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Medical and Health Profession Schools / Apply to Medical/Health Profession Schools / Pre-application Steps
Pre-application Steps
Write your Personal Statement/Essay »
Collect Letters of Recommendation »
Dean's Letter/Certificate »
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
- Attend an essay writing workshop or view the online version of the workshop.
- 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.
- Create an outline. Narrow down your ideas to three-four experiences and develop a theme to tie them together.
- Have your essay critiqued. Use the MIT Writing Center, Prehealth Advising staff, professors, academic advisors and/or your peers to get feedback.
- Repeat steps four and five. It may take six drafts before you have a well-written essay.
The essay, which is part of the primary applications, should be completed by the end of June to avoid any delay in submitting the primary application. Applicants should start to craft this essay response three to six months prior to submitting their application.
- Essay Writing Workshop
- Sample MIT medical school essays are available on CareerBridge.
- Writing Center
- 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.
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.
- Community service
- Leadership experiences
Applicants should start to request letters of recommendation by March of the application year to provide at least two months time for a letter to be written. General letters of recommendation are due byJune 30 if receiving a Prehealth Advisory Board letter.
Resources
Dean's Letter/Certification
Typically, a dean's letter or certificate provides information on whether there have been any academic or disciplinary action taken against the applicant during their academic career. Applicants will be notified through the secondary application if a school requires a dean's letter or certification.
The MIT Registrar will process this request, which usually involves a check of your academic and disciplinary record. Please note that MIT does not report academic probations, warnings, or required withdraws, and does not respond to questions regarding an individual's general character. That said, there is a question on the AMCAS application inquiring if you ever were the recipient of any institutional action resulting from unacceptable academic performance or conduct violation. Therefore, even if the action does not appear on your official MIT transcript or MIT dean's letter/certification, you are required to answer "Yes."
If responding "Yes" to the AMCAS Institutional Action prompt, applicants are strongly encouraged to consult with the Prehealth Advising staff for guidance on how to provide an explanation for the institutional action on the AMCAS application.
To obtain a letter from the Dean of Undergraduate Education, please review the Dean's Certification Process, complete the Dean's Certification Request form, and submit the form to the Registrar's Academic Records office located in room 5-119.
Resources
Research Schools
- Selecting a Medical School
- Prehealth Data
- Medical School Admission Requirements (MSAR)
- AAMC Member Medical Schools
- ADA Dental Education: Schools and Programs
- AAMC Financing your Medical Education
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
