Health Professions School Fair

Visit as many programs as you can. 

• Don’t limit your table stops. What you think you know about a program may be quite different from the reality.

Visit professions/programs outside your target field. 

• Take the opportunity to learn about other fields and programs.
• You may learn about fields you didn’t know existed. Everyone should have a parallel career path.

Ask questions you won’t be able to read about on their website. 

• Engage in conversation about your particular interests and how their program may fit them.

Prepare your elevator speech - interaction time can be limited, let this be your personal-selling statement.

• Greeting: “Hello my name is _______”
• Educational Background: “I’m majoring in _______ with an area of concentration/minor in _______ and graduate in _______”
• Description of Interests: I’m interested in _______ opportunity because of my experience in _______” Or “my goal is to _______”
• Strengths and Accomplishments: 5-10 seconds
• Closing: “I’m hoping you could _______“, I’d love to speak with you about _______”, I’m very interested in learning about _______”

Don’t ask about minimum GPA and test scores. 

• Catalog minimums are nowhere near the class averages and ranges of the scores preferred by the admissions committees.

Ask about how non-academic factors are valued. 

• How much weight is given to the personal statement? What clichés should be avoided?
• What makes letters valuable? How can they stand out?
• How to articulate special/unique circumstances (full-time work, academic missteps, career change, virtual experiences, etc.)?

Ask about the curriculum. 

• The organization/structure of the curriculum can vary. For health professions programs, when does clinical exposure begin?
• How are classes taught the first year? In the second? Are there electives, or are classes the same for all?
• For health professions, where are clinical rotations? How far will/can you travel?

Ask about the cost of attendance rather than cost of tuition – the two can vary greatly. 

• What is the average cost of attendance? What are average rental costs in that city?
• Are there scholarships, or do most students take loans to finance education and living expenses?
• What is the average graduating student debt load?

Ask about the student body.

• What undergrad majors, schools and/or states are most represented?
• What is the gender, racial or ethnic, and socio-economic backgrounds of a typical class?
• How competitive or collaborative are students? Can you share some specific examples?
• Are students ranked against each other? What factors are used?

And you can also ask about:

• School setting – for health professions, is it part of a university or stand-alone? Urban, suburban or rural?
• Housing – on-campus, off-campus nearby or farther away?
• Access to non-academic campus facilities you have come to expect (rec center, food court, intramurals)?
• For health professions, ask about board passage rates and school-sponsored preparation?
• Career services, graduate destinations, alumni network?