Medicine
The decision to pursue a health profession can be a challenging and exciting choice. Your educational preparation as an undergraduate is an important key to your overall success. Many students arrive at the university with the goal to become a physician, dentist, or other health professional, but they have little knowledge of what the profession is really like or what the demands are within the profession. Presently only about one-half of applicants to medical school are successful in gaining admission. Because competition is fierce in medicine and other health professions, you should become as familiar as possible with the career to which you are pursuing.
Letters of Evaluation (Pre-Professional File)
Arts and Sciences Advising Services offers a system for submitting faculty letters of evaluation for students applying to medical school, podiatry school, or post-baccalaureate programs. This service provides a means for three faculty members to supply a letter of evaluation which can be forwarded to AMCAS, AACOMAS, TMDSAS, international medical schools, or schools of podiatry. In addition, Arts and Sciences Advising Services can ensure that the letters that are forwarded are confidential. Letters from the packet will be retained in Arts and Sciences Advising for five years.
If you are a junior or senior, you can schedule a pre-professional file group meeting to learn about setting up a pre-professional file. Group meetings are virtual. In the meeting, you can gain information on pre-professional evaluations and other aspects of the medical school application process. When you are ready to set up your pre-professional file, you can fill out this screening to see if you are eligible to join a Pre-Professional File Meeting, and the coordinator will reach out to you once they’ve evaluated your submission.
The most important documents in your file will be the letters of evaluation that you will request from faculty members who have taught and given you a letter grade. Two of the letters should come from faculty members teaching in science-based disciplines. Be sure that you have become well acquainted with your professors prior to requesting the evaluations.
Once you have started your file, keep in touch periodically with the Health Professions Administrative Coordinator to check the status of your file. Once your file is complete, the staff in Arts and Sciences Advising Services require at least ten to fourteen business days to release your file to the centralized application service of your choice.
Additionally, if you have any questions, please reach out to prehealthadvising@utk.edu.