Applying to Medical School and Professional Health Programs

An undergraduate degree in psychology can be a stepping stone to graduate training in a professional health field such as medicine, dentistry, nursing, and other areas.  You are likely to have to take additional courses beyond your psychology degree requirements, however.  The university’s portal for health professions, Health Beat, is a resource for those interested in further information. 

Applying to Medical School and Other Health Professional Schools

For an overview of the different components of the medical school application process from UCSD’s Health Beat portal, please visit this page.  The application process has many similarities with that for other graduate schools, including a standardized test (for instance, the Medical College Admission Test, or MCAT; also the Dental Admission Test, or DAT; there are several tests for nursing school applicants, and other fields use various tests), letters of recommendation, a personal essay, primary and secondary applications, and interviews. 

Further Resources

How-To Videos     

• Applying to Grad School Videos

Medical School Applications

• Medical school application process overview from the Association of American Medical Colleges
• How to apply to medical school, a set of resources from S. News & World Report
• Medical school application timeline from Kaplan Test Prep
• Medical school application timeline from the Princeton Review
• Medical school application timeline from UC Berkeley
• Why applying early can be helpful from the Student Doctor Network

Dental School Applications

• Dental school application process overview from the American Dental Education Association
• How dental school admissions work from How Stuff Works
• The process of applying to dental school from Kaplan Test Prep
• Dental school application timeline from UC Berkeley

UCSD Resources

• UCSD Health Beat portal for all students interested in health careers
• UCSD American Medical Student Association website