Committee Letter Question

[Saifa]

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Based on input I've read in past threads and replies to my own queries, I've determined that obtaining a committee letter is of the utmost importance.

That being said I am still in a concerning situation. I attend one of many satellite campuses of an extremely large state university. My campus has no pre-health committee/advising of its own (though I have been trying to get one started!). I've reached out to the main campus' director of premedicine who assured me that I can route my LORs to their office and they would be happy to prepare a composite letter for me.

Would it be uncouth of me to try meeting with the director/committee in person so they can at least have met and spoken with me prior to preparing my letter? I feel like I have cultivated LORs that will be quite strong, and I do not want them to be negatively impacted by the wording of a committee who has no sense of who I am as a person.

 

[Endoxifen]

Based on input I've read in past threads and replies to my own queries, I've determined that obtaining a committee letter is of the utmost importance.

That being said I am still in a concerning situation. I attend one of many satellite campuses of an extremely large state university. My campus has no pre-health committee/advising of its own (though I have been trying to get one started!). I've reached out to the main campus' director of premedicine who assured me that I can route my LORs to their office and they would be happy to prepare a composite letter for me.

Would it be uncouth of me to try meeting with the director/committee in person so they can at least have met and spoken with me prior to preparing my letter? I feel like I have cultivated LORs that will be quite strong, and I do not want them to be negatively impacted by the wording of a committee who has no sense of who I am as a person.

Why would that be rude? He offered to do the letter for you, so I'm sure he would be happy to meet with you. Also, for my school at least, we had a formal interview in conjunction with the submitted letters. Are you sure that your school doesn't have one of those?

 

[Saifa]

Why would that be rude? He offered to do the letter for you, so I'm sure he would be happy to meet with you. Also, for my school at least, we had a formal interview in conjunction with the submitted letters. Are you sure that your school doesn't have one of those?

The director's responses have been understandably terse. Judging by the scale of our university, they probably have way more students to deal with than I am even imagining. At my campus, I can stop in my faculty adviser's office whenever I please and discuss practically anything, whereas students at the main campus need over a week's notice to see someone for a few minutes. I'm used to conducting business at a campus with less than 1000 students, so I'm not really sure about the rules of engagement at the upper scale of the hierarchy.

 

[Endoxifen]

The director's responses have been understandably terse. Judging by the scale of our university, they probably have way more students to deal with than I am even imagining. At my campus, I can stop in my faculty adviser's office whenever I please and discuss practically anything, whereas students at the main campus need over a week's notice to see someone for a few minutes. I'm used to conducting business at a campus with less than 1000 students, so I'm not really sure about the rules of engagement at the upper scale of the hierarchy.

I go to a school of ~50000. You'd be suprised how well people respond if you call them directly or knock on their door. Go talk to him. Remember that he offered to do it for you. Make sure it's done right.

 

[cloudstrife2054]

Ask them about how the committee letter is synthesized. I know of a school that hires professional letter writers to make it flow and sing and assuming they support you fully, the letter remains glowing. If not, they'd degrade it a bit. I won't disclose the school's name.

Also, a committee letter usually means a committee packet. That means it contains your committee letter and all other letters. They also take some points from the other letters to make it flow and sing as well. Think of a committee letter as the abstract of a peer-reviewed paper.

 

[prehealthadvisor55]

My campus has no pre-health committee/advising of its own (though I have been trying to get one started!).

How, exactly? Advisors and committees are professional positions & responsibilities. How are you trying to "start" one?

That said, I really don't think a committee letter from people you don't know & who don't know you is going to do you much good. Why not just have great individual letters? My experience with schools has been that committee letters are decreasing in popularity. At my previous institution the infrastructure was not in place for a committee, so in the pre-health advising office we offered a letter packet service. But no committee letter. At my current school, there is no committee either. And no need for one really. I've only had 1 instance of a school giving a student a hard time for not having a committee letter. I wrote that school personally to explain that we didn't have a committee and our student shouldn't be penalized for that. The school was understanding that not every undergrad has a committee.

 

[cloudstrife2054]

It feels like they may be decreasing in popularity, but even so some schools require it if your school produces one. John Hopkins is an example.

 

[Saifa]

How, exactly? Advisors and committees are professional positions & responsibilities. How are you trying to "start" one?

Fair enough, the uni did not realize we actually had pre-health students at this campus as we have only recently hired the faculty required to cover all of the prereqs. Many of my peers frankly have not been extremely zealous in figuring things such as committee letters out, so my faculty adviser and I have made a decent amount of correspondence with the main campus and they've expressed desire in setting up advising for our students via video conference. It's not really something I take credit for or plan to speak about.

Our school offers the "packet" as well. It seems that views on the importance of "going through the committee" are somewhat polar on SDN, but I've gathered that not doing so can be regarded as negligence on the applicant's part.

