This form is meant to assist you and the Health Professions office in the development of your Committee Letter Document or Letter Packet. In completing this form it may also help you identify areas you want to think about further before applying. The Director of Health Professions is happy to talk with you and support you in this process.

Note: Please keep the Health Professions office updated if you change your contact information.

The following information provides context and information
to support the Committee Letter / Letter Packet.

Although not a part of the Committee Letter / Letter Packet process, we encourage you to be aware of your SCI GPA as it is determined in the application systems.

Medical School GPA Note:

• For AMCAS, the following classes create BCPM (SCI) GPA: Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Math classes
• For AACOMAS, the following classes determine the BCP (SCI) GPA: Biology, Chemistry and Physics.
  
• Please read TMDSAS instructions carefully when reviewing GPA’s and when transcripts should be sent.

Here are GPA calculators to assist if necessary: Calculator.net, U of DE GPA Calculator, Rapid Table Calculator.

You will need to submit an official transcript to the application service for every college institution you earned course credit (even in high school) when applying through AMCAS or AACOMAS. Contact each school’s Registrar’s office (start with the web site) to learn the process to have the official transcript sent to the application system when required. Instructions to order Wheaton transcripts are posted on the Registrar’s website.

Link to: Detailed explanation of Wheaton's Committee Letter and Letter Packet (PDF)

Other Impactful Experiences
Note: This is taken directly from the 25-26 AMCAS Application

To provide some additional context around each individual's application, admissions committees are interested in learning more about the challenges applicants may have overcome in life. The following question is designed to give you the opportunity to provide additional information about yourself that is not easily captured in the rest of the application.

Please consider whether this question applies to you. Medical schools do not expect all applicants to answer "yes" to this question. This question is intended for applicants who have overcome major challenges or obstacles. Some applicants may not have experiences that are relevant to this question. 

Other applicants may not feel comfortable sharing personal information in their application.

Have you overcome challenges or obstacles in your life that you would like to describe in more detail? This could include lived experiences related to your family background, financial background, community setting, educational experiences, and/or other life circumstances.

AMCAS Instructions for this section (25-26 cycle)

The following examples can help you decide whether you should respond “yes” to the question, and if so, what kinds of experiences you could share. Please keep in mind that this is not a fully inclusive list and any experiences you choose to write about should be ones that directly impacted your life opportunities.

Example Experiences

• Family background: serving as a caretaker of a family member (e.g., siblings, parent/guardian), first generation to college.
• Community setting: rural area, food scarcity, high poverty or crime rate, lack of access to regular healthcare (e.g., primarily used urgent care clinics or emergency room, no primary care physician).
• Financial background: low-income family, worked to support family growing up, work-study to pay for college, federal or state financial support.
• Educational experience: limited educational opportunities, limited access to advisors or counselors who were knowledgeable/supportive of higher education requirements.
• Other general life circumstances that were beyond your control and impacted your life and/or presented barriers.
   

Writing Instructions

• Select the most impactful experiences. Describe the challenge(s) or hardship(s) you consider most impactful in your life.
• Write about how experiences impacted your life. Write about any topics you deem important to discuss, including information that might be mentioned elsewhere in your application (e.g., your personal statement). You can use the space provided in this question to further elaborate on those topics, if desired.
• Use a narrative style format. Describe your impactful experience(s) in a narrative format to help admissions committees understand your story, but be mindful of the 1,325 character limit.

I understand that the Committee Letter from the Office of Health Professions Advising is based upon the educational records of Wheaton College undergraduates (and alumni), including those records in the Offices of the Registrar, Academic Advising and the Vice President for Student Development office. Such records may include:

1) information regarding my academic performance at Wheaton College,

2) all academic sanctions arising from deficient scholarship and/or actions, and

3) disciplinary actions as recorded in the Office of Student Development and their related offices.

Items 2 & 3 relate to aspects identified as “institutional action” in the AMCAS application. 

Note: This information is only utilized for context. An example would be if you want your academic preparation/coursework/trend in grades discussed in the narrative section. Information about institutional action would only be relevant if you’d want the narrative to provide external context for any situation you’d have to disclose in the application.

 

I permit grades for any courses taken outside of Wheaton College be provided to the Health Professions office. The grades and information can speak to trends in grades, content of coursework, etc.

I permit the Health Professions Office to receive my educational records relevant to preparing my Committee Letter Document or Letter Packet and will share relevant information with schools to which I apply.

Your application information is treated with strict confidentiality. However, there may be certain circumstances in which you grant Candice permission to share this information without requiring consent for each instance.

WAIVER OPTION FOR RIGHTS OF ACCESS:
Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA), guarantees the right of access to the contents of any evaluation letter you request from a recommender unless you specifically waive that right.

In general, health professional schools desire confidential letters (that is, letters or comments for which the applicant has waived his/her right to read). It is assumed a confidential submission is more candid. Wheaton faculty and staff, health providers, research mentors, and other non-Wheaton College individuals are informed of the decision you make below regarding your right of access.

If you have questions about this decision, you are welcome to meet with the Director of Health Professions. You are encouraged to gather all the information necessary to make a decision you are most comfortable with. Regardless of your decision, you should apply it to ALL of your letters and comments – you should either keep your right to read ALL of your letters or waive your right to read ALL of the letters and comments.

Letters of evaluation and comments submitted to the Health Professions office are forwarded to your designated schools, are considered to be confidential.

The file includes copies of:

• The Committee Letter or the Letter Packet (written by the Director of Health Professions)
• Letters of evaluation, online forms and comments from Wheaton College faculty and/or staff
• Letters of evaluation, online forms and comments from individuals outside of Wheaton College

Waiving your rights means that you respect the confidentiality of all letters and comments and forms in your (file). Not waiving your rights means you wish to retain the right to read the information submitted. Out of respect to your evaluators, your decision is made available to individuals completing forms or writing for you.

If you have questions regarding this waiver, please contact Candice Eisenhauer, Director of Health Professions, before you sign.

Please indicate your decision regarding whether or not you
waive the rights of access to your letter file.

Thank you for completing this form. It serves as a step in the Committee Letter or Litter Packet process with the Health Professions office. If you have any questions, please contact Candice Eisenhauer.