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PreProfessional Credentials File Service
- General Information
- Establishing Your File
- How to Obtain Your Letter
- Using Your File
- Requesting Your Letters Be Sent
General Information
The Preprofessional Credentials Service establishes and maintains credentials files for students and alumni who are applying to post-graduate schools and programs in health fields. Included are schools of medicine (allopathic, naturopathic, and osteopathic), pharmacy, dentistry, public health, chiropractic, and nursing. Students applying to physician assistant, physical therapy, dental hygiene, medical laboratory sciences, occupational therapy, public health and military medical and other health programs may also use the service. Note that veterinary (VMCAS) schools usually use direct online submission of letters by the recommender. There are centralized application services for many of these professions, each of which will have their own rules for handling letters of recommendation. The Credentials Service will assist you with each of these. Letters or other materials in our files may not ever be used in the application process for general employment or graduate programs other than those in health fields. Letters for non-health programs are handled by the credentials service in Career Services at
http://www.colorado.edu/careerservices/students/recomm.html.
Our on-line service allows you to check the status of your file any time you log on. You may:
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• Update your contact information
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| • Check which letters and other materials have been received by our office
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| • See when your letters have been sent to your designated school
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Establishing Your File
Forms: You must complete the following forms and return them to our office for processing.
Fees: There is a fee to establish a PreProfessional Credentials File. This initial fee also covers sending up to 10 packets of your letters to schools or programs that you designate. After 10 'sends' there is a fee for each additional packet of letters sent. In the event that you are not accepted, or cannot attend the class you applied for, you may reactivate your file for the next application cycle by paying a reactivation fee. There is no carry-over of unused sends from any previous application cycle, nor is any credit given if you have not used up all 10 'sends' for the previous application cycle.
Current fee schedule (please note that fees are subject to change without notice):
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• Establish a Preprofessional Credentials
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$65.00 |
| • Reactivation Fee
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$45.00
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| • Additional packets over 10
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$4.00/ea
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| • Resends (if over 10 sends) |
$4.00/ea
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Miscellaneous fees
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• Federal Express/Overnight
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$18.00
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• Fax (long distance, NC for local)
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$5.00
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• Personal copies of file papers (non-confidential
and non-office-related material only)
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$5.00
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All fees must be paid in advance. Checks or money orders are the preferred form of payment so that there will be a record for both you and our office of all payments that you have made and we have received. Checks should be made out to the University of Colorado. We do not accept credit cards. We will accept cash if you are paying in person (do not send cash).
Five year limit: Once established, files will be maintained for five years. You may wait up to five years to use your file, but files will be destroyed after five years of inactivity.
Recommendation forms: After you have paid the fee to establish a file, you can access the Recommendation Request forms and Guidelines for Recommenders you will give to your recommenders (see below). Do not give these forms to recommenders until you have established a file. If we receive a letter and do not have a file, we will return the letter to the recommender.
Credentials PIN: We will give you a business card with the URL for the PreProfessional Credentials File website and your newly assigned credentials PIN on the back. Note that this PIN is different from your CU PIN. Please keep this PIN safe and accessible. If you lose it, you can call or stop by the office.
Obtaining your letters
Two key issues to consider in choosing who should write letters of recommendation are:
Who can write a strong letter? Letters that comment on attributes that demonstrate your potential to become a good healthcare provider usually are written by people who are:
- well-acquainted with you from school, work, health-related activities, laboratory
performance, volunteer work, etc.
- knowledgeable and experienced in assessing prehealth professions students,
- knowledgeable about you in more than one area,
- able to compare you with other CU Boulder students, and
- able to write well.
Who can help you build a balanced profile of your various endeavors in the college years? One person may not be able to discuss all aspects of your candidacy but, if you choose your recommenders carefully, all aspects should be covered. Generally good sources of letters to achieve this goal might be:
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• faculty members, either science or nonscience disciplines,
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| • a professor for whom you've worked,
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| • an employer, club advisor, supervisor of a volunter activity or research experience, camp director, chaplain, coach, etc.
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| • if you have graduated and are working, you should certainly have a letter from your employer
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In general, health programs prefer not to have letters from Teaching Assistants, unless they are instructors, senior graduate students, or post-docs. If
you know a T.A. well, and you feel that the T.A. could write a professional evaluation, then perhaps one such letter would be appropriate. If possible, it should be signed by both the TA and the professor in charge of the course. Some professors are willing to write a letter based on notes submitted by a TA.
