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Pre-Podiatry
DPM • Prepare for podiatric medicine. Often overlooked, podiatry offers a surgical specialty with strong job security.
~3.4 avg
AACPM 2024
Avg Applicant GPA
100+ podiatry obs hrs
Typical Experience
11 courses
Required Courses
4 areas
Key Experiences
Required Courses
Click any course to see who teaches itThese courses are required by most DPM programs.
View all Pre-Podiatry classes →Recommended Courses
Not required but strengthen your application significantly.
Key Experiences Needed
How applicants actually build each one. Not just what to do, but how.
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Paid clinical experience
- 1Get certified as an EMT, CNA, medical assistant, or scribe and work the paid role
- 2Podiatry values general clinical hours; paid hands-on work is the common path
- 3Aim to build steady hours starting sophomore year
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Podiatry shadowing
- 1Cold-call Austin podiatry and foot-and-ankle surgery practices
- 2Offices are small, so one call can turn into 100+ hours
- 3Log 100-200 observation hours with a DPM, and ask to observe procedures
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MCAT prep
- 1Podiatry uses the MCAT, study after orgo + biochem
- 23-4 months with weekly full-lengths
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Research (helpful)
- 1Join a lab if you can, increasingly valued as the field gets more competitive
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Build your Pre-Podiatry plan
Map your courses by semester & plan your experiences →
Quick Links
💡 UT Austin Advantage
Podiatry is one of the least crowded pre-health paths, so Austin's podiatry and foot-and-ankle surgery practices are far easier to get shadowing at than competitive surgical specialties. It uses the MCAT, so every UT prep resource for pre-med applies here too.
📍 Austin Resources
- • Austin podiatry offices (cold-call for shadowing)
- • Dell Seton Medical Center (volunteering)
- • Alpha Epsilon Delta pre-health honor society