Health Professions Evaluation Profile Questions (Spring 2025 for applications beginning May 2025)

These are the questions you will submit through as a part of the Health Professions Evaluation Profile Qualtrics Form (which will go live in January), but you can begin contemplating your answers at your convenience.

Populations eligible to participate in this process include undergraduates and alumni of Yale College, students in the Yale Graduate School of Arts & Sciences, and Yale Postdoctoral Associates.

For questions, please email prostudies@yale.edu

Profile Questions

  • List education level and occupation of parents or guardians, sibling information, and any defining circumstances or challenges faced growing up.
  • List name, location and type of high school attended (public or private). Include high school awards/honors, activities, research, volunteer/community service, paid employment. Provide brief descriptions of activities that are not self-explanatory.
  • Explain reasons for choosing your Yale College major(s).  Include information about your academic load, reference to grade trend, poor semester (if applicable), independent work, detailed explanation of any time off before or during college, awards/fellowships received for academic achievement.
  • Provide a general summary of your research experience (basic science, clinical, and/or non-science). Include your level of engagement and what you learned. Your description should read in a way laypeople can understand. List awards/fellowships received for college research.
  • List examples of direct patient clinical exposure to medicine or healthcare, including time spent volunteering and other activities, such as being an EMT or working in a healthcare setting; highlight your role and what you learned from the experience.
  • Describe your reasons for wanting to enter the health professions in addition to, “I like science and want to help people.” Were there particular experiences that informed your decision to pursue a health profession?
  • Describe your engagement and ways you have been of service to others in the community, both at Yale, in New Haven, and elsewhere during college. Provide a brief explanation of the activities and what you learned from it.
  • List activities, and brief descriptions, you are engaged with on or off campus – including, but not limited to, organized sports, music groups, student government, paid employment, summer experiences, etc.
  • What would you describe as your most important non-academic strength(s)? What do you consider your needed area(s) of improvement and how are you working towards that now?
  • Describe a difficult or challenging situation and how you dealt with it.  Include the skills you called upon to resolve the dilemma.  How will this experience benefit you as a future health care provider?
  • How do you feel you have changed/grown since entering college?
  • How would you describe professionalism? Why is it important in the field of medicine?  Provide an example of when you utilized professionalism in practice.
  • Medical schools value diversity in all its forms.  How will your background and experiences contribute to this important focus of an institution and inform your future role as a physician?
  • If you are a senior or alum, what are your plans for the time prior to your expected matriculation and/or what have you been doing since graduation from Yale?
  • If you are unable to enter the health care professions for any reason, what other types of jobs or professions would you consider as viable alternatives?
  • Is there any additional information you’d like to share, or feel is important for advisors to know, that is not provided elsewhere in this form?
  • Please describe how COVID-19 has impacted your pathway to medical school or another health professions program. Items to consider incorporating in your response may include but are not limited to:
  • Academic: Were there grading policies out of your control? Were you able to interact with your professors? Did you have to leave an academic program stateside or abroad? Did your MCAT exam get cancelled, delayed? Other academic barriers?
  • Professional: Did you hold a job? Did have to go out and seek new job opportunities? Did you lose a job? Other financial or professional barriers that you faced?
  • Personal: Did you have to move out of a house or dorm? Did you have to cancel travel plans? Did you modify your planned experiences related to healthcare or other activities? Did you assist any family or community members that were affected?