veCollect Update - Prehealth Committee April 1, 2010

veCollect Update

This is an update as to where we are in terms of implementing a paperless reference letter system for use by the Prehealth Committee. It will directly affect anyone applying to the April 1, 2010 Prehealth Committee for a fall 2011 admission.

We are currently in contact with the vendor confirming several features to assure that the process runs smoothly when we begin the actual transition. We would like to see the complete testing of all the features to assure that the process is seamless once we open it up to the UB prehealth student population. As our institution involves a large population of potential users, our primary concern is the convenience and efficiency for all users involved (e.g., students, evaluators, professional schools). As such, we are going to reexamine where the vendors are at in early January 2010 before we open the veCollect system. In the interim, we will allow applicants to begin to request and collect letters using the system we have been using for the past several years.

Effective immediately, you can begin to ask recommenders for a letter and they have the option to submit them to our office before January. In order to have letters submitted to our office, you must first complete the top portion of the Letter of Recommendation Request Form and then give it to your recommender. He or she will then provide the reference and submit it to our office via paper. Please note that if they attach a letter of recommendation as opposed to using the actual form, the letter needs to be on letterhead stationery with their signature. Letterhead paper and the evaluator’s signature are REQUIRED. We will need to return any letters not on letterhead and/or missing a signature.

If, by early January the veCollect system is running to our satisfaction, we will send you an authorization code to open an account after you have attended a veCollect workshop. All workshops for fall 2009 and spring 2010 will be posted at the link.

Once veCollect is up and running, you will simply add the names of any evaluators on veCollect who may have already submitted letters for you via paper between now (November) and January. Our office will upload the paper letters into the veCollect letter system for you once you have opened an account and have created an entry for your evaluators.

Any questions you have can be answered by any of the prehealth advisors in 109 Norton Hall. Please set an appointment by calling 645-6013. Quicker questions can be answered via email. Jinny Majewski (vmajewsk@buffalo.edu) administrative support to the Prehealth Committee can assist you as well with any veCollect logistical questions.

Thank you for your patience while we make this transition. Again, the efficiency, accuracy, and convenience of the system for all users remains our primary goal.

Posted November 5, 2009 in Getting Ready to Apply, Letters of Recommendation, Prehealth Services