For all Pre-Health students
You are strongly encouraged to meet periodically with a member of Pre-Health Advising concerning your health professions preparation and application procedures. Students may need to apply over one year in advance, especially for programs in medical, physician assistant, dental, and veterinary school, and should plan accordingly.
- Introductory information for all pre-health students
- Deadlines for junior and senior pre-health students
- How to write an effective personal statement for your health professions
Request for a Committee Letter from Pre-Health Advising
Medical schools often require a committee letter from Pre-Health Advising. This letter may increase your likelihood of acceptance, since the entire committee is backing you with a complex, rigorous letter of recommendation. This letter expresses what we know about you from years of teaching, advising, and working with you, in addition to interviewing you about medical school, and considers your personal statement, academic records, test scores, resume, and recommendations from individual evaluators. We generally send a single packet containing such a committee letter, your letters of recommendation, the waiver form, and an explanation of our rating system to the application service. If you are an alum and require a committee letter, please contact the Pre-Health Advising Chair, Professor DebBurman, at debburma@lakeforest.edu.
Required forms:
- Pre-Health Requirements for Medical School
- Form that requests a Committee Letter from Pre-Health Advising
- Waiver and Form that requests a letter of evaluation
- Guidelines for Evaluators (from AAMC)
Applications
Most health professional graduate programs use a centralized application service. Here are a few:
- AMCAS The American Medical College Application Service
- AACOMAS The American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine Application Service
- AADSAS Associated American Dental Schools Application Service
- VMCAS Veterinary Medicine College Application Service
- OptomCAS Optometry Centralized Application Service
- PharmCAS Pharmacy College Application Service
- PTCAS Physical Therapist Centralized Application Service
- CASPA Central Application Service for Physician Assistants
Entrance exams
Most health professions graduate programs have a required entrance exam. Students may want to take the appropriate entrance exam prior to their senior year, particularly for medical, dental, and veterinary programs. Some entrance exam websites:
- MCAT Medical College Admissions Test
- DAT Dental Admission Test
- OAT Optometry Admissions Test
- PCAT Pharmacy College Admissions Test
- GRE Graduate Record Exam
DID YOU KNOW?
…that many health professions programs have a rolling admission, so make sure your application material is submitted early and is complete.
You can major in any discipline at the college and still complete Pre-Health. Listed below is a list of science-related majors.
Related in Pre-Health
- Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
- Biology
- Computer Science
- Data Science
- Environmental Studies
- Neuroscience
- Chemistry
- Physics
- Psychology
- Mathematics
Student Organization