Apply to Graduate School

Medical and Health Profession Schools / Apply to Medical/Health Profession Schools / Pre-application Steps

Resources

Essay Writing for Health Profession Schools workshop slides

How to Ask for Recommendation Letter tip sheet

Selecting a Medical School tip sheet

Premed Data

Pre-application Steps

Write your Personal Statement/Essay »
Collect Letters of Recommendation »
Research Schools »
Financial Considerations »

Write Your Personal Statement / Essay

Each health profession school requests a 4,000-6,000-character essay on “Why do you want to go to medical/health profession school?”

Suggested Writing Process                                                                              

  1. Attend an essay writing workshop or view the online version of the workshop.
  2. Brainstorm ideas. Consider writing about experiences that had a major impact on you or that helped you determine that this career is a good fit.
  3. Create an outline. Narrow down your ideas to three-four experiences and develop a theme to tie them together.
  4. Have your essay critiqued. Use the MIT Writing Center, Prehealth Advising staff (see instructions below), professors, academic advisors and/or your peers to get feedback.

Essay Critiques:

Two essay critiques are provided by the Prehealth Advising office and up to three total essay critiques are provided for joint degree applicants (ex. MD-PhD). Essay Critique Options:

  • Appointments
    Call 617-715-5328 to make an in-person or phone appointment with a member of the Prehealth Advising staff and email your essay to him or her 24 hours prior to your scheduled appointment.
  • Email
    Send a Word document of your essay to prehealthessaycrits@mit.edu. (Please no PDFs.) Critiqued essays are typically returned via email within three-four days.

Timeline

The essay should be complete by May 10 of the application year.  Applicants should begin writing their essay in January to allow several months for multiple revisions. 

Collect Letters of Recommendation

Three to five letters of recommendation, including the MIT Prehealth Advisory Board Letter (if applicable) must be included in your application. Please refer to each school/program’s guidelines for recommendation letters. 

Seek strong recommendation letters that come from individuals who know you best. General letter requirements:

  •  Two science letters: preferably from professors who have taught you.
  • One non-science letter (humanities preferred)
  • Research letters: MD-PhD: You must include a letter from all research experiences in your application information. MD: some programs request research letters.
 
Optional Letters to Include:
  • Community service
  • Leadership experiences
 
The GECD Credential Service  stores and sends letters to schools and/or application services. Note the specific policies, forms, and deadlines required if using the credential service in conjunction with a MIT Prehealth Advisory Board Letter.
 
Timeline
Applicants should begin requesting letters of recommendation in January of the application year to provide at least two months time for a letter to be written. General letters of recommendation are due by May 10 if receiving a Prehealth Advisory Board letter.

 

Resources

 

Research Schools

Deciding where to apply is an important part of the application process. Applicants should expect to spend a significant amount of time researching schools and identifying programs that are a good fit. In the secondary application, applicants will be expected to articulate their interest and motivation for attending the specific schools.  
 
Timeline
Applicants should start researching schools and programs as early as possible, but no later than the spring semester prior to the application cycle.
 
Resources
 

 

Financial Considerations

A decision to embark on a health professions career is a huge commitment of time and money. It is important for applicants to educate themselves on the financial implication of applying to health profession schools. Resources are available through the AAMC and through individual health profession schools. Applicants should be prepared to submit important financial aid paperwork as early as possible within the year of application.  

Resources