First, open a file with the Health Professions Office.   For health professional programs, there are two ways to handle letters of recommendation.

  1.  For medical and dental school, letters are generally collected and stored over the time you are an undergraduate. We have Letters of Recommendation Request forms available in our office and on our website under HPO Forms. These should only be used for letters supporting application to medical and dental schools. It is important that the front portion of the form be completed. The evaluator needs to know whether the Privacy Rights Waiver has been signed. Letter writers should be asked to submit a typed, signed statement on letterhead. Letters can be submitted via email, campus mail, regular mail, fax, and in person. If a student is delivering a letter written on his or her behalf, it must be in a sealed envelope with the letter writer’s signature across the seal. Letters accepted via email as long as they are in a signed PDF file format. Students can ask faculty for letters at any time.  When you are ready to apply, letters are selected and sent to the application service. If you have an HPO file, you have waived your right to see those letters, and we will select the best letters in your file to send.                                                                                                
  2.  Most other health professions graduate programs only accept letters of recommendation through their application portal, examples include optometry (OPTOMCAS), public health (SOPHAS), physician assistant (CASPA), physical therapy (PTCAS) & occupational therapy (OTCAS). These forms are part of the application, and students ask for these letters at the time of application and should not have them sent to the HPO. Go to the professional graduate program website and follow their instructions precisely.

 

 

Sending HPO Letters