Residency applications

The Medical Student Performance Evaluation (MSPE) letter, previously known as the Dean's Letter, is a sequential and objective evaluation of a medical student's academic performance throughout medical school. It is a required component of U.S. medical residency and fellowship applications. Consequently, all U.S. medical schools compile an MSPE for each graduating student. The MSPE is a permanent record and used in perpetuity. Therefore, a significant amount of effort goes into compiling the MSPE, involving collaboration with various departments across the University and School.

Standardized Format

The MSPE follows a standardized format set by the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC). It provides an honest evaluation of your performance in medical school, highlights your strengths for residency and fellowship applications, and compares your performance to other students in your cohort. It includes summative comments from clerkship evaluations. Any serious academic difficulties, disciplinary/professionalism issues, or gaps in attendance must be explained in the MSPE.

Review

Students can review their MSPE before it is uploaded to ERAS or provided to programs. They may request changes only to correct factual errors, punctuation, etc. As a UQ-Ochsner student, the MSPE structure is the same as all U.S. medical schools, except for the introductory paragraph, which explains the partnership between UQ and Ochsner. Students and graduates do not receive copies of the MSPE. If a copy is needed for fellowship or other postgraduate applications, please contact med.ocsStudentAdmin@uq.edu.au to request this, and an official copy will be sent directly to the organization.

Quartile Clustering

Although The University of Queensland is a non-ranking institution, for the purpose of the MSPE, UQ-Ochsner students are clustered by quartiles based on their comparative performance in medical school relative to their peers. This clustering helps differentiate among levels of student performance within the UQ-Ochsner cohort.

Year Level Performance

A year level percentage for Years 1 – 3 will be calculated using the average of the course percentages for that year. Equal weighting will be applied to each course within the year. Using the average year level percentage, you will be placed into quartiles. Your quartile ranking for each year of the program will be included in your MSPE letter.

Overall Program Performance

As part of the standardized format, the MSPE includes a summative assessment of your overall program percentage. This percentage is calculated by averaging the year level percentages, with equal weighting applied across Years 1 through 3 of the program. Based on your overall program percentage (Years 1 – 3), you will be placed into quartiles. Your quartile ranking will be included in your MSPE letter. The summative quartile categories are: Superior, Outstanding, Excellent, and Very Good.

Year 4 grades are not included in the clustering because of differences in student schedules and the timing of the release of the MSPE.

MSPE Contents

• Noteworthy characteristics
• Pre-clinical narrative
• Year level performance
• CPA comments from Year 3 clinical rotations
• Optional elective (if applicable)
• CPA comments from first half of Year 4
• Overall program performance with graphic chart – indicates comparative performance amongst cohort
• Second half of Year 4 rotations are listed – CPA comments are added after graduation

MSPE Meeting & Process

MSPE meetings are scheduled with students' Medical Society Heads beginning in mid-June of each year. Students are scheduled depending upon the availability of their Society Head. Because of this, schedule changes are not allowed. Calendar appointments will be sent to students' Ochsner email accounts.

Prior to the MSPE meeting:

• Students should review the symposium recording of Preparing Your Personal Statement and CV.
  • Please refer to the CV and Personal Statement section of the website for additional resources.
• Students are required to complete the MSPE Noteworthy Characteristics Worksheet.
  • MSPE Noteworthy Characteristics Worksheet-PDF version
  • MSPE Noteworthy Characteristics Worksheet-Word version
  • Please refer to the Noteworthy Characteristics Guidelines.
• Students must submit their MSPE Noteworthy Characteristics Worksheet, Personal Statement and CV to med.ocsStudentAdmin@uq.edu.au by beginning of May of Year 4.

During the MSPE meeting:

• Society Heads will discuss with students to ultimately determine 3 characteristics that will go into the MSPE.
• Students will review their MSPE and their Society Head will provide feedback on their Personal Statement and CV.

After the MSPE meeting:

• The Society Head will approve the student's final 3 Noteworthy Characteristics. 
• The student should submit any updated versions of their Personal Statement and CV to med.ocsStudentAdmin@uq.edu.au for their files.