Just a quick reminder, if you are applying to ANY of the professional health schools and have gone through the Prehealth Committee, you need to submit a Release Form to our office as well as have AADSAS (DDS) send us an email. For AMCAS (MD), we also need the completed AMCAS Letter ID Form. Complete info has not yet been released about the OpTomCAS (optometry) application.
AMCAS 2009 Letter Pilot (Approx 118 Schools)
If you are applying to any of the schools listed here, please do the following:
- Complete the “AMCAS Letters of Evaluation/Recommendation Section” of the AMCAS Application
- Indicate in your AMCAS application that your letters will be in the form of a “Committee Letter” IF you have or plan to go through the UB Prehealth Committee
- Enter “Elizabeth Morsheimer” as the “Primary Author/Contact”
- As the Committee packet contains multiple other letters (4-7), it is NOT necessary for you to list those letter writers in the “Additional Authors” section of the AMCAS letters tab.
- You will be provided with a printable form containing an AMCAS letter ID. Our office in 109 Norton Hall NEEDS this form which includes your AMCAS Letter ID. You can send this to Jinny Majewski at vmajewsk@buffalo.edu or drop/mail the form off to 109 Norton Hall.
This is summarized as well under item #8 at the link.
If you came through the Prehealth Committee in April 2009 in support of a 2010 application for any of the professional schools (or plan to do so in September 2009), you will want to be sure you complete and submit a Release Form to our office (109 Norton Hall) once you begin to receive secondary applications from individual schools - MD and DO primarily. This is so our office has your permission to release your Prehealth Committee packet. We are UNABLE to send out your letters if we do not have this completed form on record in our office. If you are applying through AADSAS in support of a dental school application, you have more flexibility to release your letters at other times (earlier). The Release Form is available at the link.
You can drop this off to us, mail it to us or fax to us at 716-645-3042. Again, if we do not have a signed Release Form, we CANNOT send your letters.
Remember if you are applying to MD, DO or OD (optometry) schools check to see if the school is using VirtualEvals (VEClient) first.
Our offices uses VirtualEvals (VEClient) and *not* a system called Interfolio. If the schools do participate in VEClient, you only need to list the schools (ALL) on your Release Form and then contact us as you receive secondary applications, so that we stagger the sending of your letters over the summer as you receive and return your secondary (school specific) applications. Again, this is primarily for MD and DO schools only. You can email Virginia (Jinny) Majewski at vmajewsk@buffalo.edu as you get prompted to complete secondary applications. If the school is NOT using VEClient, you want to pre-address an envelope (available in 108 Norton) and provide the cash, check or money order for postage (please do not purchase and affix the postage yourself) ($1.50) to us so we can send your packet via US mail. Please turn in your Release Form with your prepared envelopes to 109 Norton.
For AMCAS (MD) Letter Pilot go to the link. For information on how to answer questions on your AMCAS application pertaining to your letters, please click on the link.
Please note especially items 5-8 as UB uses VEClient.
For AACOMAS (DO) please go to
the link. Most US DO schools use VEClient.
For AADSAS (DDS) please go to the link.
On this application, you will want to indicate that you have a Committee letter and only need to designate one person as the primary author. This person should be Dr. Lee Dryden, Chair of the Prehealth Committee. You can use: 109 Norton, University at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY 14260 as his contact information. Again, these guidelines presume you have or plan to come through the Committee this year for your fall 2010 application. DDS schools do not use VEClient.
** You will be asked on your AADSAS application whether our office will be submitting your letters electronically or via paper to AADSAS. We will announce this decision soon via this listserv and the Prehealth Bulletin.**
OptomCAS (Optometry) Letters
We expect an announcement over the next week or so as to how we can transmit your letters to the new central service starting July 15 for applicants to US optometry schools. We will post more information to the listserv and/or Prehealth Bulletin once it becomes available to us.
If you have questions as you are applying, please consider setting a phone or in person appointment with Dalene Aylward or Libby Morsheimer by calling 716-645-6013.
If you are applying to MD, DO (osteopathic schools) or OD schools (optometry), please consult the VirtualEvals website to see if your schools are participating in this electronic letter submission system. You can see the school by scanning down the right hand side of the web page under “Participants”. If so, we will submit your letters electronically after you complete and turn in a Release Form (PDF) following your Prehealth Committee interview and review. The Release Form can be found at the link.
If you are applying to schools that do not participate in VirtualEvals, you need to complete the Release Form as well as submit a 9 x 12 pre-addressed envelope (located in 108 Norton Hall) for each school to which you are applying (except for dental school applicants – can address one envelope to AADSAS). Postage is currently $1.50 per envelope (postal rates effective May, 11 2009) . Please pay the $1.50 by cash, money or check and do not provide the actual postage yourself as packets have been returned to our office or delayed due to insufficient postage when provided by the applicant. Again, all of these are submitted to 109 Norton Hall. We can generally forward your letters within 24-48 hours of your request.
Due to the high volume of students being processed through this spring’s Prehealth Committee and the numerous letters arriving to our office, please be patient if you inquire about the status of your letters and do not hear back from us immediately.
