Getting started

You begin the process by attending an information session during the fall term. Since the admission process takes over a year-and-a-half, students and recent alumni should attend an information session during the fall term two years prior to anticipated matriculation.

Health Professions Advisory Committee (HPAC)

Each year, the Health Professions Advisory Committee provides its letter of recommendation, along with other supporting letters, in support of qualified students and recent alumni applying for admission to medical, dental, optometry, and podiatry school.

The applicant booklet contains information about eligibility and requirements for the committee letter.

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2025 APPLICANT RESOURCES

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Entrance examinations

Each profession requires that you take an entrance exam as noted below. We recommend taking your exam no later than May or June of the year before you hope to matriculate. Furthermore, you should have a good plan to prepare, allowing yourself enough time to gain a competitive score.

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Applications

Important things to know about application services or primary applications:

• Timing. Because of the competitive nature of the admission process, the time it takes for the services to verify applications (up to four weeks at peak times), and rolling admission (used by most schools), we recommend submitting as early as possible and well before published deadlines.
• Accuracy. You will be asked to fill in course information (grades, credit hours, etc.) for every college course you have taken at URI and elsewhere. You will need to do this carefully since mistakes can delay the verification of your application.
• Instructions and help. Primary applications are long and complicated! This is why each has its own set of instructions, which will be either a PDF or web page. Download or bookmark the instructions and refer to them often. If you get stuck, call the application service’s help line.
• Documentation. You will need to submit official transcripts from Enrollment Services at URI, and from the registrar at any other college where you have taken courses. Be sure to order these transcripts well before you submit your primary application. Missing transcripts can significantly delay the verification process.
• Personal statement. Each application service requires a personal statement. If applying through HPAC, you will have an opportunity to submit an early draft for your Dossier. In all cases, expect to go through several revisions before submitting your essay.
• Activities list. You will be asked to complete an activities list consisting of volunteer or paid work, extracurricular activities, athletics, research, honors and awards, and, if you have space, hobbies. The lists often ask for a short written description rather than the bullet points you might use in a resume. As with your personal statement, HPAC will ask for a similar list, and you will want to give sufficient time to draft and revise your list.

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Common application services

Each group of professional schools has its own common application service, frequently referred to as the primary application. A list of the major application services is below.

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School or secondary applications

In addition to primary applications, many schools will have their own applications. These applications ask for additional information about you and often include a number of short essay questions.

In most cases, you will receive secondaries after your primary application has been verified, though some schools will send you their secondary once you have submitted your primary application. A small number of schools will decline to send secondaries to applicants based on review of the primary application only.

You should plan to submit your secondaries no more than two weeks after receiving them.

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Decisions

Once schools have your letters, test scores, and primary and secondary applications, they will evaluate your candidacy.

Most groups of professional schools have deadlines and “traffic rules” regarding earliest and latest admission decisions. Similarly, you are obligated to follow the specific rules that these schools have delineated for applicants. MD programs, for example, can start sending acceptances on October 15, and must send admission offers equivalent to the number of available seats in their entering classes by March 15.

• Interviews. Admission committees will invite those they deem to be their strongest applicants to interview on campus. This is often a day-long affair that includes individual, group, or multiple mini interviews, a tour of the facilities, opportunities to meet faculty and students, and presentations on resources, financial aid, and other pertinent topics.
• Acceptances. Schools will have their own policies and procedures for notifying applicants that they have been accepted. An offer can come at any point following an interview though schools must follow the traffic rules as noted above. You are allowed to hold multiple acceptances but must follow the procedures set forth by the schools and their umbrella associations. If you have multiple acceptances, we recommend seeking advice from a pre-health advisor regarding your final choice.
• Wait list. Following an interview, schools may defer a final decision on your candidacy by placing you on a wait list. This is very common and many applicants are ultimately accepted from wait lists, though this is often at the very end of the process. We recommend that you seek advice from a pre-health advisor on how to deal with wait lists.
• Not accepted. Some schools send early rejection notices, but most will not let you know until much later in the process.

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Timeline

View the month-by-month timeline for the admission process.      

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Application process overviews

Health profession training programs have different application processes. Browse other programs:

• HPAC committee process
• PA school programs
• Other programs