Policies Overview
The policies below are for currently enrolled students and recent graduates (within one academic year post-graduation). If you are a UT Alumni, prospective post-baccalaureate student, or otherwise, please visit our Alumni & Post-Baccalaureate Policies.
Appointment Policies
Scheduling
All appointments are scheduled on 12Twenty@Texas. Students should provide their pre-health pathway as well as a short description for their appointment. Students may select from four appointment reasons for HP Advising: General Coaching, Progress Check, Personal Statement Brainstorming, Interview Preparation. There are no appointment reasons for HP Peer Advising appointments; these are all general appointments.
If you have issues with 12Twenty:
- Make sure you have the Pre-Health interest. Only students with the “Pre-Health” interest on their 12Twenty profile can view available HP Peer Advising and HP Advising appointments. To add this, edit your profile and allow 24 hours for server updates.
- Make sure you are using the appropriate filter. Depending on your access, you may be looking in the wrong appointment type. To see peer advising availability, select “HP Peer Advising." To see coach availability, select “HP Advising.”
- Make sure you've checked an applicable date range. Our appointments can fill up fast depending on the week or our coaches' availability. We recommend checking multiple weeks worth of availability to find the most appointment options. We do not offer appointments when the university is closed for holidays or weekend.
If you've checked these and are still experiencing issues, please contact us at hpo@austin.utexas.edu.
Frequency
Students may schedule one appointment per week with a coach. This policy is in place to ensure that pre-health students all have an opportunity to visit with a coach in a timely manner. We highly encourage students to schedule appointments that they know they are able to attend and cancel the appointment the minute they know they will not be able to attend. Please do not schedule appointments when you are meant to be in class or lab.
Cancellation
We require 24-hour advance notice of cancellation. You may go into 12Twenty@Texas and cancel or reschedule your appointment yourself. If you have passed this cancellation window, please email the peer or coach you are meeting with or hpo@austin.utexas.edu. Please mention that you have attempted to cancel your appointment, but you are passed the cancellation window. Students who do not show without notice will be marked as a no-show.
A note about no “call”, no show: As pre-health students, you are expected to maintain a level of responsibility for your commitments, including attending scheduled meetings and appointments. If you have missed the cancellation window, please communicate accordingly, take responsibility for your actions, and reflect on how to improve this skill moving forward. Communication is an invaluable skill for future healthcare professionals.
Appointment Types and Reasons
Understanding what appointment type and reason to select will ensure that you get the most out of your appointment. There are two appointment types for Health Professions appointments: HP Peer Advising and HP Advising. HP Peer Advising does not have additional appointment reasons. HP Advising has four additional appointment reasons to tailor your conversation with your coach more effectively. When scheduling, please make sure to select the appointment reason that best matches your concern.
- Coaching: Discuss a general topic or concern with a coach.
- Progress Check: Review your academic metrics and extracurricular involvement for application strengths and areas of improvement.
- Personal Statement Brainstorming: Reflect on materials for your personal statement.
- Interview Preparation: Discuss the characteristics of the different interview types for health professions schools.
HP Peer Mentor Topics
Our HP Peer Mentors are 3rd and 4th year pre-health students who have been trained by our coaches to having some coaching discussions. HP Peer Mentors can discuss the following topics with students:
- How to use HPO services, including explaining policies and scheduling procedures (How many appointments do I get? What types of appointments are there?)
- Reviewing prerequisites for a chosen health profession (What classes do I have to take to get into [fill in the blank] school?)
- The importance of shadowing opportunities and strategies for finding them (How do I find a shadowing opportunity? Where should I start?)
- How to get involved on campus and find leadership opportunities (What are leadership opportunities? How do I find a leadership position on campus?)
- General recommendations for patient care experience (How do I find patient care experiences? Is it required for me to have direct patient care experience to apply to [fill in the blank] school?)
- Connect with pre-health clubs and organizations
- Review how to asks for letters of recommendation/evaluation
- Questions about course load (Should I take all these classes at the same time? Is this course load reasonable?)
- Study habits, testing strategies, and tutoring resources
HP Coach Topics
Coaches are trained staff members who connect frequently with admissions representatives from various health professions schools throughout the year. They can discuss the following topics with students:
- Course registration and planning (Are they going to open another section of XYZ? Can I take classes online/during the summer?)
- Add/Drop support (Should I take X instead of Y? Can I take X before Y?)
- Study Abroad planning (Can I study abroad? Will study abroad classes affect my prerequisites?)
- Application strategies and resources
- How to choose and build relationships with letter writers
- Turning around your academics (I am worried about my GPA, How can I improve my GPA?)
- Planning a gap year or post-baccalaureate program
- Academic concerns and the impact on your application, such as Q-drops, pass/fails, and withdrawals
- Progress checks (How am I doing? What else do I need to do?)
- Interview preparation (How do I answer questions? What is an MMI?)
- Personal statement brainstorming (What should I talk about in my personal statement? Do I need to have a theme in my personal statement?
- Reapplication strategies and reapplying to health professions school
- Pivoting to the health professions or pivoting pathways to a different health professions
- Alumni and Post-Baccalaureate appointments
UT Austin JAMP Ambassadors
The JAMP (Joint Admission Medical Program) Ambassadors hold appointments to provide information on the UT Austin JAMP Program and how to apply. These appointments are scheduled on 12Twenty@Texas. You can also email questions to JAMP@austin.utexas.edu.
HPO Virtual Drop-Ins Policies
The Health Professions Office provides a variety of different drop-in times for pre-health students. To find your scheduled drop-in times, please visit 12Twenty@Texas and search events for HP Virtual Drop-Ins.
- One (1) 15-minute meeting with an HP Coach per scheduled virtual drop-in day. Students may not attend twice or more within the same session; student may not attend twice or more within the same day. Please attend a different day to answer your question.
- Virtual drop-ins are first come, first served. Please arrive early to join the queue, particularly around registration and Q-drop deadlines.
- Coach requests are not accepted. Students meet with any coach that is available in the order that they arrived. If you would like to speak with a specific coach, please schedule an appointment with them on 12Twenty.
- Virtual drop-ins are subject to availability and may be cancelled depending on staff availability. For an updated schedule, please visit the events section of 12Twenty. You may also follow us on Instagram (@texas_hpo) for announcements.