committee confusion

[wetlightning]

ok, here goes...

my school has a health prof. committee that doesn't meet until the end of august, which means that (provided my advisor gets on the ball), letters should go out mid-september some time. now, this is bad, but it gets worse...along with the committee letter, our three academic letters are enclosed in the packet.

so basically, schools won't receive ANY of my crucial lor's until mid-september-ish.

i also have two additional lor's i requested from a volunteer supervisor and a research supervisor, and those are to be sent separate from the committee application. so they could conceivably be sent to the schools in a few weeks.

i've already emailed my schools, and i'm getting a series of varied responses: "if you send letters yourself, the first three we get will go into your packet, and we'll ignore all others." "if you have a committee letter, we will ignore it if you send others before it."

etc etc

anyway, i'm pretty freaked out, b/c i know that earliness is key in this game, and i'm applying to some schools at which i'm quite borderline, but having an early shot would help a lot!

i know i'm still before the august mcat'ers, but that's not really much consolation.

do you guys have any recommendations? a few schools that have responded don't seem to really understand what's going on...they're not comprehending that ALL my recs come in the HPC packet, instead of just the committee letter. also, if i send the extracurricular letters on my own, the adcom's will just have two random, non-academic letters (good supplements, but def not good on their own)

AHHH, i'm scared!!!

sorry for the tirade, please bear with me...i could use some good advice!!!

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[takara]

ok, here goes...

my school has a health prof. committee that doesn't meet until the end of august, which means that (provided my advisor gets on the ball), letters should go out mid-september some time. now, this is bad, but it gets worse...along with the committee letter, our three academic letters are enclosed in the packet.

so basically, schools won't receive ANY of my crucial lor's until mid-september-ish.

i also have two additional lor's i requested from a volunteer supervisor and a research supervisor, and those are to be sent separate from the committee application. so they could conceivably be sent to the schools in a few weeks.

i've already emailed my schools, and i'm getting a series of varied responses: "if you send letters yourself, the first three we get will go into your packet, and we'll ignore all others." "if you have a committee letter, we will ignore it if you send others before it."

etc etc

anyway, i'm pretty freaked out, b/c i know that earliness is key in this game, and i'm applying to some schools at which i'm quite borderline, but having an early shot would help a lot!

i know i'm still before the august mcat'ers, but that's not really much consolation.

do you guys have any recommendations? a few schools that have responded don't seem to really understand what's going on...they're not comprehending that ALL my recs come in the HPC packet, instead of just the committee letter. also, if i send the extracurricular letters on my own, the adcom's will just have two random, non-academic letters (good supplements, but def not good on their own)

AHHH, i'm scared!!!

sorry for the tirade, please bear with me...i could use some good advice!!!

sounds like everyone at your school is in the same boat- and that should have been the same last year- wait for the letters from your school and talk to people from last year who applied from your school
med schools should know that the letters from your school come later so that shouldn't affect you too much
there will be lots of people who get interview way after that so cool down
plus you're still beating the august mcaters by a ton of time so that's about a third of the pool you're beating out right there

calm down- it will be fine

 

[wetlightning]

bump, anyone else?

 

[Kazema]

You should be fine, the first interviews most people get are late September or early October.

 

[BOBODR]

bump, anyone else?

Het wet as you know I went to Wake and I applied last year. Our Health Committee scr*ws us over. I know people who didnt have their HPC letter until the end of October. The infamous adviser starts writing them in September after the committee meets right before labor day. He usually has 80-90 to do (pre-vet, dental, and pre med) and since he is the only one doing it, it takes a long time. At least your not an AUgust MCATER I was so he pushed those of us to the back even if we were one of the firsts to request it. It does hurt no matter what the committee says, they say a school wont judge you based on their tardiness but it does push you back...

 

[LizzyM]

As I pointed out earlier in the week, at one school with a large volume of applications by mid-September the adcom has plowed through the applications that arrived on Day #1 in June/July (about 25% of the season total). Getting your letters out in mid-September still puts you in the first 50% of reviewed appies provided that the rest of the ducks are in a row.

 

[wetlightning]

Het wet as you know I went to Wake and I applied last year. Our Health Committee scr*ws us over. I know people who didnt have their HPC letter until the end of October. The infamous adviser starts writing them in September after the committee meets right before labor day. He usually has 80-90 to do (pre-vet, dental, and pre med) and since he is the only one doing it, it takes a long time. At least your not an AUgust MCATER I was so he pushed those of us to the back even if we were one of the firsts to request it. It does hurt no matter what the committee says, they say a school wont judge you based on their tardiness but it does push you back...

UGHH...clearly we both know who we're talking about...wonder if he prowls sdn...i'm worried to mention his name

i'm so sick of that, so many other schools meet in april!!! or may...or june...or anything more logical than SEPTEMBER.

have you heard of other wake kids getting significantly screwed b/c of this?

 

[blowfish]

I cannot speak about Wake specifically, but having applied without a committee letter, I can provide my perspective.

Not all schools require committee letters and, from the sounds of it, your committee letter does not sound like it will be the most personal or important of your letters. As such, if you are concerned about the delay, I would consider doing the following:

1. Find out whether each school you are applying to requires a committee letter.

2. For those that do not, have your other LORs sent directly to the schools now.

3. For those that do require committee letters, contact each school and find out their policy, as you mentioned you have done for some schools already.

Good luck!