The Application Process
For the majority of Health Professions Programs, the application process will take roughly 1.5 years from time of application to time of matriculation. For example, if you were planning to attend medical school in Fall 2026, you would need to apply in the Spring of 2025. After you submit your application, you may be contacted for interviews any time from August-March of that year. If a student wanted to graduate from Simmons in May and go straight to medical school that upcoming September, they would need to apply in the spring of their junior year.
There is no one path to graduate school in the health professions. Some folks feel that they need to apply to start medical school immediately– but that isn't true! The average age of matriculation to medical school is currently 24 years old, which implies that students took anywhere from 1-3 growth years on average. Over 80% of Simmons students choose to take one or more growth years, and we strongly recommend doing so. Taking a growth year can only strengthen your application, as it allows for more time to gain valuable experiences.
Students applying to Medical and Dental Schools often request a "Committee" or "Composite" Letter from their undergraduate institution. This letter summarizes the student's letters of recommendation from faculty, employers, mentors, etc. and includes the Pre-Health Committee's recommendation for that student to their professional school of choice. Please follow the following timeline to receive a Committee Letter from Simmons University.
Notes:
- These are hard deadlines. If students miss deadlines, the Pre-Health Committee reserves the right to refuse a committee letter.
- This timeline begins in January for students planning to submit applications medical/dental school in June.
- The idea behind the self-assessment is both to provide the Pre-Health committee with background about the student and to encourage the student to think about their competitiveness as an applicant for the upcoming cycle.
Committee Letter Timeline
January 31
Email to [email protected]
February 15
- Self-Assessment due. This Self-Assessment is meant to be a tool to help you prepare for the application process and assess your own readiness to apply. The Pre-Health Advisors encourage you to be thoughtful and self-reflective in your responses to best prepare for a strong personal statement, interview, and overall application. Students are encouraged to start using this document during their first or sophomore year as they prepare for medical or dental school.
- AMCAS GPA Calculation due. Please complete the linked spreadsheet with ALL of your undergraduate, graduate, and post bacc coursework.
Email to [email protected]
March 15
Personal statement draft due to Pre-Health committee. Send to Advising. It does not have to be a final draft, but the draft should be complete and well thought out.
Professor Selection for Committee Letter Interviews due. The Pre-Health Committee for your interview will be made up of the Pre-Health Advisors and up to 3 professors of your choice (at least one science, one non-science). Please email the professor names to Advising by this date (earlier is preferred).
Late March/Early April
Committee Letter Interviews
April 15
All letters of recommendation due to Pre-Health Committee. All letters must be sent directly from the recommender to Advising to be considered official. Hard copies may be sent to the Office of Undergraduate Advising in a sealed envelope from the recommender. Electronic letters are strongly preferred.
June 31
Pre-Health Committee deadline to submit Committee Letters to AMCAS, AACOMAS, AADSAS, etc. Provided that the above deadlines are met, the Pre-Health Committee will commit to submitting letters between June 1 and June 31. Please let us know early in the process when you plan to submit your AMCAS application so we can plan ahead.
Please Note: We cannot submit a letter on your behalf until we receive your Application ID # and/or a request for a committee letter from the application service. Please be sure to send these requests as soon as you are able to access the application system (usually early May).