Committee letter as non-traditional student

[honey-hydroflask]

Hi, I graduated with a BS in Computer Science and formed very positive relationships with some CS professors. I worked with them on multiple research projects and did well in their course. I believe they can write a strong LoR to package in my committee letter but the university is requesting 2 from science faculty and 1 from social sciences or humanities faculty. My question is whether this CS professor would count as a science letter, given the subject material is more aligned with applied mathematics. I understand AAMC considers ‘science’ as BCPM but I feel like this professor would be a great resource and obviously I want to make sure I have the best letters possible. I am working on clinical research in the summer with medical school faculty, so I plan on allocating this respective LoR to research instead.

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[Mr.Smile12]

Hi, I graduated with a BS in Computer Science and formed very positive relationships with some CS professors. I worked with them on multiple research projects and did well in their course. I believe they can write a strong LoR to package in my committee letter but the university is requesting 2 from science faculty and 1 from social sciences or humanities faculty. My question is whether this CS professor would count as a science letter, given the subject material is more aligned with applied mathematics. I understand AAMC considers ‘science’ as BCPM but I feel like this professor would be a great resource and obviously I want to make sure I have the best letters possible. I am working on clinical research in the summer with medical school faculty, so I plan on allocating this respective LoR to research instead.

For committee letters, your prehealth committee's rules supersede the individual letter requirements needed at each school. Yes, it's good rule of thumb to have those expectations align when possible, but you usually don't have a school list to give the committee so THEY can do the work. (Frankly, we don't want to do the work.)

What does your prehealth advisor say? Are they asking specifically for a bio/chem professor? BTW: AMCAS "science GPA" is NOT the same as "BCPM" GPA. Your computer science courses likely fall under "science"/"other science" so it would matter for your science GPA. By extension, one can argue comp sci professors should be acceptable for "science" letters unless otherwise instructed.

Did you give the comp sci professor the AAMC brochure on writing letters of recommendation/evaluation?

 

[honey-hydroflask]

For committee letters, your prehealth committee's rules supersede the individual letter requirements needed at each school. Yes, it's good rule of thumb to have those expectations align when possible, but you usually don't have a school list to give the committee so THEY can do the work. (Frankly, we don't want to do the work.)

What does your prehealth advisor say? Are they asking specifically for a bio/chem professor? BTW: AMCAS "science GPA" is NOT the same as "BCPM" GPA. Your computer science courses likely fall under "science"/"other science" so it would matter for your science GPA. By extension, one can argue comp sci professors should be acceptable for "science" letters unless otherwise instructed.

Did you give the comp sci professor the AAMC brochure on writing letters of recommendation/evaluation?

Hi, thanks for your response. I followed up with my advisor and will let you know what they say. I’m prepared to send letter writers my PS and any helpful AAMC letter writing info. Would it still be best practice to try to fit one of my BCPM professors in the 2 “science” faculty if approved? TBH, I didn’t know I wanted to go to medical school in undergrad, and still did well in those courses, but didn’t try to forge the best personal relationships with them.

Regarding the sGPA, I was referring to this article: Course Classification Guide.

I did really well in all my CS and Math courses and I’m confident I can include the Math courses in the sGPA already. You would be comfortable including the CS courses in the sGPA too?

 

[wysdoc]

Hi, thanks for your response. I followed up with my advisor and will let you know what they say. I’m prepared to send letter writers my PS and any helpful AAMC letter writing info. Would it still be best practice to try to fit one of my BCPM professors in the 2 “science” faculty if approved? TBH, I didn’t know I wanted to go to medical school in undergrad, and still did well in those courses, but didn’t try to forge the best personal relationships with them.

Regarding the sGPA, I was referring to this article: Course Classification Guide.

I did really well in all my CS and Math courses and I’m confident I can include the Math courses in the sGPA already. You would be comfortable including the CS courses in the sGPA too?

AMCAS decides where to place your coursework for their various GPA calculations. It's not something you can control, but rest assured the med schools will see all your grades.