Date of Award

4-2025

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Department

Educational Leadership, Research and Technology

First Advisor

Louann Bierlein Palmer, Ed.D.

Second Advisor

Ramona Lewis, Ed.D.

Third Advisor

Michael G. Miller, Ph.D.

Keywords

Persistence, pre-health students, pre-healthcare students

Abstract

Despite decades of research on undergraduate student retention and persistence, only a handful of researchers, such as Dumke et al. (2018) and Stull et al. (2021), have looked specifically at pre-health students preparing for graduate health professional programs and the complex challenges these students face while trying to achieve their goals. Very little research focused on upper-level undergraduate students pursuing graduate health professional programs, such as physical therapy, occupational therapy, physician assistant, or similar graduate health professional programs excluding medical school. To help fill this gap, my study focused on the experiences of pre-healthcare students as they navigated their undergraduate degrees and requirements for graduate health professional programs.

In this qualitative study, 13 upper-level pre-healthcare students at a public Midwestern university shared their educational journeys and the challenges they faced both academically and personally such as the COVID-19 pandemic. A total of 13 themes were found with all themes shared by seven or more participants. Such themes included all but two of the participants working full- or part-time, which resulted in challenges as they were also expected to complete job shadowing, volunteering, research, and be involved on campus like participating student organizations. The reasons why students worked varied as seven students discussed how working was important to their financial stability and ability to stay in school.

Many students shared times when they struggled academically, mentally, or emotionally during their undergraduate careers. Science courses such as physics and chemistry were cited as significant challenges which often required students to seek additional help via study groups, office hours, tutoring sessions, or meeting with their teaching assistants. Even with the resources available to students, participants discussed at length how much time they spent trying to get the necessary grades in these courses to be competitive applicants to graduate health professional programs which led several students to re-take courses. Due to these setbacks and others, students sometimes felt imposter syndrome or questioned whether they were smart enough to stay on their pre-healthcare path.

Despite most students facing significant challenges, they all overcame their challenges to persist to graduation and were planning to apply to a graduate health professional program that aligned with their career goals. Several spoke about the importance of student organizations connecting them to resources, people, and information about specific pre-healthcare requirements which they found helpful in understanding what they needed to be successful. To manage their busy schedules and all their academic requirements, most participants relied on their planners and other organizational tools to keep them on task.

This study sheds new light on the variety of challenges students face while trying to pursue graduate health professional programs. Knowledge of such experiences can help academic and faculty advisors in better understanding how programs can adjust to meet the needs of pre-healthcare students which could be vital in recruitment and retention efforts.

Access Setting

Dissertation-Open Access

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