You are completing courses required by health professions schools according to a schedule that ensures you will have recorded grades for these courses one year prior to the date you plan to enter the professional school.

You have tentatively decided when to take your respective admissions test (GRE, MCAT, DAT, OAT, etc).

You are engaged in, or are planning how to gain experience through an internship, volunteer or paid work, research and/or some activity related to the professional career you seek.

You are now ready to open your folder and apply for sponsorship by the Health Professions Advisory Committee (HPAC). In order to open this folder, you should make an appointment with Mrs. Carns in 312 Hall of Languages (443-2321) to complete an electronic application. This application consists of questions much like those on a typical professional school application. Answer the questions as thoroughly as possible, you will be required to write a personal statement and provide copies of transcripts from any schools other than SU. We hope that by completing this application, you will be stimulated to think about the actual application in approximately two years.

After you complete the application, make an appointment to meet with an HPAP advisor or one of our Graduate Assistants to set up your file, it al. sign a waiver form and one recommendation form.

We recommend you complete the Application for Sponsorship (A4S) well before the end of your sophomore year - APRIL 1st DEADLINE (or junior if delaying application to senior year). Before being assigned to an HPAP adviser, your application and transcript(s) will be reviewed. Once you have applied and qualify for sponsorship (see committee policy) you will receive a letter from the Health Professions Advisory Program office indicating who on the HPAC will be your adviser. This adviser will receive a folder containing copies of your completed HPAC sponsorship application and transcripts. You need to make an appointment with your HPAC adviser and continue to meet with that individual at intervals throughout the remainder of this year and during next year. This individual can help you decide where and when to apply, and give you a realistic assessment of your chances for admission to the school of your choice.

Your HPAP adviser will use the information in your letters of recommendations and, with personal knowledge of your strengths, weaknesses, academic record and extracurricular activities, will draft a Committee letter of evaluation. This letter, written during the summer after your junior year, will be reviewed with your credentials at hand later in the summer by the entire membership of the HPAC. Your Committee letter, accompanied by a copy of each individual recommendation, will be sent to each professional school to which you apply.

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1. Plan to get 3-5 evaluations, 3 from faculty (we suggest 2 from science). Select an individual whom you think will write a meaningful evaluation for you. Make an appointment with that person to discuss the matter (telling recommender what you want to do and reminding the individual of your attributes). Some people will want to interview you at some length; others would like a written statement of your goals and achievements; be prepared. For Committee letters, at least two of the faculty evaluations must be from Syracuse University or SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry.

2. Complete the "request for evaluation form" by DECEMBER 15th, available in 312 HL giving properly spelled first and last names, title and address (or department, if on campus) of evaluator who has agreed to write for you, and the relationship of that person to you and bring it to 312HL. Be sure to sign a recommendation form before you leave.

3. A letter will be sent along with one of the recommendation forms (see Waiver below) you signed, usually the next day, to the person you named.

4. When a recommendation/evaluation is received by us, the original will be kept in our master file in the HPAP office and a copy will be sent to your adviser.

[We do some "repeat or reminder requests" but it is your responsibility to see that your recommendations are in order, on time.]

5. Your master file will be kept active for seven (7) years from the date you receive your undergraduate degree from Syracuse University or SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry. If we do not hear from you before then, your file will be destroyed.

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Waiver

Decide whether to waive or retain your rights to see your recommendations and Committee letter. Committee members do not care which you do. Your decision will not determine
the content of the letter except that the initial paragraph will state your decision.

Be aware that a few people will write only confidential letters as a matter of principle. Many faculty members who agree/want to recommend you will be more positive if you trust them.

Admissions Committee members at several professional schools believe that the only good letters are confidential letters. Some also voice the opinion that a lack of trust in recommenders demonstrates a personal attitude toward, or a wariness of, other people that might affect one's ability to deal with patients and professionals, or colleagues.

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Is Committee Sponsorship Necessary?

No, but some health professions schools almost demand a letter from a Committee or other established office of the undergraduate school. If professional school admissions officers know that a Committee exists at an undergraduate school, but an applicant from that school does not use the Committee, the admissions officers will want to know why. Also, the Committee letter reduces the number of different pieces of mail that schools must sort through for each applicant and thus reduces, somewhat, the cost of the admissions process.

Recommenders prefer the Committee system because they write one letter for each student, not a letter for each student for each school.

The chief advantage seems to be to you, the student, in that the process delivers all recommendations to a school at the same time, so you do not have to keep track of whose letter got where. A bigger advantage is that the Committee letter puts the recommendations in perspective and, if one evaluation seems particularly out of place; in comparison with other evaluations, a member of the Committee seeks to find an explanation.

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Credentials Service

Credentials Service is available to SU and ESF undergraduates and current graduates who:
1) unexpectedly find difficulty in meeting the criteria stated in the Policy for Sponsorship by the HPAC;
2) apply for sponsorship in the junior year (or later);
3) do not want to be sponsored by the HPAC. In these cases, the reason(s) why a Committee letter is not provided will be stated in the Credentials Service cover letter.

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