AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL PROFILE GUIDELINES
FOR USE IN PREPARATION OF HPAC EVALUATON LETTER
(Updated May 2012)
The material in your autobiographical profile is for use by Trinity College’s Health Professions Advisory Committee (HPAC)
only and is not sent to medical schools. This profile assists the members of the HPAC in constructing a complete letter of evaluation
which is submitted to medical schools. Please follow the outline below. Your statement must be typewritten and single spaced pages
using 11 font minimum. The items below are those that medical schools expect to be addressed in the Letter of Evaluation.
Please address each issue listed below, as appropriate, as a way to inform committee members of how you utilized the
resources and opportunities presented to you while you were at Trinity. For example, if you enrolled in an unusual course during your
junior year, explain your motivation for doing so. If you took one or more 100 level courses in your Junior or Senior year, provide an
explanation. Note: DO NOT provide a list of each course you took during every semester. This information is already available
to the committee via your transcript.
Please note leadership positions, opportunities to work with individuals from other socioeconomic/cultural groups, and the
degree of clinical patient interaction (i.e. verbal interviews vs. chart analysis).
Please construct this document in essay form (still following the outline below) and include a resume if possible. Please use
full names of organizations and/or awards, no acronyms.
1. High School
a. Clinical/medical experience only
2. Trinity College (academic)
a. Course selection
b. AP credits, advanced placement
c. Academic course load
d. Study abroad
e. Bad semester
f. Disciplinary history
g. Grade trends
h. Independent research, internships
i. MCAT scores (anticipated testing date if not taken yet)
3. Trinity College (extracurricular)
a. Organized activities
b. Hobbies, interest
c. Accomplishments
d. Summer activities (employment, research, study, travel)
e. Experiences resulting from extracurricular activities
4. Exposure to health-related fields
a. Volunteer experiences
b. Research
c. Special Courses (i.e. Health Fellows, internships)
d. Familiarity with health issues
e. Relatives employed as health professionals
5. Motivation/Personal Factors
a. Give a SHORT summary of your interest in medicine. Which experiences have convinced you that medicine is a career
choice for you? This should not mirror your personal statement, but should provide us an insight into your motivation,
dedication, and enthusiasm for pursuing a career in the health professions.
b. Please comment on those attributes which are especially unique to you and that you perceive as setting you apart from the
majority of the other 48,000 applicants
6. If you are an alumnus/a or plan to take a year off (or more) after graduation, please include information about what you have been
doing and/or plan to do during the next year.
7. Include anything else you thing the Committee should know about you that should be included in your Letter of Evaluation.