So what is a premedical committee?

[dopaminesurge]

Berkeley doesn't have one. I'm just curious. And what - do they compile your 3-5 letters and write one on the basis, or how does it work?

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[MrMet31]

My pre-med committee consisted of the chair of biology and one other member of the department. They take your 3-5 letters and write you a composite letter based on the info contained in your letters. Then they send it out to all the schools that you request.

 

[Haemulon]

Different committees work diferently, but it is usually a panel of professors that get together for an interview with you, review your information and history at that school, bring with them their previous experiences with and opinions of you, and submit comments for the penning of a joint committee letter.

 

[Sol Rosenberg]

Mine just slaps your letters together and sends them as a packet to the places that you tell them to send them. As far as I know mine doesn't write a cover letter or anything (maybe there is just a generic cover letter sent.) More of an administrative thing than anything else.

 

[ADeadLois]

Mine just slaps your letters together and sends them as a packet to the places that you tell them to send them. As far as I know mine doesn't write a cover letter or anything (maybe there is just a generic cover letter sent.) More of an administrative thing than anything else.

I don't think that's a committee. That's just a file service. There's a difference.

 

[Haemulon]

I don't think that's a committee. That's just a file service. There's a difference.

Exactly. Its the difference between sending a packet of letters and a single letter representing the sentiments of the entire committee.

 

[Sol Rosenberg]

<shrug> They call themselves the premed committee, and they call what they send out a committee letter. Don't shoot the messenger.

 

[dopaminesurge]

So do they interview you and all that, or do they just compile a letter from the ones they received?

 

[zach1201]

<shrug> They call themselves the premed committee, and they call what they send out a committee letter. Don't shoot the messenger.

Can I shoot your Don Johnson avatar instead?

 

[ADeadLois]

<shrug> They call themselves the premed committee, and they call what they send out a committee letter. Don't shoot the messenger.

Did they interview you?

 

[zach1201]

So do they interview you and all that, or do they just compile a letter from the ones they received?

My committee required a thorough background history, three letters of recommendation, and then an interview with a faculty within the university. The purpose of the committee letter, according to people in the offices, is to get us to the interview stage.

 

[Sol Rosenberg]

So do they interview you and all that, or do they just compile a letter from the ones they received?

You have to fill out a little form that is kind of like a mini-mini application, but there is no formal interview (although it is the Health Professions Advising office that sends out the committee letter, so it's not like we haven't spoken to those people before.)

zach1201: If you think you are bad enough to take on Crockett, you're welcome to try.

 

[RawkusMD]

First time poster, long time reader.

At Pitt, the preprofessional committee combines your LORs along with a summary of your extracurriculars into a composite committee letter along with a rating (average, competitive, outstanding, etc.) that gets sent to each school. There is no interview by the committee, although my professors interviewed me before writing my faculty LORs. I personally am anti-committee because you can have stellar LORs from shadowing/research experiences and mediocre faculty letters from professors you hardly have any interaction with, and they all get lumped together. I think the medical schools require that if you have a committee you must use it simply because they would rather read 1 LOR than 5.

 

[dopaminesurge]

First time poster, long time reader.

At Pitt, the preprofessional committee combines your LORs along with a summary of your extracurriculars into a composite committee letter along with a rating (average, competitive, outstanding, etc.) that gets sent to each school. There is no interview by the committee, although my professors interviewed me before writing my faculty LORs. I personally am anti-committee because you can have stellar LORs from shadowing/research experiences and mediocre faculty letters from professors you hardly have any interaction with, and they all get lumped together. I think the medical schools require that if you have a committee you must use it simply because they would rather read 1 LOR than 5.

HAHAHA. I screwed them by going to Berkeley! Take that, adcomms. Five letters for you to read! Six if you're UCLA.

 

[BigRedPremed]

Berkeley doesn't have one. I'm just curious. And what - do they compile your 3-5 letters and write one on the basis, or how does it work?

The one at my school compiles your 3 letters, gives you an interview, and then writes a committee letter on your behalf and then sends out all 4 letters.

My friend was actually asked some tough questions during her interview: why she had so few hours of volunteering, why her MCAT is so low in relation to her GPA (30 vs. a 3.95), etc.

 

[Levrone]

When are you all submitting?

 

[chemist16]

Mine interviews you and compiles the letters to write a composite letter. They try to emphasize the strong points of each letter and capture quotes from the individual letters to help paint a summary of you as an applicant.

 

[hoihaie]

When are you all submitting?

9 years ago

 

[mehc012]

My school's "committee" seems to be one person, from what I can tell.

In order to get their letter, you must:

- Attend some required info sessions
- Fill out an information form (some are discrete questions like Name, AAMCID, etc, but there are also enough short answer/essay questions that my responses filled 3pages once I was done) and submit transcripts
- Write a 3-5 page Autobiography of your life.
- Have a one-on-one interview with the person, during which they will reference your heavily annotated and highlighted essays. They will ask you what you want to highlight, what you would like to deemphasize/gloss over/explain, what kind of story do you want them to tell about you, etc.
- Submit 4-6 letters

The "committee" then submits your composite letter, which they craft by quoting your other LORs, you autobio, etc. and weaving it all together into a cohesive narrative which hopefully frames you as discussed during your interview. The original LORs are attached at the back of that composite.



So, yeah...I'm definitely glad I jumped through their hoops, I think it's an incredible service my school provides (for free! Even to alumni like me!)

 

[Levrone]

9 years ago

wow sorry, I thought I was posting in the may 22 2015 mcat thread