The Professional School Application Process

The steps that most applicants follow when applying to health professions schools are summarized below.   It is a good idea to read through this information long before you intend to actually submit an application since the process requires many steps and  decisions.  

Selecting the Right Schools		The Aptitude Test
The Application		The Essay/Personal Statement
Evaluation Letters		The Interview

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Selecting the Right Schools

Every health professions school is unique.  Choosing the right school can mean the difference between enjoying your training or not.  It can also mean the difference between being accepted and not being accepted.  Every applicant should look at a number of variables when selecting schools (summarized below):  private versus public, in-state versus out-of-state, type of curriculum, special-focus programs, support services available, clinical training opportunities, location, and cost of living.

Information about individual schools can be found in the official guides published by various health profession education organizations: Many of these guides are available in the PMHCS Resource Room in the Carter House.

Information about Open House events at various health professions schools can be found by clicking here.

In-state/Out-of-state & Public/Private Issues

The in-state/out-of-state and public/private issues are primarily related to funding received by state schools.  Most of these schools have a state-mandated cap on the number of out-of-state students they can accept (typically 10 - 15% of the class); private schools are not subject to these caps.  This means that public schools can be highly selective as to which out-of-state students they select, and those students will be charged higher tuition.  (For example, Rush Medical College in Chicago had 2814 out-of-state applicants in 2002 but only had 17 out-of-state students in its entering class.)  A few schools only accept a few out-of-state students each year, if any, while others do not have a cap.  Check the admission policies for each school to determine whether you have a reasonable chance of being accepted if you are an out-of-state applicant.

Curriculum Issues

Health professions schools use three major curricula: basic science (lecture), organ-system, and problem-based learning.  Some schools utilize just one curricula while many use a combination.  Take the time to determine what curriculum each school uses to determine which schools would be best for you.  For example, if you are a student who needs the structure of lecture to learn material, you will most likely find yourself struggling at a school that uses primarily a problem-based learning approach.  Additionally, some schools' admissions committees will look at prior academic performance to determine whether a student is likely to succeed with their school's curriculum.  Curriculum information for allopathic medical schools can be found at the AAMC web site.

Program

If a school has a special program focus, it can have a great impact on who is considered to be an appropriate candidate for that school.  If it has a focus, is the focus medical research?  Primary care?  Inner-city or rural medicine? Or something else?

Location/Cost of Living

Finally, location and cost of living impact your happiness as a student and the size of the student loan (which includes living expenses) you will need to repay after you finish your training.  Therefore, choosing to attend school in a city with a high cost of living can easily lead to an additional $20,000 or more of indebtedness after graduation.  You might also want to consider who makes up your support network.  If you prefer to have family nearby to help you de-stress, then finding a school closer to home may be important to you.

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The Aptitude Test

Nearly every health professions school requires applicants to take a specific aptitude test.  These tests evaluate skills such as reading comprehension, essay-writing ability, scientific knowledge, problem-solving ability, analytical ability, and spatial skills.  Each profession selects an aptitude test that reflects an applicant's probability of success in that field.  Because of the importance that test scores can play in the admissions process, it is important  to begin preparing for these tests during your first year of college.

More information about which test is required for each profession can be found on the Health Professions Aptitude Tests web page.

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The Application

Primary application

Most health professions schools use a centralized application service to gather preliminary information about applicants.  Demographic, academic, and personal information (including personal essays) are gathered in a standardized format and forwarded to the schools you indicate.  The application service will also typically  forward standardized test scores to the selected schools.  A standard processing fee is charged, with an additional fee added per school to which you apply.  (Most application services have fee reduction opportunities available for qualified applicants.  Information about these waivers can be found at the application web sites.)

Most of the primary applications are computerized or web-based, a few allow paper applications to be filed.  For professions/schools with no application service, application must be made directly to the individual schools to which you wish to apply.  The various application services are:

Secondary applications

Following receipt of the primary application, admissions committees at the individual schools determine whether they wish to learn more about each applicant.  If so, they will often send a secondary application to the applicant.  Depending on the school, the secondary application may simply ask for a little more information and clarification of your academic record, or it may require you to submit several topic-specific essays.  You will most likely also be asked to submit an additional application fee of $40 - $100 directly to the school.

At this time, the school will also request you to submit your letters of evaluation -- advisory committee letters and individual letters from work supervisors, etc.

