The Medical Student Performance Evaluation (MSPE)

The Medical Student Performance Evaluation (MSPE):

The Medical Student Performance Evaluation (MSPE) is a structured summary evaluation intended to provide residency program directors an honest and objective summary of a student’s salient experiences, attributes, and academic performance. This letter is one component of the residency application. The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) provides a standardized template for schools to use when drafting letters; guidelines may be found at: www.AAMC.org

In addition to the information provided on each student’s transcript, Geisel will provide:

• a graph that shows how each student did in all required clerkships, along with the grade distribution within each clerkship; and

• a summary description of each student’s overall academic record as outstanding, excellent, very good, or good.

As suggested by the AAMC, Geisel has avoided reporting the exact rank ordering of individual students and has similarly avoided arbitrarily assigning each senior to a rigid quartile of the class. The top three categories of students (outstanding, excellent, and very good) comprise more than 85% of the class, which Geisel believes is appropriate given the outstanding students who attend the Geisel School of Medicine.