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LETTERS OF EVALUATION PROCESS FOR

MEDICAL/DENTAL SCHOOL APPLICANTS

Brief Outline of Enclosed Information

Action item Page number

1. Creating an account with Interfolio

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2. Requesting a letter from an evaluator

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3. Requesting your HPO Cover Letter

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4. Regarding letters of evaluation sent to

the Health Professions Office and

reapplicants

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5. TMDSAS Document Request Form

(applies to TMDSAS applicants only)

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6. Uploading Your AMCAS Letter

Request (applies to AMCAS applicants

only)

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7. AMCAS: Assigning Your Letters of

Evaluation (applies to AMCAS

applicants only)

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8. Uploading your AADSAS Letters of

Evaluation Matching Form (applies to

AADSAS applicants only)

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9. Sending out your letters to the

professional schools

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1. Creating an account with Interfolio:

Go to our home page (http://cns.utexas.edu/hpo) and click on the “Interfolio Instructions” link at the bottom of the page.

Then click the link that says “Click here to sign-up” to create your account.

• Our special offer code, which is automatically inputted (UTCNS), is applied so that you may take advantage of any

special offer that the University of Texas Health Professions Office has with Interfolio.

• For “Terms of Service,” check off that you agree.

• For “Affiliation,” University of Texas—Austin, Health Professions, should be automatically entered. If for some

reason it is not, contact Interfolio at 877-77-FOLIO to make the change.

• Once you create your account, go to “Account Settings” and then “Edit my info” to include any of your relevant

application ID numbers (TMDSAS, AMCAS/AAMC, AADSAS, AACOMAS).

• If you created your Interfolio account through the TMDSAS application and your Interfolio account settings

don’t indicate that you are affiliated with University of Texas--Austin, Health Professions, please contact Interfolio

at their toll-free number (877 77 FOLIO) so that they can correct this for you.

This is very important, because if you are not affiliated with our office we cannot review your letters.

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2. Requesting a letter from an evaluator:

• From your Interfolio homepage, click on the “Documents” tab at the top of the screen. Then click on the “Add

Document” tab.

• Select document type: “Confidential Letter of Recommendation.” Although you have the option to choose “Non-

confidential letter of recommendation,” we always recommend that you choose the confidential letter option.

• The document title for all academic evaluations should conform to the following style:

Dr. [Last name]-[SUBJECT TAUGHT]

EXAMPLE: Dr. Professor-CHEMISTRY

• The document title for requests to non-academic evaluators (such as job supervisors, volunteer coordinators, or health

professionals) is your choice.

• Due to the frequency of email requests being blocked by spam filters, we strongly recommend printing up the request

form and giving it to the evaluator (in person, by mail, or by fax).

• Click on “Create placeholder and generate request form.”

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An Interfolio evaluation request (“document request”) form will appear onscreen. This is the form that you print and

submit to your evaluator. Note that you do have the option to save the form as a PDF in the event you need to send the

form electronically to an evaluator.

• This unique form has a special ID number, as well as your name, the date, and the title of the request for evaluation

printed on it.

• The form instructs your evaluator on how to submit their letter.

• They can do this online or through the postal mail (to Interfolio in Washington, DC).

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3. Requesting your HPO Cover Letter:

Do NOT request your HPO cover letter until your committee packet is complete. To clarify, this means you

have the requisite three (3) academic letters, of which at least one (1) is from a science professor/instructor. REMINDER: To qualify for a Health Professions Committee cover letter from our office, you are required to have the following

documents in your Interfolio account: (A) Three (3) academic letters of evaluation. These should be from university-level faculty members and instructors who

have taught you in a class for which you received course credit and can compare you to other students. Academic or

health professions advisors are also acceptable.

(B) At least one (1) of these academic letters MUST be from a science faculty. Many out-of-state schools require two (2)

science academic evaluators. These science evaluators must fall into one of the following categories: Biology,

Chemistry, Physics, Math, Biomedical Engineering, or Chemical Engineering. [FOR OUT-OF-STATE SCHOOLS,

PLEASE CHECK WITH THE INDIVIDUAL SCHOOLS TO CONFIRM THAN BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING

AND CHEMICAL ENGINEERING PROFESSORS FULFILL THEIR SCIENCE EVALUATOR CRITERIA.]

(C) At least one of these academic evaluators must be from UT Austin.

• From your Interfolio homepage, click on the “Documents” tab at the top of the screen. Then click on the “Add

Document” tab.

• Select document type: “Cover Letter.”

• Title the document: HPO Cover Letter

• For document format, select “3rd

Party Document Addition”

• Print up the request form generated; write your TMDSAS/AMCAS/AACOMAS/AADSAS ID numbers (whichever

are relevant to your situation) legibly somewhere on the page; and submit it to our office in PAI 5.03 in person, by

mail, or via fax (512-471-6701).

