The duties of the committee are to advise students on their curriculum at least once a semester, to provide counseling regarding the health professions, and to evaluate, both for the student and for the professional schools, the student's suitability for entering the profession. The student is responsible for consulting with a member of HPAC at least once a semester, for remaining aware of announcements regarding the program, and for preparing an evaluation file for the committee to use in writing letters of evaluation. HPAC also offers "mock" interviews for all applicants. These "mock" interviews are used by HPAC as a part of the evaluation process. More importantly, they afford applicants the opportunity to hone their skills before actual interviews at the health professions schools.

Most medical and dental schools require a letter of recommendation from the Health Professions Advisory Committee. These are written by the chairman based on comments and rankings obtained from all members of the committee. This opinion in turn is based on each committee member's personal knowledge of the applicant from courses, seminars, research, AED, social contacts, etc., as well as information supplied by the applicants to their file in the Health Professions Office (SWR258). The "mock" interviews are also useful to HPAC in this regard.

• An unofficial "counseling copy" of ALL your transcripts requested from the TCU registrar (no charge). Supply additions (ie., summer school) or corrections (i.e. "I" grades) to your grade record as soon as possible.
• A photograph. (Remember this is the one that will be on the wall in the Premed Office!)
• Your MCAT or DAT score on all tests taken. Indicate if you plan to retake the test and when.
• A biography which includes: (spelling and grammar do count!)
  – Extracurricular activities (especially in college)
  – Awards and honors (especially in college)
  – Work experience
  – Health-related experiences and observations
  – Motivation for medical/dental career
  – Circumstances responsible for any poor grades, MCAT scores, withdrawals, etc.
• A list of all schools to which you are applying.
• Phone numbers, addresses, and e-mail addresses where you can be reached during the school year and summer.

Please keep Dr. Hartman or Denise Bennett informed in writing on the progress of your applications (interviews, offers, etc.).

Beginning with the 1999 application cycle, the Health Professions Advisory Committee (HPAC) has offered "mock" interviews to all TCU applicants to the various health professions schools. Interviews will commence early in the Spring semester prior to the application cycle and will continue throughout the summer. These interviews will benefit both HPAC as well as the applicants themselves. They benefit HPAC by allowing them to write a more informative letter of evaluation. They benefit the applicants because it allows them a "practice" set of interviews. These interviews are optional but are strongly recommended.

Each student will be interviewed by three (3) individuals. Dr. Phil Hartman, chair of HPAC will interview all applicants. In addition, each applicant will be interviewed by two other, randomly assigned HPAC members. The interviews will typically last for 15–30 minutes with a degree of formality approximating a medical school interview. The interview with Dr. Hartman should be scheduled last. Applicants will be expected to prepare, dress, and act as if this were an actual medical school interview.

Some comments about scheduling your mock interviews: Interview dates and times are to be arranged by the student. Denise will assign interviewers within one week after students submit their biographical information. This information should be submitted to Denise in the Health Professions Office. Applicants are then expected to contact the individual interviewers and arrange for specific times. Do not wait until the last minute; specifically, contact your interviewers two to three weeks in advance if at all possible. Ideally, an applicant should arrange for his or her interviews to be concluded by June 1st. All such interviews must be completed by July 31st. Please understand and respect the fact that the members of HPAC are busy with other activities. They conduct mock interviews (and even serve on HPAC at all) as a courtesy to you. It is appropriate to contact your interviewers via email. When you do so, give them a specific set of dates and times that you could interview rather than an open-ended inquiry such as: "When can you meet?"

Completing the interview process does NOT obligate a student to apply to a health professions school. Therefore, students whose application status is uncertain are urged to complete the interview process. These interviews are not obligate; however, they are strongly encouraged. The absence of such interviews will be duly noted in the final letter of evaluation.

In addition, the committee will no longer evaluate applicants who submit their biographical materials to the Health Professions Office after October 1st. These late applicants will be encouraged to contact individual faculty members to obtain letters of evaluation.

April–June: Ideal time to submit HPAC materials and complete "mock" interviews.

July 31: All HPAC interviews must be completed.

October 1: Deadline for submitting evaluation materials to HPAC.