A schedule for junior and senior Non-PreMed Health Profession students
(i.e. Pre Dental, Pre Veterinary Med. Pre: PT, Nursing, PA, Pharmacy, etc.) Plans will vary by professional school goal.
Junior Year
Get involved in a hospital or clinic experience/internship. Some hands-on experience in your chosen profession, whether it be an internship, volunteer, or job, is advantageous. Some professions require experience. In other it may be stated as a recommendation. Even if stated as a recommendation, this is really best thought of as a requirement now. Most students find time for credit based internships only after their sophomore year. But remember any experience can be counted and some may be done earlier.
Continue with requirements for your professional school. For some schools and students the following will be done fall, senior year.
Prepare for and take the appropriate professional school test (MCAT, DAT, GRE, PCAT, OAT)
Faculty Evaluators: Get permission from faculty to serve as your evaluators (see advice for this, separate document)
Fill out the Rhodes Pre-Application Form for Non-Premeds and meet with the HPA Director. For some applications you will need to use this form to allow the Director to solicit evaluations for a required Rhodes composite letter of recommendation (Dental, Podiatric and Optometry schools). For other programs, you will be getting your recommendations sent, or filed on-line, on your own with consultation with the Director of HPA. There are application services and schools of nursing, PT, pharmacy, veterinary, and others that have electronic processes that are set up for individual LOEs, but not a composite or packet. Still, it’s a good idea to discuss plans and letters with the Director of HPA and to submit a Jr. form.
Make sure that your recommenders have needed information from you. Check to see that your recommendations are in before leaving for the summer, or set to be done by the fall for thoses programs such as public health which open applications in September. Lots of programs at small or “lesser” schools are ok with a Oct/Nov even Jan application).
Thank You Notes. Write thank you notes to evaluators after they have finished. Some students do thank LOE writers again when they decide where they will attend.
Transcripts. In advance be sure to know how to get transcripts from all institutions where you’ve taken college courses.
Contact Information. Make sure you have stable contact information and a professional email address for your entire application cycle (“cutie.pie.06.AOL.com” or “SixPacktoGo.hotmail.com” won’t give the impression that you will want). If you are a Junior, your Rhodes email is fine. Many application services and professional schools will send information using mass emailings. Some SPAM filters will block these. Turn off SPAM filters (ouch) for this or set up an email account especially for your application cycle. Whatever you do, you must monitor your email account and make sure that it can receive notifications. You do not want to have a change in contact information during this process. Do not let your mail box become full to ensure continued receipt of messages. Any bounce back to the professional school will not be followed up by the school, you will just miss notification.
Begin working on your application during the summer if you can. Work on any expected personal statements and essays. Some programs will have several small essay answers to prompt questions required. Other programs, such as dental schools, will require a single long personal statement.
The various application services and schools open their application cycle at different times from May 1 through September. Work on these at the start of the cycle for earliest submission. Do not think that using deadline dates will allow a successful acceptance at the best or larger programs. All online applications allow you to start work on your application and then complete and submit later.
Apply to your professional school as early as you can. See specific procedures and dates per professional school. This may be as early as registration with an application service in May and application submission starting in June.
Work on your application locally, by downloading forms and carefully filling out paperwork. It is generally best not to work online at a site.
Some programs will request additional materials or information after your primary application. Be prepared to return any requested information or secondary applications within two weeks to show motivation and keenness.
Senior Year Fall
Arrange for letters of evaluation and apply to professional school if you did not do so already. (Some applications are not open until the fall.)
Secondary Materials. Submit any secondary materials that might be requested by your professional school, after they review your application.
Motivated students return any requested information quickly.
Interviews. Some professional schools will have required, or optional, interviews. If interviews are typical of your professional school program, start planning/reading for your interviews if you have not already done so. Practice and prepare. Plan your wardrobe. Use Career Services for Mock Interviews.
Decision Notification. Await your acceptances. If you are accepted to more than one school, be sure to notify the schools that you won’t be attending ASAP. In most cases you should only hold one acceptance at a time.
Make deposits as needed for the preferred acceptance held at a given time. If other more preferred acceptances come in, release those which you rank lower. Any deposits will be refunded in the amount and with the schedule announced.
Be sure to let your evaluators, the Director of HPA, and other supporters know what happened. Thank folks again.
Be sure to share data with the HPA Director so that we can accumulate more Rhodes-specific data to help in advising future applicants.
Financial Aid. Work with the financial aid office of your professional school to submit FAFSA forms. Even if you have not heard a final acceptance decision, this paper work must be done between January and April.
If you have not received an acceptance meet with the Director of HPA and professional school deans to learn what might be done to make a future application more competitive.
2 Years out
If you have matriculated, work your glut’s off and stay on task. Don’t second guess decisions until Thanksgiving.
If you were not accepted to a professional school, apply the feedback given to you from Admissions Deans and HPA Director following your rejection. Reapply, work on other career plans, or continue in preparation for a later application.
As Alumni
Please stay in touch with the HPA Director and our alumni office so that you can help out with future students.