BE INVOLVED! VOLUNTEER! JOIN CAMPUS ORGANIZATIONS! WHY?

Over the past five years, the applicant pool for health professional schools has been increasing, making it more competitive for applicants to gain admission.

More Than Just Grades and Test Scores

Of course, grades and test scores are critical criteria used by health profession schools to evaluate students. It is important to recognize, however, that medical schools, and other pre-health schools, consider other significant indicators beyond grades and test scores. Factors such as personality, character, the type of community you come from, career plans, letters of recommendation, difficulty of coursework, interview impressions, and whether the applicant is from a minority and/or disadvantaged background. Admissions committees also look at evidence of maturity, integrity, concern with helping others, and quality and quantity of leadership experience.

Letters of Recommendation

Letters of recommendation from research supervisors and faculty, and those documenting clinical experience are also evaluated. Future applicants should anticipate requesting these letters, and get to know their professors by visiting them during office hours.

Clinical Experience

Clinical experience gained through working or volunteering at a hospital, clinic, or other health care facility is also evaluated. Applicants should seek out opportunities to talk to, observe, and work with health professionals in their field of choice.

Leaders Are Made, Not Born!

Community service and other extracurricular activities are examined for evidence of compassion, leadership, and interest in addressing social problems. Applicants should expect to discuss these experiences in both interviews and in their application essays.

Putting yourself in situations where you must make important decisions involving others will help you get better at making the good decisions based on empathy and the ability to identify with others.

When you involve yourself in extracurricular activities, you develop not only leadership and decision making abilities, but you also increase your creativity, organizational skills, time management skills, and general life skills.

This background cannot be developed overnight, so start now!