In October of the year you plan to apply to enter graduate school, attend the application meeting. You will be provided with a packet of information and required forms. Hold on to it!
Solicit letters of recommendation. Recommenders should be individuals who know you well and can write about you from first-hand observations. Provide each with a resume or copy of your pre-interview form, an unofficial transcript, and a signed waiver form. A stamped envelope addressed to the HPA Office is a helpful gesture. Fill out the letters of recommendation form with those names and return it to the HPA Office. It can be edited at any time. The letters are to be sent to the HPA Office and held in your confidential file.
Note: Make sure that you choose the option to waive your rights to read the letters of recommendation. The HPA Committee will only use those letters in which you have waived your rights in the committee letter. The individual waiver can be found under Forms to the left.
Begin your personal comments essay early. It will be revised many times.
Participate in the Health Professions Advising practice interviews offered by the HPA Office in the spring of your junior year and also again in the fall of your senior year. Sign up in the HPA Office.
Consider how you will prepare for the required admissions test and when you will take it. If you choose to take a preparation class, check to see if one is offered on the UPS campus. While the DAT and GRE are offered electronically and can be taken often, the MCAT is still only a paper exam taken two times a year. Plan to take the MCAT in April. If taken in August, scores are normally not available until mid to late October; past some early application deadlines. You will apply not knowing your scores.
Research schools to which you will apply. Each has a Web site with up-to-date information. You may also review the admissions requirements book for each profession in the CES Library, Howarth 101, in the HPA Office, Howarth 215, or online at the association Web site for each individual profession. For example, medical schools are listed on the AAMC Web site or can be found in these documents and Web sites: MD-PHD Programs in US, Dental Schools and Allied Education Programs, or Osteopathic Medical College Information Book. This is a good time to begin to think about how you will pay for health professional school. Besides financial aid in the form of loans offered by individual schools, the armed forces offer scholarships for tuition and fees in exchange for service as a military officer.
Attend the February and March application meetings.
Sign up in March for a mock interview in April. For medical school applicants: a mock interview is required if you request a committee letter of evaluation. A pre-interview form, with a final draft of your personal comments essay, must be turned into the HPA Office at least one week prior to your mock interview.
Most applications to health professional schools are filed with on-line application services. You will file one application with them along with transcripts to all schools you have attended. Begin to prepare your application in May and file it early. Be sure to keep a copy for yourself and one for the HPA file. Turn in the committee letter request form with schools and copy of your application to the HPA Office.
Keep the HPA Office updated frequently as you receive secondary applications. The committee letter of evaluation is part of the secondary application for medical school. For other professions, keep the HPA Office informed of their specific instructions for sending supporting letters.
If all deadlines have been met, all forms filed and your secondary applications carefully completed, you can expect to hear about interviews as early as October. Acceptances are offered as early as November and as late as the first day of classes.
Don't hesitate to consult with Kathy Samms or Professor Wayne Rickoll with any questions or concerns you may have. Good luck!
