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Faculty Letters of Evaluation

Three (3) Letters of Evaluation are required for application to UMMC SOM. At least two (2) letters must be written by a faculty member who taught the applicant, preferably in a courses used to satisfy admissions criteria. One (1) letter may be from a pre-med or research advisor.  Alternative to 3 letters, one composite evaluation from a pre-professional advisory committee will suffice. Composite letters must contain the names of faculty who participated in the evaluation of the applicant.

Supplemental letters should be kept to no more than five (5). When appropriate, a supplemental letter from an employer or a physician the applicant has shadowed may be submitted, but a supplemental letter does not replace required faculty evaluations.

Letter Content

All letters must be printed on institutional letterhead, signed by the author(s), and state the course(s) in which he/she taught the applicant.  Authors are encouraged to consult AAMC Guidelines for Writing a Letter of Evaluation for a Medical School Applicant for details.

This medical school seeks information on unique contributions that an applicant might provide to a medical school class and the presence, or absence, of any of the following Pre-Professional Core Competencies for entering medical students: 

Thinking and Reasoning Competencies

• Critical thinking
• Quantitative reasoning
• Scientific inquiry
• Written communication

Science Competencies

• Living systems
• Human behavior

Interpersonal Competencies

• Service orientation
• Social skills
• Cultural competence
• Teamwork
• Oral communication

Intrapersonal Competencies

• Ethical responsibility to self and others
• Reliability and dependability
• Resilience and adaptability
• Capacity for improvement

To learn more about the Pre-Professional Core Competencies for Entering Medical Students, please visit: aamc.org/competencies

Letter Submission

Instructions for submitting letters are provided to applicants in the American Medical College Application Service (AMCAS) application. In all cases, applicants must provide authors a letter request form generated from the applicant's AMCAS application. Letters sent directly to the medical school will not be accepted.

Letters of evaluation are submitted through the AMCAS Letter Writer Application. This application enables letter writers to upload a PDF version of their letter securely to AMCAS.   

AMCAS will acknowledge receipt of your letter; the UMMC SOM Admissions office will not. AMCAS will load .PDF files into applications and distribute your letter electronically to all medical schools indicated by the applicant in his/her AMCAS application.

Applicants who reapply must submit new evaluation letters with each application.

For more information on Letters of Evaluation please visit the AAMC's page AMCAS Application: Letters of Evaluation.