Whether you make an active inquiry or not, you will receive a message any time from today through early next week indicating either your interviewer assignment or informing you if all your letters have not yet been received by us.
The overall Committee schedule remains intact, so please do not be concerned about the timing of the Committee process in light of the overall professional school application process.
If you have submitted your Prehealth Committee materials in support of 2010 application to the professional health schools or plan to do so by the end of today (4/2), please note that we will begin to make interviewer assignments later next week for those students who already have at least four (4) letters submitted to our office.
Please recall that we need at least 4 letters by APRIL 15, 2009 to assign you to an interviewer and proceed with the Committee process.
Interviews are typically available from mid to late April to mid to late May.
You will receive an email from Virginia (Jinny) Majewski which will contain the name and contact information of your interviewer; you will be randomly assigned. Your interview will take place at the interview’s office at either North or South Campus. You will work to established a mutually convenient date and time with your assigned interviewer once you are provided with their contact information.
Once you receive the information regarding your Committee interviewer, please attempt to contact that person immmediately. Once your Committee interview date and time has been established, please email this information to Jinny at vmajewsk@buffalo.edu. It is imperative that we know the date of your interview as we need to get your credentials to each interviewer at least a few days BEFORE you meet with them.
Other Prehealth Advising staff may be assisting in efforts pertaining to the Committee process as well, so please keep careful watch on your email for any messages that come to you regarding the Prehealth Committee at UB.
If you plan on coming through the Committee for the April 1 deadline, please jot us quick note to let our office know. Having a sense of the total number of applicants for the spring cycle will help us to better prepare for a smooth application process.
Please just jot a quick note to Jinny Majewski at vmajewsk@buffalo.edu if you plan on coming through in April.
Thanks!
If you intend on submitting a Prehealth Committee application for spring 2009 in support of a fall 2010 application to the professional health schools, please note the following:
Your application needs to be turned in directly to Virginia (Jinny) Majewski in 109 Norton NO EARLIER THAN Tuesday, March 31, 2009.
Please do not DROP OFF your application to Jinny or any other staff member in the 109 office area or Quick Question (QQ) Window. You will need to physically sit down with Jinny for 5-7 minutes to assure you are submitting a complete application as well as sign some required documents.
If your last name begins with A-L, please submit your completed application any time from 9:00-12:00 or 1:00-4:00 on Wednesday, April 1.
If your last begins with M-Z, please submit any time from 9:00-12:00 or 1:00-4:00 Thursday, April 2.
***Please recall that you need at least 4 individual letters of recommendation in to our office by April 15 in order to be assigned an interviewer and continue with Committee process. Please do not ask or expect us to extend a deadline for you. If we attempted to do so, it would delay the Committee letters for ALL applicants.
Please be sure your Prehealth Committee Data Sheet is COMPLETE. Many times applicants fail to report their SAT scores, fail to include their BCPM (science GPA) or fail to answer question #12. In regard to question #12, please think back carefully over the last several years you may have been in attendance in college to recall any disciplinary action, community service hours (however minimal). Several students have had events that they have failed to report. You will then sign that you authorize us to run your name by the Office of Judicial Affairs as well as the Office of Academic Integrity. You are best advised to report any incident or consult our office first if you have questions or concerns.
For items 7-9 on the Prehealth Committee Data Sheet, please do not simply include a resume. You may cut and paste from an existing resume to address each of the numbered questions. Please use a resume style or bullet format in answering the questions. It is important that you includes relevant dates, times, and total hours where applicable. Please detail your responsibilities for any employment or volunteering, what you may have witnessed if you shadowed, etc. You may enter up to SIX clinical shaodwing or volunteer experiences only. We realize you may need to leave out certain experiences or limit what you report. See pages 4-7.
For the BCPM worksheet, if you have AP credit for a subject, just indicate “AP” and do not include credit hours, a grade, etc. For any courses you are completing during the spring 2009 semester, please note for us that the course is “In Progress” by either typing these words or neatly hand writing them. Please do not record any credit hours. Please be sure to refer to the BCPM Instructions on page 3 for any other questions.
If you are applying to MD, DDS, optometry, podiatry, chiropractic or vet schools, please include ALL repeated courses. As per the instructions, you do not need to include a first attempt of a course (if you repeated it) for “DO only” applications.
Please be sure to begin to complete the application several days ahead and ask any questions to us in a timely manner. Late March and early April will be an extremely busy time as multiple students will be seeking our assistance. In other words, do not leave the application to the last minute.
If you wish for Libby or Dalene to review your personal statement, please email it to us at least 2-3 days ahead of time and set an appointment so that we might go over it with you. Please leave ample time as appointments will book several days to perhaps more than a week ahead of time. Remember to call 645-6013 for an appointment.
These hours are unavailable for today and tomorrow. Unless you have a item of an urgent nature, please make any inquiries pertaining to your letters for the Committee next week.
If you have recently attempted to complete this application, please note that the application is currently under revision. Please wait for at least another week to complete and print it out. This application is not due to our office until April 1, 2009.
