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Letters of Recommendation

We require 3 letters of recommendation.  If you desire, you may provide a fourth letter from a person associated with a particularly significant extracurricular experience.  If your school has a Premedical Advisory Committee, the committee report is required and will satisfy your letter requirement.

We encourage applicants to provide letters from a variety of individuals qualified to assess personal (as well as academic) qualities, such as work ethic, reliability, communication skills, leadership, altruism, compassion, and motivation for medicine.

You may provide one of the following:

  1. Committee Letter* -  your school submits a committee letter or comprehensive report (which may or may not include individual letters).  If your committee report includes fewer than 3 individual letters, you may submit up to 3 additional individual letter(s); however, your total number of letters cannot exceed 4. 
  2. Packet of Letters* -  your school submits a packet of at least 3 (but no more than 4) individual letters.
  3. Individual Letters - individual letters are submitted to AMCAS directly from the letter writers. This selection requires 3 letters (2 academic and 1 of your choice), but no more than 4.

*Please check with your school to determine how many letters it includes in its submission.

The Carver College of Medicine is participating in the AMCAS Letter Service. All letters must be submitted through AMCAS.  Please do not send any letters directly to Carver College of Medicine.

Once letters have been accepted, no substitutions or additions may be made. As a results, please us know if you have any questions before you designate your letters.

A few additional notes:

An academic letter may come from anyone with whom you have shared a meaningful academic experience (classroom, thesis, research, etc.).

Nontraditional applicants who are several years removed from school may be better served with individual letters from more recent experiences.

For MD/PhD applicants ONLY, one letter must come from the research mentor of your most significant research experience.  If you have had several research experiences of equal significance, choose the mentor who best knows your research skills and commitment to a career in biomedical research.  If your research mentor's letter is not included in a packet or committee letter, you may designate an individual letter for the person.

Postbaccalaureate/Special Master's Program:  If you are participating in a program that issues a comprehensive report, please designate this report in place of a Premedical Advisory Committee Report.