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Pre-Health Advising

Vassar College

Reapplying to a Health Professions Program

Sometimes, an application is not successful. Health professions programs are competitive and many qualified applicants are not accepted each year due to the number of seats available. If you are a reapplicant, please consider the following questions. Further, if you are a reapplicant who is requesting a committee letter, please read further for the process. You should also make an appointment to see the pre-health advisor to discuss your previous application.

Think About Last Year's Application

  • Why do you think your application was unsuccessful? To help assess this you can use the Self-Assessment to re-assess parts of your application.
  • How competitive do you believe your overall and math/science GPAs are? If you believe that was an issue, what are you planning to do to increase your GPAs?
  • Was your MCAT/DAT/GRE competitive? If you believe that was an issue, what are you planning to do to correct it?
  • Did you submit your primary application within 1-2 weeks of the submission opening?
  • Did you return secondary applications within 2 weeks of receiving them?
  • Was your school broad and realistic based on your self-assessment score?
  • Were your personal statement, activities/experiences narratives, and secondary essays carefully written? Did they all convey a deep and sincere interest?
  • How do you plan to rewrite your personal statement?
  • Do you have new experiences, grades, test scores, and/or letters of recommendation that will make you more competitive this time around?

Process for Reapplicants Requesting a Committee Letter

The process is generally the same as the first time you applied (the exception is for those who applied for the first time before spring 2025, then you will have to start the Intent to Request a Committee Letter Application from the beginning). In all cases:

  • Applicants must complete the Intent to Request a Committee Letter Application through Survey Monkey Apply.
    • Reapplicants who applied the first time after spring 2025 will have their general information saved and will be prompted to upload a PDF of the previous application.
    • Reapplicants should update all information that needs to be updated
  • Be sure to plan for submitting your application and retaking any exams early
  • Plan for re-submitting all of your transcripts
  • Decide whether you are going to add any new letters of recommendation
  • Meet with your faculty pre-health advisor to discuss updates to your application that can be included in an update letter

The letter that is written for re-applicants is a shorter letter that is attached to the original committee letter. We will address improvements in your application and add any new letters. The update letter, any new individual letters, and the original committee letter with its individual letters are compiled into one PDF file and uploaded to AMCAS and/or AACOMS, or AADSAS.