Health Professions Advisory Committee

Last update: November 21, 2024. Personal Statement Workshop information added.

The following information is for HPAC 2025 (for applicants in the 2025-2026 application cycle).

The purpose of GW’s Health Professions Advisory Committee (HPAC) is to help applicants with the application process for health professional schools that accept a committee packet as part of their application process (generally medical, dental, veterinary, or podiatry school). Applicants will self-asses their own candidacy as well as receive feedback from the committee. The committee consists of academic advisors and faculty members. Students who meet the requirements of the HPAC process and the standards as determined by the committee and outlined in the rubric will receive a committee packet to submit as part of their health professional school application. A committee packet consists of a cover sheet with a summary evaluation written by the committee as well as the letters of recommendation that have been written on your behalf. While the HPAC process is not mandatory, it is highly recommended in order for potential applicants to get a better sense of their candidacy.

Please note: The committee packet may be provided only after the eligible student completes a HPAC Self Assessment, Application, Interview, Follow-up Appointment and Confirmation Form and is evaluated by the committee at the "meets expectations" level or higher.

If you've been through HPAC before, you'll notice that it looks a little different than in previous years but the process remains much the same. Continue reading for more information!

If at any point you are unsure how to proceed or you have a question regarding your eligibility or readiness, you can discuss your concerns with a Pre-Health Advisor, please email [email protected] or visit our website to meet with a Pre-Health Advisor.

Personal Statement Workshop

As you are working on your HPAC Application, please join us for our Pre-Health Personal Statement Workshop. This workshop will help applicants plan and prepare to write an impactful personal statement. Learn how to create a powerful narrative that showcases your unique journey and passion for healthcare. Whether you're just getting started or refining a draft, this workshop provides practical strategies to make your statement shine.

Dates for Workshop

-Friday, November 22, 2024, 3:30pm - 4:30pm ET

-Monday, December 2, 2024, 3:30pm - 4:30pm ET

-Tuesday, December 10, 2024, 3:30pm - 4:30pm ET

Eligibility Requirements

Eligible applicants for HPAC 2025:

Have earned a bachelor's degree from GW or will earn a bachelor's degree from GW by May 2026.
Have completed or will complete their pre-health prerequisites by the August 2025.
Have completed at least 24 credits of math and science at GW.
Have clinical experience (involving patient interaction).
Have non-clinical community service/volunteer experience.
Have a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.0 (including credits earned at all US institutions and grades from all attempts for any repeated courses including those for academic forgiveness was granted).
Have a minimum BCPM or Science GPA of 3.0 (including credits earned at all US institutions and grades from all attempts for any repeated courses including those for academic forgiveness was granted).
Have earned a C or higher in all pre-health prerequisites.

Timeline

Remember, it is the applicant's responsibility to complete the HPAC steps and primary application(s) in a timely manner.

November 2024 - January 2025

HPAC Info Sessions (Recommended). See dates and registration link in the related section below.
Begin HPAC Self-Assessment (Required) and HPAC Application (Required).
Set up PrivateFolio account. See link and instructions in the related section below.
Reach out to Letter of Recommendation Writers (Required).
Meet with Pre-Health Advising for a Check-In Appointment (Recommended)

January 31, 2025, 11:59 PM ET

Priority Deadline for HPAC Self-Assessment (Required) and HPAC Application (Required). Students who submit by this time will have priority in choosing HPAC Interview times, as well as opportunities to complete the remaining HPAC steps earlier. This enables the committee to complete and upload committee packets earlier.

February 21, 2025, 11:59 PM ET

Final Deadline for HPAC Self-Assessment (Required) and HPAC Application (Required).
Letters of Recommendation must be submitted by your Letter Writers to PrivateFolio. See link and instructions in the related section below.

February - April 2025

Schedule and attend HPAC Interview (Required).

April - May 2025

Meet with Pre-Health Advising for HPAC Follow Up Appointment (Required)

May - June 2025

Committee packets uploaded to PrivateFolio for applicants who have completed all steps and evaluated by the committee at the "meets expectations" level or higher.
Most centralized application services open for submission.

HPAC Info Session (Recommended)

The online Info Session help guide you through all of the components of HPAC and, by extension, your health professional school applications. It will lead you through the various components of the HPAC process. Attendance is recommended, but NOT required.

Dates for HPAC 2025 Info Sessions

Tuesday, November 12, 2024, 3:30pm - 4:30pm ET
Thursday, November 21, 2024, 1:00pm - 2:00pm ET
Friday, December 6, 2024, 3:30pm - 4:30pm ET

HPAC Self-Assessment (Required)

The HPAC Self-Assessment form is intended to guide you through determining your readiness to apply for HPAC and, by extension, health professional schools that accept a committee packet. This form is for GW undergraduate students and alumni of GW's undergraduate schools.

