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Recommendations
and Evaluations
Recommendations/Evaluations
Health professions schools
generally request letters of evaluation/recommendation for all applicants.
Recommendations may be sent by faculty from whom the student has taken
courses or a letter from a pre-health (premedical, predental, prepharmacy, etc.) professions
committee. In general, admission committees prefer letters from the pre-health
professions committee and several require committee letters when such
a committee exists at the undergraduate college or university.
Saint
Louis University, Preprofessional Health Studies Committee on Evaluations
Students who enter Saint Louis University as freshmen and intend to complete
undergraduate studies in four years and enter a professional school the
following year are evaluated by the Committee during their junior year
of college. Transfer students are evaluated during the year preceding
application to health professions schools.
The
Committee on Evaluations
The Committee is composed of the Director and Assistant Director of Preprofessional
Health Studies and eleven faculty from the College of Health Sciences,
the College of Arts and Sciences, Parks College. Four faculty represent
the natural science departments of Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics and
Computer Science, and Physics (Parks College). Four members represent
the humanities departments and social science departments with two members
from each division, and two members from the College of Health Sciences and one member from Biomedical Engineering (Parks College).
The
2007-2008 Committee
Alexa Barnoski Serfis, Ph.D., Committee Chairperson, Director, Preprofessional
Health Studies and Professor of Chemistry
Richard Sanker, Ph.D. , Committee Vice-Chairperson, Assistant Director, Preprofessional Health Studies
Nancy Shee, M.A., Program Coordinator, Preprofessional Health Studies
Michael Tsau, Ph.D., Professor of Mathematics and Computer Science
Rev. Edwin Lisson, S.J., Ph.D., Associate Professor of Theological
Studies
Judith Durham, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Chemistry
Elisabeth Heard , Ph.D., Assistant Professor of English
Virginia
K. Kettenbach, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Physical Therapy
William Thacker, Ph.D., Professor and Chair, Department of Physics
Scott Berman, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Philosophy
William Stark, Ph.D., Professor of Biology
Frances Horvath, M.D., Dean and Professor Emeritus, Doisy College of Health Sciences
Hubert Benitez, D.D.S., Recruitment Specialist, Doisy College of Health Sciences
Michael D. Ward, Ph.D., Assistant Dean, Doisy College of Health Sciences
Requesting Evaluations by the Committee
Students who wish a recommendation from the Pre-health Committee on Evaluations
request evaluation early in the junior year. The evaluation process begins
the middle of September with a meeting of interested students. The Committee
sets several requirements for the evaluation process.
- Overall
Cumulative Average of 3.0 or above.
- Overall
Math/Science (Biology, Chemistry, Math, Physics) Cumulative Average
of 3.0 or above.
- Completion
of all entrance requirements by the end of the evaluation year.
The Evaluation Process
Although use of the Committee represents more work for the applicant,
there are dividends. The Committee will develop a file for each student
which includes the following items:
- An
Interview Report: You will be interviewed by a member of the Committee.
This interview represents your rehearsal for the interviews conducted
by professional schools when you apply.
- Evaluations
by faculty from whom you have taken courses.
- A
"Personal Statement" which includes a discussion of "Why I want to be a Physician (Dentist, Optomitrst, etc.) This essay will be reviewed by the Committee and will be included in the AMCAS (or other) application for professional school.This essay represents another opportunity for you to sell yourself to
admissions committees.
- A
modified AMCAS application. This form provides the Committee with background
information which helps to define who you are.
- Your
academic record. High grades are impressive but are not the only academic
considerations deemed important by admissions committees. Your choice
of courses is important as well as whether you sought to challenge yourself
by taking sections which required more reading and more writing. Will
your selection of courses provide a foundation on which you can perform
well in a professional school? Admissions committees today look for
evidence that you have developed an ability to "effectively acquire,
synthesize, apply and communicate information."
- Letters
from employers, volunteer supervisors, and other relevant sources. These
documents are screened by the Committee. If the information is appropriate,
they are copied and sent along with the Committee Letter. If these letters
contain inappropriate comments, the Committee will extract useable portions
and include that information in the letter we prepare.
The
letter prepared by the Committee is held in high regard by health professions
schools to which Saint Louis University students typically apply. They
look for the Committee Letter. The Committee exists to serve Saint Louis
University students by presenting them in a positive, honest manner.
For further information or
questions contact the Office of Preprofessional Health Studies:
Carol Matthews
314 Verhaegen Hall
Phone: 977-2840
Email: prehealth@slu.edu
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