• The HPO will then check that you have the required letters of evaluation in your Interfolio account, and if you meet the

requirements listed above, we will upload your cover letter. This process generally takes 1 – 2 business days.

• Once all of your letters are in your Interfolio account and we have uploaded your cover letter, it is up to you to send out

your packet of letters to the schools you are applying to by going to the “My Deliveries” tab on Interfolio.

Specific information about deliveries using Interfolio is explained on Page 12 of this document.

4. Regarding letters of evaluation sent to the Health Professions Office and

REAPPLICANTS:

If you believe that any of your letters of evaluation were sent by mistake to the Health Professions Office rather than to

Interfolio, or if you are a reapplicant who still has paper letters on file in our office, PLEASE CONTACT US IF YOU WOULD

LIKE THOSE LETTERS UPLOADED TO YOUR INTERFOLIO ACCOUNT. Email us at hpo@mail.utexas.edu to make the

request and make sure to mention the specific names of the evaluators whose letters you would like us to upload.

Reapplicants should also be sure to request a new cover letter for their Health Professions Committee packet, even if they still

have one in their Interfolio account from the previous application cycle. If your letters are more than 2 years old or have

already been used for 2 application cycles, you will need to get new letters before requesting our cover letter.

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5. TMDSAS Document Request Form (applies to TMDSAS applicants only) The Letters of Evaluation section of the TMDSAS application will ask you some specific information about your letters. Please

select the appropriate options, as outlined in these instructions.

• Select “Health Professions Committee packet” from the options offered.

• Under “Letter of Evaluation” select “University of Texas at Austin*” from the pull-down menu.

• Click “Request Form” and the application service will indicate that your request has been submitted. You may print up

the form for your personal records, if you like, but you will not need to include it in your letters packet or submit it

anywhere. Because the UT Austin Health Professions Office is already affiliated with Interfolio, our students

should ignore this form once it has been generated. Creating the empty placeholder by simply generating the form is

sufficient. Do not delete the placeholder after you create it.

• Under “Extra Letter” indicate that you will not be submitting an extra letter.

• Click “Save and Continue.”

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6. Uploading Your AMCAS Letter Request (applies to AMCAS applicants only)

Section 6 of AMCAS will ask you some specific information about your Letters of Evaluation. It important for you to follow

these steps to ensure that your Interfolio packet will arrive at the AMCAS schools:

After choosing “Yes”, you will be prompted to choose between a “Committee Letter”, “Letter Packet”, OR “Individual Letter”.

Choose the “Committee Letter” option and click “Continue”:

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At this point you will choose “University of Texas At Austin” from the pull down menu and click “Continue”:

You will then be asked to provide some specific information about our Health Professions Office here at UT-Austin.

To clarify, the Health Professions Office director is Dr. Ray Easterlin, the email address is hpo@mail.utexas.edu , and the

contact phone number is (512) 471-3172. Providing this information accurately to AMCAS will ensure your letter will be

appropriately matched with your account.

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After completing the following information you will then be asked if you want to prepare and print your Letter Request Form.

Select “Yes”.

Once the PDF document has been generated save the document to your desktop. You are now ready to upload the AMCAS

Letter Request Form into your Interfolio account.

Within the Interfolio system, under the “Documents” tab, select the “Add Document” tab and type the appropriate information

listed below, browse your desktop to find the AMCAS Letter Request Form, and upload the document to Interfolio:

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7. AMCAS: Assigning Your Letters of Evaluation (applies to AMCAS applicants

only)

After you have designated within AMCAS that you will be using the “Committee Letter” option and have included all the

appropriate information you are told:

“You have not yet assigned this letter to any medical schools.

You will be able to assign this letter to medical schools in the Medical Schools section of the application.”

After clicking “Done” on the previous page, you will then be asked which AMCAS schools you will be applying to. After

answering some simple questions about that particular AMCAS institution and advancing to the next part of the application, you

will be asked to “Select Your Letters of Evaluation/Recommendation for XXXX College of Medicine.” (In the example listed

below we have used Baylor College of Medicine.) Please choose the option “Ray Easterlin, HPO Packet (#######)” and click “Continue.”

#######

#######

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At this point you will be shown a summary page that indicates where you are applying and if the school has been assigned the

proper Health Professions Packet from UT Austin. It also gives you the option of adding more schools if you choose to apply to

additional institutions. When you have completed this section, click “Done.”

Proceed to Section 9 (page 14) of this instruction document for instructions on how to send your letters to AMCAS using

Interfolio.

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8. Uploading your AADSAS Letters of Evaluation Matching Form (applies to

AADSAS applicants only)

The AADSAS application will ask you for some specific information about your letters of evaluations. It important for you to

follow these steps to ensure that your letters of evaluation packet will be delivered accurately to AADSAS.

