General Considerations When Writing an Evaluative Letter

  • Share an accurate assessment of the applicant’s suitability for the professional program
  • Briefly explain your relationship to the applicant (what capacity do you know the student, for how long and if your assessment is based upon direct or indirect observations)
  • The quality of the letter is more important than length. Please share as much as you can about the applicant rather than details about specific class, job, research, etc.
  • Providing GPA or test score information is not necessary unless you can provide a context to interpret them.
  • Share behaviors or character traits you have observed in the applicant and why you think they are suitable or unsuitable for the intended profession.
  • Consider the applicant you are writing for. What do you know of their background? Have there been any obstacles that they have had to overcome?
  • Does the applicant demonstrate any of the following competencies that are necessary for success at a health-professions school? No one letter writer is expected to be able to speak to every skill an applicant may have. Professional schools often require letters from different evaluators (i.e. faculty, work supervisors, healthcare professionals, research or volunteer supervisors) so that they may learn about the applicant from different perspectives.
    • Professional Competencies: commitment to learning and growth, cultural awareness, cultural humility, empathy and compassion, ethical responsibility to self and others, interpersonal skills, oral communication, reliability and dependability, resilience and adaptability, service orientation, teamwork and collaboration
    • Science Competencies: human behavior and living systems
    • Thinking and Reasoning Competencies: critical thinking, quantitative reasoning, scientific inquiry, written communication
      • Find the explanations of these competencies on the AAMC website. While these competencies are written with pre-med students in mind, these qualities are essential for any pre-health student.

Tips

  1. Review a copy of the applicant’s personal statement so that your letter of recommendation can dovetail with—not conflict with or duplicate—the rest of the application.
  2. Ask the applicant to supply you with additional information like a CV or resume.
  3. Describe your qualifications for comparing the applicant to other applicants.
  4. Try to quantify the student’s strengths or rank them vis a vis other applicants that you have observed.
  5. Avoid generalities and platitudes.
  6. Include some mild criticism, typically the flip-side of a strength.