At Lewis & Clark, our preprofessional programs give you a clear path from curiosity to career. Whether you’re interested in law, medicine, business, education, or engineering, you’ll build a strong academic foundation supported by expert advising, hands-on experience, and partnerships with top graduate programs, and gain the confidence and preparation to pursue what’s next.
Why Choose Lewis & Clark’s Preprofessional Programs?
At Lewis & Clark, our liberal arts education gives you more than technical training; it builds agile thinkers, creative problem-solvers, and ethical leaders ready to thrive in complex, purpose-driven careers. Whether you’re drawn to law, business, medical and health professions, education, or engineering, we offer specialized advising, structured curricular paths, and real-world experiences to help you get there. You’ll benefit from faculty mentorship, dual-degree programs, and partnerships with top graduate schools so you can fast-track your goals without sacrificing the broad, enriching education that makes you stand out from the crowd.
The well-rounded education and applied experiences you receive at Lewis & Clark College provide an ideal foundation for medical school and other health-related careers, no matter your major. We help all students—prospective, current, and alumni—explore pathways to graduate programs and careers in health, and we help you develop a concrete plan to get there.
The skills we teach all our students—critical and creative thinking, analytical reasoning, and persuasive communication—are the skills you’ll need to succeed during law school and throughout your career. With our expert advising and direct pathways to our own law school, you’ll graduate ready to take the next step with confidence.
We provide early admission to our graduate school and a way to earn your bachelor of arts degree plus your master of arts in teaching (MAT) degree—and licensure!—in five years. Our nationally recognized teacher education graduate programs are the perfect preparation for a career in education.
Whether you’re already an entrepreneur, want to learn the skill set to make social and systemic changes, or plan to run a Fortune 500 company one day, Lewis & Clark College can help prepare you for any career where collaboration, numbers, and execution matter. Through classes on campus and partnerships for advanced degrees, you will be ready for whatever step comes next.
Lewis & Clark teaches the habits of mind essential to engineering, like how to think critically about complex issues and how to identify, define, and solve problems. Our cooperative partnership with two nationally recognized engineering schools will provide you with all of the advantages of a liberal arts education as a complement to rigorous studies in engineering.
Partnerships and Dual-Degree Options With Leading Graduate Programs
Lewis & Clark is home to the only law school in Portland, and one of the nation’s top-ranked Environmental Law programs. Through our accelerated 3-3 Law Program, you will earn your bachelor of arts degree along with a doctor of jurisprudence (JD) in just six years, compared to the usual seven.
Alternatively, we also offer guaranteed admission to our law school if you prefer to take the full four years to complete your BA.
Lewis & Clark is nationally recognized for its environmental studies programs on both the undergraduate and the graduate/professional level. With our Accelerated BA/MSL Dual-Degree Environmental Legal Studies (3-1) Program, you can earn your bachelor of arts degree and a master of legal studies (MSL) in environmental, natural resources, and energy law degree in just four years, rather than the typical five.
Through Lewis & Clark’s Teacher Pathways program, we provide early admission to the graduate school and a way to earn your bachelor of arts degree plus your master of arts in teaching (MAT) degree—and licensure!—in five years. You can apply to Teacher Pathways as an incoming, first-year, or second-year student.
Lewis & Clark’s Bates Center for Entrepreneurship and Leadership has partnered with Babson College (ranked No. 1 for entrepreneurship in the nation, per U.S. News!) to provide a 4-1 BA/Master’s Pathway Program through the Babson Collaborative for Entrepreneurship Education.
Current students, alumni, and employees of Lewis & Clark may be admitted to one of the following master’s level programs at Babson College through the pathway program:
Master of Science in Management—Entrepreneurial Leadership
Master of Science in Business Analytics
Master of Science in Finance
Master of Business Administration
Master of Science in Management—Advanced Entrepreneurial Leadership
Regardless of major, qualified students who are interested in earning a master of business administration (MBA) degree after obtaining their Lewis & Clark bachelor’s degree can receive priority consideration for admission to the full-time MBA program at the Simon Business School at the University of Rochester. Lewis & Clark nominees receive waived application fees and a minimum $10,000 annual merit-based scholarship upon acceptance. For more information contact Chrys Hutchings, director of the John E. and Susan S. Bates Center for Entrepreneurship and Leadership.
Students majoring in economics can take advantage of a partnership with Portland State University, which offers an accelerated track to earn a master of science in finance (MSF) degree. This program allows students to begin the application process in their junior year, and provides waivers for both the application fee and the GMAT/GRE requirement. The program includes robust job placement services; many of Portland State’s MSF students go on to work at globally focused organizations, presenting an excellent opportunity for graduates to apply the critical-thinking skills and global literacy they develop at Lewis & Clark to their careers.
