HPAC Review Process

All eligible HPAC Applicants will need to complete and submit HPAC Application Materials for the HPAC evaluation. The information that you will need to submit includes:

• Demographic information
• Professional photo
• Coursework and GPA information
• MCAT/DAT scores (if available)
• Volunteer, employment, and extracurricular involvement
• Personal statement
• Any non-UH Transcripts not already posted to your UH account
  • BMS students should submit an unofficial undergraduate transcript if their undergraduate degree was completed outside of UH.
• For reapplicants (have already applied once to medical/dental school), reapplicant statement must also be submitted. More information on the reapplication statement can be found on the HPAC Eligibility page in the Reapplying section. 

Note that 3-5 Letters of Evaluation (submitted from letter writers) must also be submitted, but these are not needed by the February 18 deadline. 

All HPAC Application materials (except letters of evaluation) must be complete and submitted to prehealth@uh.edu between January 12, 2026 through February 18, 2026 at 11:59 pm. There will not be extensions granted to the deadline. See below for additional deadline information, including deadlines for BMS graduate students. 

Completed materials will be accepted starting on January 12, 2026 through February 18, 2026 at 11:59 pm. HPAC only has the capacity to review 150 students; once 150 completed application packets are received, HPAC will no longer accept additional packets (even if this happens before February 21). Historically, we have not hit our 150 limit, so please take your time submitting quality applications. BMS graduate students have a submission deadline of April 17, 2026 at 11:59 pm. BMS students and JAMP students have guaranteed review spots outside of the 150 applicants, assuming all materials are submitted by appropriate deadlines. Students must attend the required orientations and workshops before they are eligible to submit packets. 

HPAC meets every Friday in March after Spring Break. Completed packets will be reviewed on a rolling basis starting on this date. Your packet is considered complete and ready for review once your letters of evaluation have arrived. To ensure timely evaluation and feedback from the committee, please let your letter writers know we recommend letters are submitted by March 2, 2026. BMS graduate students have a recommended letter deadline of May 4, 2025. Letters will still be accepted after these deadlines! These deadlines are in place to give an appropriate timeframe to letter writers and receive enough letters that evaluations can be completed in a timely manner. 

The HPAC evaluation is based on your personal statement, transcripts, GPA, extracurricular activities (including leadership, healthcare/dental experience, research, community service, etc), and letters of evaluation. Although committee members may consider MCAT or DAT scores when they are available, these scores are not a major factor in the overall evaluation decision. 

After an evaluation of your application materials, each committee member will provide an individual recommendation. The committee then meets to discuss each applicant and decide upon a final consensus recommendation. Students are not present for their evaluations. After their evaluation and recommendation decision, students will meet with an advisor from Health Professions Advising to receive feedback on their application materials as well as their recommendation decision, and ask any question they may have. 

HPAC’s recommendation categories are:

• Highest Recommendation
• Highly Recommend
• Recommend
• Recommend with Reservations
• Unable to Recommend

The committee's recommendation will be included in a Committee Letter of Evaluation.  This letter also includes details of the University of Houston HPAC evaluation process. The Committee Letter is added to your individual letters of evaluation and submitted as a "Committee Letter Packet" on your behalf to the application services to which you have applied (TMDSAS, AMCAS, AACOMAS, AADSAS). 

If you are not satisfied with the outcome of your HPAC evaluation, you may request that the HPAC Committee Letter be excluded from your Letter Packet and replaced with a general cover letter indicating only that you met the requirements for and completed an HPAC evaluation.

Before letters are submitted to the application services, you must submit a HPAC Letter Packet Submission Request to indicate which application services you plan to apply. NOTE: Your Letter of Evaluation Packet cannot be submitted prior to receiving your HPAC recommendation rating, nor prior to submission of your medical or dental application.

TMDSAS does allow students to use their letter packets for one additional cycle, but your packet cannot be updated with new dates or letters. Generally, this is not a practice that is recommended by Health Professions Advising.  

It is not uncommon for an applicant to have to re-apply to medical or dental school. Students who reapply to medical/dental school after an initial evaluation by HPAC must be evaluated again by HPAC to receive a new committee letter. 

Reapplicants should plan to submit updated HPAC Application materials as well as request new (or updated) Letters of Evaluation in order to be reviewed again. Additionally, a brief statement (no more than a half page) outlining any updates or improvements since the last application cycle is required. See HPAC Eligibility Requirements notes on reapplicants for more information. 

Finally, alumni of the University of Houston are eligible for an HPAC evaluation for up to 1-year post-graduation. Students may go through HPAC a maximum of two times; they must request an exception for any additional review cycles.