Cabot House Premedical Committee FAQs
The House Letter of Recommendation
- What is it? The House letter is an essential component of your medical school application:
your application will not be considered complete without it! It is written by one member
of the committee and is reviewed and signed by the Chair of the Premedical Committee
and the Resident Dean. The House letter and 3-5 individual letters of recommendation are
sent to each medical school you apply to.
- What is in it? In the House letter, we present your record, your interests, and your
personality. We use information from interviews, your application, our personal
acquaintance with you, and letters of recommendation. The House letter is one of
advocacy and evaluation, discussing your academic accomplishments, explaining any setbacks or detours, discussing the origins of your interest in medicine, your career plans
and commenting upon your achievements and potential. We try to make it honest and in
your favor. College policy requires us to reveal any requirement to withdraw for
disciplinary or academic reason and any probation for disciplinary or academic reasons.
Supporting Letters of Recommendation
- When to ask? If you have not already done so, you should start asking for letters of
recommendation NOW. In general, the best time to ask for a letter of recommendation is
soon after a course, job, or extracurricular activity has ended. Your letter writer is likely
to be quite busy, and it can take a long time for a letter to get into your file, so make sure
to ask well ahead of the June deadline. (See Timetable. Remember, a waiver must
accompany each letter sent to the office).
- How many letters do I need? Late letters of recommendation mean a late House letter,
which in turn means late secondaries and interviews. While 3-5 letters are eventually sent
with your application, more can sometimes be helpful in writing the House letter.
- Whom to ask? The ideal letter of recommendation is from a person who has worked with
you closely, knows you well, and has been impressed by you and/or your work. Ask the
people who know your academic ability and personal qualities best, and who can write a
detailed letter with concrete examples, anecdotes, and as many sincere superlatives as
possible. You should ask both science and non-science instructors: science concentrators
need to show strengths in writing, the humanities, and social sciences, whereas nonscience concentrators need to demonstrate strengths in the sciences and math. Letters
from an extracurricular activity advisor, employer, or coach can also round out your file.
The bottom line: everyone should have at least 2 science letters and 1-2 non-science
letters. 1-2 extracurricular letters may also be helpful but you MUST have the academic
letters.
- Professors vs. teaching fellows. If you must decide between a generic letter from a
professor and a thorough, detailed letter from a TF, choose the TF. However, always ask
if the professor would be willing to cosign the letter.
- How to ask? You can ask for a recommendation over the phone or via e-mail, but you
should meet with the prospective letter writer to discuss your interests and plans. Ask the
person if he or she can write a strong letter for you. If he or she says "no" or "not by the
deadline," try to find someone else. Again, the most important criterion is not whether he
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is a professor or lab instructor but that he or she knows you well. If you ask a teaching
fellow, you may ask if the professor could co-sign the letter.
What can I do to help my recommendation letter-writers? The more information you give
to your letter writers, the more detailed their letter can be. So give them (at a minimum):
o CV
o Personal statement (brief) about yourself including academic and extracurricular
interests, and why you want to go into medicine
o Waiver form (signed)
o Stamped envelope addressed to the office of the Resident Dean
o Deadline (make it up if you have to), because most busy people work best if they
have some kind of deadline and because they may have many letters to write and
you need to get in line
Be polite but persistent. Don’t feel bad about calling or sending e-mail again if the letter
is still not in after a month
To waive or not to waive? We suggest that you waive your rights of access to all your
letters of recommendation. Whether you waive your right or not, you must sign a waiver
for each letter. Be aware that we cannot use non-confidential letters in a confidential
House letter. All letters should be confidential or none of them should be.
Where do letters go? All letters should be addressed to: Office of the Resident Dean,
Cabot House, 60 Linnaean Street, Cambridge, MA 02138.
Finally: Remember to keep track of your letters of recommendation by checking with the
Office of the Resident Dean. It is your responsibility to make sure that your file is
complete!
MCAT (Medical College Admission Test)
- What is it? The test has four parts: Biological Sciences, Verbal Reasoning, Physical
Sciences, and Writing Sample. It is now computer-based.
