The Holy Cross
Premedical Program is unusual in that its committee consists
of College faculty from a broad array of disciplines. The
committee members serve as individual advisors to juniors,
seniors and alumni who are applying to health professional
schools (medical school, dental school, veterinary school,
physicians assistant programs, etc.) and guide them through
the application process. Each advisor helps his or her advisees
assemble the materials necessary for the full committee to
evaluate application candidates, and presents these materials
to the committee at the evaluation meeting. The full committee
then evaluates the materials and decides the appropriate level
of recommendation for each potential applicant, as well as
the tone and content of the recommendation letter. Each advisor
then writes the composite recommendation letter that is sent
to medical schools for each of his or her advisees. Throughout
the process, the advisor is a resource to his or her advisees
for advice and information.
Students who wish
to apply to medical and allied health professions schools
do not have to be evaluated by the committee, but it is very
unusual to apply without the committee's recommendation. It
often sends a "red flag" to medical schools, as
almost all Holy Cross medical school applicants apply through
the committee. If you decide to apply without the committee's
support, the premed office will forward your recommendation
letters to medical schools for you.
To apply to medical
school with the committee's support, students must be evaluated
by the committee in the spring semester (no later than May)
of the calendar year before intended matriculation.
That means that students who wish to enter medical school
in the fall of 2009 needed to be evaluated by the committee
no later than May 2008. See the upcoming meetings and deadlines
link on the right for specific deadlines.
Required
materials to be evaluated
- Autobiographical
statement: (up to 10 pages) one copy delivered to the
Premed Office, one copy e-mailed to Ms. Mickie Casello,
mcasello@holycross.edu
- List of courses
with professors' names: one copy delivered to the Premed
Office, one copy e-mailed to Ms. Mickie Casello, mcasello@holycross.edu
as part of the autobiography
- List of extracurricular
activities, employment, internships, etc. through high school:
one copy delivered to the Premed Office, one copy e-mailed
to Ms. Mickie Casello, mcasello@holycross.edu
as part of the autobiography
- Letters of
recommendation:
a minimum of three letters sent directly to the Premed office
(PO Box PREMED): one from a professor in your major department,
one from a professor in a natural or physical science department,
and one from another person who knows you well (who may
or not be a professor). While these are the minimum requirements,
we usually request at least one additional letter from a
science faculty member (especially a laboratory science),
and perhaps one or two more. Additional letters can be added
to your file at any time. Forms are available at the Premed
office, Fenwick 322.
Time
line to be considered by the committee
Graphical
depiction of timeline for 2007-8 applicants
PDF
version of timeline
- Early in
fall semester: advisors are assigned after information
meeting; alumni and those who cannot attend the meeting
should contact the Premed Office
to obtain necessary materials, get on e-mail notification
list and open credentials file.
- Mid to late
fall: students should set up a meeting with advisors
and start soliciting recommendation letters.
- Late fall-early
spring: students should work on and finish autobiographical
statement and other materials; copies of all materials and
one copy each of recommendation letters should be sent to
the Premed Office (see above).
- Mid-late
spring: students are given preliminary evaluation by
the committee on a rolling basis. Letters specifying the
evaluation level are mailed after each evaluation meeting.
- Late May:
the committee assigns final evaluations after spring semester
grades are reported.
- Late Summer:
the committee mails recommendation letters.
- Refer to
e-mails and news page for exact due
dates.
- See "Application
timeline" link on left for more information on
the application time line.
Committee
Members (2007-2008)
Prof.
Andrew Futterman (Chair), Ph.D., Dept. of Psychology
Prof.
James Bryant, Ph.D., Dept. of Sociology and Anthropology
Prof.
Alison Bryant Ludden, Ph.D., Dept. of Psychology
Prof.
Miles Cahill, Ph.D., Dept. of Economics
Prof.
Cara Constance, Ph.D., Dept. of Biology
Prof.
Matthew Koss, Ph.D., Dept. of Physics
Prof.
Alice Laffey, S.S.D., Dept. of Religious Studies
Prof.
Paul Oxley, Ph.D., Dept. of Physics
