Health Sciences Major

The ever-changing world of healthcare needs adaptable leaders with both compassion and clinical expertise.

Butler’s Health Sciences major is designed to prepare students specifically for healthcare contexts, placing graduates in an ideal position for advanced degree programs in medicine, PA school, clinically-focused masters programs, and similar paths.

The curriculum uniquely emphasizes how to navigate the modern healthcare system. The major has versatile applications, and Health Sciences majors see the full picture of how medical teams collaborate and function to provide excellent patient outcomes.

Students can expect to gain knowledge of Medicaid, insurance, medical ethics, human anatomy and physiology, whole-patient care, and more as they work toward their career goals.

Since Health Sciences students typically select the major to prepare them for advanced degrees, example occupations/industries include:

Physician
Physician Assistant (PA)
Occupational or Physical Therapist
Dentist
Pathologist Assistant
Anesthesiologist Assistant

Graduates can also pursue direct entry healthcare jobs or clinical research roles if they do not wish to continue their education. The Health Sciences faculty is here to help you determine what path might be right for you as you earn this versatile degree.

The Health Sciences (HS) major is under the Bachelor of Science in Health Sciences (BSHS) degree program. The HS major curriculum includes upper-level science and patient care-focused courses that meet the prerequisites for a wide variety of graduate level programs.

The Health Sciences major curriculum is both challenging and flexible. In addition to the Butler Core Curriculum, all students in the Health Sciences program take several fundamental and advanced natural science courses, social science courses, and our “core” healthcare courses. Students individualize their curriculum by choosing from over 68 healthcare-related elective courses that position them for a career path in medicine.

Flexibility is a key program feature, allowing students to switch tracks or majors within the first two years without affecting their graduation timeline to chart the ideal course for their career goals.

An optional medical Spanish concentration is also available within the health sciences major.

The HS and Healthcare and Business curriculums have approximately 75 credit hours of coursework in common. In addition to the common courses, the HS major curriculum includes upper-level science and patient care-focused courses that are not required in the HCB major.

There is the traditional 4 year (8 semester) path, but completing the program in 7 semesters is also common.

Graduates from this program will:

communicate with confidence

Facilitate effective discussions with laypersons and healthcare professionals on a variety of health-related topics.

Graduates from this program will:

stay informed

Locate, critically analyze, and apply data in a manner that supports evidence-based healthcare.

Graduates from this program will:

deliver solutions

Integrate knowledge and skills from natural, formal, and social sciences with healthcare fundamentals to solve complex problems and optimize health outcomes.