Reference Letters
Reference Letters
The reference letter portion of the health science application typically raises the most questions and takes the most time. It is the only part of the application that depends on the efforts of multiple busy professors and healthcare providers, not to mention the emailing and letter sending that must take place to get the package finalized.
Confirm your letter writers at least 3 months before you plan to apply. You should determine specific letter requirements and quantities from your programs of choice. Letters are most commonly required from at least one of the following categories:
1. Provide an accurate assessment or evaluation of the applicant’s suitability for health professional programs, rather than advocate for the applicant.
2. Briefly explain your relationship with the applicant:
3. Quality is more important than letter length. Focus on the applicant rather than details about the lab, course, assignment, job, or institution.
4. Only include information on grades, GPA, or standard admission test scores if you are providing context to help interpret them. Grades, GPA, and admission test scores are available within the application.
5. Focus on behaviors you have observed directly when describing applicants’ suitability for their professional program of choice. Consider describing:
6. Admissions committees find comparison helpful. If you make comparisons, be sure to provide context. Include information about:
Each Professional school that you will apply to will have different preferences on how your reference letters are written and formatted. We have compiled a collection of sample reference letter templates categorized for several Canadian schools. These templates can be dowloaded and given to your references to make their letter writing simpler.