Students
Pre-Professional Advising Services

Credential Service for Pre-Medical Students

The College of Letters and Science provides a "Letters of Evaluation" credential service for students who plan to apply to medical school. Letters of evaluation are a vital part of your application to medical school and should be collected while you are in attendance at UWM. Evaluations can be used only for applications to professional schools; they may not be used for graduate school or scholarship applications.

How the service works:

  1. Complete a Request to Open Letter of Reference File form (Word, pdf 41kb) and the waiver statement (Word, pdf 31kb). Return these forms to the Pre-Medical Advising Office in Holton Hall Room 142.

  2. Select evaluators on whom you can rely to complete the forms in a timely fashion.

    • Four evaluators normally are selected. You should select individuals who can provide as complete a picture of you as possible without getting needless duplication (i.e. two professors of organic chemistry may provide very similar evaluations). Consider staying with four letters unless you feel you will be adding something very significant with a fifth or sixth letter.

    • Generally, two evaluations should be from a science professor, one from a humanities or social science professor, and a third should be a personal evaluation (e.g. from a work supervisor, club leader, etc.). A few schools will request a different configuration of evaluations. (Note: UW-Madison requires four letters of evaluation. Three academic letters and one non-academic letter. The Medical College of Wisconsin requires two letters. Two science faculty letters OR one Science faculty letter and a second faculty letter from any department in the social sciences or humanities. The letters must come from instructors who taught you in a classroom setting, not a lab, research project, or independent study.

    • Some medical schools require a letter of recommendation from the Pre-Med Advisor. You need to go through the same process to request a letter of reference from the pre-medical advisor as with any other source.

  3. Speak with each potential evaluator and secure that individual's agreement to write an evaluation. In large lecture courses, first contact the professor. If you feel the TA knows you quite well and has much to contribute, you might mention that fact to the professor. Ask the professor if the TA's name should be included on the evaluation form. Some professors have indicated they prefer not to write letters for students they do not know well, so do not hesitate to discuss with each potential evaluator the nature and depth of the evaluation he/she will provide. If the professor indicates that he/she can write only a very superficial evaluation, you may ask the TA to do it. Some evaluators will only write letters of evaluation for students who waive their right of access to the letter. If you plan to retain your right of access to your letters of evaluation, you must inform the evaluator of this. Our office will also notify evaluators as to the confidentiality of their letters.

  4. Identify individuals from whom you will request letters of evaluation.

  5. Once an evaluator has agreed to write a letter, consider sending him/her a transcript and a summary that includes your goals and interests. This shows a degree of organization and motivation. In addition, preparing the summary will help you verbalize your strengths and goals, as well as your weaknesses.

  6. After you have secured agreement from evaluators, please complete the Letters of Reference Request to Advising Office form (Word, pdf 41kb).

  7. Evaluation requests will be sent from the advising office to the evaluators. Evaluations will be returned to the advisor's office where they will be kept on file until you request that they be sent to the professional schools. (This occurs after you receive secondary applications from medical schools.)

  8. Be sure to inform your evaluators of deadlines for completing their evaluations. You should expect that it might take three weeks or longer from the time you request an evaluation until the completed evaluation is returned.

  9. It is your responsibility to determine if the letters of evaluation have been received in the Pre-Medical Advising Office. You may call the pre-medical advising office (229-3922) or send an email (pacobb@uwm.edu) to check on the status of your letters. You must follow-up with evaluators when they have not been received.

  10. As soon as a professional school sends you a letter requesting your letters of evaluation, complete a "TRANSMITTAL REQUEST FORM" (Word, pdf 47kb). Requests made less than ten (10) working days before deadlines are not guaranteed to be accommodated on time. However, turn-around time is normally about 1-3 days.

  11. Evaluations are not altered before they are forwarded to the professional schools. Photocopies of the letters are sent.

  12. This is a free and optional service to students at UWM. Letters will be kept on file for a maximum of three years after graduation.