Office of
Health Professions Advising

Background
Graduate schools and health professions schools are finding that their applicant pools have an increasing number of applicants who have graduated from college from one to ten or more years earlier. Many of these applicants are incredibly strong because they are more mature and/or they have accomplished a great deal since graduating from college.

If you have personal reasons for delaying your entry into a graduate or professional program, you should feel comfortable in doing so. Delaying your application will not necessarily have a detrimental effect on your likelihood of acceptance. You may set up an application file in the HPA office now or later; when your plans are set, you can let us know that you plan to apply in the future. The HPA office holds all files for four years (or longer if requested). Students who are not certain about their options should see a health professions advisor to discuss the timing of their applications before or after submitting any materials to the HPA. Please bring a copy of your ACES Academic History or transcript.

Delaying to Strengthen Your Application
Many students whose academic records are not strong by the end of the junior year would be well advised to delay their application for a year to improve their academic record or other credentials. While some feel compelled to apply anyway “to see if I get in and if I don’t, I’ll just reapply next year,” consider carefully your strategy.

We have been told by medical school Deans of Admission that they would much prefer to see an applicant submit the strongest application he/she can as the first application. In addition, if you apply a second time, AMCAS classifies you as a “reapplicant”, and this can be perceived as a pejorative term.

Therefore, a student with a relatively weak but improving academic record should consider delaying his/her application until after the senior year to have any continued improvement during the senior year taken into account in the first application. The rate of acceptance of reapplicants is considerably lower than that of first time applicants. We will be glad to discuss with you the advisability of a delayed application and would prefer to do so before doing the interview appointment in the spring. Please bring a copy of your ACES Academic History or transcript.