A number of medical schools explicitly say that they will not accept letters from family members or friends of the family. If you have such a letter, plan to use it only for schools that will accept it and recognize that at many schools is likely to carry less weight than a letter from someone who can evaluate you from a more professional perspective.
If you are doing a Committee Letter, note that letters written solely by TAs, or written by family members or friends of the family, are not recommended because the Committee Letter packet will go to many different schools.
Note that you can always have additional letters in your file, which can be sent only to one, or a few, of the schools to which you apply.
Protocol: Four questions asked directly of proposed recommenders (preferably in person or possibly in a personal letter or telephone call) may help them to provide a good recommendation:
- "Would you be willing to write a letter of recommendation for me?"
- "Do you feel it can be a strong, supportive letter?"
- "May I make an appointment to talk with you and review my qualifications?"
- "I'd like you to mention (fill in the blank) in my letter. Do you feel you could do that? (The decision rests with the writer.)
If the answer to these questions is not an enthusiastic "yes," you may indicate that you want to do further thinking before proceeding, or you may simply say, "No thank you, I'll try to find another recommender."
Material to Provide for Recommenders:
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• A resume, transcripts, and an essay including in some detail the development of your interest in medicine and your goals.
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| • A Waiver of Confidentiality form.
Be sure to fill out the top half, which includes the waiver of confidentiality information. Include your "applicant # (e.g., AMCAS #) if you have one. Otherwise leave it blank
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| • A Guidelines for Recommenders sheet. This gives your recommenders some helpful information about writing useful letters. If there are specific areas you want the recommender to cover, be sure to let them know.
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| • If available, a copy of an especially good paper, exam, creative work or project you did under the recommenders supervision.
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| • Contact information in case your recommender has questions.
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Confidentiality: Under the provisions of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA), you are guaranteed the right of access to the contents of any evaluation letter you request from a recommender unless you specifically waive that right. Some factors that you might want to consider in deciding whether to waive your rights or not:
- Factors to Consider in Deciding to Retain Access
- You will know the information schools have and therefore can prepare for interviews accordingly.
- It may relieve stress and anxiety to know exactly what has been said.
- Factual mistakes in the letter can be corrected, if the writer chooses to make those corrections.
- If you conclude that the letter is unfavorable, you can choose not to have it sent out; however, you may not withdraw a letter submitted to your PreProfessional credentials file.
- By reading a subjective evaluation, you have a chance of benefiting from criticism.
- A potential recommender may choose not to write a letter for you if you retain access.
- If you retain access, you need to be prepared to explain your reasons for your choice during interview(s).
- A member of an admissions committee at a health professional school receiving the letter might tentatively draw one or more of the following conclusions:
- The evaluation may be less candid because the writer knew that the student would see it. As a result, less weight may be assigned to such letters.
- The student is ensuring that the recipient is receiving full information.
- The student wanted to discuss the letter with the recommended/evaluator before it was put in final draft.
- The student feels a moral obligation to exercise his/her civil rights.
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Factors to Consider in Deciding to Waive Access
- Your recommender knows you well and has said that he/she can write a letter in support of your candidacy, you feel that the chances are slight that inaccuracies or unfair statements will be presented in the letter.
- Some medical school admissions committees say that they prefer to receive confidential letters.
- A member of an admissions committee might tentatively draw one or more of the following conclusions:
- The evaluation may be more candid if the writer knew that the student would not see it. As a result, more weight may be assigned to such letters.
- The student has nothing to conceal.
- The student is not determining that the recipients are receiving full information or is using other methods to make this determination.
- The student did not feel it was necessary to review the letter before it was sent.
- The student does not feel a moral obligation to exercise his/her civil rights in this way.
It is, of course, impossible to know how each individual receiving the letters may react to the
fact that a student did or did not exercise their rights under FERPA.
How many letters? If in doubt about how many and what types of letters you will need for your health field, consult the information in the Applying to Professional School document. Although there is no limit to the number of letters we will accept in your file, specific schools are likely to have limits on the number (and types) of letters they wish to receive. You should pay close attention to what is requested.
