Overview
Introduction
As a service to our students who are applying to medical and dental schools, Texas State University maintains an active Pre-Health Committee. This committee is composed of the two pre-health advisors (Drs. Banta and Nierth) and several additional faculty and staff from departments and offices throughout the university.
Most medical and dental schools prefer applicants to submit letters of evaluation generated by a Pre-Health Committee (referred to as a committee letter) if one is available. Other types of professional schools are less stringent about this preference, and applicants to other types of professional schools should seek the advice of a pre-health advisor to discuss letters of evaluation for their health professions programs.
The primary role of the Pre-Health Committee is to evaluate eligible applicants through a variety of methods and then generate a thorough, comprehensive committee letter that will be submitted as a part of the applicant's application package. To generate the committee letter, the committee conducts interviews with students, and reviews student transcripts and other supporting documents provided by the applicant.
One of the benefits of using the Pre-Health Committee to generate a committee letter is that the committee letter will become part of a committee packet. The committee packet will include the committee letter and up to five individual letters of evaluation that each applicant may have submitted on his or her behalf by faculty, employers, volunteer coordinators or health care professionals who know the applicant well. The Pre-Health Committee will receive, organize and submit the committee packet anywhere the applicant is applying.
Please review the eligibility criteria to see if you might be eligible for a committee letter from the Pre-Health Committee.
2024 Application Cycle Pre-Health Committee Members
Dr. Marilyn Banta, Senior Lecturer, Department of Biology (Pre-Health Advisor)
Dr. Erica Nierth, Senior Lecturer, Department of Biology (Pre-Health Advisor)
Dr. Alex Kornienko Professor, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
Dr. Chad Booth, Associate Professor, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and Assistant Dean for Academic Affairs, College of Science and Engineering
Dr. Binita Mehta, Senior Lecturer, Department of Philosophy
Dr. Eric Gilbertson, Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy
Dr. Kavita Kakirde, Senior Lecturer, Department of Biology
Dr. Mike Wilson, Senior Lecturer, Department of Biology
Ms. Dede Gonzales, Associate Director, Financial Aid and Scholarships
Ms. Stephanie Lopez, Assistant Director for Scholarships, Financial Aid and Scholarship
The membership of the Pre-Health Committee may change from application cycle to application cycle. Check back here for updated membership information.
Committee Letter and Packet
Each eligible applicant requesting a committee letter will be required to submit two forms in advance of a committee interview, the Intent to Interview Form, and the Supplemental Information Form. If you are a reapplicant, we do not need a new Supplemental Information Form, but you will need to complete a Re-applicant Update Form. Interviews are typically held each April and forms must be completed one week in advance of the interview.
Following the interview period, a committee letter will be generated for each student requesting one. Students may also request up to five individual letters of evaluation to be included with the committee letter in a committee packet. Individual letter writers should include a Texas State University Letter Evaluation Form with their actual letter, and both should be returned to a pre-health advisor, not to the student.
Ultimately, we will need each applicant to provide a Committee Packet Distribution Form that includes all identification numbers and a list of application services and individual schools where we need to send the committee packet.
All of these forms are available on the Forms Page.