Pre-Professional Advising at Purdue
Explore Prepare Apply
Essentially this is how we help students.
- Explore your career options in health and law fields.
- Prepare to be competitive applicants.
- Apply as academically strong and well-rounded students.
Our office welcomes students from all majors. Ideally you will meet with us every semester while preparing for professional school. With such busy lives, we know that isn't always possible so we have placed a lot of information in our Learning Center--not to replace us--but to offer a starting place for when you just can't make it into the office until next semester.
Amy Terstriep, Ph.D.
Director of Pre-Professional Advising, aterstri@purdue.edu
Purdue's Director of Pre-Professional Advising came to Purdue in 2007 after 10 years of Albion College in Michigan. At Albion, she taught in the Anthropology and Sociology Department for several years, ran the Institute for Pre-Medical and Health Care Studies for five years, and finally worked as the Associate Registrar. Her academic background is in medical anthropology and her research interests include the genetics of deafness as well as Deaf culture. As part of her training she took courses in medical, dental, and veterinary schools as well as nursing and public health programs.
Cristy Gosney, MFA
Senior Pre-Professional Advisor, crgosney@purdue.edu
Cristy grew up in the area and graduated from Purdue with a degree in English and Creative Writing. She completed a Master of Fine Arts degree in poetry writing at University of Massachusetts-Amherst. She has worked at Purdue for over 15 years, primarily in advising and program management.
Cara Hines-Pham
Pre-Professional Advisor, cshines@purdue.edu
As an undergraduate, Cara studied English, literature, history, and German. After completing two degrees, she began working in Student Services. A master's degree in Education with a concentration in multiculturalism seemed a natural progression. During her time at Purdue University, Cara has served in a variety of roles at the Black Cultural Center and in Residential Life before joining Pre-Professional Advising in 2016.
Cara Armentrout
Graduate Professional Assistant
Cara is a current graduate student in the Clinical Masters of Speech Language Pathology program. She joined the PPA office in Summer 2023 and is excited to be involved in supporting other Purdue students on their journey to professional school!
Our ambassadors are a vital part of our office. They help us at Purdue recruiting events, speak with us in classes, and represent our office around campus. We rely on them for feedback about services and for suggestions. In return, they gain important skills they can use to demonstrate competencies in their professional applications such as social skills, communication skills, cultural competency, reliability, and professionalism.
Read profiles of our Ambassadors here.
Interested in being an ambassador? Email preprofessional@purdue.edu and we'll reply with information about the upcoming application cycle.