|
|
||
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
CU Boulder Committee Letter Procedures for Spring 2009
1. Introduction: The Committee Letter of Evaluation and Committee Letter Packet Many medical (including MD, DO and MD/PhD), dental, optometry, and podiatric medical schools require or prefer applicants to have a letter of evaluation from their undergraduate school's prehealth committee. At CU Boulder, this committee is called the Prehealth Advisory Committee (PAC). It is composed of faculty, administrators, and staff from across the university, including your Prehealth Advisors in the Preprofessional Advising Office. The Committee Letter of Evaluation, or Committee Letter, provides a thorough review of the many facets of a student’s candidacy for the health program of his or her choice. It will be sent to the medical/dental/optometry/podiatry schools as part of a Committee Letter Packet that includes three to four other individual letters of recommendation that you will obtain from professors, instructors, research supervisors, and other mentors according to guidelines given below. The Committee Letter serves several purposes. It introduces you to the admissions committees and it reviews your preparation and accomplishments. Because the PAC sees itself as an advocate for students, the letter generally has a positive tone. As useful as the Committee Letter itself is, the process of completing the procedures to gain a Committee Letter is at least equally important because it encourages you to begin working on application materials early, and it provides an opportunity for feedback about your weaknesses so that you can address them before applying or deciding to change your timetable. 2. Eligibility Your Committee Letter is composed by the Prehealth Advisors. Our goal is to offer CU Boulder students and graduates thorough, detailed, and individualized letters of evaluation. Because a large number of students apply to medical (allopathic/osteopathic), dental, optometry and podiatry schools every year, we have developed a system of procedures and deadlines that enables us to accommodate those who wish to obtain a committee letter. It is your responsibility to know the deadlines. Check the website for these deadlines and be sure to plan ahead. If you do not meet the deadlines, we cannot provide you with a committee letter. A. Minimum Requirements:
Even if you meet the minimum requirements, you must still decide whether this is the right year to request your Committee Letter . A well-timed Committee Letter, which confirms your strong background and preparation, can be an advantage. However, a letter written when you are not yet well-prepared can be a liability. Once you have had a Committee Letter written and sent, you cannot get another one for three years. During the interim, you can request an update, but an update will be accompanied by the original committee letter and will only be written if you have made significant progress in addressing your weaknesses. Therefore, if you are considering applying this year "just to see what happens" or "just to go through the process," despite knowing that your application will be much stronger next year, think hard about whether this is the best year for you to request a Committee Letter. The Committee Letter process is designed to help you make the best decision for yourself.
3. Procedures and Deadlines for the Committee Letter Process A.***TIMELINE*** Timeline for 2009 Committee Letter Procedures (pdf) Put the dates from the Timeline in your calendar. You are responsible for knowing and meeting these deadlines. B. Details and rationale for deadlines By mid-December: You must attend a Committee Letter Workshop and register in the fall immediately preceding your application to be eligible for a Committee Letter. Although exact times vary, Committee Letter Workshops are traditionally held after Thanksgiving Break. Unless you are given a specific exemption by your Prehealth advisor (e.g., due to Study Abroad: see section 8), you must attend one of the fall workshops. The schedule for workshops can be seen by logging on to aac.colorado.edu/group/ . Under Prehealth Workshops, choose Committee Letter Workshops (top choice). The Committee Letter process is the same no matter what professional schools you will apply to so you can sign up for any workshop. However, some sessions will have additional information for students applying to schools of dentistry, optometry or podiatric medicine. See the Events Calendar on the Prehealth Advising website to see which sessions these are. The same general information will be given in every workshop. By February 1: Open a Preprofessional Credentials File before this date and begin collecting and submitting the necessary items for your file (see Section 4) in preparation for scheduling an interview. You can obtain further information and download the forms that you will need to open your file from the Credentials File Service site. The items that must be in your file prior to scheduling an interview are listed below in section 4. Please submit items as you complete them rather than waiting to submit everything at once. Between February 15 and finals week of the spring semester: Interview with your Interview Committee made up of members of the Prehealth Advisory Committee (PAC). Note that the interview cannot be scheduled until your file has been certified as “complete for