Acceptance into any professional school is both a dream and a challenge for many applicants. However, the reality is that getting into any professional school is extremely competitive and therefore, not all students will get into the school to which they applied initially. Re-applying is another chance at becoming a more competitive applicant. To do so, consider the following:
How can you be a more competitive applicant?
Contact all the schools to which you were not accepted IF allowed by the schools and ask for any feedback, specifically about which areas of your application you need to strengthen.
These are some of the major types of opportunities that health professional schools expect to see in applications. Consider which experiences you are lacking and focus on being more active in these areas.
- Note: that you are NOT only limited to the list below.
Experience-Based Opportunities
- Employment/ Internship
- Enhance your résumé
- Earn money
- Great way to gain exposure and experience
- Opportunity to explore a potential career path
- Prepare for future studies.
- Resources:
- Volunteering
- Help build relationships as well as make meaningful changes in a community
- Can be health-related or non-health-related
- Experiences can vary greatly
- Can be beneficial as long as the experience is meaningful and valuable for you
- Working in an environment related to your field can help you gain exposure and experience interacting with people you may be working with in the future
- Resources:
- Help build relationships as well as make meaningful changes in a community
- Shadowing
- Provides a realistic view of the profession and what working environments are really like
- Establish new connections
- Explore potential career paths
- Resource:
Education-Based Opportunities
- Classes – Retaking or taking classes can help strengthen your academic record
- May retake courses in which you may have not performed well in to raise your GPA and to gain a better understanding of the concepts and content of that particular course
- Consider taking additional courses you did not get a chance to take and to further prepare for your intended professional school.
- For example, classes such as anatomy or physiology can help prepare students planning to work in health.
- Resource:
- Pre-Health Post-Baccalaureate and Special Masters Program
- Graduate Programs: Master’s (MHP), PhD, or other degree programs – Pursuing a graduate degree is another way for students to further improve their academic record.
- Resource:
Professional School Application Activities
- Retake Your Entrance Exam
- Think about how you studied for your entrance exam previously and what worked and did not work
- Consider using additional and/or different resources than you used before
- Resources:
- Application Preparation
- Rewrite all essays, including the personal statement, most meaningful essays (for allopathic), and secondary application essays.
- Resource:
- Re-evaluate the schools you are applying to and examine whether your application is competitive enough for the school’s expectations of the student.
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