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Committee Letter Process for the 2024 Cycle

Students can submitting materials for the upcoming 2024 cycle for a committee interview. Please review this page before submitting the Committee Letter Interview Packet (CLIP).


 What Is A Committee Letter?

When applying to the doctorate level health professions (dental, medical, optometry, podiatry, veterinary schools), admission committees will require that you submit letters of recommendation as part of the application process.  At Stony Brook University, we have a Faculty Committee on Health Professions that will evaluate you as an applicant and write a committee letter evaluation.  A committee letter packet includes your committee letter of evaluation and a selection of at least three letters of recommendation that your recommenders have submitted to our office. This packet will then be sent to the application services and/or individual schools (at your request.)  Stony Brook University will provide this service to any current student or alum. Please remember, the cycle year represents the year you are hoping to matriculate into your chosen graduate program. The information below is only for students interested in starting these doctoral programs in 2024.

A Note on Disciplinary Action: Professionals in health care are expected to live up to high standards.  Careful scrutiny begins when students apply to schools of the health professions, and in a great many cases applicants must undergo a criminal background check.  The Faculty Committee on Health Professions (FCHP) does not conduct an extensive background check of the students making use of our services, but the FCHP does consult the University’s disciplinary records when a student seeks a committee letter of evaluation.  The main purpose of this is so that the Faculty Committee on Health Professions can most effectively advise and evaluate applicants.  In general, disciplinary problems weaken an application, but applicants can surmount a difficult past and gain acceptance to the doctorate-level health profession of their choice.  Make sure to consult an ATAS advisor about any concerns you may have.

Our next Info Session is Monday, March 20, 2023 at 11am. Please RSVP here.

What Do I Need To Do To Get A Committee Letter?

The steps necessary to get a committee letter of evaluation are outlined below. It is in your best interest to prepare early and be finished well before the deadlines.

Intent to Apply for the 2024 Cycle

Please submit the Intent to Apply for the Entering Class of 2024 form. This form will help allow our office to  know you are planning to apply to for the upcoming cycle.

* If you have sat for a committee interview in the past, please go to this page and read the instructions. Re-applicants and re-interviews do not have to submit a CLIP.*

Committee Letter Interview Packet (CLIP)

To access the Committee Letter Interview Packet (CLIP), please click here. The CLIP includes valuable information for the Faculty Committee on Health Professions to use to write an evaluation for you. You must complete all 9 sections and have at least 3 letters of recommendation on file in order to be eligible for a committee letter interview. 

Therefore, if you are filling out the CLIP and want to take more time, we suggest you use the following strategy to decrease the risk of losing your work.  In other words, until you have completed and submitted the autobiographical packet, please:

1) DO NOT shut down or restart your computer. If you are using a laptop, do not let the battery run down completely.

2) DO NOT quit the browser or close the browser window in which you are working on the autobiographical packet. 

3) DO work on your materials with a copy of the CLIP that you can download here.

BEFORE BEGINNING THE COMMITTEE LETTER INTERVIEW PACKET, (CLIP), WE EXPECT YOU TO watch a short 9 minute video to learn more about the Committee letter purpose and process.  You will find the video at top of the CLIP.

Section 1:  Personal Information

This section of the CLIP prompts you to enter basic contact information about yourself, such as your name, places of residence, and family information. *If you are an alumni or expecting to graduate by May 2023, please provide us with your personal email, since you will no longer have access to your SBU email. 

Section 2:  Academics

Scores: If you have admission test scores, you will indicate the breakdown and total score received. Students can also report when they are expecting to take their admission test in this section if they do not have final scores. 

Schools Attended: Students will be required to list every college/university they have ever attended. This includes all institutions that you attempted to get credit for, i.e. even withdrawals, and pass/fail. This also includes credits earned while in high school.  (We do not need AP scores or AP credit reports.) Foreign International transcripts must be accompanied by an assessment from a transcript evaluation service (WES).

Grade Point Averages: When entering your coursework, we recommend having a copy of all of your transcripts handy to input what corresponds directly on all transcripts. Please do not omit any science classes or enter an incorrect grade.Your Stony Brook grade point average (GPA) and the GPA that is calculated in the autobiographical packet might differ slightly from the GPAs that are calculated by admissions services (AACOMAS, AADSAS, AMCAS, OPTOMCAS, VMCAS, etc.). These differences can be greater if you have taken courses at multiple schools.

Section 3: Employment 

Use this section to identify any work experience when you started your college career. Please be as specific as possible in the information and description.

