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MSPE: What the Dean's Letter Says and When Programs See It
Every residency program you apply to reads a letter you didn't write. Here is what is in it and when programs get it.
The MSPE (Medical Student Performance Evaluation), often called the dean's letter, is your medical school's standard summary of how you performed and grew in medical school. Your school writes and uploads it. It has six sections, including up to three noteworthy characteristics you often help draft. For the 2027 Match, programs could first open MSPEs on Wednesday, September 23, 2026, at 9 a.m. ET, so yours is likely already with programs. Prepare to discuss anything in it.
What is the MSPE?
The AAMC describes the MSPE as “a comprehensive, standard document of a medical student's academic performance and professional development”, “Prepared by the student affairs, medical education, or dean's office”. Older AAMC committees called it the dean's letter, and many people still do.
The MSPE is not a reference. “The MSPE is a summary letter of evaluation, not a letter of recommendation.” Its purpose is “not to advocate for the student, but rather to provide an honest and objective summary” of your attributes, experiences and academic record. The AAMC recommends at most seven single-spaced pages, not counting the school information.
Who writes the MSPE depends on your school. Here is how three schools describe their process:
Keck (USC)
Who writes it: Department of Medical Education, signed by the Senior Associate Dean for Medical Education
Noteworthy characteristics: You submit them, a dean reviews and edits if needed
Your review: Every student is invited to review. No substantive changes to narratives
Baylor
Who writes it: A Student Affairs dean, or another faculty member if you prefer
Noteworthy characteristics: You draft three in the MSPE student portal
Your review: You review, edit for clarification and correct errors
University of Maryland
Who writes it: An Office of Student Affairs dean, signed by the Associate Dean
Noteworthy characteristics: You draft them, the writer decides what goes in
Your review: A draft at least one week before upload, for factual fixes
What are the six sections of the MSPE?
The format comes from the AAMC's 2016 MSPE Task Force recommendations. The AAMC says “The 2016 recommendations continue to guide MSPE preparation nationally.” It began a multi-year review of the MSPE in 2026 that runs to June 2027, but says “no specific changes are being made to the MSPE template at this time”.
Identifying Information
Your legal name, year in school, and the name and location of your medical school.
Noteworthy Characteristics
Up to three short bullets on experiences and attributes not shown elsewhere in your application.
Academic History
When you started and expect to graduate, plus any leave, gap, extension, dual degree, remediated coursework or adverse action.
Academic Progress
Your preclinical and clinical performance, clerkship narratives and grade components, and a statement on professionalism.
Summary
How your performance compares with your classmates, and how the school arrived at that comparison.
Medical School Information
Your school's curriculum, grading system, how the MSPE is written, and whether students may review it.
When is the MSPE released to programs?
Applicants could submit ERAS applications from September 2, 2026, but programs couldn't open MSPEs until later. The AAMC 2027 ERAS timeline lists September 23, 2026: “Residency programs may begin reviewing MyERAS applications and MSPEs in the PDWS at 9 a.m. ET.” Season dates around it are in our residency interview season guide.
Schools held MSPEs until that date. Keck's policy says “MSPEs cannot be released to anyone (including the student) before the national release date.” Keck also releases it on that date to all programs, Early Match specialties included. After upload, only factual errors get corrected in the MSPE itself: “After the MSPE is submitted in ERAS any additional information should be conveyed in an addendum.”
Can you read your MSPE before it goes out?
The MSPE's school information section states “whether the student is permitted to review his/her MSPE prior to transmission”, so the answer is set by each school. The three schools above all build in a review. Maryland says “A draft of the MSPE will be made available to each student at least one week prior to uploading to the residency application system”, for factual fixes. Baylor lets students edit for clarification and correct errors, and its Student Affairs deans review challenged language within two business days.
Clerkship narratives are the exception. The AAMC asks that narratives not be edited for content, and Keck says “No substantive changes to the narrative evaluations will be made as part of this review process.” At Maryland, “Any changes in the content of the clerkship and clinical rotation evaluations must come directly from the clerkship/course directors.” If a comment looks wrong, raise it with the clerkship director when the evaluation comes out, not when the MSPE draft arrives.
What goes in the noteworthy characteristics section?
The AAMC recommendations say “Provide a maximum of three characteristics” in a bulleted list. “Each characteristic should be described in 2 sentences or less.” “Information about any significant challenges or hardships encountered by the student during medical school may be included.” Choosing them “can be done by each student in consultation with a designated mentor or advisor, or by the MSPE author”. Research may be one of them, but per the AAMC FAQs “it should be as one of the three Noteworthy Characteristics”.
New for the 2026 cycle (the MSPEs released in September 2026), the AAMC says “schools are invited to include in the MSPE a brief clarifying statement about their process of creating Noteworthy Characteristics”, so programs know how the bullets were written. Maryland's guide adds a practical limit: “word count is 35-40 words per bullet”. Its advice on hardship lines: “it is not meant to be an excuse”.
At Baylor the process “begins late in the student's MS3 year or early in the MS4 year”, with a meeting with a Student Affairs dean. Maryland offers a one-on-one session with an Office of Student Affairs dean. Use that meeting well:
Bring three candidates and a spare
Pick experiences your CV and personal statement don't already explain: a long commitment, a role you built, a skill outside medicine. Research counts, but only as one of the three.
Write each one in two sentences
Third person, plain words, about 35 to 40 words. The first sentence says what you did, the second says what came of it.