Say I go to a campus at X university. If many X university applicants are applying with committee letters and I am not, then I guess I could potentially raise suspicion. Maybe I could explain it, but do I really want that?

 

[cloudstrife2054]

I'm sure they've heard every excuse imaginable and for every excuse, there is probably a counterargument against it.

Also, it doesn't hurt if you're curious about how the committee letter is synthesized. Keep in mind each person is different but my advisor likes how I'm so meticulous. They told me I'd be the type of doctor who would not want to send their patient to another doctor, but I would want to find out the cause of their chronic conditions/illnesses myself, which I do agree with.

 

[Saifa]

Also, it doesn't hurt if you're curious about how the committee letter is synthesized. Keep in mind each person is different but my advisor likes how I'm so meticulous. They told me I'd be the type of doctor who would not want to send their patient to another doctor, but I would want to find out the cause of their chronic conditions/illnesses myself, which I do agree with.

This is what I'm thinking, for how nuanced this process is I do not want someone who has never met me assembling my entire recommendation packet.

 

[cloudstrife2054]

They do not edit your recommendation letters. Just arrange them into a packet to make it easier on you because it's 1 upload. The only letter they edit is the committee letter.

 

[prehealthadvisor55]

I've gathered that not doing so can be regarded as negligence on the applicant's part.

Not at all. If the university doesn't offer it, they don't offer it. Adcoms know this. I've spoken with many adcoms and it's never been an issue.

Say I go to a campus at X university. If many X university applicants are applying with committee letters and I am not, then I guess I could potentially raise suspicion. Maybe I could explain it, but do I really want that?

If others from your institution are using a committee letter, then yes, use them. But your university doesn't have a committee, so how would others be applying as such? It would be obvious on those other applicants' applications that even if they choose "committee letter," it's not one.

If your home institution doesn't have an established committee, don't do anything with a committee letter. You won't not get in because of it.

 

[Saifa]

Not at all. If the university doesn't offer it, they don't offer it. Adcoms know this. I've spoken with many adcoms and it's never been an issue.




If others from your institution are using a committee letter, then yes, use them. But your university doesn't have a committee, so how would others be applying as such? It would be obvious on those other applicants' applications that even if they choose "committee letter," it's not one.

If your home institution doesn't have an established committee, don't do anything with a committee letter. You won't not get in because of it.

There's a main campus (with a committee) with multiple branch campuses, none of which have their own independent committees. I attend one of the branches, but the degree earned is from "X university," no campus is ever specified as they are considered technically equivalent.

 

[prehealthadvisor55]

There's a main campus (with a committee) with multiple branch campuses, none of which have their own independent committees. I attend one of the branches, but the degree earned is from "X university," no campus is ever specified as they are considered technically equivalent.

Oh ok. I thought on your transcript there would be a campus designation but if it's a satellite campus I see where that's an issue. Honestly I still don't think it's going to matter that much. Having solid letters from people who know you is what's important. Not the committee letter part of it. If it comes up it could easily be explained.

 

[Saifa]

Oh ok. I thought on your transcript there would be a campus designation but if it's a satellite campus I see where that's an issue. Honestly I still don't think it's going to matter that much. Having solid letters from people who know you is what's important. Not the committee letter part of it. If it comes up it could easily be explained.

@Goro @gonnif @LizzyM @WedgeDawg do you have any thoughts on this?

 

[WedgeDawg]

I'm not an adcom so I don't know, sorry

 

[LizzyM]

Here's how some of these "committee letters" work.
Your recommenders submit their letters. Someone reads over them and basically fills out a template quoting liberally from the letters which are attached in their entirety to the committee letter. At other schools, the letters are quoted but not attached (less desirable, much less common, I don't know how they get away with this). It might mention that you are strong academically and quote a LOR from a professor, mention another positive attribute and quote a different letter, mention something about your research and quote your research mentor's letter, etc. It can be very formulaic where the science letters come first, then the research letter, then the clinical experience letter, then a community volunteerism letter (if applicable), etc. I get one of these committee letters and I know exactly where what I want to know will be.

Some schools will look at your GPA, MCAT, and your experiences and letters and state that compared with the pool of applicants you are in a specific bucket and some schools will even report how many and what proportion of the pool is in each bucket and at some schools they'll even give a historical perspective regarding what proportion of each bucket matriculated to medical school in a past cycle.

Some schools will include in the "committee letter" some information about the courses at that school that meet the pre-med pre-reqs and whether the applicant took the easier or the harder sequence (e.g. physics sequences).

In some cases, material from your application for admission to the school itself and your school record are incorporated into the letter in a very formulaic way; this is more common at the high end private schools.

Some schools do require an interview and will make comments about the applicant's interview. This is not common, at least at the schools I see often, and those schools would require you to come in so it isn't likely that OP's school does this.

