Health Professions Advising [HPA] events

HPA 101: General Information Session

• For: All Virginia Tech students potentially interested in health professions.
• What: HPA services and the path to gain entrance to a graduate health program.
• When to attend: As soon as you have an interest in health professions! First-years are welcomed and encouraged.
• Offered during fall and spring; about three times each semester.
• Attendance is highly recommended so that your one-on-one appointments can be concentrated on your specific questions, rather than generalities.
• Length: 60 minutes.
• Format: Virtual or in-person, as specified in each session details.
• Click on specific session below to see details and register.

HPA 202: The Competitive Applicant

• For: Virginia Tech students who plan to apply to a graduate health professional program in the next two years.
• What: Gain more knowledge on the application process and the HPEC committee letter process.
• When to attend: As soon as you know you want to apply to programs. Sophomore year is not too soon!
• Offered during fall and spring; about three times each semester.
• Attendance is highly recommended so that your one-on-one appointments can be concentrated on your specific questions, rather than generalities.
• Length: 60 minutes.
• Format: Virtual or in person, as specified in each session details.
• Click on specific session below to see details and register.

Healthcare Admissions Advantage

Sunday, October 6, 2024, 3:00-5:00pm ET
In person, Blacksburg campus.
Location will be provided to those who are registered.
Request to participate occurs in September; dates and process explained below.

• What: Networking event for Virginia Tech students of all academic levels, and alumni, to meet with practitioners and admissions personnel from health professions (listed below). Participants will meet and learn from healthcare education professionals and local clinical practitioners in three roundtable conversations (each lasting 10 to 15 minutes), followed by 45 to 60 minutes of open networking with programs/professionals of your choosing.
• Professions represented (more may be added):
  • Athletic Training
  • Dentistry
  • Health Administration
  • Mental Health Counseling
  • Nursing
  • Occupational Therapy
  • Optometry
  • Pharmacy
  • Physical Therapy
  • Physician Assistant
  • Veterinary Medicine
• For: Both students and alumni may request to participate. (Any major or academic level.)
• Request process:
  • Participation by request. Space is limited because this involves small group conversations. Only request to attend if you absolutely can and will attend. If you request to attend, mark it as a firm commitment on your calendar until/unless you hear otherwise.
  • Request period closed. (Form was open from 9am ET, Tu. September 10, through 5pm ET, Mon. September 23, 2024.)

Medical School Admissions Advantage

Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024, 6:30-8:30pm ET. Must arrive on time and stay for full duration of event.
In-person on the Blacksburg campus 
Location will be provided to those who are registered.
Request to participate will open in October. Request process explained below.

• What: Networking event for Virginia Tech alumni and students of all academic levels to meet with deans and admissions personnel from both allopathic and osteopathic medical schools. During this event participants will network with medical school representatives in small groups, and then have the opportunity to engage in open networking at the end of the evening with schools of their choosing.
• For: Both students and alumni may request to participate. (Any major or academic level.)
• Request process:
  • Participation by request. Space is limited because this involves small group conversations. Only request to attend if you absolutely can and will attend. If you request to attend, mark it as a firm commitment on your calendar for 6:30-8:30pm ET until/unless you hear otherwise.
  • Request form will open in October 2024.

Advanced Tools to Make Your Application Shine workshops

WHAT:

• For Virginia Tech students and alumni who plan to participate in the Health Professions Evaluation Committee (HPEC) process in spring semester.
• HPA advisors will review the components for a complete HPEC interview application, discuss common mistakes, and highlight ways to make your content shine!
• Participants are asked to prepare and have available a rough draft of your application to use during the workshop.

WHEN: Same workshop. Two sessions offered:

Monday, December 16, 2024, 2:30-4pm ET.
By Zoom.
Registration open Mon. Dec. 2, through Mon. Dec. 16, 2024.

Friday, January 24, 2025, 2:30-4pm ET.
By Zoom.
Registration open Mon. Jan. 6, through Fri. Jan. 24, 2025.

