Health Careers Advising

Application Timeline

Breadcrumb

Application Timeline

Applying to professional school is a long process with many steps so it is important to start early.

The application cycle for professional school begins over a year ahead of when you plan to matriculate. For example, applicants planning to begin health professional school in fall 2027 begin the application process in spring 2026. You will need to submit your primary application and letters of recommendation in late May/early June. Once you have submitted the application, the application service will process it and the schools to which you applied will send you secondary essays to complete over the early part of the summer. Once your secondary essays are complete, the schools will begin to select students for interviews. Interviewing occurs from August to as late as March of the following year. Final selections occur in March for an August start date. 

Please note that this timeline is specific for medical schools. We have posted information for other professions on their individual career pages.

Timeline of HCA Support of Your Application

Here at Health Careers Advising (HCA) we are here to support you throughout your entire application process. Below is the timeline for working with us during your application cycle. Remember that the process begins 11-14 months ahead of the time you plan to matriculate.

November - January

 
  • Join the Google Classroom site when it becomes available (typically by mid-November). Be sure to use your brown.edu or alumni.brown.edu email address and check it regularly.
  • Begin to identify and connect with potential writers for your letters of recommendation.
  • Watch the Applying with HCA info session in November. This is a recorded session that will be posted on the website and in the Google classroom site. The material presented in this session will be very helpful as you work through the process of applying to please be sure to watch the recording.
  • Watch additional info sessions which cover topics including guidance for writing personal statements, selecting schools, and best practices for interviewing. Information about these can be found on the HCA website, in the weekly newsletter and on the Google Classroom site.

January - February

 
  • Join the Google Classroom site if you have not already done so. Be sure to use your brown.edu or alumni.brown.edu email address and check it regularly.
  • Complete the CAPmed or CAPdent and submit it in the Google Classroom site by the end of the first week in February
    • Note: if you are a re-applicant, you will have until the end of March to submit your re-applicant supplement as you may still be on waitlists and waiting to hear back from some schools.

February - June

 
  • Schedule and attend your Comprehensive Advising Appointment. This is a 45 minute appointment with a member of the Health Careers Advising team to review your CAPmed or CAPdent and personal statement in detail. We will also discuss your list of prospective schools, choice of recommenders and provide insight into how to highlight your strengths on your application.
  • Work with our writing specialists. You can schedule appointments with the writing specialists who have been specifically trained on writing essays and activity descriptions for medical and other health professional school applications. You can work with these individuals to receive feedback on these aspects of your application and make additional appointments for revisions as needed.
  • At this point you should know who is writing your letter of recommendations. You then need to fill out the List of Recommenders Form in Google Classroom and list each recommender with their email address.

 

May

 
  • Start filling out your primary application. These typically open at the beginning of the month.
  • Submit your Letter of Recommenders form in the Google Classroom
  • Ensure that your recommenders have submitted their letters of recommendation
  • Submit your primary application. The earliest date you can do this is typically very late May or the first of June, depending on the application service.
  • Request your letter packet from HCA. This request will be done in the application service.
  • Upload your submitted primary application to the Google Classroom site.