Jump to:
- Letters of Recommendation
- Google Classroom
- Applicant Resources
- Applicant Forms
The decision to apply to medical or other health career programs is the culmination of your self-reflection, academic preparation, and engagement with activities that infom your career choice (clinical, service, leadership, research, and other activities).
Throughout your time at Brown and beyond, focus on exploring your interests with depth and continuity so you find fulfilment in your studies and co-curricular activities and develop a strong record for your application.
The links on the left outline many aspects of the application process to medical school or other health profession training programs. To learn about and prepare for the application process, students and recent alumni are encouraged to tune in to our applicant seminars throughout the 2022-23 academic year. For an overview of how our office works with prospective applicants, see the presentation slides from Applicant Seminar #1: Preparing to Apply.
Current students and graduates within five years of graduation are eligible to receive the letter packet. For example, if you graduated during or after May 2018, you would be able to apply with our office’s letter packet through the summer of 2023.
Letters of Recommendation
Health Careers Advising staff collects all letters of recommendation for each applicant and bundles them into a packet along with a standardized cover letter that explains Brown’s practices (S/NC, concentrations, course sequence, etc.) We upload this packet into the central application portals (AMCAS, TMDSAS, AACOMAS, etc.).
Requirements of individual programs may vary, but in general applicants to any health professions program should secure three to four letters of recommendation:
- Two letters from Brown faculty/instructors who have taught or supervised you in teaching, research or another capacity
- At least one of these should be from a professor who has taught you in a STEM class (BIOL, CHEM, PHYS). It is the applicant’s responsibility to check requirements for the schools to which they are planning to apply.
- A third letter from another individual (can be a supervisor, coach, mentor but not a relative or peer)
- Optional and encouraged: A fourth letter from another individual
For MD/PhD applicants:
- You may provide up to five letters in total. A minimum of two should be from research mentors
- If you are applying to both MD and MD/PhD programs - ensure your letters indicate what degree(s) they support you for, and the Health Careers Advising staff will create two separate packets
Potential applications are encouraged to begin to identifying and connecting with potential recommenders between October 2022 and January 2023.
Letters of recommendation are due to our office by May 26, 2023. Recommenders will upload their letters directly into Brown's UFunds portal, a secure and confidential online collection system. The UFunds portal will launch on April 3, 2023.
See the Instructions for Recommenders document linked below for guidance to share with recommenders. Applicants may choose to fill out the last section of the form to provide recommenders with personalized information to enable them to write recommendation letters that are individualized, specific, and helpful for medical school admissions decision.
Google Classroom
Our Google Classroom page includes advising resources, forms to be collected, and additional information for applicants. If you are considering applying to medical or other health professions schools in summer 2023 for admission in fall 2024, it's important that you follow these instructions to access the Google Classroom. If you join after May 2023, please email [email protected] before proceeding.
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Visit this link and click “join class.”
(Note: the email address you select or sign in with at this stage will be the address associated with your Google Classroom identity, and the way we communicate with you your application. We recommend using your brown.edu or alumni.brown.edu account - but if you don’t check those regularly, you can choose to use another Gmail-based account as long as it displays your name. Please only sign up with one email account.) -
On the Classwork tab, you’ll see a few sections:
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"Forms/Tasks to Complete" allows you to download documents you'll need to complete, and then to return them to us.
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"Materials & Forms for Download" contains documents that you'll want to save for your own reference, and/or to share with letter of recommendation writers
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"Applicant Seminar Materials" contains slides and video recordings from our applicant seminars
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Other resources will be added as they become available
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Applicant Resources
- Visit the Standardized Tests pages for information about how to prepare for and when to take exams including the MCAT.
- 2023-2024 Applicant Cycle Timeline (updated March 2023)
- Applicant Seminar #1: Preparing to Apply | video recording and presentation slides
- Applicant Seminar #2: Writing Your Personal Statement | video recording and presentation slides
- Applicant Workshop: Getting Started - Using Concept Maps to Find Your Focus | video recording
- Applicant Workshop: The Pre-Health Personal Statement | video recording
- Applicant Workshop: AMCAS Application | video recording and presentation slides
- Visit the Events page for information about Applicant Seminars and Workshops
Applicant Forms
- Health Careers Advising Dossier (HCAD)
- Instructions for Recommenders
- List of Recommenders
- Brown Letter of Recommendation Form (for optional use by Brown University instructions, faculty, and staff)
- Mailing Form