VirtualEvals

In 2003, seeking a more efficient and cost-effective way to transmit letters of evaluation, Kay Singer, Director of the Health Professions Advising Center at Duke University and Saeed Richardson, Computer Project Manager in the Office of Admissions, Duke University School of Medicine, collaborated to develop a secure, web-based system, called VirtualEvals. For the 2004 application cycle (i.e., applicants applying for entry into medical school in 2004) Duke University was the only undergraduate institution using VirtualEvals. Ninety-eight (98) medical schools accessed letters through VirtualEvals.

In 2005, we invited 12 other undergraduate institutions to join Duke in a pilot of an expanded VirtualEvals. For that year, 112 medical schools used VirtualEvals.

For the 2006 cycle, the National Association of Advisors for the Health Professions (NAAHP) joined us to offer a national pilot of VirtualEvals. We had 84 participating undergraduate institutions and programs using VirtualEvals to transmit letters of evaluation for over 7,700 applicants.

For the 2006 cycle, 15 osteopathic medical schools and 125 allopathic medical schools used VirtualEvals to access letters. The total for allopathic schools includes the schools in the TMDSAS system, the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine, Charles R. Drew Medical School, and the University of Minnesota-Duluth. The last three do not have separate listings in the MSAR because they are affiliated with other schools that are listed. Only 9 allopathic medical schools in the US did not use VirtualEvals for the 2006 application cycle. In addition, 15 MD/PhD programs chose to access letters through VirtualEvals separately from the MD admissions offices at their medical school.

In the most recent 2007 application cycle, 175 undergraduate schools/programs used VirtualEvals to transmit letters to 177 health professions schools/programs. Over 14,400 applicant records were created on VirtualEvals.

Clearly VirtualEvals has become a valuable tool for advisors and admissions offices. VirtualEvals is also advantgeous to applicants as it allows their files in admissions offices to become complete more quickly.