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The Essay/Personal Statement

It is never too early for you to begin working on your essay. It is a good idea to keep a journal of ideas, activities, and experiences from which you can draw when you begin writing the essay. Record thoughts about your motivations, describe a particularly inspirational event, and/or record thoughts about your health care experiences.  Two to three months before you submit your application, begin constructing the essay. Create some structure and think about what you want to say and how you want to say it. Put the essay aside, then come back to it a week later. Find its strengths and weaknesses, and make adjustments. If you repeat this process each week, by the time you need to submit the essay, you should be very comfortable about its ability to portray you accurately to the admissions committee.

Don’t get rid of your earlier notes and drafts. Most schools will ask you to write 1 – 5 additional essays when you submit your secondary application. The notes might provide good resource material for those essays (which is important since you will typically only have two weeks in which to write them).

Essay tips:

1. Remember that the essay is intended to be autobiographical.  Write about yourself; don’t try to educate the admissions committee about what defines the medical, dental, etc. field.

2. Discuss how you know that medicine, etc. is the correct career choice for you. ("I’ve wanted to be a doctor for as long as I can remember" and "I want to help people" are not adequate explanations for why you have chosen a career in the health professions.  Be prepared to back up these answers with concrete examples from your life.)

3. Identify your strengths, weaknesses, and interests. Use examples from your life to illustrate your strengths (e.g. strong interpersonal skills, maturity, integrity, diversity) and to truthfully assess your weaknesses. Your examples may be medically relevant, but more likely they will come from other areas of your life.

4. Explain how your experiences, strengths, etc. will make you a better health care professional and an asset to the medical profession.

5. Highlight aspects of your life that make you unique from the hundreds to thousands of other applicants whose statements the committee members will also be reading.

6. Briefly address any obvious deviations from your normal academic performance which could be viewed negatively by an admissions committee.  Do not, however,  attempt to make excuses for that lower performance.

7. Do not repeat information that is contained elsewhere in your application unless it is something unique that deserves special attention or amplification. You have limited space for your essay, so don't waste any of it.

8. Make sure the essay is well written, grammatically correct, and accurately spelled.  You do not want to make an unprofessional impression on the admissions committee.

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Evaluation Letters

All health professions schools require applicants to submit letters of evaluation; however, the format of these letters differs between professions.  Medical (human) and dental schools almost uniformly require applicants to submit a composite evaluation letter from a pre-health professions committee -- a letter based on evaluation letters written by faculty members and on the committee members' knowledge of the applicant. Veterinary medical schools and most other health professions schools require applicants to submit letters or evaluation forms from individual faculty members or work supervisors.   In almost all cases, a letter from a health professional is also either required or highly desirable.

Admissions committees are looking for candid evaluations of an applicant's 1) suitability for a career as a health professional and 2) ability to handle an academically demanding curriculum.  Evaluation criteria include:  integrity, emotional maturity, teamwork, motivation, leadership, social adjustment, and academic skills.

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The Interview

General Information

Interviews are only offered to the top group of applicants at each professional school; however, schools interview students for different reasons and use different criteria to determine who is a "top" candidate.  Some schools offer interviews to nearly every student who meets a certain set of (usually numeric) criteria; they then use the interview to find out who the applicant really is and to determine whether that individual would make a good addition to their program.  Other schools evaluate an applicant's numeric criteria, evaluation letters, and essays to determine who should be the best students for their school; the interview is then used to confirm whether an appropriate decision has been made.  In the former case, as much as 80% of the applicant pool may be interviewed, whereas in the latter case, only about 10% of the applicant pool is interviewed.

Every professional school is unique in the way it handles interviews.  Some interview students in small groups, some use a single interview with a faculty member or administrator, while others schedule as many as 5 interviews per applicant.  At about half the schools, the interviewer has full access to the applicant's file, while at the other half, the interviewer only knows the student's name and the college that s/he attends (or attended).  The strategy the applicant wants to use is different for each type of interview, so it is helpful to talk with a pre-health professions advisor about a school's interview format before going to an interview.  

Preparation

The interview is a formal event, and the interviewee should be as professional as possible throughout the process.  It is a good idea to visit the Career Development Center for interview hints and to schedule a mock interview.  

The Albion College pre-health professions committee has compiled a list of common interview questions that may be obtained from the Pre-Health Professions Office.  The American Association of Medical Colleges (AAMC) has also published a list of questions that students may want to think about prior to an interview:   "31 Questions I Wish I Had Asked."

There is also a web site, Interviewfeedback.com,  that solicits information about the interview process at a variety of medical schools.  Applicants are encouraged to report on their interviews as well as to search for information about upcoming interviews at particular schools.

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