For Medical and Dental School Applicants, the UMBC Health Professions Evaluation Committee's (HPEC) Cohort process - which begins with exercises to help applicants prepare the materials they need to complete their professional school application, and results in a Committee Letter from the HPEC to accompany an applicant's other Letters of Recommendation - is set in motion nearly a year and half before an applicant plans to enter Medical or Dental School.
The next HPEC Cohort, supporting applicants planning to enter Medical or Dental School in Fall 2025, is about to begin!
Information regarding the process of expressing an interest in joining the Health Professions Evaluation Committee (HPEC) Fall 2025 Cohort has been posted to the PreMedical & PreDental Advising Office web site. Follow the link below to view the Minimum Requirements for participation and to access the online forms through which you can express your interest.
The HPEC Cohort process serves current UMBC Undergraduate students, and UMBC Alumni who completed an Undergraduate (Bachelor's) degree at UMBC within the past five (5) years.
The deadline for expression of interest from First-Time Applicants to Medical or Dental School who wish to join the HPEC Fall 2025 Cohort is:
11:59 pm on February 15, 2024
HPEC defines First-Time Applicants as:
•Alumni and Current Undergraduate students as described above who are applying to Medical or Dental school for the FIRST TIME.
•Alumni and Current Undergraduate students who participated in a past HPEC Cohort, but withdrew from the process before a Committee Letter was submitted on their behalf (a.k.a., Previous Non-Completers or PNCs)
•Past Independent Applicants (meaning, applied without HPEC support) who applied to Medical or Dental school outside of the HPEC Process one time before, but wish to participate in the HPEC Cohort for their second application attempt.
Re-Applicants - meaning, those who participated in a previous HPEC Cohort past the point where an HPEC Committee Letter was submitted to Medical or Dental School on their behalf, regardless of whether the applicant ultimately completed the remainder of the application process - have an extended period of time to join the upcoming Cohort. This later deadline is designed to give applicants who are awaiting decisions from the current (2023-2024) application cycle additional time to decide to join the next immediate Cohort once their admission status at all of the schools where they have applied has become clearer. Please remember that you can only receive an HPEC Committee letter on your first and/or second time applying to professional school (maximum of two times), so make sure that you have addressed (and improved) the weaker aspects of your applicant profile before making another attempt. Some re-applicants choose to wait a year (or more) between application cycles. Potential Re-Applicants should see the website linked below for more details.
As in the past, additional action beyond the initial expression of interest will be required to officially join the Cohort.
A link to information about next steps is included in the Interest Form's submission confirmation screen. This link will also be sent via email to those who have submitted their interest form, distributed in batches approximately once per week through the interest submission deadlines.