Overview
As a service to our eligible students and alumni 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.
Many 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 (e.g. optometry and physician assistant) are less stringent about this preference, and applicants to these 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, standardized test scores, and other supporting documents provided by the applicant.
For those applicants who qualify (are eligible), 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 can have submitted on his or her behalf by faculty, employers, volunteer coordinators, mentors or health care professionals who know the applicant well. The Pre-Health Committee will collect letters, organize and then submit the committee packet anywhere the applicant is applying.
For those applicants who do not meet the eligibility criteria for a committee letter, the Pre-Health Committee will collect up to five individual letters of evaluation for that applicant and then organize and submit those individual letters anywhere the applicant is applying. The Pre-Health Committee will include a brief cover letter with the individual letters, but this cover letter is NOT equivalent to a true committee letter.
Please review the eligibility criteria to see if you might be eligible for a committee letter from the Pre-Health Committee.Introduction
2026 Application Cycle Pre-Health Committee Members
Dr. Marilyn Banta, Professor of Instruction, Department of Biology (Pre-Health Advisor)
Dr. Erica Nierth, Professor of Instruction, 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. Natasha Mikles, Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy
Dr. Eric Gilbertson, Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy
Dr. Kavita Kakirde, Professor of Instruction, Department of Biology
Dr. Manish Kumar, Professor of Instruction, Department of Biology
Mr. Byron Kerr, Assistant Director, Financial Aid and Scholarships
Ms. Stephanie Lopez, Director, 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 applicant who meets all eligibility criteria. With or without a committee letter, applicants may request up to five individual letters of evaluation that will either be uploaded with the committee letter as a “committee packet” or uploaded with a brief cover letter that is not considered a committee letter. All individual letters should be submitted directly to a pre-health advisor, not to the applicant.
Ultimately, we will need each applicant (committee letter or cover letter only) to provide a Packet Distribution Form.
All of these forms are available on the Forms Page.