their previously completed sequences.