Pre-Health Professions File

General Information

A pre-health professions file is intended for students who wish to store their letters of recommendation until they are ready to apply to health professional schools. This does NOT include master’s/bridge program/PhD programs. Please seek an alternative letter service for application to these programs.

Our office will send a packet containing the letters in the student’s file to general pre-health application programs which include AMCAS and AACOMAS. Please note that we do NOT upload individual letters to specific schools. We also do not upload for Caribbean schools or Texas schools. We may email your letter packet to a Caribbean or Texas school or upload your letters to interfolio, but this will be an additional upload charge.

Our office offers two types of letter packets: a general letter packet and a committee letter packet. You must have an open file to begin collecting letters for either of these packets.

• The general letter packet is just a composition of the letters of recommendation you have on file
• The committee letter packet consists of all of your individual letters as well as the letter the committee writes on your behalf
• You may also opt to have your letters sent as a general packet and choose to obtain and send a committee letter later on if you are applying through AMCAS. If you are applying to any program utilizing liaisonCAS, you may only upload your packet once, thus you should wait for your committee letter before we submit it for you.

How to Open a File 

The process for opening a file is the same whether you would like to obtain a general or committee letter packet. Please refer to the steps below:

1. Meet the GPA and credit hour requirements.

• The minimum requirement is a 3.2 or higher.
• You must have at least 60 credits.
• We also strongly advise you to have shadowing experience or clinical observation in the healthcare field.

2. Click here to join the Pre-Health File Canvas Course.

• After you join the canvas course, please proceed to modules and follow the steps.
• Read everything carefully to gain a full understanding of the filing process.

How to Navigate the Canvas Course

1. Begin by reading the welcoming statement on the home page then proceed to modules.
2. In modules there will be a total of four sections/assignments you must move through before your file is considered open.
• The four sections are as follows: Pre-Health Professions Mission, Opening a Pre-Health File General Information, How to Open a File, and Waiver Form.
3. Once you have viewed all four pages and completed the waiver form assignment, a page will be displayed notifying you that your file is open.
4. Once your file is open, proceed to the next page for information about how your letter authors should send in letters.
• You will provide us with your letter authors' contact information through the letter authors assignment and within 7-10 business days (from the point you submit the assignment) your letter authors will get an email with the letter upload platform.
• Please note your letter authors will NOT receive an email before then.
• You will know when they have uploaded the letter through the grading and commenting system on canvas. If you do not have a grade or comment for the assignment then we DO NOT have your letter as yet.
5. Beyond this, you will see a page about the current application cycle. If you are applying to that cycle please continue to the next assignment. If you are NOT applying to that cycle then you are all set for now!
6. If you are applying to the current cycle and completed the assignment detailing so, you will be added to a canvas course specific to that cycle around April of your application year.
• For example, if you are applying for the 2022-2023 cycle, you will be added to that specific canvas course in April of 2022.
7. Thank you all for your patience and please reach out to us at preprof@fau.edu if you have any additional questions!