Mock (practice) Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI)

Six session dates offered in spring 2025, each during February.
(Each selected participant attends one session.)
Participation request for all sessions occurs in January, as explained below.

• What: Mock (practice) multiple mini interviews (MMI) give participants the opportunity to experience the MMI process firsthand. During a session, each participant has several brief one-on-one interviews, each with a different interviewer; in each interview you respond to a different MMI-style prompt, and you receive feedback following each response. This is an increasingly popular method of interviewing for admission to health professions schools.
• Who can participate: Preference will be given to alumni, seniors, and juniors who are interested in a healthcare field that utilizes MMIs in their admissions process, and who have not participated in a Mock MMI before. This is open to other students and alumni if slots are available.
• When: Offered during fall and spring semesters. Sessions in spring 2025 listed below.
  (We reserve the option to convert in-person sessions to virtual if needed.)
• Session length: 90 minutes.
• Participation request process / form / dates:
  • Each participant attends one session so that we can serve as many individuals as possible.
  • Space is limited. Only request a session(s) that you mark on your calendar as firm, and that you can and will attend. Mark your calendar to include time for travel or getting on Zoom for the session(s) you request so that you will be on time for the session start.
  • Request period:
    Opens: 9am ET, Monday, January 6, 2025.
    Closes: 3pm ET, Tuesday, January 21, 2025.
    Request form will be linked when request period opens.
  • After the request period, if you are selected to register, we will notify you with a link to register to commit to attend a specific session date/time. Upon receipt of the link, date selection will occur on a first-come, first-served basis.
  • A wait list will be constructed in the case that not all of the originally selected applicants are able to register. If your name is pulled from the waitlist, we will contact you individually with a link.
    
  • Attendance commitment: If you choose to sign up to attend this event it is expected that you will keep your commitment to this event, and it will be your priority for that day. Last minute cancellations due to scheduling conflicts are both unprofessional and disrespectful, as you would be taking this opportunity away from another student or alumnus/a who may have been able to attend. It is also expected that you will dress in a business professional manner if possible and that you will present yourself in a professional manner. If you are not certain whether you are able to meet these expectations, please do not sign up to attend this event.

Spring 2025 MMI sessions:

Small-group practice interviewing sessions

In 2024-2025, offered in both fall (September) and spring (February) semesters.
Zoom (for convenient access regardless of your location)
Dates below.
Deadline to request participation explained below.

• What the session entails:
  • Verbally practice your individual responses to interview prompts, and hear observations about your responses, in a small group setting (4-5 interviewee participants).
  • Each interviewee will verbally respond to two interview prompts:
    • One prompt known to interviewees in advance, the same for each person; and
    • One prompt not known to interviewees in advance, and different for each person.
  • Note that for real interviews, prompts or questions are not provided in advance, and you should not expect that. Regarding the prompts not provided in advance, these are not intended to be tricky or unusual, and should not be unexpected in a real or practice interview.
  • After each interviewee responds to a prompt, the interviewee has the first opportunity to give observations about your own response; then other participants and the advisor give observations in a constructive, respectful manner.
  • Participants learn and develop not only from your own preparation, verbal practice, and hearing observations, but also by listening to others with an ear toward giving observations, and imagining yourself in the role of an interviewer.
• Open to: Both students and alumni may request to participate in a session.
• Mode: Zoom; link will be sent to registered attendees.
• When offered / session length:
  • Fall 2024 sessions (each participant attends one session):
    • Wed. September 18, 2024, 9-11am ET
    • Tues. September 24, 2024, 12:30-2:30pm ET
  • Session length: two hours.
• Request process:
  • Space is limited. Each participant may attend one session. You may request more than one session if your schedule allows, but only request session(s) that you mark on your calendar as firm, and that you can and will attend.
  • After the request period, we will email selected participants to tell you how to register and for which session.
  • Participation request will begin in September 2024.