Using your File
Web access: Once you have established your file, you will be able to access http://aac.colorado.edu/recletters/ where you will be able to use your student ID# (SS#) and your credentials PIN to log on. On the site, you can update your contact information. Once your letters start arriving, you can see which ones have been received. If you have registered for a Committee Letter, you will also be able to see the other materials that are in your file. Later, when you request that your letters be sent to specific medical schools or other health programs, you will be able to see which letters have been sent to each school and the date on which they were sent.
Update contact information: If you move or change your address, please update your contact information on the website http://aac.colorado.edu/recletters/ as soon as you can. If you do not have access to a computer, please contact our office in person, or by phone (303-735-3000), fax (303-492-8884) or email prepro@colorado.edu.
Requesting that your letters be sent: To ensure accuracy and documentation, we prefer that you request your sends by emailing our office at prepro@colorado.edu. You may also come in to the office, call or fax, but email is the preferred method.
Please request your letters by number, and by name, and request them in numerical sequence. Both number and name are particularly important if you have multiple letters from the same recommender. For example, if you had the following letters in your file:
- Professor Gray
- Alan Blue
- Joe Brown
- Dr. Linda White
and you wanted the letters from Professor Gray, Joe Brown and Alan Blue to be sent to Mt. Sinai and the letters from Joe Brown and Dr. White to be sent to Creighton, you would request the following sends:
- Mt. Sinai - 1-Gray, 2-Blue, 3-Brown
- Creighton - 3-Brown, 4-White
You will be able to see on the website http://aac.colorado.edu/recletters/ when the letters have been sent.
Additional forms: Many schools offer forms for letters of recommendation or a cover sheet to be included when letters are sent. These are normally only needed if you do not use our Preprofessional Credentials File service.
Mailing: Your letter packet(s) will normally be mailed within three business days or less following your request. Mail leaving our office is picked up by Campus Mail at 8:45 am Monday through Friday, then routed to the US Postal System that same evening by 5:00 pm. Once your letters have been picked up by the Campus Mail, we can no longer track them.
Requesting Your Letters Be Sent
Requesting Your Non-Committee Letters Be Sent
1) How do you request your individual letters be sent?
Email Amy at prepro@colorado.edu with a list of the school(s) to which you are sending secondaries; listing for each school which letters you want sent. You can email us with more schools later, as you receive their secondaries. Please do not phone in your requests. Make sure to include your AMCAS or ACCOMAS numbers to be included on the coversheet.
For the application cycle, you have paid for unlimited Virtual Eval sends (electronic) and 9 regular mail sends. Virtual Eval (VE) is a system that allows us to post your letters electronically to schools. To use this system you are able to post only ONE set of letters that cannot be changed. If you are sending different letter combinations to schools, you can indicate what letter set will be sent to a majority of schools. Any letter set that is different will be sent regular mail. If you need to request more sends than the electronic and regular mail sends allotted, a charge of $4 per additional send is required.
2) When will your letters be sent?
Requests to have letters sent will be filled starting the week of July 15 and then as received. Plan that it will be a minimum of 2 weeks from the time we receive a request until the letter is sent. The exact length of time will depend on how many other students ask for letters at the same time. The later you request your letters, the longer it is likely to take. Keep in mind that deadlines for letters of recommendation are generally more flexible than deadlines for materials that you submit yourself. However, if you have a deadline that you are concerned about, be sure to email Amy at prepro@colorado.edu as soon as possible.
3) How will you know your packet has been sent?
It is your responsibility to check the Recletters site regularly using CU ID and recletters PIN to see when your letters are sent to each school. Most schools have online sites for you to check for receipt of your letters. Keep in mind that even if we send letters electronically, schools may not download them immediately.
4) What if there is a problem and you need to contact me?
Make sure you keep your email address up to date on the Recletters site. If we have questions or need more information from you, we will use that address to contact you. Be sure you keep it updated throughout the entire application process, even after your letters have been sent.
Requesting Your Committee Letter Be Sent
Once you have completed the PAC interview you will still need to make a formal request that your letter be written once you receive requests from schools. The sooner you get your primary applications finished, the sooner the schools will request your secondary application, and the sooner your Committee Letter will be written.
1) When should you request your Committee Letter?
