Applying

The personal essay is a very important part of your medical school application. You should be thinking about your essay well before any application deadlines.

See section 8 (personal essay) in the AMCAS Instruction Manual for a list of questions to consider as you craft your essay.

The Center for Careers, Life, and Service can review your essay with you. You will need to submit a near-final version of your essay with your request for an HPAC committee letter. 

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Each year, the Health Professions Advisory Committee provides letters of recommendation for 25–35 alumni and current students who are seeking admission to graduate medical programs (e.g., allopathic and osteopathic medicine, dentistry, veterinary medicine, occupational therapy, physical therapy, etc.).

Since most medical schools restrict the number of individual letters, a committee letter can be an effective way to present a composite view of your qualifications. Not all programs accept committee letters; it is your responsibility to research the letter requirements for each program to which you are applying.

The HPAC composes letters of recommendation based on input gathered from faculty and staff familiar with an applicant from classes, advising, co-curricular activities, student employment, or other contact on campus. Consequently, committee letters are recommended for those who have graduated in the past four years. Alumni who graduated more than five years ago are advised to seek individual recommendations that reflect their more recent experiences.

Your request for a committee letter should be made in the spring for applications that will be submitted during the summer. If you are applying to a graduate health program that begins the 2024–25 academic year and your program accepts a committee letter, the deadline to request an HPAC letter of recommendation is 11 p.m. on April 19, 2024. 

If you are a current student with network credentials you can request a committee letter online through the HPAC Letter of Recommendation portal. The portal will save your work so you may add to it or revise it until the submission deadline. Once you are assigned an ID number from your centralized application service, it is important you enter it into the HPAC portal so your committee letter is matched to your application. If you graduate before creating your CAS account, you will lose access to the HPAC portal when your network credentials expire and must submit your CAS ID number as described in the Alumni section below to ensure proper delivery of your committee letter. (See HPAC Student User Guide on GrinnellShare for stepwise instructions to the portal.)

If you plan to delay applying for medical school for a year or two after graduation, please request a committee letter through the HPAC portal during your senior year by the HPAC deadline so the committee can begin collecting information from your professors while you are fresh in their minds. When you are ready to apply, you will follow the process described for alumni to request that the HPAC generate your committee letter.

Alumni

Please read the following instructions carefully to submit your request to the HPAC Committee for a recommendation letter. You will need to allow around 4-5 business days after beginning this process before you are able to access the HPAC Site to submit your request. It is recommended that you take care of the first step prior to the request submission window opening to accelerate the process.

Grinnell College alumni will need to ensure their Alumni Directory record is up to date for identification purposes. Alumni Directory Record login to update your record OR to register for an account with the Alumni Directory by clicking New User Registration. It may take upward of 24 hours for your registration to be processed or any changes to your record made.

Once you have updated your Alumni Directory information or registered for an account, you will need to complete the Alumni Directory Access-HPAC Qualtrics form to gain access to the HPAC Student Request submission page within Salesforce.

After submitting the Qualtrics form, it may take upward of 2-3 business days for your request to be processed and access granted to HPAC Letter of Recommendation portal. You will be notified when your access has been granted.

To access the request form in Salesforce, you will need to download the DUO mobile app. Follow the instructions to complete your DUO setup. You will need to use your Grinnell College Outlook email account both to set up DUO and when logging in to the HPAC Website in Salesforce. Detailed instructions are below.

Alumni email is a free service provided to alumni of Grinnell College. Students who graduated after the policy change will have continued access to their username@grinnell.edu account.

If you graduated prior to the policy change and have not already done so, you will need to request a Grinnell.edu account. You will only be able to access the HPAC Portal using a Grinnell.edu account. Please visit The Alumni Email College Resources page for information on how to acquire a Grinnell.edu account.

After all these steps are met, you will have access to HPAC Letter of Recommendation portal to request a committee letter.

If any issues occur with DUO please contact, the Technology Services Desk at 641-269-4901. If you are unsure of your account status, need to reset your password, or have technical questions or issues surrounding your Grinnell.edu account as an Alumni, please contact the Services desk. 

This new process will take 2-3 days for alumni to be able to access Salesforce to submit a student request.

For any questions about this new process, please contact Payton Sonka.

Specific instructions for downloading DUO:  

1. Download the DUO Mobile app — Download the Duo Mobile app to your mobile authenticator device, e.g., smartphone or tablet. To do so, search for “DUO Mobile” in the App Store (iOS) or Google Play Store (Android). The device you download the DUO Mobile app will need to be with you when you log into your Grinnell College Account.
2. Logon to your Grinnell College Outlook Email Account — You will be prompted with a DUO message, click “Start setup” to complete setting up your account. Follow the directions on each screen to link your mobile authenticator device to your account.
3. You will need to have your DUO-registered mobile device in your possession when logging in. After entering your Grinnell credentials, a DUO authentication screen may appear.

