The MSPE, explained: the file programs read before they meet you

Dear Applicant,

On September 23, residency programs receive a document about you that you did not write. You can go the whole season without ever reading it. That is a mistake you can fix this week for free.

The Medical Student Performance Evaluation is, in the AAMC's words, a comprehensive, standard document of a medical student's academic performance and professional development. Your school's student affairs, medical education, or dean's office prepares it. It hands program directors your academic history, salient experiences, notable attributes, and the context of your school's curriculum and grading system.

In other words: it is the file. Interviews confirm or contradict it, but it gets read first.

The MSPE releases to programs on September 23, the same day programs begin reviewing applications. You submit in early September; programs see everything, including this document, on the 23rd. There is no version of your application that programs read without it.

The AAMC's MSPE guidance includes a Noteworthy Characteristics section: a maximum of three characteristics, bulleted, two sentences or less each, and it may include learner-contributed content reviewed by the school.

Read that again. In a document written about you, there is a section of exactly three bullets that many schools let you help write. Those bullets are the closest thing you get to whispering directly to every program director who opens your file. It is easy to fill them out in ten minutes on a form you barely read. Spend an hour instead.

Two asks to your dean's office, this week, in one short email: What is the process for reviewing my MSPE before it is released, and how do I contribute to my Noteworthy Characteristics? Schools differ in how much review they allow, and each sets its own internal deadline well before programs open the file on September 23. Asking costs one email; ask for your school's date in the same message.