Requirement
You must complete and submit this form BEFORE submitting your HPAC Application. This form does not have it's own separate deadline, however, your HPAC Application will not be evaluated by the committee without this completed form. This requirement ensures that all applicants have made a thoughtful and informed decision to apply to HPAC.

Referral
This form is not automatically reviewed by a Pre-Health Advisor, but can be reviewed upon request. If at any point you are unsure how to answer a question, or a question brings up an aspect of your application readiness that you would like to discuss with a Pre-Health Advisor, please email [email protected] or visit our website to meet with a Pre-Health Advisor.

Instructions
Please complete this form as soon as possible to ensure you have time to work on your HPAC Application and get help from Pre-Health Advising if needed. This form make take 30 to 60 minutes to complete. It helps to have your resume, calendar, or other personal records of your pre-health activities with you when you are completing this form. It also helps to have Degree Map or other records of your grades with you when completing this form. You are able to pause and revisit this form anytime, so long as you submit it before the HPAC Application deadline. Upon submission, a summary of your responses will be shown which you can save for your records.

Click here to access the HPAC Self-Assessment

Priority Deadline: January 31, 2025, 11:59 PM ET. Students who submit the HPAC Self-Assessment and HPAC Application by this time will have priority in choosing HPAC Interview times, as well as opportunities to complete the remaining HPAC steps earlier. This enables the committee to complete and upload committee packets earlier.

Final Deadline: February 21, 2025, 11:59 PM ET

HPAC Check-In Appointment (Recommended)

After completing the self-assessment, you have the option of reviewing it with a Pre-Health Advisor. Simply submit the form and select the HPAC Check-In box on the Calendly registration page when you make a Pre-Health Appointment. During the appointment, we'll go through your self-assessment to establish your areas of strength and room for improvement. We'll also make sure you meet all eligibility requirements for HPAC.

HPAC Application (Required)

This application and the HPAC process as a whole are opportunities for you to share your values, motivations, competencies, and experiences with a committee of GW advisors and professors. By completing this application you can get an early start on your application materials, receive guidance and feedback, and earn a committee packet to include with your primary application. The HPAC process is intended to mimic the health professional school process. Therefore, your submission should reflect the high level of professionalism and polish expected in the admissions process. Do your best! We look forward to reviewing your submission!

Click here to access the HPAC Application.

Requirements
All parts of this written application, including unofficial transcripts, must be complete and submitted by the deadline in order to be evaluated by the committee. A required HPAC Self Assessment form must be submitted in addition to this application.
Your submission to HPAC must meet GW's standards for academic integrity. Fabrication, falsification, or plagiarism are strictly prohibited. Please note that for the 2025-2026 health professional school application, the majority of health professional schools prohibit the use of artificial intelligence and language learning models in writing application materials. Therefore, the HPAC process will adhere to the same prohibition.

Referral
If you have any questions about the HPAC process, please refer to the HPAC website or email us at [email protected].

Instructions

This application may take a few weeks to complete!
Please begin this form as soon as possible to ensure you have time to get help from Pre-Health Advising if needed.
As with ANY online application form, it is best to write your responses in your OWN SAVED DOCUMENT. Do NOT type long responses, especially essays, directly into the form, because of the risks of errors and loss of work. We recommend a personal Google Drive that automatically saves to the cloud and that you will have access to wherever you go.
For work and activity descriptions and essays, please type in full sentences without errors. Follow the guidelines for corresponding sections of the centralized application service of your top choice health professional schools (ie. AMCAS, AACOMAS, AADSAS, TMDSAS), including formatting and character counts.
Most of you will be applying to multiple schools in the same application service. For HPAC we recommend that you do NOT tailor your essays to a particular school.
It helps to have your spreadsheet, resume, calendar, or other personal records of activities with you when you are completing this form.
It also helps to have Degree Map or other records of your grades with you when completing this form.
You are able to pause and revisit this form anytime, so long as you submit it before the HPAC Application deadline.
Upon submission, a summary of your responses will be shown which you can save for your records.

