Committee letters and DO schools?

[bloodandguts]

So I jumped through some hoops of fire to qualify for my school's committee letter application. The problem is, they require at least five letters, and have a set amount of qualities they want to see. So I have sent them 6 letters (one of them was ignoring my emails so I got someone else, but then she turned it in anyway).

I heard the committee sends the committee letter and all the LOR's. Will I get into trouble for this? Most DO schools want three and including the committee letter, they will be getting seven from me. Of the six I submitted, only 3-4 are strong and the last 1-2 are just nth letters saying I did well.

And on top of it, I got to send in a DO letter separately!

Will this hurt my DO chances to send so many extra letters? I really want this committee letter because I worked hard for it, but DO letter included and committee included, I'm sending 8 letters.

I'd really like to delete 1-3 of what I think are weaker letters being sent but I'm not sure if I can even ask the committee to send less.

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[Awesome Sauceome]

When your school submits the committee letter it is just a single letter. So you send a sole DO letter and a sole committee letter that is comprised of your 6 letters.

 

[bloodandguts]

So the DO school won't see the details of all the letters sent to the committee? Because like I said, 1-2 are just, "So and so did well in my class."

 

[Awesome Sauceome]

If your committee is doing their job, they take your 6 letters, and cut and paste the best parts of the letters into a single letter. You should discuss it with your committee and/or adviser to get a better idea of how all of this works. They will be sending your single letters as part of your committee letter packet, but schools are fine with that and chances are they only look at the committee letter anyways unless there is something specific that they see in the committee letter and want more details on in one of your original letters.

Also I dont know of many (or any?) schools that require 3 letters. Most want a DO/physician letter AND a committee letter, OR a DO/physician letter and a combination of letters (be it 2 science letters, 2 science and one non-science, etc).

And as another side note, you should WANT to send your DO letter separately. Otherwise they will see pieces of your DO letter in your committee letter, and then they will see it again in your DO letter. Schools require a separate physician letter.

 

[bloodandguts]

Sounds great, thanks for your help. I already have plenty of shadowing but I'm shadowing another physician at the end of April, a DO, and asking him for a letter so I was planning to send it separately anyway. Thanks!

Is the personal statement a committee asks for sent to medical schools or do/can you write a different personal statement? Again, my committee has a particular format they want the personal statement in, and I feel it limits my freedom in expressing myself the way I would like to a medical school?

Sorry for all the questions but my next advising appointment isn't for awhile and they don't answer emails.

 

[Awesome Sauceome]

As I understand it the personal statement at my undergrad was simply the PS that you are sending to your medical schools - with all of the limitations that go with it. Keep in mind the respective character limits for AMCAS and AACOMAS. You should honesty probably use the same letter for both, I dont necessarily understand how a letter sent to your committee could be profoundly different from the one you are sending on your app?

Happy to help.

 

[AM508]

If your committee is doing their job, they take your 6 letters, and cut and paste the best parts of the letters into a single letter. You should discuss it with your committee and/or adviser to get a better idea of how all of this works. They will be sending your single letters as part of your committee letter packet, but schools are fine with that and chances are they only look at the committee letter anyways unless there is something specific that they see in the committee letter and want more details on in one of your original letters.
.

My school took your letters, resume, personal statement, and transcript. Then you had an interview with the committee (9-12 interviewers ..ie a great big panel interview). After the interview each panel member filled out a rating sheet and comments. After this the head of committee wrote a committee letter that was unique and not merely a cut and paste of each of the students letters. The committee letter served as like a cover letter, behind that was the DO letter, then there was a package called "supporting documents" which included all of our letters and the rating sheet and comments of each person on the interview panel.

 

[Major]

My school took your letters, resume, personal statement, and transcript. Then you had an interview with the committee (9-12 interviewers ..ie a great big panel interview). After the interview each panel member filled out a rating sheet and comments. After this the head of committee wrote a committee letter that was unique and not merely a cut and paste of each of the students letters. The committee letter served as like a cover letter, behind that was the DO letter, then there was a package called "supporting documents" which included all of our letters and the rating sheet and comments of each person on the interview panel.

Similar to mine but with only to 4-5 faculty members. Super nervous about it, but incident imagine getting in front of 9-10! Lol

 

[bloodandguts]

Mine takes your letters, etc. and just writes it. I was told you did not go before an actual committee, they just evaluate it together.

 

[Goro]

Quit fussing; we don't care.

So I jumped through some hoops of fire to qualify for my school's committee letter application. The problem is, they require at least five letters, and have a set amount of qualities they want to see. So I have sent them 6 letters (one of them was ignoring my emails so I got someone else, but then she turned it in anyway).

I heard the committee sends the committee letter and all the LOR's. Will I get into trouble for this? Most DO schools want three and including the committee letter, they will be getting seven from me. Of the six I submitted, only 3-4 are strong and the last 1-2 are just nth letters saying I did well.

And on top of it, I got to send in a DO letter separately!

Will this hurt my DO chances to send so many extra letters? I really want this committee letter because I worked hard for it, but DO letter included and committee included, I'm sending 8 letters.

I'd really like to delete 1-3 of what I think are weaker letters being sent but I'm not sure if I can even ask the committee to send less.

 

[AM508]

Similar to mine but with only to 4-5 faculty members. Super nervous about it, but incident imagine getting in front of 9-10! Lol

Well, one thing is for sure, once you do a 9-10:1 interview, those 1,2,3:1 interviews more common to med schools are a bit less daunting.