interview” (see 9. below). Plan ahead! Ask for two of your letters (any two) to be submitted by February 15, and get your materials in early. Make sure your letter writers know about your deadlines. Those who wait until later in the semester may not be able to obtain an interview. Beginning June 1: You may complete your file (“complete for letter”) by submitting a copy of your submitted, processed application. Processing is done by the application service and may take up to six weeks. Make sure you release your MCAT/DAT/OAT and AMCAS/TMDSAS/ AACOMAS/AADSAS information to your Prehealth advisor before you submit it to the application service (use check box on application). Your committee letter will NOT be written until we have a copy of your processed application as well as your standardized test scores. If your file has been certified as “complete for letter” by our office you may start requesting letters to be sent to specific schools. This request should be made by email to to prepro@colorado.edu. Beginning July 1: Letters will be sent in order of requests. It will be a minimum of two weeks from the time we receive your request and your processed application until your letter can be sent. When there is a backlog of requests, it will take longer. Later interviewees and later MCAT/DAT/OAT takers will have a lower priority. By July 1: Your third (and optional fourth) letter of recommendation for your Committee Letter packet must be in your file by this date. If you want your Committee Letter written earlier, this letter must be in your file earlier. Letters received after this date will not be referred to in your Committee Letter or included in your Committee Letter Packet. By mid-July: Because it can take up to 6 weeks for processing, you should submit your application to your application service by mid-July. To avoid delays in processing, make sure you have had the Registrar from every U.S. or Canadian college or university you have attended send your transcripts to your application service well before you submit your application. Also be sure to ask for a transcript exception for any courses you have taken abroad. By September 1: We must have received a copy of your current processed application in our office and your MCAT/DAT/OAT scores must be available to us. C. In addition to meeting these deadlines, your responsibilities include:
D. All deadlines are firm. To be able to write thorough evaluative committee letters for all of our applicants to medical school, we have planned these procedures and deadlines carefully. Given the number of students at CU Boulder who request Committee Letters, we cannot make extensions on deadlines for any reason. If you do not meet the deadlines, you will be better served by submitting individual letters of recommendation this year. So ... plan ahead; be aware of the procedures, requirements and deadlines. Also, check the Recletters site well in advance of deadlines to see whether the recommendations that you requested have reached your file. If they have not arrived, remember it is your responsibility to check with your recommenders. There is no "magic" involved in applying to health professions schools. You need to assume responsibility and see that you follow the appropriate steps. Please keep in mind that the Committee Letter is not a "right." It is a privilege that you earn by complying with the requirements detailed here. 4. Your Credentials File You must have the following items in your credentials file prior to your Committee Letter Interview. Once your file is approved as "complete for interview," you cannot make any changes other than adding letters that are not designated for the interview. Make sure that you keep a copy of each item for your own files before you submit it. Keep in mind that your letter depends, in part, on the accuracy and quality of the information you provide. A. Self-Appraisal Data Sheets Packet (download here as MSWord): Fill out the forms completely, paying attention to space limitations and using a font size no smaller than Times 12. These forms are designed to help you evaluate your readiness to apply, to prepare for your Committee Letter interview, and to help you fill out your applications. PART I: Think carefully before answering the first two questions. PART II: WORK/ACTIVITIES. Be sure to include work and extracurricular activities even if they are not clinically related. Do not shortchange yourself by leaving things out, but if you have more than will fit in the space allowed, you will have to prioritize. When listing jobs and activities, be sure to indicate the duration (e.g., academic years 2005-07; summers 2005, 2006; or Fall 2007) and intensity (e.g., Medical Ethics Club: average commitment of 2 hours per week; Dr. X's Laboratory: Summer 2007 - 20 hours per week, academic year 2006-2007 - 10 hours per week). Provide a brief description of what you actually did and what you feel you gained from the experience. PART III: CLINICAL QUESTIONS. In answer to the questions, note that specific examples and anecdotes are more useful than general statements. PART IV: ACADEMICS. GPA/test scores. This page can be filled out by hand if you wish. Use the AMCAS Grade Conversion Guide to help you calculate your GPA (see http://www.aamc.org/students/amcas/amcas2008.htm). 