Applicant Discrimination in Committee Letter?

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ButterfingerBBs

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Just a thought here. Does anyone feel like their pre-med committee sends out the LORs for their "best" applicants first, regardless of when they submitted their materials?

I just ask because I submitted all my materials in the first week that you could, and I am still waiting for my letter to be sent. I am a re-applicant, and I know someone else who submitted around the same time as me and is still waiting. When I called the committee's office today they said letters have already started being sent but mine won't be ready for "a couple of weeks."

Obviously nothing I can do about it but just wondering if anyone is/was in a similar situation. Very frustrating to say the least when my secondaries have been complete for weeks but can't be reviewed.

Some secondaries do get reviewed without letters and then the letters are looked at.

When there are >100 letters to get out, someone is going to be first and someone is going to be last. Should it be alphabetical or should the students with the best records go first, or the worst records? Random?

Get over it. If your letters are there by Sept 1 you'll be fine.
 
Don't know but it makes sense to do the applicants who have the best chance of succeeding first.
 
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My school does it in order of verification date with a maximum 2 week turnaround after verification. They couldn't give you a more specific answer than that? That seems excessively long since you've already been waiting 2 months.
 
Don't know but it makes sense to do the applicants who have the best chance of succeeding first.

Not really....

From a school's perspective all they care about is what % of students they can get into a med school (not necessarily an elite/good med school) so they can flaunt that number on the school's website ("Last year 94% of applicants from X got in to medical school!")

Makes more sense to really work hard on the letters of those fringe applicants, submit it early, and give them an extra boost to get in somewhere....whereas the 3.8/36 applicant will likely get in somewhere even with a mediocre, rushed committee letter at the last minute. Another option is to just tell the fringe candidates to not apply at all to protect the schools acceptance %
 
Not really....

From a school's perspective all they care about is what % of students they can get into a med school (not necessarily an elite/good med school) so they can flaunt that number on the school's website ("Last year 94% of applicants from X got in to medical school!")

Makes more sense to really work hard on the letters of those fringe applicants, submit it early, and give them an extra boost to get in somewhere....whereas the 3.8/36 applicant will likely get in somewhere even with a mediocre, rushed committee letter at the last minute. Another option is to just tell the fringe candidates to not apply at all to protect the schools acceptance %

But is there even a demonstrative difference between when something is early enough to provide an advantage? I'd like to hope most schools put in a lot of effort in compiling the committee letter, but schools differ WIDELY on the speed in which the letter is released to the students. Alot of students in many different colleges (mine included) are still awaiting them. I think this speaks more towards the overall recognition that speed just isn't all that important - probably getting everything complete really really early's only major benefit is that it gives the applicant more flexibility in choosing interview slots. And if the "bottom line" is acceptance rate, there probably isn't too much incentive to speed along the letter for convenience.
 
It honestly sounds like you're reading into this too much. There are a number of reasons your letter would be delayed, including but not limited to new information/updates, longer edits or explanations needed, your last name, the fact that you call up 5 times a day demanding a letter, etc. As you said, there's nothing you can do at this point. Instead of trying to assign a source for blame, I recommend you exhibit some patience. I realize this is a stressful time, but it's still early in the process if all you need in is your letter.
 
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