Centralized Applications Guide

Identifying Information

Your identifying information will provide the schools with not only the information on how to contact you but also high school and college information, as well as basic information regarding citizenship, legal residence, languages spoken, ethnicity and race, parent(s)/guardian(s), siblings, and criminal history.

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Coursework and Transcripts

The courses you have taken will need to be self-reported and you will also need to have official transcripts sent to the application service. Most centralized applications will have a form to print off that will need to be attached to your transcript. You will be asked to enter information, grades and credits for every course that you have enrolled in at any U.S., U.S. Territorial, or Canadian post-secondary institution. Transcripts should be sent from the registrar’s office of all US and/or Canadian Schools attended. You may order a transcript from the MSU registrar’s office from the registrar’s web site, reg.msu.edu. There is no charge for sending transcripts. If you are taking courses during the spring semester, it is advised you wait until your spring semester grades are posted to your record as professional schools will want to see those grades.

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Work/Activities

All of your work in leadership, clinical experiences, community service, research, publication, awards and honors are delineated in a single section. It is best to gather the information gathered on these ahead of time, so that you can narrow them down to input them easily and not forget to include anything in the last minute rush. There are a limited amount of spaces and it is important not to under report.

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Personal Statement

The personal statement is a very limited in length essay that is used as a device to get a better understanding of the applicant. The essay can be a place to explain why you selected the field of health care, what motivates you to learn more about health care, any pertinent information about you not included elsewhere in the application, special hardships or experiences that have influenced your educational pursuits, and commentary on significant fluctuations in your academic record not explained in the application. It is a very important element that should be prepared well in advance to the application and should be edited thoroughly by many different people, such as but not limited to, the writing center, friends and family.

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Letters of Evaluation

Depending on the discipline you are pursuing, there are different ways for submit letters of evaluation or evaluation forms. Most medical and dental schools will ask for letters, while physical therapy and physician’s assistant programs most often want forms filled out by evaluators. Some evaluations will be sent through the centralized application and others require them to be sent to the schools directly. In some situations it can be advisable to establish a credential file, to allow those individuals writing on your behalf to file letters early. An Interfolio account is available for a minimal fee, from the following address: www.interfolio.com.

Each school will ask for a different set of letters from you as the applicant. While you must pay careful attention to the guidelines of each school that requests your letters, we suggest you have the following categories of evaluators in mind: one to two science faculty, a non-science faculty, one to two professionals in the field you wish to pursue, and one to two individuals who know you well from a work or volunteer setting.

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