Agnese announces the direct admit program at a press conference held at Bowden Eye Care and Health Center on May 10.

Agnese announces the direct admit program at a press conference held at Bowden Eye Care and Health Center on May 10.

UIW announced a new initiative available to outstanding high school seniors with strong academic ability seeking advanced degrees in medicine, nursing, optometry, pharmacy or physical therapy. UIW’s new Texas Top Five Percent Direct Admit Health Professions Program provides provisional admission into one of the university’s professional programs for Texas high school seniors ranking in the top five percent of their class after their junior year.

Students can choose from the following professional programs:

• Doctor of Nursing Practice (D.N.P.) – Ila Faye Miller School of Nursing and Health Professions

• Doctor of Optometry (O.D.) – Rosenberg School of Optometry

• Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (D.O.) – School of Osteopathic Medicine

• Doctor of Pharmacy (Pharm.D.) – Feik School of Pharmacy

• Doctor of Physical Therapy (D.P.T.) – School of Physical Therapy

The initiative features an added bonus to help students attain their goals – a $2,500 scholarship per year for full-time study, renewable for up to eight years. This scholarship is in addition to any UIW academic award for which the student is eligible and continues into the professional program. Students will be required to maintain an acceptable GPA to continue in the program and complete a program interview by the respective professional school.

H-E-B announced in May that it will partner with UIW to award the first 25 public high school students to enroll in the new program with $2,500 scholarships renewable up to four years ($10,000 per student) – a total of $250,000 for the program. In addition, UIW announced the donation of 10 scholarships in the amount of $2,500 each for students of either public or private high schools enrolling in the program from the Richard Spencer Lewis Memorial Foundation.

Students whose high schools do not record student rankings or those who are homeschooled may still qualify for the program if they meet certain criteria.

For more information, visit www.uiw.edu/healthprofessions.