Princeton University Health Professions Advising

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Princeton University Health Professions Advising Health Professions Advising offers guidance and resources to aspiring health professionals.

Events and services are available to all Princeton undergraduates and alums.

HPA Question of the Week: How important is taking an advanced chemistry class to supplement AP chemistry credit? A: If y...
10/24/2026

HPA Question of the Week: How important is taking an advanced chemistry class to supplement AP chemistry credit?

A: If you skipped general chemistry completely, we strongly recommend taking an advanced chemistry course.

If you took CHM 202 or 215, most schools will accept AP + one semester of general chemistry, two semesters of organic chemistry, and one semester of biochemistry. Many medical schools that require five semesters of chemistry will accept AP as the fifth semester. Many that will not accept AP will only require four chemistry courses. If you want to be on the safest side, take one semester of advanced CHM to supplement the AP credit.

Check our spreadsheet and school websites to see how skipping the fifth chem course will affect your school list. A few schools (especially state schools) still require that fifth semester of chemistry.

Scan QR to read more.

10/20/2026

HPA Tip of the Week from Philip Mwendwa '27, HPA Peer Adviser: Finding clinical and/or research opportunities during the academic year

Hi everyone! My name is Philip and I am a senior in the CBE department. I want to share with you guys some tips on finding research positions during the academic year now that the semester has began to pick up.

My first advice is to do a holistic screen of departments you may be interested in on campus. Each department generally has “research areas” on their websites and choose ones you may be interested in or also those you havent seen explored before!

Next go through all the professors and get an idea of the work they do. Each professor has a selected publications section so read an abstract or two to get an idea of what they might be working on. You don't need to be an expert but having an idea can help! Something that can help also is looking at the people in the labs. A lot of upperclassmen undergraduates are in these labs and many are willing to talk about their experiences and their work.

Next, be intentional in your emails to professors! It could be simple but should not be a generic email(hence reading their papers or talking with people). Usually an email wanting to find out more about the lab is the best approach!

Apply the same principles to clinical experiences. I highly recommend reaching out to both clinics at home and nearby Princeton. For nearby Princeton the closest is Penn Medicine that offers EMT, Hospice and general hospital management volunteering. Another option is RWJ which is about a 15minute train ride away. Lyft passes can be obtained for Penn Medicine but I'm not too sure about RWJ. As with research, quality over quantity and finding experiences that will allow you to grow and get a greater sense of what it means to be a future physician!

The HPA website has tons of information on clinical research opportunities over the summer as well as clinical volunteering opportunities!

Learn about Philip: https://hpa.princeton.edu/about-hpa/hpa-peer-advisers/philip-mwendwa-27

Planning to apply to medical/dental school for Fall 2028 matriculation? Join us on Tuesday for our Applicant Info Sessio...
10/19/2026

Planning to apply to medical/dental school for Fall 2028 matriculation? Join us on Tuesday for our Applicant Info Session!

This session will cover the HPA preapplication and committee letter process and the medical/dental application timelines with time for Q&A. Attendees will gain access to our HPA Applicant Canvas course.

All students and alumni who might apply for admission to medical or dental school for the Fall 2028 entering class with an HPA committee letter must attend a mandatory information session. The session will be repeated later in the semester, and it will be available as a recording.

HPA Applicant Info Session for 2028 entering class, for 2028 Matriculation to Medical / Dental School
Oct 20 | 7:00pm | Online - Zoom

Scan QR to register to attend.

HPA Question of the Week: How low can my overall MCAT score and subscores be to give me a reasonable shot at getting int...
10/17/2026

HPA Question of the Week: How low can my overall MCAT score and subscores be to give me a reasonable shot at getting into medical school?

The average MCAT for a matriculating student in 2025-26 nationally was 512 overall, with a standard deviation of 6.5, and subsection scores of 127-128 (depending on the section), with SD=2 (see AAMC FACTS Table A-16). Being within one standard deviation seems relatively safe, provided the rest of your candidacy is strong and you apply early in the cycle to maximize your chances of reaching the interview stage. To dig more deeply into the data that medical schools use to guide selection based on MCAT, use the AAMC publication, Using MCAT Data in Student Selection.

The most recent osteopathic medical school (DO) data that we’ve seen shows a 503 average MCAT with subsections in the 125-126 range, with no standard deviations given.

For more Princeton-specific data, use our Admission Statistics on our website. But we are also happy to provide more individualized guidance – please schedule a meeting to talk it over!

