The Office of Pre-Health Advisement provides a letter of recommendation storage and forwarding service to help streamline the health professional school or graduate school application process. The Office of Pre-Health Advisement stores original letters, then scans them into an online file, and forwards them to the health professional school centralized application service designated by the applicant. All letters submitted to our office become the property of the University of Southern California and will be released to the original author, upon request, or to health professional or graduate programs, upon the applicant’s request.

Costs

 The cost of using the Office of Pre-Health Advisement LOR Service is a one-time application fee of $30 per cycle (THIS FEE IS NON-REFUNDABLE). NOTE: An LOR account and application fee is valid for one application cycle that begins March 15th. The $30 fee entitles students to send letters of recommendation electronically to participating health professional schools on an unlimited basis. Because there are a few health professional school programs that do not accept LOR electronically, our office can forward your LOR through FedEx to those schools. Hardcopy packets are mailed using FedEx Priority Overnight ($15/school) or FedEx International ($30/school).

The Applicant Letter of Recommendation Request form must be signed by your recommender and returned to our office by the applicant no later than Friday, April 12, 2013.

Important Deadlines and Information

In an effort to get letters submitted by faculty/recommenders on a timely basis, the Applicant Letter of Recommendation Request Form must be signed by your recommender and returned to our office by the applicant no later than Friday, April 12, 2013. This indicates that the recommender will consider your request to write a letter of recommendation on behalf of the applicant to be submitted to our office by the LOR deadline of Thursday, August 1^st, 2013. This form can be found below and through your USC LOR service account, as well as in our lobby in FIG 107.

It is your responsibility as an applicant to stress the importance of a prompt letter and to follow up with your recommenders. Tardy letters of recommendation can delay the evaluation of your application indefinitely. NOTE: A completed and signed cover sheet must accompany each letter of recommendation for submission. Please be sure you and your recommender have signed the LOR cover sheet or the LOR will be considered incomplete and will NOT be processed.

Click HERE to print the Applicant Letter of Recommendation Request form as well as the cover sheet that must accompany each cover letter.

You are allowed a maximum of six (6) letters in your LOR file.

• It is strongly recommended that you obtain two (2) LOR from science faculty (Biology, Chemistry, Math or Physics)who have taught you in formal lecture courses, seminars, or independent study for credit;

• One (1) non-science faculty LOR(Major, Minor, or Elective/GE Course); and

• Additional letters of recommendation (up to 3) are acceptable from health-related opportunities, such as a research, community service, or clinical internship or a summer job in a relevant field, or a significant extracurricular activity.

Specialized programs such as MD/Ph.D. may require specific types of letters. Some health professional schools may require one letter from a professional in that specific field whom you have observed/worked with (e.g., Osteopathic physician (DO), dentist, optometrist, and pharmacist). If you are a transfer student, you may include a letter from a community college instructor, but it is strongly recommended that you also have at least two (2) LOR from USC faculty who have taught you. Please check with individual schools for further information.