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Medical Student Performance Evaluation Information and Instructions

MSPE Timeline

Late May/Early June: Students begin scheduling their MSPE advising appointments with assigned faculty or dean.

6/5 - 8/4: Advising appointments with faculty and deans 

7/9: Last day to sign up for an appointment.  All remaining students will have appointments selected for them.

8/7: Last day to suggest changes to noteworthy characteristics section.

9/6 - 9/20: Final draft review period. You’ll be notified individually when yours is ready to review--it may well be at the very end of this period!

9/26: All MSPEs will be uploaded to ERAS. 

9/27:  MSPEs available for review by residency programs.  No MSPEs are available to any program prior to this date.

What is the MSPE?

The Medical Student Performance Evaluation (MSPE) is a letter that summarizes and evaluates the performance of a medical student. There are multiple aspects that are included in the evaluation in order to accurately reflect each student's performance including:

  • Noteworthy Characteristics
  • Academic History
  • Academic Progress
  • Clerkships
  • A summary of all the above

Creating your MSPE

Below are the tasks you'll need to do so we can create the MSPE. Read this completely before you begin.  

Make sure you know which faculty member you have been assigned (see the email you received from Dave Etler). Your duties as the student are in bold type.

Task 1

Please visit the link at the bottom of the page ("START HERE").  The information you provide there will become the Noteworthy Characteristics section of the MSPE. You'll then see instructions for completing task 2.  Do task 2 below, immediately. DEADLINE: July 9, 2023.  

Task 2

After you complete task 1 you'll see instructions to choose a date for an appointment with your assigned dean or community faculty director.  DEADLINE: July 9, 2023

  • If you would like to be assigned someone else, contact Dave Etler or Audra King.  However, any of the community faculty directors or deans are more than capable of advising you.
  • If you want maximum flexibility in scheduling, you must set up your appointment early!
  • If you don't set up your own appointment by the deadline above, one will be scheduled for you, and you will be expected to attend regardless of convenience.

Once you complete task 2, for those meeting with a community faculty director, you’ll receive an email from "CCOM Office of Student Affairs and Curriculum".  If you're meeting with a dean, confirmation emails will come from Audra King. 

  • Do not delete the confirmation emails; if you have to reschedule, you'll need the links it contains.  Check your junk folder!

Task 3

The day before the scheduled time, you can return to the system to review your MSPE draft online. Be sure to do that before you meet with your community director or dean the following day. Click the "START HERE" button at the bottom of this page. Log in, and review your draft and make editing suggestions.  DEADLINE: THE DAY BEFORE YOUR MEETING.

  • Suggest corrections in the MSPE draft.  If you see errors, click the link for that section and use the "Suggestions" field to point them out.
  • Be sure to save your suggestions before continuing.
  • Note: the deadline to suggest changes to your Noteworthy Characteristics is August 7, 2023.

Task 4

The final draft of the MSPE will be completed and you will be notified to review it in person sometime in early SeptemberDEADLINE: UPON NOTIFICATION

  • When you recieve that message, come to OSAC to review it right away.
  • Absolutely no grades or comments will be included from clerkships that end after August 11, 2023.

What happens after that? 

Following final checks by the OSAC Registrar's staff, your MSPE will be uploaded to ERAS prior to September 26, 2023.

Your MSPE will be released to residency programs on September 27, 2023.

Remain in close contact with us during this process. 

Return pages, emails and phone calls promptly, or the MSPE may be written without your input.  

Frequently Asked Questions

  • "When I tried to select a date, there were none listed.  What do I do?" Your community faculty director hasn't supplied any dates yet, or all dates have been taken.  Contact them and ask for an appointment.
  • "I really like the comment from Dr. XYZ, can I include that?” Possibly.  Use the suggestion box to list the comment and name of the faculty who wrote it. Space is limited, so let us know which comment you’d like to replace. 
  • "There were no comments for clerkship XYZ, but I remember reading some somewhere..."  Clerkship comments come from specific parts of your clerkship evaulations.  If the clerkship has entered their comments, we can use them in your MSPE.  Otherwise they will not be included.
  • "I don't remember the date I selected." or "I need to change my signup date." Please return to the confirmation email you received from "CCOM Office of Student Affairs and Curriculum" for the link to reschedule.
  • "Can I have a copy of my MSPE for myself/my LOR writer?"  Sorry, the AAMC doesn't allow us to distribute or make copies of the MSPE.
  • "I have another question." Please contact Dave Etler (1191 MERF, 335-8058) or Audra King (1216 MERF, 467-1104).  Direct technical difficulties to Dave. 

START HERE