This application consists of the following sections

Identifying Information
Academic Information including Unofficial Transcripts and GPAs
List of Letters of Recommendation Writers
Work and Activities
Personal Statement
Three Short Essays (Practice Secondaries)

Final Deadline: February 21, 2025, 11:59 PM ET

Letters of Recommendation (Required)

Letter Writers must submit Letters of Recommendation to PrivateFolio by February 21, 2025, 11:59 PM ET
Reach out to your letter writers and supply them with HPAC Guidelines for Recommendation Letter Writers (PDF).
You are required to obtain 3 to 5 Letters of Recommendation (to be submitted by your letter writers to your PrivateFolio account).
- At least one must be from a science faculty member and one from a major faculty member (cannot be the same letter if you are majoring in the sciences).
- They do NOT have to be from GW faculty (this is a change from previous years).
Here are a few guidelines for applicants regarding Letters of Recommendation. Please contact Pre-Health Advising if you have any questions.
- You SHOULD grant faculty members permission to share information about your academic records, such as grades, in your letters of recommendation.
- You should NOT read your letters of recommendation.
- You should NOT write a letter of recommendation for yourself and ask someone else to sign it.
The letter writers that you identify on your application will submit their letters of recommendation to PrivateFolio.
Follow instructions to set up your PrivateFolio account:
- Go to the Private Folio link (you MUST use this link in order to receive special account pricing and to be properly affiliated with the GWU Pre-Health Program so that we can access your application).
- Enter your information, choose a password, and press Submit to create your account.
- You will receive a confirmation email. Click on the confirmation link in this email, and then log in to your account using your email address and password.
- You will be asked to choose an account term. As a GW affiliate you have the option of receiving a one-year account for free, or a $10 discount off of a 3 year or 5 year account. If you would like to have access to your letters for future years, you should choose and pay for a 3 year account (discounted price of $14.99) or a 5 year account (discounted price of $27.99).

HPAC Interview (Required)

Eligible students who have completed the HPAC Self-Assessment and HPAC Application, will be invited to HPAC Interviews. Interviews are about 15 minutes. They are structured, one-on-one interviews over Zoom. Interviews are recorded and evaluated by the entire committee. Interviews will take place from February to April and links to sign up for a interview time slot will be sent out to applicants after the Priority Deadline and the Final Deadline.

HPAC Rubric

Click here to view the HPAC 2025 Rubric.

hpac_2025_rubric.pdf

This rubric serves a guide for committee evaluations of HPAC Applications and Interviews.

Follow-up Appointment (Required)

After your interview, you will be invited to schedule and attend a follow-up appoint with GW Pre-Health Advising to discuss the feedback the committee has compiled for you. The feedback will include the written application and your performance during the interview. Follow-Up Appointments will be in April - May.

Confirmation Form (Required)

The committee packet may be provided only after the eligible student completes a HPAC Self Assessment, Application, Interview, Follow-up Appointment and Confirmation Form and is evaluated by the committee at the "meets expectations" level or higher. The Confirmation Form will be sent after the Follow-Up appointment and asks for confirmation that the applicant wants the packet and applicant ID numbers for application services.

FAQs for HPAC 2025

Will my packet by submitted in time for my application to be reviewed by health professional school admissions?

If you receive a committee packet from HPAC, your confirmation form will ask for the ID number for your application to a health professional school centralized application services. These application services have different start dates for application submissions. Most health professional schools have rolling admissions, so it is better for most applicants to apply early. Centralized application services, usually have verification processes in which applications are checked for accuracy (most errors are from incorrect grade or transcript entries). The verification process may be 2 to 8 weeks.

Letters of Recommendation and committee packets, do NOT delay verification. You should not have any delay in health professional school admissions consideration if your committee packet is submitted within a month of your application submission.

Where can I sign up for the HPAC info sessions?

You can click HERE to access the sign-up page for the information sessions. The Info Session is recommended, NOT required for HPAC 2025

When should I go through HPAC?

Typically, you go through HPAC the fall and spring before you apply to medical or dental school. So if you're applying to medical or dental school in May, you'll start HPAC the previous fall.

Can I go through HPAC even after I graduate?

Yes! Almost half of HPAC participants are alumni.

What if I need to reapply to medical or dental school?

Then you can go through HPAC again as well. A good chunk of participants end up going through HPAC more than once.

But if I need to reapply to medical or dental school, can't I just use my HPAC packet from a previous year?

You can...but it'll be out of date. To get an up-to-date packet, we recommend going through HPAC again.

I heard that the committee letter wasn't a thing anymore. So what's the point?

It's true that we're no longer providing detailed letters of evaluation. HOWEVER, we're still providing committee packets which does include the committee's rating of your candidacy, just like before. All that's changing is the advisor letter component. The packets still contain your letters of rec as well.

In any case, the main purpose of HPAC is to help you assess your own candidacy. The packet is just a nice bonus!

What if I don't want to participate in HPAC?

That's totally fine! But keep in mind that some medical or dental schools may ask you to submit a letter of explanation written by your pre-health advisor as to why you don't have a committee packet. We're happy to provide that for you but you must schedule an appointment to talk through the details.

Do I have to pay money for HPAC?

Nope!