Skip to content

Medical Student Performance Evaluation

Dr. Erica Friedman sitting at a table with a student while they talk; bookshelves are in the background.

Medical Student Performance Evaluation (MSPE), also referred to as the Dean’s Letter, is written by Penn State College of Medicine deans or faculty advisors. The MSPE gives a summative evaluation of a student’s performance in medical school up until the time of residency application. It focuses on  Phases I, II performance. The MSPE gives program directors valuable information about a student’s competencies that may not be conveyed in a student transcript or USMLE Step scores. The document becomes a permanent portion of a student’s medical education portfolio and can be used for post residency training applications.

In order to create these letters for each fourth year medical student, deans or faculty advisors meet with students individually to discuss the letter’s content. Ahead of their MSPE meeting, students are responsible for reviewing all their clerkship comments (which cannot be altered other than by course directors), drafting their noteworthy characteristics, providing details regarding any breaks in their education, dual degree programs and submitting the title and advisor(s)of their medical student research project. Faculty will help edit the noteworthy characteristics and are responsible for creating a summary paragraph about each student.

The MSPE contains five sections:

Jump to topic

Search

Identifying Information Expand answer

This includes your name, medical school and location.

Noteworthy Characteristics Expand answer

The MSPE Noteworthy Characteristics give students the opportunity to provide evidence of the unique attributes they would like to highlight in their application. Past students have chosen to include leadership, global health, creative contributions to the College of Medicine/local community, adverse and challenging experiences where they have demonstrated resilience, research, scholarly activities and significant extracurricular activities.

All documents and resources related to Noteworthy Characteristics can be found in the Phase III Events and Resources canvas course.

Academic History Expand answer

Provides dates for matriculation, graduation, leaves of absence/breaks in education, dual degree programs and any repeated courses/information related to adverse actions by the medical school.

Academic Progress Expand answer

Covers professional and academic performance in Phases I, II, and III. Reasons for and remediation of Academic Probation (either for medical knowledge and/or professionalism) are noted. Phase I preclinical coursework successful completion as well as MSR are summarized. Phase II core clinical experience grades and summary of comments are listed. Grades but no comments are listed for courses as long as grades are supplied prior to August 1 of the application year.

Summary Expand answer

This is a short paragraph written by the MSPE letter writer that summarizes and highlights the student. Penn State College of Medicine does not rank students and follows the AAMC MSPE recommendation to not provide an adjective or overall rating.

The Office of Student Affairs manages the MSPE process for all students applying to residency programs and uploads letters on behalf of students even beyond their graduation date should the need arise. Students have the opportunity to review their letter during their MSPE meeting and upon request.

If your MSPE is needed for a fellowship application, please send an email to studentaffairs@pennstatehealth.psu.edu.

Your browser is out-of-date!

The version of the browser you're using is not supported, and some features of this website may not work properly. Update your browser to view this website correctly. Update my browser now

×