Application Process

Applying to health professional schools is a significant undertaking with many moving parts. Unlike undergrad, students do not just apply widely and get in somewhere. This competitive process results in less than 50% of applicants successfully matriculating into these health schools. The proper discipline and preparation is required for all interested applicants.

Most health professional schools require applicants to submit applications more than a year before they plan to matriculate and require, in addition to the completion of the prehealth course sequence, letters of recommendation, evidence of extracurricular involvement, standardized test scores, essays and interviews.

Applicants are expected to participate in the process and stay informed of application procedures in the following ways:

• Complete Tandon's Prehealth Professions course - PHP-UY 4000. This is required for all students applying to a health professional school and requesting a committee letter. We recommend you complete this course during the academic year in which you are planning to submit your health school application. Otherwise, you would need to complete this during the final year of your undergraduate studies, even if you are planning to complete a gap year.
• Review the medical school application timeline or a timeline for your chosen application (dental, optometry, veterinary, physician assistant etc.)
• If you haven't already, please fill out the Tandon Prehealth Interest Form. This will give you access to the Tandon Prehealth Portal, which will serve as your prep hub for your committee letter application.
  • Do not fill out the interest form more than once! If you are unsure if you already filled it out or not, try to log into your Prehealth Portal or check with Tandon Prehealth before filling out another form.
  • If you do not remember your password, send an email to tandonprehealth@nyu.edu and we will confirm it for you.
  • If you fill out the interest form more than once, it will result in 2 accounts and your application will not be submitted correctly.

Important information for reapplicants:

• Reapplicants must follow all of the above steps as detailed below. This is whether you are a reapplicant to the committee, to a health professional school, or to both.

Intent to Apply to a Health Professional School

due December 15th each year
(for Fall 2024 matriculation, Part 1 must be submitted in Fall 2022)

• Submit Part 1 by December 15 ~two years prior to the fall term in which you want to begin your health studies.
• ONLY students who submit Part 1 will be contacted about filling out the rest of the CLA.
• Note: you must log into your Prehealth Portal in order to submit Part 1 of your CLA.
• Both new applicants and reapplicants must submit Part 1 EACH year you intend to receive a committee letter.
  • If you are a late reapplicant who is requesting the same committee letter from a year prior submitted to your reapplication, you can just fill out Part 3 during spring/summer instead of submitting Part 1 and Part 2. If you want your committee letter updated, you must fill out Part 1 and Part 2 by the stated deadlines.

Application Materials for Committee Letter

due February 1st each year
(for Fall 2024 matriculation, Part 2 must be submitted in Spring 2023)

• Submit Part 2 by February 1 one year prior to the fall term in which you intend to begin your studies.
• You cannot submit Part 2 if you haven't already submitted Part 1. Only students who submitted Part 1 will be contacted with the link for Part 2 after December 15th.
• Note: you must log into the Committee Letter Application Portal in order to submit Part 2 your CLA.
• Both new applicants and reapplicants MUST submit a new Part 2 each year.
  • If you are a late reapplicant who is requesting the same committee letter from a year prior submitted to your reapplication, you can just fill out Part 3 in spring/summer instead of submitting Part 1 and Part 2. If you want your committee letter updated, you must fill out Part 1 and Part 2 by the stated deadlines.

General requirements for Part 2 include:

1. Academic information
2. Personal statement
3. Activity List
4. Short Essays
5. Prerecording
6. Other materials

Spring 2024 Interview Day: Saturday, February 24, 2024

Every applicant must be present for an interview.  Interview time slots can be requested in Part 2, but will be assigned by the Prehealth Committee. Your request is not guaranteed! Everyone is expected to join in person in Brooklyn at Tandon for their interview.

*Exceptions can ONLY be made for alumni that are not in the area and cannot easily make it to Tandon as a result.

Sign up and sit for a Standardized Health Professional School Exam

• If you haven't already taken it, make sure you have a scheduled date for your health professional school exam (MCAT, DAT, OAT, GRE etc.).
• Also, don't forget about CASPer and/or AAMC PREview if your intended applications/schools require it.

