Keep in mind that at the time a student applies to professional school, they will need letters of recommendation. Most professional schools require a minimum of three letters of recommendation: two science and one non-science. Recommendation forms are available in the Health Professions Advising Office. Professional schools will sometimes request a recommendation from a pre-health advisory committee; at this university, the student determines their own committee by selecting the professors they want to write recommendation letters. The Health Professions Advisng Office then includes a cover letter with the faculty letters and submits the package as a committee recommendation. The Pre-health Professions Advising Office serves as the collection center for the faculty letters and assumes responsibility for forwarding copies to the professional schools at the student's request.
The student is encouraged to get to know their professors so that recommendation letters reflect familiarity with the student and pertinent observations of abilities and performance. Letters give depth to an application and dimension to the applicant.
In brief, the office collects the letters into one document, scans that document and saves it as a single PDF file. When a student requests that we transmit the letters, the file is uploaded to the secure Web system, VirtualEvals. The VirtualEvals system then sends the student an email to let them know that their letters are available to medical schools. And it alerts medical schools to which the student is applying that their letters are available on VirtualEvals. The packet of letters includes the following: a copy of all letters the student has indicated on the list of evaluators filed in our office.
Medical schools have individual passwords to access the VirtualEvals site. They can see and download only the files for applicants who have applied to their particular school. Likewise, an advisor using VirtualEvals can only see the records for applicants from his/her school.
What is the advantage of VirtualEvals to you, the applicant?
This system is more cost-efficient and more time efficient. Using VirtualEvals allow letters to reach the medical schools quicker than traditional mail.
When do you request us to transmit your letters?
After a student submits their application to AMCAS, AMCAS will verify the student's application and then transmit it to the student's designated schools. At that time, students will begin to receive requests from schools to complete their secondary/supplemental application.
In addition to the request itself, we will need to know the following:
If the student is applying to TMDSAS or a non-AMCAS school.
If the student has added any schools to the list they included when they initially submitted AMCA.
If the student is applying to any osteopathic schools, and if so, which ones.
We have access to an "Advisor Information Service" from AMCAS, through which we can get the student's AAMC ID and a list of the schools the student designated when they initially filed their AMCAS application. But we will not be alerted if the student adds any schools after their initial designation.
. I told him not really and explained my situation and he said he'd do it. I'm guessing it's going to be a pretty generalized LOR . Which leads me to ask: Should I even bother fishing for another LOR from another science prof which also will probably be pretty general just so I can fulfill the typical "2 didactic science" requirement?
