TMDSAS evaluation form

[Makarov]

I am using the health professions advising office at my school to hold onto my letters of recommendation. If I decline to do the committee review process and tell my school to send out my LORs individually, would they need to be sent out with the TMDSAS (i'm applying to Texas schools) evaluation form attached? All my LORs got sent directly to the office, and I waived my rights to see them already (through the health advising office). I asked my advising office about this and they did not know what the tmdsas evaluation form was.

I will be using the AMCAS application as well. Does anyone know how they would send my letters to both locations? Do they usually just make photocopies?

Thanks

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[Confused2626]

I am in a similar case, my school uses its own evaluation form. TMDSAS website says this is ok.

However (and don't quote me on this but I believe its the recommended approach), I would give your school a copy of your TMDSAS eval form to submit as well. The TMDSAS eval form will have your bar code information which will make it easier for them to match your LOR with your application.

Speaking of TMDSAS LOR, I asked this earlier but got no response so maybe you (or somebody else) knows...are we able to submit our application (for verification) before we submit LOR? Or does the LOR need to be in before we send it off?

 

[Confused2626]

Guess TMDSAS doesn't have the bar code, I'm thinking AMCAS.
Still, I am submitting anyway (but including my TMDSAS ID).

You will be submitting a Health Professions committee packet according to their third definition:

Composite letter which usually consists of a cover letter from an advising office and a collection of individual evaluation letters that are attached. With composite letters, the advising office serves as a central collection service for the applicant, but does not make additional assessments of the candidate.

It goes on to say that only individually sent LOR are required to send the TMDSAS eval form.

http://www.utsystem.edu/tmdsas/medical/application-instructions.html#eval_letters

 

[Makarov]

I am in a similar case, my school uses its own evaluation form. TMDSAS website says this is ok.

However (and don't quote me on this but I believe its the recommended approach), I would give your school a copy of your TMDSAS eval form to submit as well. The TMDSAS eval form will have your bar code information which will make it easier for them to match your LOR with your application.

Speaking of TMDSAS LOR, I asked this earlier but got no response so maybe you (or somebody else) knows...are we able to submit our application (for verification) before we submit LOR? Or does the LOR need to be in before we send it off?

I really don't know how that works. I have been wondering the same thing about if we can send in the LORs before submission of the application.

 

[Makarov]

Guess TMDSAS doesn't have the bar code, I'm thinking AMCAS.
Still, I am submitting anyway (but including my TMDSAS ID).

You will be submitting a Health Professions committee packet according to their third definition:

Composite letter which usually consists of a cover letter from an advising office and a collection of individual evaluation letters that are attached. With composite letters, the advising office serves as a central collection service for the applicant, but does not make additional assessments of the candidate.

It goes on to say that only individually sent LOR are required to send the TMDSAS eval form.

http://www.utsystem.edu/tmdsas/medical/application-instructions.html#eval_letters

Thanks! That's exactly what my advising office does. I read over the instructions, but must have missed that definition

 

[prone2xl]

I was on the TMDSAS website today and even called someone in Austin b/c I was confused. I'm taking my pre-reqs at a community college and will be submitting my LORs individually since we have no advisor.
I already opened an Interfolio account and as I was told, last year you could use interfolio to distribute everything for you and didn't need the new "evaluation form" is this new process going to put a kink in my plans and have to get multiple LORs from the same peole just to send one to TMDSAS and another one to AMCAS? it doesn't make sense. hopefully someone can shed some light on to what would be the best way to do it? b/c I don't want to send the same letter to AMCAS if it has that TMDSAS evaluation form attached to it.. they'd be like What the hell ....

 

[NOLA1]

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[Rach83]

I emailed them not long ago b/c I am also dreading getting their forms filled out. This is the reply I got:

"Individual letters should be accompanied by the evaluation form."

 

[DocDrakeRamoray]

"Individual letters should be accompanied by the evaluation form."

Now I have to go back to my LOR writers and ask for the forms to be filled.

 

[Rach83]

Now I have to go back to my LOR writers and ask for the forms to be filled.

Me too. I already felt like a huge pain in the ass, now I have to go back and beg for more.

 

[NOLA1]

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[TXWrigley]

Ugh, what a nightmare.

Thank you, Rach83, for the update.

Hey everybody - I've been lurking on here for a while, but I thought I'd throw in my two cents on this evaluation form issue because it's VERY irritating.

So I filled out the "Letters of Evaluation" portion of the TMDSAS application and included my two evaluators. I printed the request forms and emailed them to my professors (who had previously sent recommendations to Interfolio for my AMCAS application). However, one of the many glitches with TMDSAS's new system caused one of my evaluator's info to not appear on the "Letters of Evaluation" screen, though it appeared in the "Document Status and Request Forms" screen.

Since I had already mailed my professor the Eval request (with its unique document ID), I did not want to have to redo the Document Request to correct this. So I called TMDSAS and Interfolio to try to resolve why the request wasn't on the "Letters of Evaluation" screen. TMDSAS's response was to delete this document request.

When I called TMDSAS to see why they did this, I was told that they deleted it because it was a duplicate (my AMCAS recommendation was already on Interfolio). I told TMDSAS that it was not a duplicate because AMCAS does not use the special eval form. The person at TMDSAS replied that the TMDSAS eval form is NOT required by the med school deans.

So can anybody shed some light on whether these forms are ACTUALLY required or not? I don't want to keep harassing my recommenders with various forms. Sorry for the wall of text - I'm just frustrated here. Thanks!

 

[prone2xl]

we have GOT to figure this thing out and get an answer but I DO NOT think it's required. this one lady that I spoke with said there's a form that we can fill out ourselves waiving the right to see the letter and the evaluator does not have to fill it out.. i cannot remember what she called it, but it's something. I explained that I was using Interfolio and she said they were now using Interfolio as their doc management agency.

Yesterday when I registered for my TMDSAS account they gave me an Interfolio account!! haha I dunno man but I would love some advice from you guys on Interfolio when requesting a letter via email.. it appears the writer has to create an account???? what kind of mess is that!

 

[Rach83]

we have GOT to figure this thing out and get an answer but I DO NOT think it's required. this one lady that I spoke with said there's a form that we can fill out ourselves waiving the right to see the letter and the evaluator does not have to fill it out.. i cannot remember what she called it, but it's something. I explained that I was using Interfolio and she said they were now using Interfolio as their doc management agency.

Yesterday when I registered for my TMDSAS account they gave me an Interfolio account!! haha I dunno man but I would love some advice from you guys on Interfolio when requesting a letter via email.. it appears the writer has to create an account???? what kind of mess is that!

Well I hope it's not required, but the lady who returned my email said it was. It seems that people who actually speak to a TMDSAS person on the phone get a different answer.

 

[TXWrigley]

Prone2xl - Instead of emailing the request through Interfolio, you can select "Print Request Form," then save the form they give you as a PDF file. You can then personally email the PDF file to your recommender. That way your recommenders can just mail a physical copy of everything to Interfolio w/o having to create an account. Hope that helps.

 

[prone2xl]

thanks! i think that's what one of them did. i emailed them yesterday and offered to mail them a stamped,addressed envelope to just drop their letter in. but it seems this guy read on the instructions and saw where he could mail it in himself and said he did today.. haha we'll see if that's the case.

 

[prone2xl]

I called TMDSAS today and got a clear answer to the evaluation form question. The anwer I received was that the Evaluation form is "Recommended" but not "Required" so we can send letters in without them. which is good if you already have the letters written. hope this helps everyone. it made my day

 

[NOLA1]

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