• If you are using a mobile device, select your preferred authentication method. You can use a “verified push,” a DUO mobile passcode, or a DUO hardware token. Note: To use the verified push method, you will need an authentication device into which you can input the verification code (most smartwatches typically do not provide this function). Once your preference has been indicated, DUO will default to that choice in future authentications. If at any time you would like to change your method, click Other Options on the DUO Prompt.

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Years 1–3 (or 4)

• Complete required courses (coursework can be spread out over four years if not applying at the end of the third year).
• Get relevant experiences to develop core competencies.
• Attend HPAC meetings and talk to HPAC members.
• Attend CLS Health Professions Career Community events to explore the profession and learn about the application process; talk to the Health Pros director.
• Choose target medical schools (including in your state of residence) and research requirements.

Fall of Your Third Year (or about 24 months before you want to matriculate)

Attend the CLS Med School Application Year Preview workshop and meet with the Health Professions Career Community director to review your resume. Make a plan to strengthen any areas that may impact the competitiveness of your application.

October

Registration opens MCAT for test dates between January and June. Make a realistic MCAT study and prep plan. Select and register for a test date; testing centers fill so register early to ensure your preferred location. Do not take the exam before you are ready! Because medical schools see all scores, it is better to pay the cancellation or rescheduling fee than to sit for the exam unprepared.

Qualified Students 

Qualified students should apply to the AAMC Fee Assistance Program (FAP), which can help with the costs of MCAT preparation, MCAT exam fees, and AMCAS application fees. Benefits are never retroactive so be sure to apply for FAP well before you register for an exam date to allow time for your FAP application to be approved. 

December

Begin to develop your personal essay. This should explain your motivation for pursuing your chosen profession. Successful applicants typically write eight to ten drafts, which often takes longer than anticipated so start early. You will need to submit a draft to the HPAC in April to request a committee letter. 

Begin making a school list and research requirements and deadlines for the programs you are interested in. 

February

Attend the mandatory HPAC applicant meeting to review the committee letter process. In addition, please reach out at any time to a member of HPAC to discuss questions about preparing for medical school or to the Health Professions Career Community director for guidance on preparing your application. The CLS hosts a series of workshops during the spring semester to help you understand the process, begin completing portions of the application, and support you through the application and interview cycle. Check Handshake and note dates on your calendar. 

March–June 

Take the MCAT exam. Most students take the MCAT exam between March (spring break) and June. It takes about 30 days to receive your score, so sitting for the exam after June in the year you are submitting applications will delay your application and may impact your competitiveness for admission. Students planning a gap year(s) should be mindful that scores are valid for a two to three-year period. If you are planning to delay applying, you should research schools that you are interested in to make sure your MCAT score will still be valid at the time you apply.

Submit your request for a committee letter to the HPAC by the deadline. 

May–June

Most medical schools admit students on a rolling basis. Therefore, it is important that you begin the application process early. The AMCAS instructions are typically available for viewing in April. The AMCAS portal opens for you to enter information the first week in May, although you cannot submit your completed application until the end of May. You can submit your application before letters and transcripts are received by the CAS so once complete, submit your application even if these documents don’t yet appear in your CAS account.

To process your application the CAS will require a transcript from every undergraduate institution you have attended, including any institution where you enrolled for summer courses or dual credit courses in high school. Request your Grinnell transcripts from the Registrar when you begin your application. If any of your programs require a course in genetics, request the "biology genetics letter" using the special instructions section of our registrar’s transcript order form. 

Medical schools will not have access to your application until it has been verified by AMCAS, which typically takes 4-6 weeks. The initial batch of verified applications is transmitted to medical schools the final week of June, with newly verified applications transmitted every business day thereafter. Other services have different submission and transmission protocols (e.g., AACOMAS can be submitted the same day it opens, and transmission of verified applications begins in mid-June) so you should familiarize yourself with all relevant timelines and plan accordingly.

July–September

After your primary application has been verified and transmitted, if a medical school chooses to take further action on your application, you will be sent a secondary application invitation. You will be asked to submit additional writing samples and pay an additional application fee to the school, which is typically waived if you qualify for the Fee Assistance Program. We recommend you return each secondary application within two weeks of receiving it. Consider pre-writing your secondary essays while waiting for your application to be verified in order to meet this deadline.

Some programs may require you to complete a situational judgment test (CASPer, PREview). If required, identify deadlines for submitting these assessments and schedule early if you will require a specific test date due to summer internship or travel obligations.  

You may also want to retake the MCAT during this time if you feel that you can improve over your previous attempt (but check school score deadlines and score release dates). 

Late Summer–Fall 

Medical schools will extend invitations for interviews. Don't show up unprepared! Talk to the Health Pros Career Community director about mock interviews and review interview resources. 

After Oct. 1, early decision acceptances occur and after Oct. 15, rolling admission decisions begin.  

As the cycle progresses, if you haven’t received interviews or have interviewed but haven’t received offers, meet with the health pros director about updating programs or developing a reapplication plan. 

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