Letters of Evaluation to Medical/Dental Schools

Note: Letters of Evaluation and Letters of Recommendation are used interchangeably in this instruction sheet, the application service sites and veCollect.

Applications to Medical and Dental schools require letters of evaluation from people you know that can testify to the admissions committee about your skills and accomplishments and your overall aptitude for the professions. The traditionally recommended combination for medical school of letter writers is:

• 2-3 professors, two science faculty who have taught you in a class setting, and one non-science faculty; in some cases the second science faculty could be a research mentor
• 1-2 other evaluators of your choosing (employer, volunteer supervisor, shadowing supervisor in healthcare field; physician or dentist)
• The University of Illinois College of Medicine requires three letters from instructors in any field of study from whom the candidate has taken courses. One of the letters can be from a research mentor

The traditionally recommended combination for dental school is:

• Letters from faculty members who can attest to your ability to handle the rigors of a professional school curriculum (at least one from a science faculty member who has taught you in class)
• A letter from a dentist or work supervisor

The University of Illinois-Chicago College of Dentistry requests the following:

• Three letters or one committee letter
• Strongly recommended to submit at least one, preferably two academic references, at least one from a science faculty member who can attest to your ability to handle the rigors of a professional school curriculum
• If a letter is written by a teaching assistant it is strongly advised to have the faculty member co-sign the letter

The University of Illinois at Chicago, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Pre-Professional Advising office, uses an online program called veCollect to manage this process. Through veCollect you can contact your evaluators, they will provide letters, and eventually your advisor will submit these letters (using AMCAS, AADSAS or veClient) to the schools for which you have secondary applications. Letters of recommendation are processed in the Pre-Professional Advising office on Mondays and Thursdays.

In plain terms, veCollect provides a means to request, store and monitor letters of recommendation electronically.

Additional help is provided by veCollect via Instructional video on the right side of the screen. PLEASE watch these videos if you have any questions about the process.

Step 1: Attend a Letter of Recommendation Session offered by the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Pre-Professional Advising Office in 301 University Hall. Students must RSVP.

Step 2: Create Account in veCollect

• Go to the above web site and register for access.
• Choose Illinois as your state and University of Illinois at Chicago as your institution and complete the login and password sections
• Familiarize yourself with the process by watching the video "Registering for veCollect"
• veCollect accounts will not be activated till a student attends an information session. It typically takes three to four days for an account to be activated after it is initially opened once the student has attended an information session.
• Alumni who do not live in the Chicago land area any further may be exempt from the required session; students should email the Pre-Professional Advising office to receive this exemption.

Specific instructions for the 2013 application cycle for medical and dental school.