 

[Saifa]

Rule 1: Take a Breath

I am confused by your confusion. What I mean by that, I really dont see a downside here. Your main campus is simply going to write the composite letter based on letters that you are submitting to prehealth committee. It will be a summary of the letters and the prehealth committee, even at the main campus, may know the reputation of the satellite campus profs. Having a committee or composite letter is a great help to adcom, in my view, as it summarizes what is attached from people who have a much better idea of the campus context. And the regular letters are still attached. And many medical schools still require, recommend or prefer committee letters. While it certainly is much less important than a decade or two ago, I prefer to reduce risk. If med schools prefer them and you have a reasonable path to get one, I would do it.

I'm glad to see it explained like this, it highlights why the committee is important to my application but assures me that isn't likely to ruin the integrity of the letters I've gathered.

I've spoken briefly with the pre-health director and they informed me that they typically conduct interviews with all students prior to submitting their packet. They seemed to agree that having a complete application by August is paramount but then informed me that they typically conduct interviews "summer and fall of the year you're applying," at which point I was perplexed.

Thank all of you for clarifying how these things are received by admissions and why it matters, I definitely feel better equipped to handle it moving forward.

And @LizzyM one of the things I feared most was all of my letters being simply quoted in one single piece, which seems preposterous to me but from my correspondence with the director my whole letters would be left intact. If it were the other way I still think I would seriously consider foregoing this whole thing.

 

[cloudstrife2054]

Here's how some of these "committee letters" work.
Your recommenders submit their letters. Someone reads over them and basically fills out a template quoting liberally from the letters which are attached in their entirety to the committee letter. At other schools, the letters are quoted but not attached (less desirable, much less common, I don't know how they get away with this). It might mention that you are strong academically and quote a LOR from a professor, mention another positive attribute and quote a different letter, mention something about your research and quote your research mentor's letter, etc. It can be very formulaic where the science letters come first, then the research letter, then the clinical experience letter, then a community volunteerism letter (if applicable), etc. I get one of these committee letters and I know exactly where what I want to know will be.

Maybe schools want a committee letter because it saves time? I'd like to think of the committee letter as the abstract to a peer-reviewed journal. If you want to look at a potential paper to cite, you read the abstract first, and if it shows promise, read the rest of the paper. If the committee letter serves as a preview to the rest of the application, wouldn't you want to read it first? Besides that, most students don't take the incentive to prove their capable to their school's health professions advisor. A committee letter is, at its core, a recommendation letter. Its strength comes from interactions you've had with your health professions committee/advisor.

 

[BombsAway]

If its a hassle, I don't think you need to do it. Example: if you attend UT El Paso, and they don't offer a committee letter, you are not expected to get one from UT Austin. Is that what you mean by "satellite"?

It really boils down to whether not your school does a good job with their letters. My school will do one for you if asked, but they don't do it often and make it clear that a random secretary is just going to copy/paste some quotes and list your class rank %ile. That's not a system I want to trust my life-goals to.

Bottom line: make the best choice available. Good advice in many situations.

 

[prehealthadvisor55]

My school will do one for you if asked, but they don't do it often and make it clear that a random secretary is just going to copy/paste some quotes and list your class rank %ile.

This is what I have an issue with. I think there needs to be much more clear-cut guidelines for what constitutes a committee letter, because this is not ok. When I came to my current school and looked through AIS (an advisor's database) I saw some students applying with committee letters...there is no committee here!! I've since realized that was just a drop in the bucket of issues, but still.

 

[Saifa]

This is what I have an issue with. I think there needs to be much more clear-cut guidelines for what constitutes a committee letter, because this is not ok. When I came to my current school and looked through AIS (an advisor's database) I saw some students applying with committee letters...there is no committee here!! I've since realized that was just a drop in the bucket of issues, but still.

Just realized- good on you for going out of your way to interact with pre-meds everywhere to be a better adviser. That's awesome.

 

[prehealthadvisor55]

Just realized- good on you for going out of your way to interact with pre-meds everywhere to be a better adviser. That's awesome.

Thanks. I take some flack sometimes, but I'll be the first to acknowledge that there are some terrible pre-health advisors out there. And it bothers me...a lot. I just want to be as informed as I possibly can for my students! That means getting in the trenches sometimes 😉

 

[cloudstrife2054]

I asked a school that requires committee letters (provided an applicant attended a school that produces them) and they said committee letter contains information regarding an applicant's stay at that institution. For example, an applicant's actions for a pre-health club, which are often affiliated with the health profession's office/committee and often times. Makes sense as these clubs often don't have supervisors for recommendation letters. If you can make outstanding contributions to these clubs, it would be verified on the committee letter. Sometimes it can be hard/difficult to verify a person's 15 activities, especially if it's pre-health clubs as they are student run.