The College of Science and Health's (CSH) Pre-Health Advising Committee (PAC) will provide committee letters of recommendation on CSH letterhead for eligible Pre-Health Program registered students who have already met with both the Office of Advising and Student Services' pre-health advisors and their assigned PAC faculty mentor. If you have yet to meet with them, please first schedule a meeting with the pre-health advisor by calling 773-325-8490.
To register for PAC, see the steps below.
Graduate health professions programs that typically expect a
committee letter of recommendation - when the applicant's host
institution has a committee letter writing process - are immediately
below. However, please verify program expectations by directly
contacting each school that particularly interests you.
- Dentistry
- Medicine (MD and DO)
- Optometry
- Podiatry
DePaul's Committee Letter is considered a composite
letter. It is considered a composite letter because it incorporates
information from several different sources. The purpose of a composite
letter is to provide a clear narrative of the applicant's candidacy and
address any problems or issues that may have occurred during their time at
DePaul.
The composite Committee Letter that will be sent might include information from the following sources:
- Online student portfolio
- Individual letters of recommendation
- Transcripts
- PAC interview
- PAC ranking criteria
Students who go through the Pre-Heath Advising Committee can receive the following rating for their committee letter: Exceptional, Highly Recommend, and Recommend.
You can find the rubric for the ranking process HERE.
*The PAC rubric is reviewed and/or adjusted every year.
Steps to Receive a Committee Letter
At this workshop, you will receive information about all the components of the PAC process which include your online student portfolio, committee letter of recommendations, PAC interview, and more. The Introduction to PAC workshop will be held in weeks 4, 5, and 6 during the autumn quarter.
The Pre-Health Advisor will send out emails starting in September of each school year to eligible current students to notify them to request PAC services. Please make sure your email address in Campus Connect is correct. To request PAC services please fill out the form below by October 15th, 2024. The form for the 2024-2025 academic year is now open.
Complete an online portfolio by January 20th, 2025
EXAMPLES of PAC Online Student Portfolios
Once you have completed all the above components, students will be contacted by email to set up an interview with the PAC during the months of February and March. The purpose of the interview is to assess your interviewing skills, further inform the mentors' committee letter of recommendation, and coach you on how to effectively illustrate your viability as an applicant to a graduate health professions program.
After your PAC interview, you will meet with your PAC mentor to discuss the outcome of your interview and the PAC ranking of your committee letter of recommendation. Students may be ranked as one of the following; Exceptionally Recommend, Highly Recommend, Recommend, and Unable to Recommend. Ranking Criteria
PAC committee letters will be written by the PAC and ready to be sent through the CAS system in early June. To release your committee letter, please make sure the advisor release is selected on your application, and then email CSHPreHealth@depaul.edu to request your committee letter to be sent by the PAC to your designated schools.
Please note that submitting your professional school application early is crucial to being a competitive applicant. The earlier you submit your application, the better your chances of getting an interview or being accepted into a program. Therefore, the PAC encourages students to submit their application early in the cycle to enable the PAC to send the committee letter in early June. However, if you are late in submitting your application, the deadline by which to request your PAC committee letter be sent on your behalf is August 31st. If you request your PAC committee letter to be sent on your behalf after August 31st, we cannot guarantee a prompt delivery of the committee letter.
Don't forget to send thank you notes to all the people who helped you through this process (individual letter of recommendation writers and PAC faculty mentor).
Requesting an Updated Committee Letter
Students who were part of PAC can request a committee letter for up to three years. Example: If a student received a PAC letter spring of 2023, you can request an updated letter spring of 2024 and the spring of 2025. To request an updated letter, please follow the instruction here: Request Form. The deadline for requesting an updated letter is June 30th of each school year.
If there are any questions about the process, please contact the pre-health advisors in the Office of Advising and Student Services by calling 773-325-8490 or emailing CSHPreHealth@depaul.edu