Long story short, my school requires a 3.3 sgpa for 2 years in order to get a committe letter, however my sgpa was in the 2.8 range for a while until I got my act together and got an upward trend in the last 1.5 years and got my sgpa up to a 3.35 (overall to a 3.53). My MCAT is decent enough for me to apply (514) and my ECs are pretty good (as well as my letter of recs) but I'm kind of scared that my low sgpa along with the lack of committee letter will get me rejected from most MD/DO schools. Does anyone know if this will impact my application next cycle ? I'm appreciative for any help I can get. Thank you. I can get a letter packet from my school but not a committee letter unless I wait another 2 years...
Can't get a Committee Letter. Will Letter Packets be enough or will I get rejected for not having a Committee Letter ?
- Thread starter smhmd
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You will be strong for DO, especially with that high MCAT. What was the MCAT breakdown?
MD is still doable but much harder.
MD is still doable but much harder.
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My school had a committee letter and I didn't use it. Most schools ask for the committee OR 3 individual letters from 2 science professors and 1 non-science professor. Maybe some prefer the committee, but none of the schools I've looked at on MSAR "require" it.
I have heard that most schools look down at someone not using a committee letter. Your stats are 3.9/516 so it won't effect you as much as me (3.5/514).
Well on the MD stats chart I have a 60% chance and I am thinking about applying to 25-30 MD schools and 5 DO schools. I don't know how much harder will it be for me considering the fact that I don't have a committee letter that these schools love so much.
Breakdown is 129/129/128/128
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A committee letter (when offered by the undergrad institution) is preferred by most medical schools but by no means a requirement for acceptance. For those who are eligible for one, not having a committee letter may invite some unwanted questions. In your case, not much you can do since a committee letter is not an option for you. Your grades are more likely to be the main barrier for acceptance, so apply to the appropriate schools.
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Especially if you can get the letter packet, you will be fine.
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It's an SDN mass hysterias that committee LORs are required.
Med school like them because Adcom don't want to wade through multiple LORs.
If your UG is a feeder school to a med school, then the committee LOR is usually expected, and you'll need to explain why you don't' have one.
That's it.
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My numbers are a bit lower than yours and I have received 3 DO interview invites without a formal committee letter.
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My UG (HYPSM) stopped doing committee LOR this cycle
Their reasoning was that med schools had only been looking at the committee letter instead of any individual letters attached, and the health advising committee thought that individual letters on their own would provide a much more compelling image of the candidate. It's the first year they’re doing this, so I guess we'll see how it goes
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Thank you Goro. I was admittedly a bit scared of not having a committee letter because my adviser has told me that many schools would turn me down without one.
That’s good to hear. Did u apply MD as well ?
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Yes, although far below the average number of schools.
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I will never get tired of posting this:
The smart thing is not to listen to your adviser. The road to medical school is littered with the festering corpses of students who did and found out that the information they'd been given was lousy. The wise LizzyM
When wise people like Goro and LizzyM, we listen 🙂. I have also been thinking about your advice and have been thinking about perhaps tacking on 9-12 credits next semester while working to get 2 years upward trend before I apply BTW 🙂.
I see. I plan on applying to like 25 low tier/ mid tier MD schools and 10 DO schools. Don't want to have to deal with being an applicant again.
