Premedical Advisory Committee

The Premedical Advisory Committee (PMAC) at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville meets during the month of September to evaluate the applicants from the University of Arkansas for medical school. Most medical schools, including UAMS, require a composite letter of recommendation or "committee letter" for each applicant for medical school from that institution. This recommendation is required from undergraduates, non-traditional students, and graduate students applying to UAMS from the institution they have attended within the last 2 years.

The UAMS College of Medicine Catalog states under the section "For the Medical School Applicant":

" Premedical Advisory Commitee Composite Evaluation: (Mandatory) If it has been two years or less since an applicant last attended or graduated from college, he/she must request a letter of evaluation from the school's Premedical Advisory Committee. It is the responsibility of the applicant to investigate and determine if his/her school has a Premedical Advisory Committee. The applicant must meet all established deadlines of that committee for requesting a letter be sent to the College of Medicine Office of Admisssions. Applicants who fail to satisfy this prematriculation requirement wil not be allowed to proceed with their application. Therefore, their application will be rejected."

For each applicant requesting a letter of evaluation, the committee considers the academic record, character and motivation, personal interaction skills, leadership, extenuating circumstances regarding some negative factor in the application, and any other information available to committee members. These factors will be considered based on your application materials and from a personal interview each candidate will have with two members of the Premedical Advisory Committee on campus.

Each candidate is rated by every member of the committee in attendance according to the following scale: VHR (Very Highly Recommended), HR (Highly Recommended), R (Recommended), RR (Recommended with Reservations), NR (Do Not Recommend). The entire vote is forwarded to UAMS together with a brief paragraph about the candidate.

The Premedical Advisory Commitee is composed of 11-12 faculty members and one full-time premedical advisor who are appointed by the Dean of the Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences. The composition may change slightly from year to year but many members have had years of experience serving on the committee.

Premedical Advisory Committee 2006

Biological Sciences

Mack Ivey
Fred Spiegel

Biological Engineering

Tom Costello

Chemistry

Neil Allison (Chairman)
Dan Davis
Denise Greathouse

Fulbright Advising Center/Biological Sciences

Jeanne McLachlin

Honors College

Suzanne McCray

Kinesiology

Dean Gorman

Psychology

Joel Freund

The individuals writing personal letters of recommendation for you must send the letters directly to the medical schools you are applying to and a COPY of the same letter should be sent to:

Dr. Neil T. Allison
Chair Premedical Advisory Committee
Dept. of Chemistry and Biochemistry
CHEM 214
University of Arkansas
Fayettevile, AR 72701