Medical Student Performance Evaluation (MSPE)

The Medical Student Performance Evaluation (MSPE) is a written transcript of your performance in medical school and is a required component of your applications to residency. MSPEs are prepared in accordance with the AAMC’s guidelines. Your MSPE is only one component of your residency application. Letters of recommendation, your personal statement, and interviews are all important in obtaining a residency position.

Providing information for your MSPE

You will provide information for the personal sections of your MSPE (ie, the paragraphs that include information on your premedical education and extracurricular experiences, medical school activities, and any special program that you participated in). In early May, Kristen Fitzhenry will give you directions for how to submit your MSPE information online.

The format of the MSPE

Your MSPE begins with a description of your undergraduate and pre-UCSF accomplishments. Next is a paragraph that describes your academic performance during the pre-clerkship years, including summary FPC comments, and is followed by a paragraph about your preclerkship activities, including extracurricular, research, and leadership activities, as well as any leaves from school. The next paragraph details your academic performance during the clerkship years, including a list of all courses in which you have earned honors. The bulk of your MSPE comprises summary evaluation comments from all of your clerkships, as well as research and Areas of Concentration work. Descriptions of any time off or extensions are included. This section, as well as the preclerkship section, must include details of any non-passing grades or remediation. Next is a list of all courses scheduled to be taken prior to graduation. A paragraph about extracurricular activities, publications, and presentations during the clerkship years follows. The final paragraph is an individualized summary written by Dr. Loeser, including your “adjective” (see below). An appendix page (the Medical School Information page) lists comparative statistics and information about your graduating class. Please review the sample MSPEs at the bottom of this page.

Your adjective

Your adjective is included in the first paragraph of the MSPE, as well as the final paragraph, which is a summative overview by Dr. Loeser commenting on your individual strengths and qualities as a graduate of the School of Medicine. The five adjectives are: outstanding, superior, excellent, very good, and good. Clinical honors are used to determine eligibility for overall performance designations of outstanding and superior: Students eligible for “outstanding” have earned honors in more than half of the weeks of required core clerkships, and students eligible for “superior” have earned honors in more than one third of the weeks of required core clerkships. All students are eligible for the “excellent,” “very good,” and “good” designations. The core clerkships are weighted according to the length of the clerkship (eg, medicine is eight weeks long and therefore “heavier” than pediatrics at six weeks). The UCSF Medical School Information Page, attached to the back of every students’ MSPE, specifies the percentage of graduating students receiving each adjective, and includes a bar graph that displays proportions of honors awarded in each core clerkship.

Evaluations included in the MSPE

All summary evaluation comments for clerkships completed through Summer Block 2 are included in the MSPE. Any Fall Block 1 evaluations that are received in our office by the first week of October (deadline determined each year) will also be included. There will be NO exceptions to this deadline. You can encourage your Fall Block 1 clerkship directors to submit your evaluation by this deadline, but Curricular Affairs cannot be responsible for obtaining these evaluations. The October deadline also applies to all revised evaluations, therefore it is very important that you check the accuracy of your evaluations now. Remember, revisions to grades or comments must be made within eights weeks of an evaluation being posted on e*Value or received in the Office of Curricular Affairs. If you want to convey additional evaluations to a program, you should consult with your career advisor and consider sending a copy of the evaluation directly to a program or bringing it with you to an interview. Evaluations received after the MSPE is transmitted can be sent to programs as an addendum to your MSPE, either by your request or at the institution’s discretion. The addendum will include all evaluations received that were not included in the MSPE. We will only create one addendum, so be sure that this is the most appropriate way to send recent evaluations to programs, and that all relevant courses are complete before requesting the addendum. An addendum becomes a permanent part of your MSPE.

Reviewing a draft of your MSPE

In early October, you will be able to review a draft of your MSPE. Your draft will only be available in paper format (not electronically). You must review this draft carefully, correct any inaccuracies, and return it to Curricular Affairs by your assigned deadline. MSPEs are transmitted or mailed to the residency programs you are applying to on November 1 (MSPEs for all medical students nationwide are sent on this date).

Questions?

Kristen Fitzhenry coordinates the preparation of the MSPE and transmitting MSPEs through ERAS.

Alumni who need their MSPE mailed to programs should contact Frances Harvey.

Sample MSPEs

Here are some sample MSPEs. Additional versions will be added later this summer:

• Sample 1
• Sample 2
• Sample 3

"Medical School Information Page" (MSPE back page)