When we focus on co-curricular activities, there is a broad array of areas future applicants will want to focus on to round out their experiential preparation. These can be broken down into clinical experience, which refers to both shadowing and direct patient care experience, community service and volunteering, and research.

With all of these experiences, we encourage students to regularly reflect on how they are building their strengths in certain core competency areas. These core competencies are the “language” or the “lens” through which committees will review your application, so it is important to identify how you have cultivated certain things like oral communication, leadership, or social skills through your experiences.

We would encourage students to attend the involvement fairs offered each semester to become acquainted with the on-campus groups.

Clinical experience is an umbrella term used to refer to both shadowing and direct patient care experience. These experiences are critical for your development and for showing prospective schools that you have “tried out” the field you’re interested in pursuing and are dedicated to your chosen career path.

Shadowing is when you follow alongside a healthcare professional during their work day and observe the flow of their job. This is a great introduction and logical first step to take. It will allow you to gain helpful knowledge and experience, understand the role of that person as a part of the healthcare team, and observe the provider-patient interaction. For pre-medical and pre-dental applicants, you will want to accumulate around 50-75 hours of shadowing experience by the time you apply. Ideally, this would be split up either across specialties–for pre-medical applicants–or between different providers. This allows for the accumulation of diverse perspectives.

Direct clinical experience refers to when you gain one-on-one interaction with patients and/or you are the one directly administering the healthcare in some form. There are many different avenues through which people can garner direct patient care experience. Ideally, pre-medical and pre-dental applicants should bring in a minimum of 100 hours of direct patient care experience (hour expectations will vary for other careers, such as physician assistants). This is a critical part of the application for showing schools that you have hands-on experience in the field that you want to enter, and you are dedicated to your chosen path.

Research is an element of a pre-health application that is not necessarily “required” in the same way that clinical experience and community service are “required”, though it does add strength to any application and can be a great avenue for building up certain competencies like critical thinking, scientific inquiry, and teamwork. There are various ways to engage in research. Learn more here!

The Office of Undergraduate Research (OUR) is a fantastic resource for learning how to get started in research and for finding research opportunities. OUR offers several programs, such as the Health Research Program, that offer funding for undergraduate students, which we encourage you to explore.

Remember as well that connections you make with your PIs or research coordinators in this setting are important to build and keep so that you may ask for a letter of recommendation for your application.

There is no “right time” to apply to health professions school. You should begin the application process whenever you feel you can best present a strong and well-rounded application. To learn more about what the various application timelines are and what may be right for you, please visit our Deciding When to Apply page.

The formal process begins one year prior to when you plan to matriculate to professional school. For example, those who wish to start medical or dental school in 2028 will apply in 2027 (the application cycle in which they apply will be referred to as the 2028 Cycle).

This is up to you! It is extremely common to take at least one growth year for many health professions paths. National data and data from UConn alumni show approximately three-quarters of applicants to medical programs (77% and 76%, respectively) took at least one growth year, with the average number of growth years being just under two in each cycle. This is also similar for those pursuing PA programs or dentistry. 

Growth years set students up to take purposeful time between the end of their undergraduate career and the start of health professional school. This is becoming the pathway for the majority of medical and dental matriculants nationally. The amount of time one takes prior to matriculation to professional school is dependent on one's own circumstances. To learn more about the difference between a growth year timeline and the “traditional” timeline, as well as factors of consideration when deciding on taking a growth year or not, visit our website here.

Our office recommends taking the MCAT or DAT no later than mid-June of the year that you are applying. It takes about one month from the date you sit for your exam for your scores to be processed and distributed. For more information about the MCAT, or other pre-health exams, visit our Standardized Tests page.

The formal process begins one year prior to when you plan to matriculate to professional school. For example, those who wish to start medical or dental school in 2028 will apply in 2027 (the application cycle in which they apply will be referred to as the 2028 Cycle).

To learn more about what the various application timelines are and what may be right for you, please visit our Deciding When to Apply page.

The cost of applying varies based on what health professions school you are applying to and how many programs you plan to submit an application for. To see cost breakdowns for MD, DO, Dental and other health professions schools, please visit our Primary Applications page. In addition to primary application costs, standardized exams like the MCAT and DAT require test fees. Secondary applications also cost money to submit; fees vary from school to school.

The office is here to assist you throughout your application journey. We are happy to meet with you over the course of your academic/alumni years to discuss course requirements, clinical and service experience, research opportunities, etc.

We are also involved directly in your application process through our submission of a letter packet. This letter packet is a document that includes all of your individual letters of recommendation as well as a general, non-evaluative cover letter written by our office. The letter packet is one of the four main components of your application. To learn more about receiving a letter packet, please visit our Application Timelines page.

To request a letter packet from our office, you will need to complete the "Application Cycle: Required Modules for All Current Applicants (Students & Alumni)" which will then release the links to two applications through the UConn Quest Portal: the Health Professions Applicant Portfolio (HPAP) and a Health Professions Letter Packet (HPLP). The HPAP is a collection of questions that has students reflect on their motivation, meaningful experiences and strengths as an applicant. Once it is submitted to our office, you will be scheduled for a required Applicant Coaching Session. This meeting with an advisor is used to go over your responses, provide feedback, and answer any questions you may have of the application process. The HPLP is where applicants collect their individual letters of recommendation. For more information on whom and how to ask for letters of recommendation, visit our Letters of Recommendation page.

To learn more about the letter packet process and the various steps for receiving a packet from our office, please visit our Application Timelines page.