1) Science GPA. In addition to your overall GPA, the professional schools will be paying close attention to your science GPA when evaluating your application. The science GPA is derived from the grades you receive in your Biology, Chemistry, Physics, and Math (BCPM) courses. Obviously, any course taken in these four departments will count. Statistics courses will also count. Psychology, Geology, Anthropology, and Engineering courses DO NOT COUNT unless the primary course content is in the BCPM list. For example, Neuroscience courses will count as Biology, even if taught in the Psychology or other departments. All courses in MCDB, IPHY or EBIO departments will count as Biology, including research or independent study, with the exception of statistics, which counts as Math, or writing courses, which count as English. 2) All college courses. Include all courses taken at any US or Canadian college or university, whether or not they transferred to CU. Do not include AP, IB, or P/F hours for this calculation. 3) High school courses. College courses taken in high school should go under high school. AP or IB courses for which you received college credit will go under Freshman year. 4) Postbaccalaureate courses. Be sure to calculate your cumulative GPA up through this fall semester. Cumulative undergraduate includes postbaccalaureate courses, but not graduate courses. 5)Summer School Courses. Summer courses always go with the following academic year. B. Essay/Personal Statement. You should provide a typed, working draft of your personal statement so that we can get to know you better and so that we can provide feedback on your essay. This essay is a 'professional essay,' in which you want to convince the reader that you are a good candidate for medical (allopathic/osteopathic)/dental/optometry/podiatry school. Keep in mind that we will see your final essay when you turn in your processed application. For further information on writing the essay, consult the section on the Primary Application, which is in section VII. of 'Applying to Medical School' on the Prehealth Advising website. Be sure to write your name on your essay. Why? Your Interview Committee can give you feedback, that you can use to revise your draft. C. Transcripts. Have an official transcript sent to you from every US or Canadian college and university that you have attended and make a copy for us (we do not need the original). It does not matter whether the credits transferred to UCB or not. If you have AP/IB credit that transferred to UCB, get a copy of screen #150 along with your official transcript. Keep the original transcripts to use for filling out your applications. You do not need transcripts from foreign institutions for the Committee Letter or for AMCAS, but you should get them for yourself in case a medical school wants them later. Why? Difficulties with transcripts are the #1 problem encountered during the application process. This step is in place so that you will discover problems in ordering your transcripts, or errors on your official transcripts, early enough to correct them before you apply. (Note: We will not send your transcripts to the schools to which you apply. They must be sent directly to the application service by the registrar at each school you attended.) D. Photo. A recent photo of yourself - a snapshot will do, but your face should be recognizable. Minimum size 4" x 4". Be sure to write your name on the back. Why? We have very good memories, but this way you can be completely sure that we connect your face with your name. We will not send your photo to the schools to which you apply. E. Committee Letter of Evaluation Waiver Form. Determine whether you want to waive or retain access to your Committee Letter. Many professional schools prefer confidential letters. Retaining access to your Committee Letter does not give you rights to see information from individual letters for which you have waived access. You can download the Committee Letter Waiver Form here. F. My Letters of Recommendation Form. T1) Download form here) This is a form on which you must list the recommenders whose letters will be a part of your Committee Letter packet. You must fill out by hand, sign and turn this in to us listing the two letters (any two) that will be available prior to requesting an interview. These letters cannot be changed after your interview is scheduled and therefore will be two of the letters that are sent to the schools with your Committee Letter Packet. If any of your recommenders will know you better at the end of the spring semester, wait to get that one. Remember, all of your letters will ultimately be incorporated into your committee letter, so it does not matter which two letters you have in your file for the interview. You must notify us of the third (fourth) recommender(s) and update your Letters Form as early as possible and by July 1 at the latest. 