Raise any hardship yourself
If a leave, an illness or a family event shaped your record, ask your writer how the school words it. A short line of context reads better than silence.
Ask how the school handles review
When you get the draft, what you can change and who to contact about a clerkship narrative. Narrative changes usually go to the clerkship director, not the MSPE writer.
Read the Academic History line by line
Dates, leaves and remediation are facts programs will see in plain words. Fix any error before upload, because after submission the original only changes to correct factual errors and anything new goes in an addendum.
Jordan founded a weekly blood pressure screening at a neighborhood laundromat during the second year of medical school. Over two years the screening grew to four student volunteers and a referral link with the county health clinic.
A made-up student, to show the format: third person, two sentences, a result in the second.
How do programs use the MSPE?
Programs use the MSPE to see how you compare with your own classmates. The Summary section places you against your class, and the AAMC says a final adjective such as “excellent” belongs only where the school gives a school-wide comparison. Clerkship evaluations matter most to many program directors. The task force recommendations call them “considered by many to be the most important section of the MSPE in determining applicants for interview selection and rank order list”.
Before interviews, that means your clerkship narratives and summary help decide who gets invited. On interview day, treat anything in your MSPE as fair game: interviewers may have read it alongside your personal statement. Your ERAS program signals show interest, but they don't change what the MSPE says.
How do you talk about something in your MSPE at an interview?
A leave, a remediation or a professionalism note is in the Academic History or Academic Progress section in plain words. For a failed course, the AAMC FAQs tell schools to “note the fail grade and succinctly describe how it was remediated”. Programs will see it, so have a short answer ready:
1. Name it first
Say what the MSPE shows in one plain sentence. Don't wait for the interviewer to read it back to you.
2. Give the facts, briefly
What happened and when, without a long backstory. Context explains, it doesn't excuse.
3. Say what you changed
The study plan, the habit, the support you sought. Be specific enough that it sounds real.
4. Point to proof since then
A later clerkship, a passed exam, a narrative comment. Programs believe results more than promises.
5. Stop and look forward
End with what it means for you as a resident. Then let the interviewer move on.
A leave of absence
What the MSPE shows: Academic History lists leaves, gaps and extensions, explained under your school's policy.
What to say: Give the reason at the level you are comfortable with (health and family are enough), what you did with the time, and how you have performed since you came back.
A failed course or exam you remediated
What the MSPE shows: The AAMC FAQs tell schools to note the fail grade in Academic History and describe how it was remediated. A failed clerkship also appears in that clerkship's summary.
What to say: Own the result, name the cause you found, describe the new approach and point to the passing result and the rotations after it.
A professionalism citation
What the MSPE shows: Professionalism goes in its own part of Academic Progress, with the issue, the actions taken and the outcome.
What to say: Describe what you did without blaming others, what you learned about your own habits, and the record since. Keep it short and calm.
A summary adjective you wish were higher
What the MSPE shows: The Summary compares you with your class. The AAMC says a final adjective belongs only where the school gives a school-wide comparison.
What to say: You rarely need to raise the adjective yourself. Talk about your strongest clerkship comments and what you did to grow.
“Walk me through the remediation noted in your MSPE.”
A strong answer names the result in the first sentence, gives one line of context, says what you changed and ends on the proof since then. Aim for under a minute.
Our example answer (we wrote it, not a real applicant)
My MSPE notes that I didn't pass the internal medicine shelf exam on my first attempt and passed it on the second.
I was studying the way I had for preclinical exams, rereading notes at night, and it didn't hold up against clinical questions.
After the result I met with our learning specialist, switched to timed question blocks every day and reviewed every miss with a resident on my team.
I passed the retake, and I used the same routine on my next three rotations.
The habit I kept is reviewing my misses the same day, which is how I plan to study for in-training exams as a resident.
More on answering hard questions about your record is in our residency interview red flags guide. For the full list of questions to expect, see residency interview questions, and for a plan, how to prepare for residency interviews. Confetto gives feedback on every answer you practice.
Sources: the AAMC MSPE page, 2016 AAMC MSPE Task Force recommendations, AAMC MSPE FAQs, AAMC 2027 ERAS residency timeline and the MSPE pages of Keck, Baylor and the University of Maryland. All checked October 28, 2026.
Frequently asked questions
What is the MSPE?
The Medical Student Performance Evaluation, often called the dean's letter, is your medical school's standard summary of your academic performance and professional development. It goes to every residency program you apply to through ERAS. It is an evaluation, not a letter of recommendation.
When is the MSPE released to programs?
For the 2027 ERAS season, programs could first open applications and MSPEs on September 23, 2026, at 9 a.m. ET, so yours is likely already with programs. Your school uploads the MSPE, and you don't send it yourself.
Can I read my MSPE before it is sent?
Each school sets its own policy. Keck, Baylor and the University of Maryland all let students review a draft and fix factual errors, and at Maryland changes to clerkship narratives go through the clerkship or course director. Your school's MSPE policy says when you get the draft.
How many noteworthy characteristics go in the MSPE?
Up to three, each in two sentences or less, under the AAMC recommendations. Some schools allow a separate line on a significant hardship.
Can my MSPE change after it is submitted?
Only to correct factual errors. New information after submission, such as a later grade or a change in graduation date, goes in an addendum.
Will interviewers ask about my MSPE?
They can ask about anything in your application, and a leave, a remediation or a professionalism note is a common prompt. Prepare a short answer that names it, explains what you changed and points to your record since.