No prehealth committee and LOR's

[rtcmurr]

No matter what I do. . .I cannot seem to get this question answered. I will be applying for the 2006 cycle and we do not have a prehealth committee. I am applying to 8 or 9 schools (just to be safe) and each school either wants 1 letter from a prehealth committee or 2 or 3 individual letters. Some from 3 sci. professors. . .some 2 from sci. prof., 1 from a dentist. Some 1 personal LOR, 2 science. One even wants 1 from bio prof and 1 from either a biochem, physics, or chem prof. HELP! Do you think it is safe to send 7 different LOR's to AADSAS and then just have the schools sort through them? One school even prohibits sending your LOR's directly to them.

Suggestions please!
I called AADSAS and they didn't have any suggestions.

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[Trookie]

I was kind of wondering the same thing myself. Because of the difference in LOR requirements for different schools, I am sending 5 to all of the ones I'm applying to.

3 from science professors (immunology, gen bio, and gen chem)
1 from dentist
1 from Red Cross volunteer director (which I guess might count as personal)

No letter from pre-health committee since I recently graduated. I am hoping 5 will not seem too over the top.

 

[cool fillings]

I didn't get a pre-health committee letter and had the same issue, so I submitted a ton of LORs to AADSAS:

3 science (required by Harvard and probably others)
1 non-science (I think BU required this)
1 personal reference (that was for LLU)
and I had 2 dentists too

I submitted all of these to AADSAS thinking I'd probably get to have a say in which letter gets sent where, but no.

I was really afraid that all of the letters would be seen as over the top, but I got into my top choice school. A couple of schools didn't offer me interviews (and these were schools I thought I'd get in to)...maybe it was the excessive # of LORs.

Knowing what I know now, I'd send my letters directly to the schools (you can do this instead of sending them all to AADSAS). That way they'll get exactly what they asked for and you won't seem over the top.

 

[onetoothleft]

I did the same thing.

3 Science
1 volunteer
1 dentist

worked out well--AADSAS sumbits all of them to each school and the schools dont care if you send extras .. . Although I think a couple of schools say no more than 5.

 

[Dentist 2 be]

I only sent 3 science prof recs but some schools required one from a dentist as well.

 

[spc213]

I sent the three science LOR's to AADSAS. Three reqs seemed common across the board for schools. I would only send letters to AADSAS that you are comfortable having every school see.

For the schools that required a non-science, dentist, or personal reference, I had those individuals send a letter directly to the school.

Good luck!

 

[gtl4f]

I will be applying for the 07 cycle so I am probably a tad bit early but my school has suggested these following LORs:

2 from science profs
2 from non-science profs
1 from prehealth committee
1 from dentist


Hi everyone in SDN!! I've been lurking for a while and I love how everyone in the forum are so supportive of eachother!!

 

[TX Hopeful]

No matter what I do. . .I cannot seem to get this question answered. I will be applying for the 2006 cycle and we do not have a prehealth committee. I am applying to 8 or 9 schools (just to be safe) and each school either wants 1 letter from a prehealth committee or 2 or 3 individual letters. Some from 3 sci. professors. . .some 2 from sci. prof., 1 from a dentist. Some 1 personal LOR, 2 science. One even wants 1 from bio prof and 1 from either a biochem, physics, or chem prof. HELP! Do you think it is safe to send 7 different LOR's to AADSAS and then just have the schools sort through them? One school even prohibits sending your LOR's directly to them.

Suggestions please!
I called AADSAS and they didn't have any suggestions.

My suggestion is send as many as are required to apply to all of your schools of choice. I personally am submitting 5 LORs. I've been out of school for 7 years, and my undergrad institution didn't have a pre-dent/pre-med committee. That being the case, I'm submitting LORs from 2 former science professors (it wasn't easy tracking those down), 1 dentist, and 2 from former employers.