Florida Medical & Dental Schools – Required Letters of Evaluation

PHPL Recommendation:

We strongly recommend that applicants to medical and dental schools try to obtain five letters of evaluation

(LOEs). The recommended types of the five letters of evaluation are:

 2 Science Professor LOE’s

 1 Non-Science Professor LOE

 2 Character Reference LOE’s (ex. physician you shadowed, research mentor, employers, volunteer

coordinators, etc.)

Why do we recommend these five types of LOEs?

For applicants who use the UCF Letters Packet, all letters included in the packet will be sent to all schools you

apply to. Therefore, the group of letters you obtain must meet the letter requirements for all schools you apply

to. We are aware that each medical and/or dental school will have different requirements or preferences for the

types of LOEs they want from applicants. Our goal is for your selected types of letters of evaluation to cover the

letter requirements at all schools you apply to. For example, even if some medical schools only require three

LOEs, but other medical schools require five LOEs, we want you to obtain the five LOEs so you are eligible to apply

to most all medical schools you choose to apply to. Please see the chart below for the current LOE requirements

at the Florida medical and dental schools.

School

Statements on Types of LOEs

UCF College of Medicine

The UCF MD program requires the following letters to complete a file:



Applicants are required to submit at least three, but no more than five

letters of recommendation.



At least one of your letters should be from a professor who has

taught you in a science course, and who can adequately speak to both

your academic readiness and personal suitability for the pursuit and

practice of medicine.



Non-Traditional Applicants may submit a letter from a supervisor in

lieu of the required faculty letter. Non-Traditional Applicant – an

applicant where at least one year has passed since obtaining the initial

bachelor’s degree. This applicant may have completed additional

academics possibly leading to another degree, or may have been away

from academics for several years.



Your remaining letters can come from professors, advisors, research

coordinators or preceptors, supervisors, coaches, mentors and

personal and professional colleagues. Keep in mind, if you indicate in

your application you have spent a significant amount of time with an

individual, such as a physician or research mentor, it is advisable to

have this individual submit a letter on your behalf. A physician letter is

encouraged, but not required.

Rev. 1/21



A Pre-Health Advising Committee letter/packet may fulfill our letter

requirements. Please note that our preference is for the committee

letter to be appended with the individual letters submitted to the Pre-

Health Office/Committee to support that letter. Please check with your

Pre-Health Advising Office on the format of their committee letter if

you are not sure. If individual letters are not included with the

committee letter, the applicant may wish to solicit individual letters in

addition to the committee letter.



All letters must be signed, include contact information and be on

letterhead.



Letters from family members and/or significant others will not be

accepted.

(Found at: https://med.ucf.edu/admissions/application-requirements/)

USF Morsani College of

Medicine

USF Health MCOM requires applicants submit two (2) letters of

recommendation.



While five (5) letters of recommendation are recommended, it is

REQUIRED that a minimum of two (2) letters come from science

faculty* who have taught you in a formal course: *TA (Teaching

Assistant) is not considered faculty.

Letters can originate from basic science faculty. Science faculty

includes but is not limited to: Biology, Chemistry, and Physics.



Additional letters of recommendation can be non-science faculty

letters or character letters from individuals who can speak of your

abilities and attributes outside of an academic setting. Character

letters should not be from a family member, peer or a relative.

Character letters should corroborate your experiences in AMCAS. They

should include but are not limited to: Physicians you’ve shadowed,

Research Mentors, Volunteer Coordinators/Supervisors, etc.

Non-science faculty includes but is not limited to: Math,

Psychology, English, Humanities, Anthropology, History, etc.

(Found at:

https://health.usf.edu/medicine/mdprogram/mdadmissions/recommendation)

FIU Herbert Wertheim

College of Medicine

HWCOM requires a minimum of three letters of recommendation, two from

science faculty (biology, chemistry, physics, and math) and one from any

other faculty member who has taught the applicant. If the school has a Health

Professions Advisory Committee, it is expected that the applicant will submit a

letter of recommendation from that committee with the three faculty letters

described above attached to the advisory committee letter. In addition to the

required letters, applicants can submit up to three supplemental letters from

physicians, researchers, mentors, employers, etc. Letters of recommendation

from friends or relatives are not considered. In all cases, letters should be

recent, from individuals who know the student well, and who can assess an

applicant’s personal qualities. Letters must be written on official letterhead

stationary and signed.