2) More Information on Letters of Recommendation. a) Letters. You can have three or four individual letters of recommendation in your Committee Letter packet. A minimum of two letters of evaluation must be from CU Boulder faculty members (professors, instructors, etc.). One of these MUST be from a faculty member in the sciences (BCPM). The other may be from a faculty member in either a science or nonscience discipline. The source of the third (and optional fourth) letter of evaluation is open. It may be from another faculty member or from a nonacademic source. This can include MDs, DOs, dentists, optometrists, nurses, employers, volunteer supervisors, club advisors, chaplains, coaches, etc. If you have graduated and are working, you will want to have a letter from an employer. DO NOT INCLUDE a letter from a family member, friend of the family, parent of a friend or parent's business/practice partner. For obvious reasons these letters are not perceived as objective. Big name references are not helpful unless they really have something to say about you. b) Waiver Forms and more information. The required Waiver of Confidentiality forms, a discussion of confidentiality, suggestions about who would be appropriate letter writers and suggestions on how to approach your recommenders and obtain letters of recommendation are available from the Credentials File Service site. c) Three letters or four? Most schools want no more than 3-5 letters. Your Committee Letter packet will consist of a minimum of 4 letters: the Committee Letter of Evaluation itself and 3 individual letters. Adding a 4th letter of recommendation puts your total at 5. A 4th letter should be added only if it provides substantial new information. This is an area in which more is not necessarily better. Too many letters may result in having your most important letters overlooked, or the admissions committee concluding that you don't understand the difference between quantity and quality. Pick the three or four letters of recommendation you want included in your Committee Letter packet carefully and don't send additional letters unless they add substantial new information that was not available before July 1. d) When to ask for letters. You should ask for the letters well in advance of the start of interviews in February. Ask for two of your letters to be submitted by February 15 or whenever you plan to have your material complete. The remaining letter(s) must be received no later than July 1, and preferably earlier. Make sure your recommenders are aware of your deadlines. You are responsible for seeing that your letters of recommendation are in your file. To check the status of your recommendations consult the Preprofessional Credentials web site: http://aac.colorado.edu/recletters. DO NOT ASSUME THAT LETTERS ARE IN YOUR FILE. You must check on the Recletters site to see which recommendations have reached our file system. Because you can check for yourself online, do not call the Preprofessional Advising Office to check on the status of your letters unless you genuinely have a problem with the website. Know your Recletters PIN.Letters are typically logged within 24 hours of receipt. e) The Committee Letter Packet. In the end, a Committee Letter Packet will be sent to each of the medical schools to which you apply and to which you have requested it sent. The packet will consist of a cover letter with your name and application ID#, the Committee Letter, followed by the three (or four) individual letters of recommendation that you have designated for your Committee Letter packet. After your interview, you cannot change any of the letters you designated prior to your interview, nor can you change the third (or fourth) letter after July1 or after you request your letter, whichever occurs first. f) Electronic Submission. We will submit your Committee Letter Packet electronically via Virtual Evals to any of the professional schools or application services that accept electronic submission. This includes almost all US allopathic medical schools, some MD/PhD programs, most osteopathic medical schools, and TMDSAS. 5. Interviewing With your Prehealth Advisory Committee Members A. Scheduling. Once your Credentials File is complete, you will be able to schedule your interview as long as interview slots are still available. Call 303-735-3000 or come by the office to schedule your interview. You must take the next available interview slot that does not conflict with a class or work commitment. Typically, scheduling begins in February. Your Committee Letter Interview cannot be scheduled until your Credentials File is complete. You must complete your Committee Letter Interview by finals week of the spring semester. You will not be eligible for a Committee Letter if you fail to meet this deadline. B. Interview Committee. Your Interview Committee consists of members of the Prehealth Advisory Committee (PAC). PAC members are faculty and staff who are interested in helping students through the application process. C. The Interview. The interviews provide us with additional information used in compiling your Committee Letter. These interviews will also serve as a practice interview, so use it as a learning experience. You should use the Interview section in ‘Applying to Medical School’ to help you prepare for the types of questions you will be asked. Be sure to review the materials in your Credentials File and dress as though you were going to a medical school interview. You will meet with your interviewers only once. D. Feedback. Following the interview, your committee will provide you with feedback to help you improve your application and/or interview skills and help you decide whether or not to request your Committee Letter this year. You can also consult your Prehealth Advisor about requesting your Committee Letter and/or for help with choosing schools and answering application or interview questions that arise later. NOTE: If you go through an interview, but decide not to have a Committee letter sent to any professional schools, your Committee Letter will not be completed. You must go through the entire process again in the year in which you want to have a Committee Letter written and sent. 6. Requesting Your Committee Letter After you have completed the PAC interview, you will still need to make a formal request to have your letter 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. A. 