Are you at a disadvantage if you don't use Committee LOR?

[wblack]

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Our school have a premed service and they have a premed committee that can write a committee letter. My question is if i don't use their services and send all my LORs to interfolio, will that look bad on my application that i did not use the prehealth service? or why i did not get a committee letter?

Also if you are attending UMDNJ (any in NJ), do they make a big deal out of this?

 

[romba]

Some schools ask for an explanation on the secondary for why you're not using a committee letter if your school provides. I'd imagine the schools that don't ask may question it if they decide to interview you. So basically, that's a yes, it matters, I'm just not sure how much.

 

[BlueElmo]

I think if your schools has a committee letter service, you should utilize it. Schools seem to want it.

 

[womp]

If you're non-traditional, I don't think most schools care if you use committee letters or not. But hopefully your individual letters aren't just: "so and so took my class and got an A. I recommend him for medical school." The good thing about committees is that they can filter out the less than stellar letters for you. If you know you have strong individual letters, then I wouldn't think it would matter much.

 

[ShinyDome19]

Iv had some interviews and was never asked why I didnt use the pre-med committee. But, my reason is simply the fact that I dont like the idea of having a group of people that dont know me pick which points are important to summerize from my letters of rec, which were written by professors that knew me for >5 years. Especially after talking with some of the pre-med advisors at my undergraduate university who had no clue what was required for medical school.