At the beginning of this year, the HPAC conducts an informational meeting for all prospective preMeds, preVets, preDents, etc. During this meeting you will have the opportunity to fill out the Health Professions Interest Form, or you can do it online right now. Although this form doesn’t commit you to anything, it does put you on our mailing list for premed information that comes out from time to time.

During spring term, you should discuss, at your initiative, your progress and your sophomore-year registration plans with a Committee advisor. At this meeting you might also discuss premed requirements, development of a premed course of study, a tentative schedule for the next three years and a major and minor course of study. In considering what you will do during the summer you should explore work/volunteer opportunities in the medical area.

During fall semester, you should meet with a member of the Committee to review your progress. This advisor will look over your record, verify that you are taking the correct courses and try to give you a realistic appraisal of your chances for admission to a health professional school. You will be working closely with this advisor during your junior year if you continue as a pre-health professional.

In addition to working/volunteering in a medical area you should consider participating in research. Subscribing to medical student journals and reading books about medicine will also help to broaden your perspective on medicine. Students applying to the Albany Medical School Minority Student Early Assurance Program should initiate application procedures through the Committee in January.

The application process begins during the spring semester. By February 15th you must request two pre-interview advising meetings (with HPAC members) and submit the following to the Committee: Interview Application form, your most recent Skidmore transcript or grade report and copies of any other transcripts, MCAT scores (if available), a brief summary of your exposure to clinical practice and the type of health profession (e.g. M.D., DVM, Dental, etc.). After the advising sessions, students who are prepared may request a full Committee interview and must submit the following material by April 15th:three or more letters of recommendation from faculty members who have been your instructors (and are not HPAC members), and any other letters you wish to submit. The letters of recommendation should be written by at least one faculty member in your major department and at least one natural science professor, a completed AMCAS application (or other health profession application form), and an essay articulating your reasons for wanting to become a health professional. The entire Committee will review the material and will meet with you for an interview at the end of the spring term. At that time, the Committee will give you an indication of how strongly it will be able to support your application in its letter of recommendation. A spring interview and summer application are strongly recommended. Students applying in the fall will, most likely, be at a disadvantage because fewer places will be available.

In April, you will take the MCAT, or DAT, or GRE, or OCAT or other appropriate test. Applications for these are available in mid-February and may be downloaded from the Web. Scores for each time you take the test are sent to the health professional schools to which you apply, so be well prepared. If you have difficulty with multiple choice testing, begin as a freshman to overcome this problem. It is very important that you have your test scores sent to the Health Professions Advisory Committee at Skidmore College. Without them, it is difficult for us to write good recommendation letters.

Before you leave Skidmore College for the summer, prepare your AMCAS application and plan to submit it by mid-June. You can download the AMCAS-E at www.aamc.org/stuapps/admiss/amcas/start.htm. As soon as you receive your final grades for the spring term, send a copy of your grade report or transcript to the HPAC.

During the summer, the Committee will write its composite letter of recommendation for you if you have completed your part of the application process and submitted the necessary supporting materials (current transcript, completed AMCAS form, premed essay, 3+ letters of recommendation, and valid MCAT or other required test scores). We will also need a signed Waiver Form for the file record. You should request, in a letter to the Committee, that we send our recommendation letter to the schools and provide us with the full mailing addresses, (or you may provide address labels). We will try to send your recommendation letters before you return in September, if your file is complete and your request is received during the summer. If your request is not received until after the fall semester begins, it usually takes 2-4 weeks to prepare a recommendation, assuming your file is complete.

Travel to interviews and watch your mailbox.