10/13/2026

HPA Tip of the Week from Yara Almoussa '28, HPA Peer Adviser: Making the most of fall break

Hi everyone! I’m Yara, a linguistics-predental junior and an HPA peer advisor. I’m here to give some advice on how to make the most of fall break. Personally, I like to follow 3 R’s for Fall break.

RELAX
- Rest, recharge, and decompress. At the end of the day this is a BREAK and you want to enter the second half of the semester feeling refreshed! Do some hobbies, see friends and family, explore wherever you are in the world (home, campus), etc

REFLECT
- Follow up on how you’ve done the last semester, reflect on your work, follow up with anything you might have put off because of the semester like a specific task or some project you might want to start.

REACT
- After you get a chance to relax for a little bit, think about what you want to do moving forward. Fall break is where you have this pause in the semester where, in addition to relaxing and reflecting on the last few weeks, you also have a chance to get ahead in the second half of the semester. You might want to apply to an internship or two during fall break, maybe look for summer opportunities, perhaps you want to catch up on some work or look into joining a new club.

Learn about Yara: https://hpa.princeton.edu/about-hpa/hpa-peer-advisers/yara-almoussa-28

Saoirse Bodner '22 matriculated at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
10/13/2026

Saoirse Bodner '22 matriculated at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

Creating an efficient, customized study plan will help you tackle the MCAT while managing your other responsibilities. S...
10/12/2026

Creating an efficient, customized study plan will help you tackle the MCAT while managing your other responsibilities. Spend an hour with us to start the planning process now to save many hours later.

You’ll leave this workshop with sample study plans and strategies you can use to build your own. Maybe you’ll even meet some peers you can study with! This session is ideal for anyone taking the MCAT this summer or beyond.

Creating Your MCAT Study Plan
Tues, Oct 13 | 6:30pm | Online - Zoom

Scan QR to register to attend.

10/11/2026

Study Abroad Experiences from Alexis Korzan '27, HPA Peer Adviser

Hi everyone! My name is Alexis Korzan, and I am a senior in the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology (EEB) Department with a minor in Neuroscience. After my freshman year, I had the opportunity to travel abroad to the Czech Republic through the International Internship Program (IIP), where I conducted computational biology research for about 8 weeks during summer break. Throughout my research experience, I learned computational biology techniques with AutoDock Tools and Visual Molecular Dynamics to study protein and ligand interactions, and I also wrote a research paper at the end summarizing my findings. During my experience, I had the chance to not only explore the country of the Czech Republic and learn about its unique culture but also travel to neighboring countries in Europe like Austria and Germany.

The International Internship Program (IIP) offers funding to cover the costs of travel (including airline tickets), housing, food, and other personal expenses. The IIP application is currently open and available for summer 2027, and the deadline to apply is Monday, December 7th. Aside from IIP internships, there are other Princeton-sponsored programs where you can travel abroad during the summer, such as Global Health internships, language programs, global seminars, and many more.

I highly recommend exploring various summer opportunities and finding an internship or program that genuinely interests you. Overall, summer break is a perfect time to travel abroad and explore the world outside Princeton. Good luck with applying, and please reach out if you have any questions!

Planning to apply to medical/dental school for Fall 2028 matriculation? Join us on Monday for our Applicant Info Session...
10/10/2026

Planning to apply to medical/dental school for Fall 2028 matriculation? Join us on Monday for our Applicant Info Session!

This session will cover the HPA preapplication and committee letter process and the medical/dental application timelines with time for Q&A. Attendees will gain access to our HPA Applicant Canvas course.

All students and alumni who might apply for admission to medical or dental school for the Fall 2028 entering class with an HPA committee letter must attend a mandatory information session. The session will be repeated later in the semester, and it will be available as a recording.

HPA Applicant Info Session for 2028 entering class, for 2028 Matriculation to Medical / Dental School
Oct 12 | 7:00pm | Lewis Library 120
additional date: Oct 20 | 7:00pm | Online - Zoom

Scan QR to register to attend on Oct 12 in person or Oct 20 on Zoom!

HPA Question of the Week: Why does HPA have an info session about applying to medical school in October? It seems too ea...
10/10/2026

HPA Question of the Week: Why does HPA have an info session about applying to medical school in October? It seems too early.

A: We introduce the HPA preapplication process in early fall so that students and alums can think about how to incorporate it into their plans over the year. We also provide tools during the info session to help prospective applicants evaluate their candidacies, identify gaps, and use the months from October through application submission at the beginning of June to address those gaps.

We also need a sense of how many applicants we’ll interview and write committee letters for so we can plan our spring and summer work.

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