I think that's already covered by #3.
Good comments and, from all that I have heard from applicants, these are all true about the system of obtaining a committee letter. But what about the LOR's purpose to the medical program? Which is better to represent you, a committee letter or separate letters? Which do med programs prefer?
First, I'd like to acknowledge that putting a committee letter together is a lot of work for the premed office. There's the chaos of scheduling meetings, interviews for those who include them, and of course simply sitting down to compose the committee letter, ranking, and other attached items such as graphs, autobiographies, and LOR's. It is a big commitment taking time, manpower, and coordination. There is a schedule to meet and you have to start early to help them get it done. But why do all of this? Is there value? Is it what the med school wants? Is it what you want?
If the final product represents you in totality: academically, personally, and reflects your true motivations, it is exactly what you and the med program needs. Think of thousands of applicants of which probably 75% can complete the medical school program and the med programs looking for the right mix of applicants for their class of ~120 (this number varies widely). All programs know what type of general student they want based on their perceived and hopefully advertised mission. Most lean heavily toward clincal, research, person, and numbers categories -- each considering these categories with singular emphasis (many programs want NUMBERS, and believe that all else will fall in place), or a varied (sometimes unspoken) formula looking all a mix of all of these categories in a different priority order(numbers-research, or numbers-clincial-personal, or clinical-personal-numbers, etc.).
Most med programs prefer a comprehensive committee letter from an advisor or committee who knows the applicant. Not only will it include your path of academics, but your other qualities that are harder to find in the basic applications that you will complete for a med program. An honest committee letter will list your strengths AND weaknesses, things you have overcome, your motivations, your goals. Often there is a 2-3 page committee letter that cuminates in a final paragraph written by the committee telling the school where you rank based on past applicants from that program and prognosticating on your chances for success. Many letters have individual LOR's attached from your professors, some have charts/graphs, and an evaluative matrix from your professors regarding personality traits as observed by them. This is all great information if used properly by the medical program. The med program admissions committee sees many premed committee packages and "gets to know" that premed program's system. The admissions committee knows what previous applicants have entered their program from that school and understands how that applicant progressed through the med program. The admissions committee begins to build a level of trust in the integrity of the premed package. If a premed committee ranks everyone "above average" there is little integrity, etc. The premed committee has a big responsibility in both maintaining their integrity with the med admissions committee and also honestly representing you in their assessment. Some applicants are wonderful people with a sincere motivation to be Mother Teresa but may be very unprepared for the academics of med school, others may be very aggressive and lacking tact but will have no problems with the academics of med school. So which gets ranked higher in the premed committee's final analysis? An honest letter will identify each of these applicants for who they are and let the admissions committee decide. Both the premed committees ranking assessment and comments are important to the med admissions committee. Essentially a solid premed committee letter is time consuming, has integrity, and is important to the applicant, premed committee, and admissions committee.
Individual LOR's are important but often do not add much overall value. Why? In general med programs ask for (?3?) faculty letters and (?1-2?) character/peer type letters if there is no premed committee letter. If done right the individual letters will be from those who know you in the academic or personal setting and will provide information about your performance, values, interactions, and an assessment of your probability of success in a med program (this assumes that the author knows what it takes to complete a med program.) First, more authors have no idea what it takes to complete a med program and have less of an idea what types of students are sought by med programs --- most assume academics are the key component. Second, most individual professor LOR's have little information about the values and interactions of an applicant beyond "always in class," "asked good questions," "and often visited during office hours." Thirdly, who does the applicant request a letter from? All will ask from those who will write "glowing" letters. This means ALL individual letters received for ALL applicants will be superb, rendering all worthless. The poor honest individual professor or friend that includes any hint of a weakness that could be an area of improvement (knowing that no one is perfect) gives you an absolute kiss of death! Since all individual letters are glowing, this honest author with integrity, AND DOING IT RIGHT, unknowingly slaughters you. In a perfect system all individual letters will list strengths/weaknesses, in reality it is rarely seen and is very harmful when found.
Final gist: There are many components to a med application. Med programs emphasize components differently. LOR's are probably best done in some type of premed committee process where someone in the premed office is a known that has an assumed level of integrity by a med admissions committee. The premed offices that provide a premed committee letter has a huge responsibility that takes time and needs your help to orchestrate properly. The best that you can do is to work closely with your premed office throughout your undergrad experience, know their timelines, and meet your responsibilites to them earlier than their deadlines. Note that there are no absolutes in this process, but there are many assumptions and evaluations. Much is out of the applicant's control. Applicants do control their academics, motivations, etc. By working with the premed office and researching med program requirements and tendencies, some of the mystery can be reduced. Research by using the MSAR, attending premed forums where available, and personal visits to primary programs of interest; the for-profit magazines that rank med programs use seriously flawed data and analysis and are of little real value. Surely they do accomplish one thing --- they certainly do make a profit.
This was provided to assist you in understanding the general value of the LOR process. There are so many different ways of doing business and so many other components that influence the final decision for admissions committees. I hope that this provides some insight.