(Found at: https://medicine.fiu.edu/academics/degrees-and-programs/doctor-

of-medicine/admissions/application-process-a-z/letters-of-

recommendation/index.html)

FSU College of Medicine

At least three and no more than five letters of recommendation are required.

It is preferred that applicants submit two letters from science faculty who

have taught the applicant, and one letter from any other non-science faculty

Rev. 1/21

member who has taught the applicant. If a school or college provides a

Committee Letter of recommendation, that will fulfill the requirement;

however, in addition, the Admissions Committee prefers to see individual

letters of reference from faculty members who have taught applicants.

Ultimately, letters should be from people who have worked with and who

know the applicant well. People who will write the most informative and

helpful letters about an applicant's suitability to enter medical school should

be chosen.

(Found at: https://med.fsu.edu/mdAdmissions/admissionRequirements)

FAU Charles E. Schmidt

College of Medicine

We require a minimum of three letters from faculty members who have

taught the applicant. Two of these letters must be written by science faculty

members while the third can be written by either a science or non-science

faculty member. Additional letters may be submitted if they provide truly

unique information or insight into the applicant's qualifications to study

medicine.

(Found at: http://med.fau.edu/admissions/md/reqpro.php)

University of Florida College

of Medicine

The University of Florida College of Medicine requires a minimum of 3 letters.

A specific distribution of recommenders is not required.

(Found at: https://admissions.med.ufl.edu/admission-requirements/regular-

admission-requirements/)

University of Miami Miller

School of Medicine

Three letters from individual faculty members, two of whom must be science

faculty who have taught you.

(Found at: http://admissions.med.miami.edu/questions/letters-of-

recommendation-questions)

Nova Southeastern

University Dr. Kiran C. Patel

College of Allopathic

Medicine

Applicants are required to submit at least three, but no more than four letters

of recommendation. (Note: It is acceptable for UCF applicants to submit five

letters within the UCF Letters Packet.)

 At least one of your letters should be from a professor that has

taught you in a math or science course, and who can adequately

speak to both your academic readiness and personal suitability for the

pursuit and practice of medicine.

 Your remaining letters can come from professors, advisors, clinical

research coordinators or preceptors, supervisors, coaches, mentors,

and personal and professional colleagues.

(Found at: https://md.nova.edu/admissions/admissions-requirements.html)

Nova Southeastern

University Dr. Kiran C. Patel

College of Osteopathic

Medicine

Letters of recommendation from:



A physician (M.D. or D.O.)



Pre-professional committee, or if such a committee does not exist,

then three letters of recommendation are needed (two from science

professors and one non-science professor). Examples of a non-science

letter include but are not limited to English, Psychology, Mathematics,

and Humanities.

(Found at: https://osteopathic.nova.edu/do/admissions/index.html)

LECOM-Bradenton College of

Osteopathic Medicine

You may request letters of recommendation from your pre-health professions

advisor or pre-professional committee. If you are unable to obtain a pre-

professional committee letter, you may submit two letters of

recommendation from undergraduate or graduate college/university science

professors. A letter of recommendation from an osteopathic physician is

highly recommended.

(Found at: https://lecom.edu/admissions/\apply/do-applications-procedure/)

Rev. 1/21

University of Florida College

of Dentistry

Three individual letters or one committee letter are required. (Letter types

defined by ADEA). We do not require letters to be written by specific

professors or professionals.

(Found at: https://admissions.dental.ufl.edu/d-m-d/ufcd-

requirements/applicants/)

Nova Southeastern

University College of Dental

Medicine

“Three individual letters of evaluation from undergraduate instructors… Two

of these should be from science instructors and the other one from a liberal

arts instructor. If possible, these letters should be from faculty who know the

applicant’s scholastic abilities and personal character; otherwise, they should

be from individuals (nonrelatives) who can provide an evaluation to the

committee on admissions. A letter of evaluation from a dentist (highly

recommended, but not required).

(Found at: Page 14 of

https://www.nova.edu/publications/dental_brochure/16/index.html)

LECOM-Bradenton School of

Dental Medicine

LECOM requires two (2) core science letters of recommendation submitted to

AADSAS. You may submit two (2) core science letters of recommendation from

undergraduate or graduate college/university core science professors.

(Found at: https://lecom.edu/admissions/apply/lecom-dmd-application-

procedure/)