As part of your application to medical, dental, veterinary or another health professions school, you will be asked to submit Letters of Recommendation. Advice on these letters and how to request and submit them is below.
- AMCAS (allopathic medical schools)
- TMDSAS (Texas medical, dental, veterinary schools)
- AACOMAS (osteopathic medical schools)
- AADSAS (dental schools)
- CASPA (physician assistant schools)
- VMCAS (veterinary medicine schools)
- PHARMCAS (pharmacy schools)
- OPTOMCAS (optometry schools)
Students applying to health professions programs for dental, pharmacy, veterinary, PA, optometry, physical therapy, genetic counseling and more, should refer to the resources provided by their prehealth advisor and professional application services for guidance.
Duke HPA offers an institutional letter packet for Trinity & Pratt undergraduate students and alumni applying to medical school within 5 years of graduation. You are required to meet deadlines and requirements for an institutional packet, but are not required to apply to medical school with an institutional letter packet.
We require:
- One individual who has taught you in a science course
- One individual from outside the classroom (research mentor, supervisor, coach, etc)
- A third recommender of your choice
Optional: You can add up to 3 more additional letters but more is not more.
Choose individuals who know you well and can speak to your strengths and weaknesses, your competencies, abilities, growth, and maturation. All of your letter writers do not need to be associated with Duke University. Choose your letter writers so that they support your narrative and what you write about in your application.
Medical schools often have specific requirements for letters. Three letters of recommendation often set a strong foundation for meeting multiple schools' requirements. You will need to check school websites and the Medical School Admissions Requirements (MSAR) website for the requirements for the schools you plan to apply to. We recommend you read the requirements very carefully as many schools will say an institutional letter packet fulfills their requirements, but all might not.
Duke HPA offers an institutional letter packet for Trinity & Pratt undergraduate students and alumni applying to dental school within 5 years of graduation. You are required to meet deadlines and requirements for an institutional packet, but are not required to use one to apply to dental school.
We require:
- One individual who has taught you in a science course
- One dentist
- A third recommender of your choice
Optional: You can add up to 3 more additional letters but more is not more.
Choose individuals who know you well and can speak to your strengths and weaknesses, your competencies, abilities, growth, and maturation. All of your letter writers do not need to be associated with Duke University. Choose your letter writers so that they support your narrative and what you write about in your application.
Dental schools often have specific requirements for letters. Three letters of recommendation often set a strong foundation for meeting multiple schools' requirements. You will need to check school websites for the requirements for the schools you plan to apply to. We recommend you read the requirements very carefully as many schools will say an institutional letter packet fulfills their requirements, but all might not.
Initial request: You can discuss the possibility of a letter with a potential recommender while a class is in progress, or during an internship or experience. Discussing this early allows you to obtain initial consent, have further conversations about your experiences and goals, and then to formally ask for the letter later as you make preparations to apply. Be prepared and gracious if a potential writer shows sincere hesitation as it is usually because they do not think they can write a strongly positive letter. In that case you should find someone else.
Asking for a letter early: If you are considering a letter from someone you know now but you aren't ready to apply, you have two options: (1) You can ask your recommender to write a letter for you and then retain it on their computer or in a file until you are ready to apply. This gives you a chance to stay in contact with this person, continue to work with them and update your accomplishments and experiences in the time ahead. This way they can update or edit the letter later. (2) You might keep a list of potential names of recommenders, remain in touch with them until the time of application, and then make a final decision at that time.
Formal request: You will want to formally request Letters of Recommendation no later than March of the year in which you are applying. If possible, make your initial request in person or by email. Consider providing your letter writers with the letter writer guidance from AAMC. More importantly, share with letter writers why you are asking them specifically. What experiences did you have with them that are driving you to ask them and/or what do they know about you that you think is meaningful for schools to know. It is often also helpful if you give your letter writers a resume or transcript, and some may ask for a draft of your personal statement, application essay(s), and/or to have a short conversation prior to the writing of a letter. If you are utilizing the institutional letter packet with Duke HPA they will upload their letter in late spring.
Request Letter through Duke HPA: See forthcoming directions. You are not required to utilize an Institutional Letter packet but Institutional Letters will only be added to a packet. You can still apply to medical & dental schools with individual letters through the system should you choose to.
We recommend that all Letters of Recommendation be submitted June 1. If your writer is unable to submit by that date, some delay may be tolerable.
June/July - follow up with the writer: You will be able to check the submission of letters. If the June 1 deadline has passed and a letter has not been written, you can send a gentle reminder email. We do not recommend contacting your letter writers prior to June 1 unless they have explicitly asked you to send them a reminder.
The Duke Institutional Letter is not a Letter of Recommendation. The Duke Institutional Letter is a concise summary of your academics during your undergraduate years at Duke and does not include any material from your individual letters of recommendation. We can note your accomplishments, achievements, experiences, special interests, and also any obstacles you have encountered. We provide institutional letter packets to current undergraduate students in Trinity or Pratt and those that graduated with their undergraduate degree in Trinity or Pratt from Duke within the last five years. If you completed a postbac program that provides a committee or advisor letter your application is best served by requesting that.
To have us write a Duke Institutional Letter for you, you must:
- Complete the directions to declare your intent to apply (ITA) by April 1, 2025
- Complete the 2026M RMA Form & 2026M Assessing Candidacy forms. You may consider scheduling an RMA meeting, but they are not required. If you do not complete a RMA appointment you will need to submit the RMA essays as part of your request.
- If you did not complete an RMA appointment you will be required to submit the RMA essays by May 1, 2025 for first time applicants and May 15, 2025 for reapplicants.
- Submit a copy of your verified application(s) once you are verified and all individual letters of recommendation have been uploaded. Please see our Applying Summer 2025 to Medical School and Applying Summer 2025 to Dental School pages for details. Check back for deadline to request.
Note that the HPA office can only send an Institutional Letter Packet to the following locations: AACOMAS, AADSAS, AMCAS, & TMDSAS.. We are not able to customize an Institutional Letter Packet for individual schools, nor can we transmit your letter to any other destination.