- How do I prepare for it? Carefully and thoroughly! There are multiple review courses
(e.g. Kaplan or Princeton Review) and review books. Ask others who have already taken
the MCAT for their opinion. Also read the instruction booklet and the MCAT manual.
- When should I take it? January term (or the period soon after) is a great time for most
people but you can take the test up to August of the year you apply. If you wait until
August though, the admissions committees will wait until they receive the scores before
looking at your application. This is equivalent to applying late and will be to your
disadvantage at schools with rolling admissions. You need to balance this concern against
the concern of taking the test when you feel you can best prepare for it and do your best.
Again, all else being equal, we generally encourage applicants to take the MCAT in April
of the application year. Your most recent MCAT score is valid for 2-3 years depending
on the school.
- Where should I send the scores? Besides sending your scores to the medical schools
you’re applying to, send a copy to the Resident Dean's Office. No matter what the MCAT
people imply, we do not automatically get a report, and we need it.
Personal Information Form (PIF) – see Cabot premed site
- What is it? The Personal Information Form asks you to summarize your college career in
a way that will be useful as we write your House letter. Only the Cabot House Premedical
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Advisory Committee will see this form. It consists of contact information, academic
statistics (including GPA and MCAT scores), a waiver form, and a series of short essay
questions.
- Essay questions?! Yes! They are painful, but necessary both for you to organize your
thoughts about why you are applying to medical school and for us to write a detailed,
forceful House letter. It is worth thinking about your answers to these questions long
before you sit down to complete the PIF. These questions are also the basis for many
interview questions.
- When is the PIF due? You should have the PIF into the Resident Dean’s office by the end
of Presidents day in February of the year you are applying. If your letters of
recommendation are in by June 1st, then we will do our best to have your House letter
ready to be sent by the college-wide deadline of August 15th.
- Where can I get it? Cabot house advising website (premed).
Resources
- Cabot House Premedical Advisory Committee, including resident tutors, non-resident
tutors, and house administration (masters, resident dean, assistant to the RD)
- Resident Tutors: Firstly, we are always available to chat with you anytime so don’t
hesitate to contact us! We will notify you about meetings and dinners focusing on careers
in health, lifestyles of physicians, health policy, and financing issues. We offer mock
interviews for interested applicants and personal counseling
- Office of Career Services (OCS) (www.ocs.fas.harvard.edu/resources/health/index.htm)
- Medical school catalogues, admissions guides, etc
- Websites
o Considering a medical career: https://www.aamc.org/students/considering/
o Applying to medical school: https://www.aamc.org/students/applying/
 MCAT essentials http://www.aamc.org/students/mcat/mcatessentials.pdf
o Succeeding as a medical student: https://www.aamc.org/students/medstudents/
 Includes how to finance your medical education
o Managing your residency: https://www.aamc.org/students/residents/
o Student Doctor Network, http://www.studentdoctor.net/interview/index.asp,
collects feedback from applicants as they interview at different medical schools.
Offers sample questions, advice about travel and preparation, etc
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Suggested Curriculum Vitae (CV)
Your Name
Mailing address
Phone number
Email address
Permanent address
Education
- 2009-2013 Harvard College, Cambridge, MA.
- AB cum laude in Psychology. (If desired, add GPA and any special coursework)
- 2005-2009 My High School, Hometown, State. (If desired, add any graduation honors,
class rank, SATs)
Research experience:
- 2010-present Department of Immunology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA.
(Include short description of project, whom you worked with, and your responsibilities)
Work experience:
- Duration, job title, institution, location (Include short description of responsibilities)
Honors:
- 2010 Detur Prize (awarded to top 10% of freshmen)
- 2009 National Merit Scholarship
Publications:
List the scientific publication exactly as it would be cited (use the citation format standard in
your field) and bold your name. e.g. Cabot J, Pforzheimer T, Your Name, Currier Q.
Minimizing the number of trips from the Quad to the Yard Journal of Harvard Precocity 2010;
365: 311.
Extracurricular and volunteer experience:
Duration, group, institution, and location.
o President (2009-2010)
o Editorial board member (2008-2010)
o Coordinator, specific project or committee (years)
Personal
Languages & hobbies
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