Career Planning > The Residency Application Process > Medical Student Performance Evaluation

Medical Student Performance Evaluation (MSPE; aka Dean's Letter)

Assignments: will be emailed to you and posted on the fourth year bulletin board in Jefferson Alumni Hall on or about June 21, 2005 . Please note: You cannot request a specific writer for your MSPE (Dean's letter).

• You may find that you do not know your assigned letter writer, and that is okay. Many of these faculty have been writing these letters for years.
• Make an appointment with your assigned letter writer early in the summer of 2005
• Please meet with him/her by August 12.
• Please provide your letter writer with a current curriculum vitae prior to or at your meeting.
• They will also be glad to comment on your personal statement if you provide it.

Generic letter : Please discuss with your letter writer whether you want your MSPE to be specific for a particular type of residency or not. We highly recommend a “generic” letter for the most flexibility. Once the letter is sent on November 1, it cannot be changed. Your personal statement and letters of recommendation should refer to the kind of residency that interests you; the Dean's Letter is a general letter of evaluation. It is, nonetheless, your choice and you should let your letter writer know your preference.

What is it?: The MSPE (dean's letter), in general, summarizes your performance over the past three years. It is not a letter of recommendation, but a performance summary. It includes the following information:

• undergraduate school and degree
• explanations of any gaps in your education, either prior to or during medical school
• USMLE Step 1 score
• Class rank
• Comments taken directly from your clinical evaluations

Clinical evaluations: Excerpts from all of your third year clinical rotation evaluations will be included in the letter. Clinical rotations completed during your fourth year will also be included if the evaluation is received in the University Registrar's office by September 16, 2006 . Please don't worry if your sub-internship grade or specialty elective evaluation did not make it onto the dean's letter. Likely, you have received a letter of recommendation from this rotation that will be included in your application.

Advanced Match Programs: Be sure to supply the Office of the Registrar with a label from the CAS to be attached to your MSPE (dean's letter).

Date sent: All MSPE's will be mailed or downloaded on November 1, 2006 to the residency programs that you designated, regardless of whether you are participating in the regular, advanced, or military match. This is true for all medical schools.

Review the letter: Please take the opportunity to review your letter in the registrar's office prior to November 1. Please look for any errors, which may be submitted, in writing, to Dr. Pohl.

Addendum: Only one addendum is allowed to your MSPE. Evaluations received after MSPE's are mailed must be in the Registrar's Office by December 3, 2005 to be included in the addendum. There is no guarantee that a program will download or read any addendums, so again, if you have a letter of recommendation that will likely suffice.