Letters of Recommendation for Medical/Dental/Veterinary Schools

Wesleyan students and graduates (up to five years out) who are applying to medical, dental, or veterinary school are eligible to receive an institutional letter of support for their application from Wesleyan’s Health Professions Panel.  The panel presently has ten members, half of whom are faculty members and half career counselors. While not all colleges and universities offer this confidential, composite letter of recommendation, it is considered very important by admissions committees in their evaluation and selection process.*

In writing our  "panel" or "committee" letter, we make use of information provided by the applicant -- transcripts, a very detailed resume, a personal statement addressing their interest in and suitability for medicine, an interview, and the individual letters of recommendation requested by the applicant and sent to our credential service.   In drafting the panel letter, we often quote directly from individual letters of recommendation, citing your name and title. Because applicants waive their right to read the panel letter, your letter remains confidential. The completed panel letter is sent out to the applicant's designated schools accompanied by all of the individual letters of recommendation that are used in the development of the panel letter.

To be of benefit to Wesleyan applicants, our panel letters must be highly credible and well documented, presenting a clear and individualized portrait of each applicant's abilities and commitment to their chosen health profession.   If you have been asked to write a letter of recommendation, it is most helpful to us if your letter is candid and specific.

• Please be sure to state how and how well you know the applicant.  If you do not feel that you know the candidate well enough to write a strong letter on their behalf, please decline.  If you do feel that you know the applicant reasonably well, it is still appropriate to ask for additional information about her/his academic preparation, employment, community service, research experience, and extracurricular activities.   Hopefully, you will be able to spend some time talking with the applicant about her/his interest in the field and practice of medicine.  
• In your letter you may wish to address the following: communication skills (both oral and written), including listening; observational abilities, comprehensive vision and attention to detail; qualities of mind, such as capacity for critical thinking and the ability to grasp, analyze, and synthesize information and ideas; capacity  for sustained hard work and commitment; cross-disciplinary fluency; organizational, problem-solving, and interpersonal skills; personal qualities, such as maturity, responsibility, and integrity. 
• Most importantly, consider what qualities and abilities you value in a physician, dentist, or veterinarian and whether you believe this individual has the capacity to become a skilled health care professional. Because there are many individuals who are very capable and well suited for other professions, but not medicine, make sure that you specify at some point in your letter that you are recommending this person for medical school.  

Please be sure your letter includes your full name and title and is printed on letterhead stationary.  Your signature on the letter certifies that it was written in its entirety by you on behalf of the applicant.

We appreciate the great care and thoughtfulness that characterize the letters of recommendation written for our applicants to medical school. Should you have any questions about the work of the Wesleyan Health Professions Panel or the panel letter process for Wesleyan  students and graduates, please contact Peggy Carey Best, Health Professions Advisor and Chair of the Wesleyan Health Professions Panel, Ext. 3726. Questions about the Credential Service may be directed to the Credential Service Coordinator, Alice Scholar, Ext. 3367.

*Because some undergraduate institutions refuse to provide a panel or committee letter to applicants whom they do not consider “good candidates,” applicants who graduated from Wesleyan more than five years ago and are no longer eligible for a panel letter receive a cover letter from our credential service.  The cover letter states our panel letter policy and notes that the lack of a panel letter does not reflect a negative judgment about this applicant’s suitability for medicine.  It is Wesleyan's policy to provide an institutional letter of recommendation to any student or eligible graduate who requests it and provides the requisite documentation; we appropriately leave the decision-making up to the graduate schools.

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