Health Careers Advising
Apply to Professional School
Application Support
Health Careers Advising (HCA) offers a number of different types of support for you as you go through the application process, including help with building your application, working on your writing, gathering your letters of recommendation, and improving your interviewing skills.
We will meet with each of you individually to help you craft the strongest application based on your unique experiences and path to medicine. This process begins when you complete the Health Careers Advising Dossier (HCAD), which is essentially a rough draft of the American Medical College Application Service (AMCAS) application that you will submit to us in early February. Once you have submitted this, you can schedule a comprehensive advising appointment, which is a 45-minute meeting with an advisor who has reviewed your entire HCAD and can provide tailored advice to help you strengthen your application.
Throughout the spring and summer, you can work with our writing specialists to edit your personal statement, activity descriptions, and secondary essays. We also have a number of recorded info sessions to help you with the writing process.
We provide you with guidance on how to ask individuals for a letter along with a form that you can send to help guide their letter writing. We also provide a system to collect your letters and assemble them into a letter packet for your application. We add a cover letter that explains some of the unique aspects of Brown’s academic practices (e.g., S/NC grading) and ensure that all letters of recommendation are formatted correctly.
Once you have submitted your secondary essays, it is time to prepare for your interviews and we offer each applicant a 45-minute mock interview session to hone your interviewing skills. We also have a number of recorded info sessions to help you with the interview process.
We are also here to help with any questions during the interview season and can provide guidance on letters of intent, letters of interest, and updates as you navigate that process.
Finally, we are here to help you celebrate when you are accepted and wish you all the best for the rest of your path to a healthcare career!
Applying with HCA: The Details
When you are ready to apply, you will work closely with HCA starting in the spring of the year in which you apply. Please note that all of the information, instructions, and documents will be available to you in a Google Classroom that is created each year and that there will be frequent communication from Health Careers Advising throughout the process.
Here is an outline of the steps to follow to help make the process as seamless as possible:
- Watch the recording of the Applying with HCA workshop and review the slides
- Join the Google Classroom site (Information on how to do so will be provided in our newsletter as the application cycle approaches).
- Complete the Health Careers Advising Dossier (HCAD) by early February
- Schedule and attend your comprehensive advising appointment
- Scheduling opens after the HCAD due date and appointments run through the end of May
- You will not make an appointment for a comprehensive appointment until you submit your HCAD
- Work with the writing specialists to strengthen your personal statement and activity descriptions
- Have your letters of recommendation sent to HCA via UFunds
- Complete your primary application and request your letter packet from HCA
- Complete your secondary essays (with the support of the Writing Specialists)
- Schedule and attend your mock interview appointment
- Interview at health professional schools, gain acceptance, and matriculate!