 

[Awesome Sauceome]

My school took your letters, resume, personal statement, and transcript. Then you had an interview with the committee (9-12 interviewers ..ie a great big panel interview). After the interview each panel member filled out a rating sheet and comments. After this the head of committee wrote a committee letter that was unique and not merely a cut and paste of each of the students letters. The committee letter served as like a cover letter, behind that was the DO letter, then there was a package called "supporting documents" which included all of our letters and the rating sheet and comments of each person on the interview panel.

Yea more or less that was how it was done for me. I was just trying to give it to the OP in a more manageable form since he was really confused on all of this stuff.

 

[spenguin]

If your committee is doing their job, they take your 6 letters, and cut and paste the best parts of the letters into a single letter. You should discuss it with your committee and/or adviser to get a better idea of how all of this works. They will be sending your single letters as part of your committee letter packet, but schools are fine with that and chances are they only look at the committee letter anyways unless there is something specific that they see in the committee letter and want more details on in one of your original letters.

Also I dont know of many (or any?) schools that require 3 letters. Most want a DO/physician letter AND a committee letter, OR a DO/physician letter and a combination of letters (be it 2 science letters, 2 science and one non-science, etc).

And as another side note, you should WANT to send your DO letter separately. Otherwise they will see pieces of your DO letter in your committee letter, and then they will see it again in your DO letter. Schools require a separate physician letter.

I don't think this is the case at all schools. My committee bases their letter on your PS, tons of short essays, gpa, mcat, class load vigour, letter of recs, and a mock interview. They forward all of the other letters as well as sending their own letter

 

[Awesome Sauceome]

I don't think this is the case at all schools. My committee bases their letter on your PS, tons of short essays, gpa, mcat, class load vigour, letter of recs, and a mock interview. They forward all of the other letters as well as sending their own letter

Again, as I discussed in the post directly above your post, I was attempting to give the OP a very basic understanding of what the committee letter is, seeing as he was confused about something as simple as the number of letters he was sending. I understand that a committee letter is more than just actual "cut and pastes."

 

[spenguin]

Again, as I discussed in the post directly above your post, I was attempting to give the OP a very basic understanding of what the committee letter is, seeing as he was confused about something as simple as the number of letters he was sending. I understand that a committee letter is more than just actual "cut and pastes."

Sorry didn't see that

 

[bloodandguts]

Can anyone comment on their own committee's timeline? I was told it could take the committee as late as late July to send their letter! I'm a borderline candidate, I can't wait that long?! I wanted to apply June 1st! But I was also told it would hurt to circumvent a committee because if your school has one, you are expected to use it. Thoughts?

 

[allantois]

My school starts interviewing people in May but only when your LORs and MCAT scores are in. Then they take 3 weeks to write a committee letter.

They also definitely do not cut and paste as they interview you and write their own letter (which is supposedly very comprehensive).

 

[bloodandguts]

Well, I'm up the river . . . It makes me want to apply to one school and try again next year when I can apply on day 1 with my committee letter from the year before.

 

[spenguin]

Can anyone comment on their own committee's timeline? I was told it could take the committee as late as late July to send their letter! I'm a borderline candidate, I can't wait that long?! I wanted to apply June 1st! But I was also told it would hurt to circumvent a committee because if your school has one, you are expected to use it. Thoughts?

It seems you don't understand when the committee letter is due. It is due with your secondaries. The earliest you get those is probably early july. you can submit primaries june 1st with no problem.
if you get your committee letter in late july, thats not bad

 

[Awesome Sauceome]

It seems you don't understand when the committee letter is due. It is due with your secondaries. The earliest you get those is probably early july. you can submit primaries june 1st with no problem.
if you get your committee letter in late july, thats not bad

This right here.

For AMCAS you need your letters when you submit your primary (which is where a lot of confusion comes in for people). For AACOMAS you submit the letters individually to each school when they send you their secondary. So if you cant get your committee letter until mid-late July, you are still in good shape. Do not go around them if this is the case.

If they said they cant get you your letter until like October (which is what my school claimed), then you would either have to wait until the next cycle, or throw a fit and force them to write it earlier (this is the tactic I used heh).

 

[PhillyBoy22]

I just want to point out that AACOMAS is dealing with letters differently this year. I believe all letters need to be sent to AACOMAS and they will send your letters out to the schools of your choice.

With that being said I would feel comfortable saying that (if this is correct) letters of rec might be sent with primaries this year.

 

[Awesome Sauceome]

I just want to point out that AACOMAS is dealing with letters differently this year. I believe all letters need to be sent to AACOMAS and they will send your letters out to the schools of your choice.

With that being said I would feel comfortable saying that (if this is correct) letters of rec might be sent with primaries this year.

It is only an optional thing this year to upload your letters to AACOMAS. How they handle/send them no one knows.

 

[Major]

Just had my committee interview yesterday. The committee estimated 4-6 to write the letter also. So receiving your letter in June to July should be good > for others using the committee.

 

[AM508]

My committee did interviews the end of April and early May. The letters were ready to be sent, if memory serves me correctly, the middle of July.

 

[spenguin]

My committee did interviews the end of April and early May. The letters were ready to be sent, if memory serves me correctly, the middle of July.

Your school is on top of its game. My school doesn't have any ready until mid July, even people who had all the stuff turned into the committee by February don't get it before July 15th