Recommendation Letters

due May 15th each year

• Note: you must log into your Prehealth Portal in order to send out recommendation letter requests. Once you enter in your reference information, they are sent an email to upload your recommendation letter.
• Collect final recommendation letters from references by a recommended deadline of May 15.
  • We attach recommendation letters to your committee letter. As such, we must receive all recommendation letters prior to submitting your committee letter. The later you submit your recommendation letters, the longer it takes for us to submit your committee letter
• All recommendation letters must be uploaded into your Prehealth Portal: Recommendation Letters (prior to submitting CLA Part 3 - Committee Letter Request).
  • Feel free to send your references the Tandon Prehealth Committee Letter Recommendation Letter Request Form as a guide. While not required, it includes tips, guidelines, and requirements about submitting letters.
  • Review additional Recommendation Letters information prior to sending out requests.
• If you are a reapplicant from years prior who previously had recommendation letters sent over to Tandon Prehealth, you must still have your recommendation letters uploaded into the system. When you submit the request in the system, add in tandonprehealth@nyu.edu in the email address field for those rec letters.

Apply to Health Professional Schools

most applications open up for submission June 1st of each year and can be submitted until early/mid October

• Submit your official health professional school application. These generally open on May 1 and then are able to be submitted as early as June 1. The majority of schools use one of the following common applications.
• Make sure to check with the individual schools you plan to apply to about what they use.
  • American medical college application service (AMCAS) American association of colleges of osteopathic medicine application service (AACOMAS)
  • Associated American dental school application service (AADSAS)
  • Optometry centralized application service (OptomCAS)
  • Texas medical and dental schools application service (TMDSAS)
  • Veterinary medical college application service (VMCAS)
  • Physician Assistant centralized application service (CASPA)
• Off-shore/international health professional schools often have different deadlines and requirements. Make sure to check those specific details from each individual school you are interested in applying to.

Committee Letter Request form

rolling deadline from June through October

• Submit Part 3 - Committee Letter Request form to Tandon so that we can add the committee letter packet to your health professional school application. There is no due date for this form as health professional school admissions are rolling usually until sometime in October). That said, the earlier you submit to us the better, as it can take 2-4 weeks to compile all the documents together for submission.
• Note: you must log into the Committee Letter Application Portal in order to submit Part 3 of your CLA.
• Both new applicants and reapplicants must submit a committee letter request form in order to receive a committee letter.
  • If you are a late reapplicant who is requesting the same committee letter from a year prior submitted to your reapplication, you can just fill out Part 3 during spring/summer instead of submitting Part 1 and Part 2. If you want your committee letter updated, you must fill out Part 1 and Part 2 by the stated deadlines.

Secondary Application Submissions

rolling deadline from July/August through November

• Submit any secondary applications you receive from individual schools. It is recommended that you send these back within 2 weeks of receiving them.
  • Not all schools require secondary applications, and some schools only send these out to select applicants that are moving onto the second round.
  • Check with the individual schools to confirm if you will be expected to submit a secondary application.

What to do next?

• Prepare for interviews
  • Review the websites for the schools that you are planning to apply to.
  • Take part in mock interviews:
    • Record yourself answering interview questions and review those recordings.
    • Work with peers, family, and friends to interview you and provide feedback.
    • Schedule a mock interview with Wasserman Center for Career Development.
    • Request a mock interview with the Tandon Career Services Office or the Tandon Prehealth Committee.
• Continue to complete coursework, volunteer/shadow, work, take on leadership roles, perform research, do community service, etc. while awaiting interview invitations. Send updates to schools as necessary.
  • Consider what areas were lacking in your application and what you have done/can do to fill those gaps.
• While awaiting decisions, start prepping for reapplication, if necessary.
  • If you're unsure about the potential to receive acceptance into a health professional school, you should submit Part 1 by December 15 the fall term following your application submission in order to start the reapplication process.
  • If you then receive acceptance prior to February 1, you don't have to submit Part 2. If you don't receive acceptance, you should resubmit Part 2 by February 1.
  • If you are a late reapplicant and missed the deadlines to submit Part 1 and Part 2, you can request the same committee letter from a year prior to be submitted to your reapplication.
    • In order to do so, you can just fill out Part 3 when you're ready for your letter to be resubmitted.