Application to Medical and Health Professional Schools
Overview
Schools of the health professions are looking for mature, well-rounded people who are interested in the healing arts and in their patients as people. In their classes, they want a diverse group of students representing a variety of interests, socioeconomic, and ethnic groups.
Postbaccalaureate applicants are expected to be well-read, intellectually curious, and have some sense of "life" in the larger meaning of the word. If this is your case, the fact that you may be a bit (or a lot) older than most applicants will NOT be held against you.
It is important to emphasize several things in your application, including the following:
- that you have a substantial record of healthcare–related experience indicating a long-standing interest;
- that you are leaving an already-successful career for a better one in medicine, rather than leaving one failure for perhaps another;
- that once you had established your new goal, you were sufficiently motivated to perform superbly in the essential course-work and on standardized tests;
- you are more mature, more focused, and have better interpersonal skills than your less-experienced counterparts.
Decisions to admit candidates are based upon multiple factors that are, to a degree, unique for each school. In general, however, all schools are looking for evidence of an ability to accomplish the academic work necessary to progress through the school’s curriculum (as demonstrated on the candidate’s college records and on the MCAT scores) and evidence of personal qualities and attributes needed in health care (as demonstrated in your personal statement, recommendations, extracurricular and community involvement, and health-related volunteer work). All medical schools require personal interviews of selected candidates as part of their admissions criteria.
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Committee Letter of Recommendation
NYU writes a comprehensive letter of recommendation for every student applying to schools in the health professions who has been accepted into our postbaccalaureate prehealth program, and has remained in good standing. The Committee on Recommendations for the Health Professions (made up of faculty, administrators, and staff) has an extensive evaluation process for our prehealth students, enabling the committee to write a thorough letter. We gather information about you from different sources while you are taking classes here and use that information when writing your composite letter of recommendation. These letters are very personal and confidential in nature; they are never form letters in any sense.
Committee Interviews: During the spring semester of the year in which you will send your applications to medical schools (which is actually one calendar year before you intend to enter professional school), you will participate in prehealth interviews coordinated by the Preprofessional Advisement Office. At the end of the fall semester, obtain a set of autobiographical forms from the office and return them along with a personal statement as indicated in the accompanying instructions. You will be assigned interviews with faculty and/or administrators. Consider the interview to be somewhat like a professional school interview—we want to get a complete picture of what you are like.
Information from these interviews, your essays, the evaluation forms, and any outside recommendations sent to our office are compiled into one letter of recommendation, which we will send to professional schools only. For reasons of confidentiality, the information in your file—evaluation sheets, outside letters of recommendation, faculty write-ups, and your essay—cannot be forwarded to other programs.
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Transcripts
Your coursework will appear on a regular College of Arts & Science transcript, which you can send to any graduate or professional schools to which you apply. Requests for transcripts can be made through the Registrar’s Office at 25 West 4th Street. Because you cannot officially "transfer" to this program, coursework done at any other school will not appear on your College of Arts and Science transcript.
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Linkage Programs
NYU's Postbaccalaureate Prehealth Studies Program currently has "linkage" arrangements with seven medical schools, through which very competitive candidates may be considered for entry into medical school in the fall directly following the completion of the postbaccalaureate program. Our programs are with the medical schools at George Washington University, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, Stony Brook University, SUNY Downstate Medical Center, Tulane University School of Medicine, UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School, and UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson. Strong postbaccalaureate candidates can discuss the linkage programs in further detail with their adviser.
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Lag Year
The lag year (also called a "glide year") refers to the year after completion of the postbaccalaureate program and starting professional school. During this year, you are taking standardized tests (e.g., the MCAT), applying, and interviewing, so it is not a vacation. Past students have gone on to volunteer, take classes, do research, or work during their lag year; postings about potential medically related opportunities are often made via the prehealth listserv. Please speak with an adviser if you need help refining your lag year plans.
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