Once you a) have submitted a copy of your processed AMCAS (or TMDSAS, AACOMAS, AADSAS, etc) application to your credentials file and b) receive a request for your letter from schools. This request comes from schools as part of the secondary (supplemental) application for AMCAS and AACOMAS schools. For some other applications it may come from the application service itself (e.g., TMDSAS, AADSAS). Processed applications will have completed GPA calculations, and AMCAS will have a “Processed Date” entered in the upper right corner of the first page.
2) How do you request your Committee Letter?
a) Email Amy at a href="mailto:prepro@colorado.edu">prepro@colorado.edu with a list of the school(s) to which you are sending secondaries and a request to have your Committee Letter written. You can email us with more schools later, as you receive their secondaries. Please do not phone in your requests.
3) When will your Committee Letter be sent?
Requests to have letters sent will be filled starting the week of July 15 and then as received. Plan that it will be a minimum of 2 weeks from the time we receive a request until the letter is sent. The exact length of time will depend on how many other students ask for letters at the same time. The later you request your letter, the longer it is likely to take. Note that we will not write letters until we have your most recent MCAT/DAT/OAT scores. Keep in mind that deadlines for letters of recommendation are generally more flexible than deadlines for materials that you submit yourself. However, if you have a deadline that you are concerned about, be sure to tell Dr. Bekoff (anne.bekoff@colorado.edu) for medical schools or Penny Bennett (penny.bennett@colorado.edu) for dental, optometry and podiatry schools) well ahead so that we can contact the schools and request an exception, if necessary.
4) What will a Committee Letter Packet include?
Committee Letter and the three (or four) individual letters of recommendation that were submitted as part of the Committee Letter Procedures. If you choose to send any additional letters to medical schools, you will need to request that they be sent separately.
5) How will you know your packet has been sent?
It is your responsibility to check the Recletters site regularly using CU ID and recletters PIN to see when your Committee Letter packet is sent to each school. Most schools have online sites for you to check for receipt of your letters. Keep in mind that even if we send letters electronically, schools may not download them immediately.
6) What if there is a problem and you need to contact me?
Make sure you keep your email address up to date on the Recletters site. If we have questions or need more information from you, we will use that address to contact you. Be sure you keep it updated throughout the entire application process, even after your letters have been sent.
Update to a Committee Letter from the Previous Year
Materials that must be in your file before you ask for an update
1. Copy of submitted, processed AMCAS (or AACOMAS, AADSAS, etc., if you did not apply via AMCAS) application. Make sure you release MCAT and AMCAS, TMDSAS, AACOMAS and/or AADSAS information to your prehealth advisor before submitting to application service (use check box in application in section where you enter colleges attended).
2. One page (max.) update that tells what you want to highlight as new since your last application as well as including things that do not show up on the application.
3. New signed Committee Letter Waiver. You can download this from the Committee Letter Procedures site. (See D. Items to be included)
4. Optional: If you want one new letter of recommendation to be included in your Committee Letter packet, you may designate that in the one-page update. Only include a new letter if it addresses a new experience or accomplishment.
Recommended Meeting
After your materials (and new MCAT/DAT/OAT scores if relevant) are in, then you may schedule a 30-minute meeting with the premed or predental advisor to discuss the update information. If you are not available for a meeting, we will use the contact information you have on the recletters site in case we have questions. Keep contact information updated.
When should you request your updated Committee Letter?
Once you receive a request for your letter. Typically this comes with the secondary for AMCAS schools. For some other applications it may come from the application service.
How do you request your updated Committee Letter?
The same way that you requested letters the first time. Email Amy at prepro@colorado.edu with the name of the school(s) to which you want your update sent.
When will your updated Committee Letter be sent?
Requests to have letters sent will be filled starting the week of July 15 and then as received. Plan a minimum of 2 weeks from the time we receive a request until the letter is sent. The exact length of time will depend on how many other students ask for letters at the same time. Keep in mind that deadlines for letters of recommendation are generally more flexible than deadlines for materials that you submit yourself. However, if you are concerned about a deadline, be sure to tell your prehealth advisor well ahead so that an exception can be requested, if necessary.
What will a Committee Letter update include?
Original Committee Letter, the 3 individual letters of recommendation included in original Committee Letter packet, update to the Committee Letter, (optional additional letter).
Check the recletters site regularly (using CU ID and recletters PIN) to see when your updated Committee Letter packet is sent.
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