Section 4: Extracurricular Activities

If you were a part of any clubs or organizations on or off campus, you may use this section to highlight those particular activities.

Section 5: Health-Related Experiences

Use this section to highlight any health-related experiences you may have/ had. This section may also include if you have ever shadowed a physician, dentist, veterinarian, optometrist, or podiatrist. 

Section 6: Research

If you have ever worked in a lab or worked with a principal investigator, you can input your research experience here. If you do not have experience in research this field is not required to be filled out. 

Section 7: More About You

Interests and Hobbies:  We would like to know more about your interests and hobbies and this section includes various questions for you to answer.

Institutional Action: If you were reported for any disciplinary problems, on-campus or off-campus, please report it in this section.  Remember that many schools conduct background checks.

Disciplinary Release: By electronically signing the disciplinary release form you are allowing our office to conduct a background check with the Office of University Community Standards and the Office of Academic Integrity at Stony Brook University.

Section 8: Personal Statement

In order to be eligible for a committee interview, we must have a draft of your personal statement. This does not need to be the final version you use when you apply but this should not be your first draft. The draft you submit, will be reviewed by professionals in the field.

Section 9: Recommednations

At least (3) recommendation letters are required and must be on file before you can schedule an interview.  It is recommended that you speak with your potential recommenders as soon as possible to give them time to write your letter. Please follow the instructions below very carefully:

If You Do Not Already Have Letters of Recommendation on file: If you did not have any recommenders send any letters to our department, you will fill out all of the information in section 9. Please make sure you accurately write their email address or the next step will not take place.  Using the correct email address, the recommender will receive an email from our office and they will upload your letter directly to the Committee Letter Interview Packet (CLIP) created for you. We will keep letters on file for 5 years. 

If You Already Had Recommenders Send Letters to Our Office: If you already asked recommenders to send their letter electronically, please do not input their email address, instead, select "yes", under the quetion, have you already contacted this recommender?

Once you finish all 9 sections and at least 3 letters of recommendation on file, our office will contact you regarding a committee interview. To access the Committee Letter Interview Packet (CLIP) please click here.

Please email us at commletrs@stonybrook.edu if you have any questions. 

When Is My Committee Letter Finalized?

You can take your admissions test before or after your committee interview but we need to have your test score before we can finalize your committee letter.  You can and should release your MCAT score to Pre-Health Advising when you register for the test.  Student copies of DAT, OAT and GRE scores can be given to the Pre-Professional Advising office.

The draft of your committee letter is submitted to the Committee for review 7 days after we get your test score.  We will work with the Committee to review and finalize your letter within a month. 

You can help speed things up by being organized and correct in the materials you provide to  us.  Don’t make mistakes with names or dates. Be concise and organized in your writing. Applicants who do a sloppy disorganized job on their autobiographical packets are liable for a slower review.

Remember that your committee letter does not go into review until we have received your admissions test score.

How Do I Send Out My Finalized Committee Letter?
You will need to pay the Health Professions Fee of $80.00 for participating in the committee letter process and for an unlimited number of schools.  To pay this fee follow the directions below.  NOTE: This fee is annual and will cover your requests for this application cycle only.

Directions to pay Health Professions Fee (Credential Service fee) :

  • Login to SOLAR
  • Click on Campus Financial Services
  • Click on Health Professions Payment
  • Follow the prompts on SOLAR to pay the fee
  • AMCAS:  When filling out your AMCAS application, you will need to print an AMCAS Letter Request Form and submit this form to our office.  Please use the contact information below. This form gives us information to upload your committee letter directly to AMCAS.

  • AACOMAS:  We do not participate in VirtualEval or Interfolio. Please use the contact information below for your DO application and your committee letter will be electronically uploaded to DO schools.  

  • AADSAS: When filling out the Letters of Evaluation section of AADSAS, please choose "electronic" as the method to send your committee letter.  Please use the contact information below.  We will receive an electronic request to the prehealth email and will upload your committee letter directly to AADSAS.

  • OptomCAS: When filling out your OptomCAS application, please choose "electronic" as the method to send your committee letter.  Please use the contact information below. We will receive an electronic request to the prehealth email and will upload your committee letter directly to OptomCAS.

Please use the following information for the Primary Author contact information for your committee letter:

Mr. James Montren
Faculty Committee on Health Professions
Suite 105, Stony Brook Union
Stony Brook University
Stony Brook, NY 11794-3217
Email: prehealth@stonybrook.edu
Phone: 631-632-7082