• Select “PAPER” as Reference Type

• Select “WAIVE your right of access” to see your letters (this means they are confidential)

• Reference title/name: DR. RAY EASTERLIN

• Contact info for form: 1 University Station A2900, Austin, TX 78712; 512 471-3172; hpo@mail.utexas.edu

• For “Is this a committee letter,” select YES

Once you have submitted this information and generated your AADSAS LOE Matching Form, print up the document, fill it out

and sign it as needed, and then scan it into PDF format. Save the PDF version of your completed Matching Form to your

computer’s desktop. You are now ready to upload the AADSAS LOE Matching Form to your Interfolio account.

(AADSAS LOE Matching Form instructions continued on next page)

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Within the Interfolio system, under the “Documents” tab, select the “Add Document” tab. Choose “AADSAS Letter of

Evaluation Form” from the “Select Document Type” pull-down menu. Then browse your desktop to find the AADSAS LOE

Matching Form, and upload the document to Interfolio:

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9. Sending out your letters to the professional schools:

From your Interfolio homepage, go to the “Deliveries” tab at the top of the screen. Click on “Add a Delivery” and

continue following the instructions onscreen.

Make sure to include your HPO cover letter at the front of your letters of evaluation packet when you send them out to the schools to which you are applying. You will do this by simply selecting the HPO Cover Letter document

along with the evaluation documents when you are prepared to send your packet. Additionally, you have the ability to

select the order that your letters will appear in your packet by clicking on the blue arrows.

When you submit your Health Professions Committee packet to the medical and dental application services and

individual schools, please make sure you request and include your HPO committee cover letter. The professional

schools will not accept your letters of evaluation as a Health Professions Committee letter/packet if the HPO cover letter

is not part of your packet. Not including the HPO cover letter will cause your packet to be incomplete and will

delay the processing of your application.

The fastest option for sending out your letters to the professional schools and services is electronic. Most schools will

accept your letters electronically from Interfolio. However, if a school will not accept letters of evaluation electronically

from Interfolio, you will be given several different postal mailing options to select from.

NOTE TO AADSAS APPLICANTS: Make sure to fill out and sign your ADEA Matching Form (which is part of the

AADSAS application) and upload it electronically to your Interfolio account or else mail it to Interfolio so they can

upload it for you. This form should be included at the front of the HPO committee packet that you send to AADSAS. If

you are applying to AADSAS schools, you should send your letters directly to AADSAS itself and NOT to the

individual schools you are applying for. These schools have a centralized letters of evaluation procedure.

NOTE TO AMCAS APPLICANTS: Most AMCAS schools (including Baylor) are now participating in the centralized

AMCAS Letters Service program that requires you to send your letters directly to AMCAS, rather than to those

individual schools. The Interfolio system should automatically prompt you on how to accommodate these schools. It is

important to include your AMCAS Letter Request Form at the front of your packet when sending to AMCAS. Please

note: There are still a few schools not participating in the centralized AMCAS Letters Service; for those schools, you

will send your letters packet directly to the individual schools themselves.

Interfolio asks students submitting letters to AMCAS to type in the AMCAS Letter ID number for each document you

are sending as part of your letters packet. You will type in the same number (found on the form you generated in Action

Item 6 on Page 7 of this document) for each document. AMCAS views your Health Professions letters packet as a

single entity, which is why all of your letters should be assigned the same AMCAS Letter ID number.

NOTE TO TMDSAS APPLICANTS: As you are filling out the online TMDSAS application, you will be prompted to

generate a TMDSAS Document Request Form. Although it is important to generate the form, you do not need to do

anything with it. You can keep it in your personal files if you like or simply discard it, but as a UT Austin student you

do not need to submit it with your letters packet to TMDSAS. However, please do not delete the committee packet

placeholder that will be generated in your online account when you create the form. (continued on next page)

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(TMDSAS delivery instructions, cont.)

When you are ready to send your letters packet to TMDSAS, you will send your HPO cover letter and letters of

evaluation directly to TMDSAS and NOT to the individual school you are applying to. This service has a centralized

letters of evaluation procedure.

NOTE TO AACOMAS APPLICANTS: If you are applying to AACOMAS schools, you should send your letters to

the individual schools you are applying to and NOT to the service itself. This service has a decentralized letters of

evaluation procedure.

AACOMAS AADSAS AMCAS TMDSAS

Requires form

to be submitted

with letters

packet?

NO YES:

Matching Form

YES:

Letter Request

Form

NO; it is important to

generate the Document

Request Form, but do not

actually include it in your

packet

Where does

student send

letters packet?

To individual

schools

To AADSAS

directly

To AMCAS

directly for schools

using AMCAS

Letters Service; to

individual schools

in all other cases

To TMDSAS directly

(For additional help, contact Interfolio via their online Help Desk or by calling 877-77-FOLIO

You may also contact the UT Austin Health Professions Office at 512-471-3172 or hpo@mail.utexas.edu.)