Many colleges and universities have a designated office to help prepare applicants for the application process. At Tufts, that is the Tufts Professional Schools Application Program (PSAP), formerly known as the Health Professions Recommendation Committee (HPRC). While our process has moved from providing a committee letter to a letter packet, the HPA Office continues to work closely with faculty from the Schools of Arts and Sciences, and Engineering, including Diren Turner and Mitch McVey, faculty in the Chemistry and Biology Departments.

Starting with the 2021-2022 application cycle, Tufts will provide a letter packet for each applicant. Students will register for PSAP by March 1 of their application year and have access to an in-depth candidacy meeting with one of our Pre-health Advisors. Tufts will continue to collect individual letters of recommendation and submit them as a packet to the central application services such as AMCAS, AACOMAS, and AADSAS. Students will need a minimum of 3 and a maximum of 5 letters of recommendation. At least 2 should be from Tufts faculty who have taught you, and at least one of those should be from a science faculty member, though there are a growing number of programs that now require two letters from faculty in the sciences. It is the candidate's responsibility to be aware of individual school's letter requirements, as these vary from school to school.

The work you do with the PSAP is an important piece of your application process. Applicants to medical, dental, optometry and podiatry schools will come through PSAP. Central application services for other professions, such as Physician Assistant, Nursing, and Veterinary Medicine do not require letter packets from the student's undergraduate institution and instead applicant will navigate that process on their own (though Pre-health Advisors will help with processes or questions as needed).