Hello Class of 2027!

PLEASE read this message in its entirety regarding MSPEs (Dean’s Letters) review.

Your MSPE review will happen entirely online using the Learning Communities platform (same platform you uploaded your Noteworthy Characteristics in). This is a simplified version of your MSPE containing your noteworthy characteristics, clerkship comments, and your quintile. This information will be used to create the final document that the Office of Student and Academic Affairs will upload to your specific residency application platform.

When you read your Dean's Letter, we encourage you to check them for spelling, grammar, duplicate comments etc. What you cannot do is insist on or request changes in the excerpts from your third year grades! If there is a statement in the comments on your grade forms with which you vehemently disagree, then you should have taken that up with the clerkship coordinator when you received the grade. Don't ask us to eliminate it now. Your grade forms and the comments contained therein are the permanent record of your academic performance. It is from those that Dr. Donhauser creates the Dean's Letter excerpts.

Remember the Dean's Letter (properly called the MSPE, or Medical Student Performance Evaluation) is NOT a letter of recommendation but must accurately reflect your performance.

In each of your Dean’s Letters, your summary will specify a category based on overall standing as per MSPE guidelines (the class is divided into quintiles). As you know, we do not "rank" students from 1 - 187.  Your "category", though, is based on all grades through the end of third year (excluding your third year elective). No fourth-year grades are considered, as the schedules of time off, etc. are too variable and it would not fairly represent your academic performance. If you took any additional electives in Spring 2026, only your first elective you took as a third year student will be included.

We encourage you ALL to review your letter. It is important to be familiar with the contents of your letter prior to starting your interviews. 

Directions for MSPE Review Process:

1. You will have one week beginning on August 26, 2026, at 12pm (NOON) EST to September 2, 2026 at 12pm (NOON) EST to review your comments and suggest changes. You will not see your comments until August 26 at 12pm (NOON) EST. We will send out an email on August 26 when the platform is open, and we will go through the process you will use to suggest changes.
2. Once you have completed your review and have made your suggested edits, you will change your status to Complete.
3. The Office of Student and Academic Affairs will update your letter accordingly. We read each letter thoroughly to assure that you have followed all guidelines.

Structure of MSPE Review page:

The page is broken down into several parts 

1. 1. Identifying Information
   2. Noteworthy Characteristics
   3. Academic History
   4. Academic Progress
   5. Clerkship Evaluation Comments
   6. Summary
   7. Quintile.

1. Identifying Information: This line reads the same for every student. No changes can be made. 
2. Noteworthy Characteristics.  You may change the entire contents of the Noteworthy Characteristics since these are your personal statements. The Dean will not review these again unless you personally request it by emailing them. 
3. Academic History: No changes can be made to this section. This section is here simply for your review only. If you feel we have reported the information incorrectly, email omeregistrar@buffalo.edu
4. Academic Progress: No changes can be made to this section. This section is here simply for review. If you feel we have reported the information incorrectly, email omeregistrar@buffalo.edu
5. Clerkship and 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. Summary: this is a summary of all the information above and will include your step 1 and step 2 scores (if Step 2 was taken prior to September 2 and reported on or before September 17), along with other honors such as the Deans letter of Commendation, AOA, Research Honors, etc. This section should only be edited if something is missing, such as AOA.
2. Quintile: 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.

We understand this is a lot of information, so please read through again, and if you have questions, please let us know!

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

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