Prepare for Medical & Health Profession Schools

Where to Begin

Choosing to become a physician, dentist, veterinarian, or other healthcare professional is an important and rewarding decision!  It requires commitment, hard work, and many years of training but also provides many benefits including a career that allows you to make a meaningful difference in the lives of individuals and communities.

If you have decided to pursue a career in medicine and healthcare, there are a variety of ways to begin preparing to ensure you are a strong candidate for the application process.

Preparing for the medical and health professions application process includes:

We can help

If you have any questions on how to begin preparing a strong application for the health professions application process, MIT Prehealth Advising can help:


Your next steps

So you’re interested in pursuing a career in health. Here are your next steps:


A person in a white coat stands in front of trees.

Gain medical exposure

Wondering if a health field is really the right choice for you? Take the time to explore while at MIT or beyond. To get a realistic sense of health profession careers, do research, shadow, and find hands-on opportunities to learn. Start early, ideally, you can do some of these activities as soon as your first year and continue throughout your time at MIT.


 

A person looks at lab computers.

Gain skills for medical school

You know that managing your coursework, getting good grades, and doing well on the MCAT are important. Medical schools also want to see that you have non-academic qualities. The AAMC includes these personal qualities in their list of core competencies.


 

A veterinarian shows a clipboard to a person in a helmet.

Prepare academically

The MIT Committee on Prehealth Advising has provided the following information to guide MIT students on how to fulfill the academic requirements for admission to most U.S. medical schools. Since specific requirements may vary for particular schools, this resource also provides advice on how to find a school’s guidelines.


 

A smiling person

Prepare for standardized testing

If you apply to medical school, you will have to take a standardized test, the Medical College Admissions Test (MCAT). If you are a predental student, you will take the Dental Admission Test (DAT). These standardized tests measure your knowledge and critical reasoning skills. They provide an objective score for medical schools to use along with your GPA.

 

A person wearing a mask looks at a microscope.

Reach out to us for support

Prehealth Advising is here for you through every step of the process. Need advice? Plan an appointment that fits your schedule or join a virtual Prehealth Advising Drop-In session. Stay up-to-date by joining the prehealth email list; just email prehealth@mit.edu with the subject: “Please add me to the [year] prehealth email list.” (Use the year you plan to enter medical school, not the year you graduate from MIT.) Also, find your MIT prehealth community by joining the Prehealth Advising Facebook group.

A person leans forward, smiling, as she listens to another person.

Consider applying to medical interpreting courses

This 4-week IAP course trains multilingual MIT community members in core principles, standards of practice, ethics, and medical terminology. Participants will be qualified to work or volunteer as interpreters in healthcare settings upon completion of the 40-hour course.

Connect with Prehealth Alumni

Laura Chen ‘22

Prehealth Alumni
  • Case Western Medical School – MD-PhD Hometown: Kirkland, Washington
Meet Laura >

Maedeh Marzoughi ’19

Prehealth Alumni
  • Univ of Michigan Medical School – MD-MPH Hometown: Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Meet Maedeh >

Dillon Stuart ‘22

Prehealth Alumni
  • Columbia University Medical School Hometown: Richmond, Virginia
Meet Dillon >

Highlights

Featured Resources

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