Please help! Committee Letter and Nontraditional Route

[historystudent]

I graduated from college in 2006 and completed several of my premed requirements there (calculus, inorganic chem, and biology).

I am now in a Ph.D. program in history and have been taking my remaining premed courses as I would like to apply to medical school after earning my Ph.D. So, I have organic chemistry and physics left.

It appears that I cannot get a committee letter of support, as my classes have been split between two school. Does this create a major issue for my chances of getting in? Is there something I should do to help my case/situation?

Thanks so much!!

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[Woland]

Just get a couple of separate letters from your science professors with PhDs.

Committee letters are just a fad (MHO), and occasionally a time saver. I have not needed a committee letter for myself, but I know that none of my profs are on it, and asking them face-to-face for a letter was very productive when I needed them for scholarship craze last winter (I got almost full ride as a post-bac, and I do credit it to the remarkable letters they wrote -- I did not even know that stuff about myself).

 

[jphwki82]

I graduated from college in 2006 and completed several of my premed requirements there (calculus, inorganic chem, and biology).

I am now in a Ph.D. program in history and have been taking my remaining premed courses as I would like to apply to medical school after earning my Ph.D. So, I have organic chemistry and physics left.

It appears that I cannot get a committee letter of support, as my classes have been split between two school. Does this create a major issue for my chances of getting in? Is there something I should do to help my case/situation?

Thanks so much!!

Don't worry about the committee LOR. I didn't have one, and I had a few school transcripts w/ my app. I was a non-trad applicant as well. I used separate letters from physicians, colleagues, and individual professors.

 

[EdLongshanks]

Just get a couple of separate letters from your science professors with PhDs.

Committee letters are just a fad (MHO), and occasionally a time saver. I have not needed a committee letter for myself, but I know that none of my profs are on it, and asking them face-to-face for a letter was very productive when I needed them for scholarship craze last winter (I got almost full ride as a post-bac, and I do credit it to the remarkable letters they wrote -- I did not even know that stuff about myself).

School Committee letters are more of a pain than a help. They are sometimes mere form letters, saying nothing interesting. If you get individual professor letters, you can pick the professor who will say the nicest things about you.

Also, they are frequently late, and delay your secondary app by a critical few weeks. There are probably exceptions, but most pre-med committees at undergrad schools are more of an obstacle than a help.

I haven't had any kickback about my individual letters yet.

 

[njbmd]

I graduated from college in 2006 and completed several of my premed requirements there (calculus, inorganic chem, and biology).

I am now in a Ph.D. program in history and have been taking my remaining premed courses as I would like to apply to medical school after earning my Ph.D. So, I have organic chemistry and physics left.

It appears that I cannot get a committee letter of support, as my classes have been split between two school. Does this create a major issue for my chances of getting in? Is there something I should do to help my case/situation?

Thanks so much!!

If you are a remote graduate (as you are by the above) a committee letter is not such a big deal. If you are a graduate student, most places won't care about a committee letter but will want a letter from your Ph.D adviser stating that you have finished your Ph.D coursework before you apply.