Health Professions Advisory Committee

Last update: November 5, 2025. The HPAC Self Assessment and Application for 2026 are now open. An HPAC Rubric update can be expected in December 2025.

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 the process looks a little different this year, though the overall structure remains much the same. The main change for HPAC 2026 is that the short essays in the HPAC Application now have a 2500-character limit (reduced from 3000) to better align with typical secondary essay parameters.

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 prehealthgwu [dot] edu (preheath[at]gwu[dot]edu) or visit our website to meet with a Pre-Health Advisor.

GW Pre-Health Advising Events

You may find the following sessions helpful in your application preparation. Please view dates and times and register for the following on our Pre-Health Events page.

1. HPAC Info Sessions.

2. Personal Statement Workshop.

3. Pre-Health Interview Skills Workshop.

Eligibility Requirements

Eligible applicants for HPAC 2026:

Have earned a bachelor's degree from GW or will earn a bachelor's degree from GW by May 2027.
Have completed or will complete their pre-health prerequisites by end of August 2026.
Have completed at least 24 credits of math and science at GW by end of August 2026.
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 which 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 which 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 2025 - January 2026

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, 2026, 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, 2026, 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 2026

Schedule and attend HPAC Interview (Required).

April - May 2026

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

May - June 2026

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.

Please view dates and times and register on our Pre-Health Events page.

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.

Click here to access the HPAC Self-Assessment.

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 preheathgwu [dot] edu (preheath[at]gwu[dot]edu) 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.

Priority Deadline: January 31, 2026, 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, 2026, 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 type "HPAC Check-In" 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.

hpac_2026_application_instructions.pdf

Click on this PDF to download a COPY of the FULL instructions which can also be found within the Application. You can use this document to read through the directions and assist you in preparing your application. The HPAC Application is an online form. Do NOT attempt to submit this pdf.

This application may take up to several 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. Read the instructions thoroughly!

The 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, 2026, 11:59 PM ET

Letters of Recommendation (Required)

Letter Writers must submit Letters of Recommendation to PrivateFolio by February 21, 2026, 11:59 PM ET
You are required to obtain 3 – 5 Letters of Recommendation for your health professional school application and 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.
- Reach out to your letter writers and supply them with HPAC Guidelines for Recommendation Letter Writers.
- When requesting a letter from a professor, be sure to state in writing that you grant them permission to share your protected academic information (such as grades).
- Do NOT read your letters of recommendation.
- Do NOT write a letter of recommendation for yourself and ask someone else to sign it.
- Check with the schools to which you will be applying for any other letter of recommendation parameters, such as non-science professor or clinician requirements. If you have more that 5 letters, you will be able to add additional letters to your primary application and select which schools you want to send the committee packet and/or individual letters.
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:
- Use this GW Pre-Health Advising Private Folio link to sign up for an account if do not already have one. You MUST use this link in order to be properly affiliated with the GW Pre-Health Advising so that we can access your letters.
- You will be asked to choose a 1, 3, or 5-year term. Please view PrivateFolio's website for up to date pricing information. As a GW affiliated account you will also receive a $10 discount. This will also include all deliveries needed for an application cycle, so there will be no additional delivery fees.
- If you are confident that you will be applying through HPAC in the next cycle, we advise you to make your account soon. PrivateFolio has indicated that they may increase prices by about $5 in December. We regret that there is a cost associated with PrivateFolio, however, for the 2026-2027 application cycle it is the lowest cost option available amongst such services.
- 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.

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

The Rubric for HPAC 2026 will be updated and available in December 2025.

hpac_2025_rubric.pdf

You can view the OLD Rubric from HPAC 2025 here. 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.

HPAC FAQs

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 two months 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 2026

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?

GW Pre-Health Advising does NOT have any fees for HPAC.

However, HPAC 2026 uses PrivateFolio, a professional dossier service for academics and professionals that helps manage and deliver confidential documents, especially letters of recommendation. PrivateFolio does have fees. Please view PrivateFolio's website for up to date pricing information. Use this GW Pre-Health Advising Private Folio link to sign up for an account if do not already have one. You MUST use this link in order to be properly affiliated with the GW Pre-Health Advising so that we can access your letters. As a GW affiliated account you will also receive a $10 discount. This will also include all deliveries needed for an application cycle, so there will be no additional delivery fees.

If you are confident that you will be applying through HPAC in the next cycle, we advise you to make your account soon. PrivateFolio has indicated that they may increase prices by about $5 in December. We regret that there is a cost associated with PrivateFolio, however, for the 2026-2027 application cycle it is the lowest cost option available amongst such services.