Dear Class of 2027,

Another long message so please read carefully!!

Today, August 31, starting at 12 p.m. (NOON) you can begin reviewing your MSPEs within the Learning Community Platform (same platform you uploaded your Noteworthy Characteristics to). The purpose of this review is for you to become familiar with the contents of your MSPE and to make minor grammatical changes if necessary. You will have until 12pm (NOON) on September 7 to complete your review. However your edits look in the system on September 7 at 12pm (NOON) is what we will use to populate your MSPE. OSAA will review all changes you have suggested and will determine if they are to be accepted.   

When you login to the platform you will go to the MSPE tab where you will see “MSPE” with 3 tabs labeled Noteworthy Characteristic, Evaluations, and Other. Each tab contains a different aspect of your MSPE. You can only edit within the Noteworthy Characteristic tab and the Evaluations tab. The tab labeled “Other” contains information that cannot be edited.  

1. Noteworthy Characteristics (NC) Tab- you can make edits if you would like as these are your own words. Deans have reviewed and approved these already so any additional changes will not automatically be reviewed by a Dean. If you rewrite your NC in anyway and want a Dean to review it, you must directly reach out to them for their review. If you have 4 NCs, please narrow that down to 3 as we will use the ones listed under characteristic 1-3. The NC labeled extra will not be included.

1. Evaluations Tab-these are your clerkship evaluation comments.  These comments are in order of when you took your clerkship and contain your overall grade. You CANNOT change the order of your clerkships and how they appear on your MSPE as they are put in chronological order. The comments are taken directly from your clerkship evaluations. We cannot include every comment/sentence due to space constraints.

You may NOT edit the nature of these comments in any way. If you make significant changes or remove comments without the permission of a Dean, we will not accept the changes and revert your document back to its original form. 

Things to note when reviewing and suggesting edits for the Clerkship and Evaluation Comments:

• They will NOT read as a flowy paragraph and will be choppy in nature- that is OK. DO NOT rewrite the paragraph to flow better. This is how program directors are used to reading MSPEs.  
• Look for spelling, grammar, duplicate comments, etc.

• Examples of things to look for:
  • Spelling of your name: make sure your name appears how you want it to. Some comments may include a nickname (like Vic instead of Victor) or may have your name spelled incorrectly. 
  • Pronouns: check to ensure that your pronouns align with how you identify.
  • Duplicate Comments: You can remove repeat comments. For example, if your comments say “they are a hard worker” 15 times, you can remove some or all but one of the “they are a hard worker” comments. 
  • Grammar: The sentence reads “They are a hard worker they always show up on time they are very nice to patients.” You can edit that to say:

“They are a hard worker, always show up on time, are very nice to patients”

Or

“They are a hard worker. They always show up on time. They are very nice to patients.”

• You CANNOT change the nature of the comment or remove negative comments. If the comments read “They are a hard worker they never show up on time they were not always friendly to patients”.

You CAN correct the grammar of the sentence. You CANNOT change it to say “They are a hard worker. They were always friendly to patients” If you do this, we will not accept any suggested edits to your MSPE.

1. Other tab: No changes can be made within this section.

It contains the following information: 

• • Quintile Number and Category- this is your quintile based on performance from first year (M1) through THIRD YEAR (M3). This cannot be changed or challenged. Your third year elective is NOT included in your quintile ranking
  • Date of Initial Matriculation in Medical School
  • Date of Expected Graduation from Medical School
  • Please explain any extensions, leave(s) of absence, gap(s), or break(s) in the student's educational program.
  • Information about the student’s prior, current, or expected enrollment in, and the month and year of the student’s expected graduation from dual, joint, or combined degree programs.
  • Was the student required to repeat or otherwise remediate any course work during their medical education? If yes, please explain.
  • Was the student the recipient of any adverse action(s) by the medical school or its parent institution?
  • Professional Performance
  • Preclinical Coursework
  • Summary- the summary is where your Step 2 score will be listed if you have a score on record prior to applications being released. If you get your Step 2 score back on 9/2, we will update it in the platform on 9/3.  This is also where you will see Gold Humanism and AOA.
    • NOTE: we do not have AOA information as of 8/31/26- once we get the official list from Dr. Justica-Linde we will add it to your summary section should you be named to AOA.

I understand this is a lot of information, so please let us know if you have any questions.

Shannon Okonczak, M.S. (she, her, hers)

Registrar

Office of Student and Academic Affairs | Offices of Medical Education

Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences

University at Buffalo

955 Main Street, Room 1212| Buffalo, NY 14203-1121

P 716-829-2802 | F 716-829-2798

OSAA services and forms