Committee Rec

[cobalt31]

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Who out there has had a pre-health committee make a compiled recommendation for you? I'm not sure if this is standard, but the one at my school says "the goal is to get them out sometime in August." The application cycle starts three months before that. How do you deal with this? What if I want to get my app out in May? It seems a little ridiculous.

 

[caloriefree]

Who out there has had a pre-health committee make a compiled recommendation for you? I'm not sure if this is standard, but the one at my school says "the goal is to get them out sometime in August." The application cycle starts three months before that. How do you deal with this? What if I want to get my app out in May? It seems a little ridiculous.

Yeah, my school's committee does that, too. I asked if they could send out the letter earlier, but to "ensure fairness" they can't do that apparently, which is pretty ridiculous if you ask me. Fairness my #*%!! My school doesn't give a #h&*. Contact one of the advisers and see if they can do it earlier.. maybe your school cares about its students.. who knows! 😉

 

[Albuterol]

sorry to hijack this thread but for those of you who have a committee letter system...have any of u not used this because you felt they may not endorse you favorably and opted for the 3 individual letters from science professors instead? im just wondering because me and my health professions office have had a conflict before and i feel they wouldn't endorse me properly. does it really matter to dental schools if a committee letter is not present with the application? Thanks for the help!!

 

[Lurchdubious]

that's odd. my school sent mine out in May. i also added a letter from a past professor, my advisor/professor (science), and a dentist.

 

[NuckingFutz]

Yeah, my school's committee does that, too. I asked if they could send out the letter earlier, but to "ensure fairness" they can't do that apparently, which is pretty ridiculous if you ask me. Fairness my #*%!! My school doesn't give a #h&*. Contact one of the advisers and see if they can do it earlier.. maybe your school cares about its students.. who knows! 😉

My committee also said something along the lines of "we'll send out the LOR at the end of the summer". Hopefully I can convince them otherwise since its a load of bull that I have to wait for them to send ALL of my LOR including theirs! Unfortunately I also need their letter so they have me in a tough situation

 

[already954]

sorry to hijack this thread but for those of you who have a committee letter system...have any of u not used this because you felt they may not endorse you favorably and opted for the 3 individual letters from science professors instead? im just wondering because me and my health professions office have had a conflict before and i feel they wouldn't endorse me properly. does it really matter to dental schools if a committee letter is not present with the application? Thanks for the help!!

I opted not to use a committee letter because I felt that i would better be represented by professors that knew me better than some committee with people I didn't know. Also the limit on the LOR's by AADSAS when a committee letter was used was also a factor for me.

 

[caffeinehigh]

I used the committee letter, but I attend a small (5k) undergrad school with a small bio/chem department so the letter was likely written by profs that I had for class. In addition, they require a mock interview here so the people who are writing your letter get to ask you any questions they want to, and we are also required to submit an autobiography with the form for the letter.

In addition, I did send a personal prof letter to a few of the schools that I really wanted to get into.

 

[SanOnofre2002]

Who out there has had a pre-health committee make a compiled recommendation for you? I'm not sure if this is standard, but the one at my school says "the goal is to get them out sometime in August." The application cycle starts three months before that. How do you deal with this? What if I want to get my app out in May? It seems a little ridiculous.

Submit your application in May regardless.

 

[Albuterol]

I opted not to use a committee letter because I felt that i would better be represented by professors that knew me better than some committee with people I didn't know. Also the limit on the LOR's by AADSAS when a committee letter was used was also a factor for me.

thanks for the reply! 👍

 

[gnarkill]

Committee letters, to my knowledge, are simply a cover letter to all the LORs you collect. For mine I was required to collect 2 letters from science profs, 1 letter from non-science prof, 1 from an employer, and 2 professional letters (i.e. dentists). Then I went through 2 formal interviews, 1 with a professor, and 1 with a med student, both of whom I did not know. My adviser then used all of this to write the committee letter. I would highly recommend doing the committee letter if your school offers one. It accentuates your LORs and you get some quality interview experience.

As far as time-line goes....Talk with your adviser to see if they can hurry your letter through b/c I believe that the medical process is a little later than dental thus the August time-line for the committee letter. It shouldn't be too hard as long as you take care of everything on your end. IMO if you submit your app by end of July/early August, your plenty early anyways.

 

[caffeinehigh]

Submit your application in May regardless.

2nd

 

[poppajac]

My school technically has a committee and I did the interview thing while giving them my other LORs, but it screwed everything up. Most of the schools I applied too didn't realize that it was a committee letter (I do not know how this happened since I never saw the letter). I ended up having to send all my other LORs to all the schools I applied to but not before going through loads of confusion. But everything eventually worked out. If I did it again, I would have just not done the committee thing and just would have sent my other LORs directly to the schools in the first place. They give a better representation of who you really are anyway since the committee will most likely meet you once, interview you for a few minutes and will really have no clue who you are and what you have accomplished.

 

[gnarkill]

Okay. I feel I need to make this point and then I'll shut up b/c eventually you just need to make up your own mind on how you'll make your application shine.

The committee letter does not replace your LORs. It accompanies them. If you went through all the trouble of collecting 6 LORs from the people that know you best simply to have them tossed aside for a single letter written by a stranger.....well that'd be stupid.

 

[Lurchdubious]

i believe some schools ask for a committee letter OR 3-4 LOR. this is why i gathered 3 letters of rec in addition to the committee letter. my pre-health professions office sent whichever the schools requested. it worked smooth for me, but my university is small compared to many of you.