Pre-Medical

Harvard’s system of pre-medical advising is House-based. Practically speaking, this means that the Cabot House Resident Pre-Medical Tutors are your primary resource as you explore the health professions and embark on the application process to medical, dental, or veterinary school. The pre-medical team works together to support your needs as comprehensively as possible. If you are thinking about pursuing a career in the health professions, please contact any of us so we can get to know you, help you decide if medicine is right for you, and if so, help guide you through the admissions process.

 

Cabot House Resident Pre-Medical Tutors

  • Arianna Zhang: MD-MBA candidate

  • Annabel Wang: MD-PhD candidate in Health Policy

  • Syed Rakin Ahmed: MD-PhD candiate in Biophysics

  • Ashley Kyalwazi: MD-MPP candidate 

  • Jacob Anderson: MD-PhD candidate in Chemical Biology 

 

Cabot Pre-Medical Mailing List

If you are interested in receiving ongoing announcements from the Cabot Pre-Medical Advising Team, please subscribe to the Cabot-Pre-Med mailing list at this link:

https://web.lists.fas.harvard.edu/mailman/lists/cabot-pre-med.lists.fas.harvard.edu/

 

General Information

As a starting point, we highly recommend browsing the Harvard College Pre-Medical website:

https://careerservices.fas.harvard.edu/channels/pre-med-students/

The website includes useful details for applying to medical school, as well as information on how to schedule pre-medical advising appointments with the Harvard College Pre-Medical Advisers (Oona Cedar and Rob Harrington).

 

Office Hours

* 2023-2024 office hours will begin in late September 2023. Please check back for the updated schedule then! *

The Cabot Pre-Medical Advising Team hosts weekly drop-in office hours. Please email us ahead of time if you would like to reserve a specific time.

2023-2024 Cabot pre-med office hours schedule:

 

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/15w6ipXSUe99019WtmvW5AGdHyWZdB7CZaEm-RQNFbJc

 

 

Key Documents for 2022-23 Medical School Applicants

OCS Applicant Workshop Series

OCS Guide - Navigating the 2021 Med School Application Cycle

Before You Apply to Medical School

  1. Take the required premedical classes: http://ocs.fas.harvard.edu/premed-academic-requirements

  2. Get hands-on clinical experience (shadowing and service/learning opportunities: https://ocs.fas.harvard.edu/medical-health

  3.  Find a way to pursue an intellectual passion outside of the classroom

    1. This can be thesis research but does not have to be. Are you excited about global health, domestic healthcare disparities, reforming health education, improving youth nutrition or something totally different? Whatever it is, delve in deep and be excited about it. That’s all you need.

  4. Letters of Recommendation

    1. Get to know some faculty! Inviting them to the house is a great way to get started.

    2. If you have questions about which letters you have on file at Cabot, email Cabot's Academic Coordinator

    3. Please email the Recommendation Letter Request Form with your half filled out to your faculty; your faculty should send that in 

    You’ll need 3-5 letters of recommendation. 2 letters should be from science faculty who’ve taught you in a class, 1 letter should be from non-science faculty who’ve taught you in a class, and the others can be from anyone.

  5. Take the MCAT

    1. http://ocs.fas.harvard.edu/mcat 

    2. We strongly recommend you take the MCATs no later than the May before you plan to matriculate into medical school. Given the COVID-19 situation is ever-evolving, erring on the earlier side may be better.

  6. See http://ocs.fas.harvard.edu/medical-health for more information

The Medical School Application Process

The medical school application process formally begins ~18 months before you plan to matriculate into medical school. By February 14, 2022, Cabot House will need you to complete and turn in a document called the “Personal Information Form” (PIF) to the Academic Coordinator. By turning in an electronic copy of the PIF to our Academic Coordinator (ac_cabot@fas.harvard.edu ) you are indicating to us your intent to join the current cycle of medical school applicants. This document asks a number of questions about your biographical information, courses, and motivation for medicine.

After reading your PIF we will let you know which Non-Resident Tutor you have been paired with to help navigate the medical school application process. Our Non-Resident Tutors are a dedicated panel of Attending Physicians, Fellows, Residents, and medical students, many of whom have been helping Cabot students apply to medical school for a significant number of years. Among your Non-Resident Tutor’s most important tasks will be to write your official “House Letter” which accompanies your packet of recommendation letters and serves as a sort of cover letter for your medical school application. This letter is based on your other letters of recommendation, information from your Personal Information Form, discussions between you and your Non-Resident Tutor, your grades, and your MCAT scores.

Most medical schools use the AMCAS common application which opens for viewing in May of the year before matriculation and can be submitted as early as June of that year. We recommend that you turn in this primary application by mid-June. Please send the AMCAS letter request form (with the bar code) to ac_cabot@fas.harvard.edu . To prevent your house letter from slowing down your application it is very important that our academic coordinator has the following information by June:

  • Your best email for AMCAS

  • Your AMCAS ID number

  • Your AMCAS letter ID number

  • Any TMDSAS number you may have

  • Whether you are MD, MD/PhD, or Both

  • The list of schools you are applying to

  • The list of letters of recommendation you would like to send to medical schools (and please make sure the academic coordinator actually has these letters on file)

premed_applicants.ppt1.29 MB
cabotpif2024.docx32 KB
timeline_2022-23_1.docx18 KB