Reaching your goal of becoming a health professional will be challenging, but making a detailed plan that plays to your strengths, accommodates your responsibilities, and prepares you properly will help you avoid some of the greatest obstacles. A plan should include the prerequisite courses required for admission to professional school, following a logical progression that will allow you to meet both your degree requirements and professional school prerequisites. It should also include extracurricular activities that will help you develop the skills and characteristics needed for your future profession, such as clinical shadowing and patient experience, volunteer service, leadership skill development, and research experience. Finally, you should become familiar with the application cycle timeline, typically about a year in length, for the program type that you intend to apply to and consider when you may apply to professional school. Use the navigation menu to learn more about how to plan for professional school.