For students seeking a traditional engineering background leading to certification, Lewis & Clark has joined with two nationally recognized engineering schools to offer a cooperative program that provides students with the advantages of a liberal arts education as a complement to rigorous studies in engineering. This engineering program, commonly referred to as the “3-2 Program,” enables a student to complete three years of study at Lewis & Clark, followed by two years at an engineering school. The student earns a bachelor of arts degree from Lewis & Clark and a bachelor of science in engineering degree from either Columbia University in New York or Washington University in St. Louis.
Prepare for Graduate School with Expert Preprofessional Advising
From the first day you step on campus, you will be paired with a dedicated faculty advisor in the field of your choosing. Our pre-law, pre-med, business, engineering, and teaching advisors will help you map your academic course load, plan for graduate school, and connect with alumni working in your profession of interest.
Hands-On Experience That Strengthens Your Professional Readiness
Through our Career Accelerator, from orientation to graduation, you will have access to the opportunities that will prepare you for a meaningful career in the professional field of your choosing, whether through on-campus jobs, career-related skills classes, structured internships, or experiences in your classrooms, labs, and performance spaces.
Flexible Academic Paths for Law, Medicine, Business, and More
Our preprofessional programs give you a clear path from curiosity to career as you build a strong academic foundation and gain the confidence and skills to pursue what’s next. The benefit of a well-rounded liberal arts and sciences education means you will take courses across disciplines, cultivate critical thinking skills, and gain clarity about your goals. And with clear pathways to professional programs (including with our own law and graduate schools!), you will graduate ready to start on your chosen path.
Within six months of graduation, 96% of the Lewis & Clark Class of 2024 was already changing the world through employment (71%), continuing studies (22%), and service work (3%), like the Peace Corps.
All entering first-year students in 2025 received aid through scholarships.
Success After Lewis & Clark: Graduate School and Career Outcomes
Lewis & Clark graduates are known for their readiness to lead, think critically, and adapt, which are all qualities that top graduate programs and employers actively seek. In fact, the top career competencies identified by the National Association of Colleges and Employers align perfectly with the core values of a liberal arts education: critical thinking, written and verbal communication, teamwork, and problem solving. Our preprofessional students go on to law school, medical programs, engineering master’s degrees, MBA degrees, and a wide range of competitive careers. With strong advising, hands-on experience, and a liberal arts foundation, you’ll graduate confident, capable, and prepared for your next step.
Lewis & Clark Preprofessional Programs FAQ
At Lewis & Clark, our preprofessional programs prepare students for careers in law, medicine, business, engineering, and teaching. Students combine our rigorous, holistic liberal arts education with targeted coursework, experiential learning, and expert advising to meet professional school prerequisites and applications, and career goals.
Students benefit from a flexible liberal arts curriculum, individualized advising, strong experiential opportunities, high professional school placement rates, and access to programs like the 3-2 Engineering partnership.
Pre-engineering students need to choose an engineering-adjacent major, like math, computer science, physics, or economics. There are no specific majors required for our other preprofessional programs.
Our dedicated advisors ensure students balance liberal arts coursework with professional school preparation.
Lewis & Clark’s liberal arts and sciences curriculum develops critical thinking, communication, problem-solving, and leadership skills, giving graduates a competitive edge in professional school admissions and careers.
Students receive personalized advising, tutoring, wellness resources, and guidance to balance coursework, experiential learning, and professional preparation.
Students work with experienced and dedicated preprofessional advisors who guide them on course planning, internships, research opportunities, professional school applications, test prep, and career development. They will support you in completing applications, writing personal statements, and preparing for interviews.
Yes. Lewis & Clark students participate in internships, research projects, clinical experiences, shadowing, and community engagement to gain practical skills in their chosen field.
Graduates of Lewis & Clark are very successful in getting into professional schools or securing jobs, especially when working with our preprofessional advisors.
For example: Recent graduates of Lewis & Clark College who work with their pre-med advisor have a medical school admission rate of 70-75 percent, and have been admitted to medical schools such as Oregon Health & Science University, University of Washington, Pennsylvania State University, Dartmouth University, University of Minnesota, and more!
Yes! Our renowned overseas and off-campus programs are immersive experiences in unexpected places, and they are often led by one of our own faculty members. No matter your major, even the natural sciences, you’ll be encouraged to study overseas.
The benefit of a liberal arts education is that you will take a wide variety of classes and explore connections across disciplines. Our preprofessional advisors will help keep you on track for on-time graduation and best courses to take to prepare for your chosen path.
Since many of our preprofessional programs are not based around a specific major or program of study, there is flexibility in your academic journey. The programs that do have structured curriculum requirements (such as our 3-3 accelerated BA + JD program) will be harder to join as a transfer student or after switching your major, but there are plenty of related pathways to explore. Start by connecting with the designated preprofessional program advisor!
Office of the Dean of the College is located in room 201 of Albany on the Undergraduate Campus. MSC: 47
