Committee Letter

[zyzzbruh]

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I plan on using my schools committee during this upcoming cycle. They require 3 letters of evaluation, plus an interview, in order to write the letter. Now... They're giving me the option to send (1) committee letter to schools, or the (1) committee letter + (3) letters of evaluation to schools. Which option is the norm when applying to dental schools?

 

[P0W3RL1FT3R]

Most schools say (1) committee letter OR (3) letters of evaluation.

I could be wrong though, so I hope someone more experienced can chime in! I do think it's a bit strange that they would accept a letter written by a committee that has known you for a day as equivalence to 3 letters from professors who have probably known you for years... but I guess they do pool from the evaluators as well...

 

[DOC YANKEM]

This is what I know... committee letters does not give you a huge advantage over the traditional 3-4 letters of recommendation. Dental schools prefer the committee letter especially when they know your undergraduate provides one from the pre-health advisor. If you are a traditional applicant, meaning you are applying while or recently graduated with a bachelors, then one of the letters has to be from a dentist you shadowed. At least 2 letters has to be science professors (some dental schools don't accept lab professors). Some dental schools like Columbia requests at least 3 science letters, so you are already at the limit of 4 on the aadsas portal. This is where the committee letter comes into play and allow you to add more than 4 recomendation letters to your application. This is very important when you feel that your extracurriculars will holistically outshine your gpa and dat.

 

[stoopidmonkeycatdog]

@DOC YANKEM is right, theres not like a huge difference but dental schools definitely prefer committee packets to individual letters of rec.

In my opinion you got very lucky with what your school just offered. if i understand correctly, they are going to allow you to combine the first three letters of evaluation you received to their own evaluation packet. This basically will give you a loaded packet with several additional letters of rec. I did something similar but I only had one additional letter. they will read the packet despite it having more letters than usual so this is a benefit over the traditional cap of 4 letters.

 

[zyzzbruh]

@DOC YANKEM is right, theres not like a huge difference but dental schools definitely prefer committee packets to individual letters of rec.

In my opinion you got very lucky with what your school just offered. if i understand correctly, they are going to allow you to combine the first three letters of evaluation you received to their own evaluation packet. This basically will give you a loaded packet with several additional letters of rec. I did something similar but I only had one additional letter. they will read the packet despite it having more letters than usual so this is a benefit over the traditional cap of 4 letters.

By committee packet, does this imply most school committees include more than just a single letter? Or is this just an expression?

 

[stoopidmonkeycatdog]

By committee packet, does this imply most school committees include more than just a single letter? Or is this just an expression?

If I remember correctly for my school it was liked you're interviewed by three committee members and they all wrote their opinions/thoughts. Then one person wrote all of it into one concise letter. This was added with the notes and your other information to a packet (this includes shadowing, volunteering, ECS, grades etc) so it very much is a packet.

 

[DOC YANKEM]

By committee packet, does this imply most school committees include more than just a single letter? Or is this just an expression?

If your undergrad has a pre health committee/department, then they will provide a packet. It usully includes a cover letter that is written by a pre health advisor who summarizes everything including all your recommendation letters in the packet. The only caveat is the requirements... there is a cut off point in getting a commit packet. Whether you need at least a 3.2 gpa, research or 200 hours of volunteering for example.

Edit: Familiarize yourself with a pre health advisor and get to know him or her.

 

[0rgansm]

If I remember correctly for my school it was liked you're interviewed by three committee members and they all wrote their opinions/thoughts. Then one person wrote all of it into one concise letter. This was added with the notes and your other information to a packet (this includes shadowing, volunteering, ECS, grades etc) so it very much is a packet.

I was under the impression that the packet was used to synthesize a single committee letter, and only the one committee letter will be sent to dental schools.

 

[DOC YANKEM]

I was under the impression that the packet was used to synthesize a single committee letter, and only the one committee letter will be sent to dental schools.

Semantics... I guess we should be technical here. The packet includes the committee letter and additional recommendation letters you send to your pre health committee. The committee packet, which includes the committee letter, is sent to dental schools.

 

[0rgansm]

Semantics... I guess we should be technical here. The packet includes the committee letter and additional recommendation letters you send to your pre health committee. The committee packet, which includes the committee letter, is sent to dental schools.

I recently requested 2 professors and a dentist to compose a letter directly to the committee so that the committee could use their letters to create a single committee letter. Are you saying that the dental schools will receive this committee letter plus these letters written specifically to the committee? I keep seeing "committee packet" like dental schools are receiving more than a single collective letter from the committee????

note: I plan on submitting a committee letter + dentist letter, so I obviously don't want my dentist letter, which is directed to the committee, to be redundant to the separately submitted dentist letter written to dental schools.

 

[Elysian12]

I recently requested 2 professors and a dentist to compose a letter directly to the committee so that the committee could use their letters to create a single committee letter. Are you saying that the dental schools will receive this committee letter plus these letters written specifically to the committee? I keep seeing "committee packet" like dental schools are receiving more than a single collective letter from the committee????

note: I plan on submitting a committee letter + dentist letter, so I obviously don't want my dentist letter, which is directed to the committee, to be redundant to the separately submitted dentist letter written to dental schools.

A committee letter is written from your other recommendation letters. So essentially the committee letter is kind of a combination of the letters plus their recommendation for you to dental schools. The committee letter includes your other letters. They still receive all your letters. So yes if you submit your dentist letter to committee and then submit dentist letter separately, it would be redundant. Thats my understanding of it

 

[Gymgivitis]

We're all gonna make it brah

 

[stoopidmonkeycatdog]

Also @0rgansm not every health committee is the same. For example I didn't have to submit any letters to my committee to be interviewed at all

 

[zyzzbruh]

Also @0rgansm not every health committee is the same. For example I didn't have to submit any letters to my committee to be interviewed at all

I find it so weird that committees vary so much in terms of what they submit to dental schools.

Wouldn't submitting a single committee letter make an applicant look lackluster compared to someone submitting a committee packet containing a cover letter plus 3 evaluations attached?

I feel like a generic single 1.5 page paper from a committee is going the extra mile just to submit less material.

 

[nowaysurvey]

I find it so weird that committees vary so much in terms of what they submit to dental schools.

Wouldn't submitting a single committee letter make an applicant look lackluster compared to someone submitting a committee packet containing a cover letter plus 3 evaluations attached?

I feel like a generic single 1.5 page paper from a committee is going the extra mile just to submit less material.

Every academic committee is different. Mines personally took short evaluations from three professors and a personal survey/evaluation to form a single committee letter.

Lackluster/generic or not, it gets the job done and most dental schools prefer a committee letter over separate letters for a few reasons...for example when you take into account the thousands of applicants a school gets, I'm sure you'll want to read one letter per applicant any day over 3+.

 

[super frank]

I had to interview for my committee and then they take the notes from my interview and my experiences from my CV and create a sort of cover letter/introduction. I then sent them a few letters from my professors/dentist.

 

[FireandIce128]

*Bump

I just wanted to ask...

So for a committee letter (along with the typical 2 from science, 1 from non-science prof, 1 from dentist example), would anyone ever ask a LOR from a manager at work? (& I mean non-health care related). For example, I work as a sales associate and had many times impressed my manager in terms of customer service and reviews, and he would love to write LORs for his workers who he thinks deserves it.
Sorry for the silly question, but I think it wouldn't hurt asking.