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, b) your MCAT/DAT/OAT scores are available, and c) have received a request for your letter from one or more 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). Note: Processed applications will have completed GPA calculations filled in, and AMCAS will have a “Processed Date” entered in the upper right corner of the first page. B. How do you request your Committee Letter? Email prepro@colorado.edu with a list of the school(s) to which you plan to send secondaries and a request to have your Committee Letter written. Be sure to include the entire specific school name and the city in which is located (address not needed unless it is a foreign school). You can email us with more schools later if you decide to add any. Please do not phone in your requests. C. 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. 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. 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 your advisor well ahead so that we are aware of your deadline and can give you an estimate of when to expect your letter, so that you can contact the schools and request an exception, if necessary. D. What will a Committee Letter Packet include? The Committee Letter Packet consists of the Committee Letter and the three (or four) individual letters of recommendation that were listed on your My Letters of Recommendation Form. If you choose to send any additional letters to medical schools, you will need to request that they be sent separately. E. How will you know your packet has been sent? It is your responsibility to check the Recletters site regularly using your CU ID number and Recletters PIN to see when your Committee Letter packet is sent to each school. It is your responsibility to know your Recletters PIN. In addition, 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. Please do not call the office to ask us to check your Recletters file for you unless there is a specific problem that prevents you from accessing the site. F. What if there is a problem and we need to contact you? 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. We have a reception for accepted students and we will not be able to contact you with an invitation if we do not have a current email address. 7. Update to Committee Letter from a Previous Year A. Materials that must be in your file before you ask for an update. Note that there is a September 1 deadline for all of these, but earlier is better.
After your materials (and new MCAT/DAT/OAT scores if relevant) are in, then, it is strongly recommended that you schedule a 30-minute meeting with the premed or predental advisor to discuss the update information. A one-on-one meeting is highly recommended if you are in Colorado. However, if you are not in Colorado, you may schedule a phone appointment. C. 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. D. How do you request that your updated Committee Letter be sent? The same way that you requested letters the first time. Email prepro@colorado.edu with the name of the school(s) to which you want your update sent. We will use the contact information you have on the Recletters site in case we have questions. Keep contact information updated. E. 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. F. What will a Committee Letter update include? Original Committee Letter, the 3 (or 4) individual letters of recommendation included in original Committee Letter packet, update to the Committee Letter, (optional additional letter of recommendation). Check the Recletters site regularly (using CU ID and recletters PIN) to see when your updated Committee Letter packet is sent. 8. Study Abroad or Living Far Away from Boulder A. Away fall. If you are away fall semester and return to campus for spring semester, make sure you attend the January Committee Letter Workshop and registration opportunity. You will be responsible for following all other procedures and deadlines as specified above. B. Away spring. If you are planning to be away spring semester, you must attend one of the Committee Letter workshops and register in the fall semester. We strongly recommend that you turn in all of your materials before you leave campus. Your interview will be arranged as soon as possible after you return. C. Away all year. If you will be away for the entire academic year, or are living far away from Boulder, email your Prehealth Advisor before January 15, 2009 to request an exemption from attending a Committee Letter Workshop in order to register. It is your responsibility to review the procedures and meet the other deadlines on the Prehealth Advising website. On-campus interviews are required. Consult with your Prehealth Advisor about how to arrange for your interview. 9. Checklist
A. Healthlist. All updates, reminders and new information will be sent out on the Prehealth Advising email list. Be sure you are signed for the entire duration of the application process. Sign up site is on Prehealth Advising website http://www.colorado.edu/aac/prehealth.html). Writing Essays.
|
|||
|
|||||||
 |
 |
Home | Contact Us |
