Do all schools have a pre-med committee?

[Dr. Josh]

What do we use the pre-med advisor for? I e-mailed mine a few days ago about setting up an appointment (I just switched to pre-med) and still hav enot heard from him. I'm entering my senior year and just switched to pre-med; so if I need advice I'm sort of running out of time. Also what does the committee do? Do we need them for LOR or anything else?

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[DoctorPardi]

Not all schools have a premed committee. Basically a pre-med committee will comprise a "committee letter" for you. This will usually satisfy all of your LOR requirements at schools, so you will not have to send in 5 different letters.

 

[GuzzyRon]

Not all schools even have a premed program. So, NO.

And even the ones that have a premed program, not all of the have premed committees.

 

[Dr. Josh]

Not all schools have a premed committee. Basically a pre-med committee will comprise a "committee letter" for you. This will usually satisfy all of your LOR requirements at schools, so you will not have to send in 5 different letters.

so they would send in one letter and this represents all my LOR from my university? what if the committee doesn't know me? How can they write me a letter? or do they just get them from my professors, that I choose? I really am confused and unknowledgeable about this whole process.

 

[ADeadLois]

so they would send in one letter and this represents all my LOR from my university? what if the committee doesn't know me? How can they write me a letter? or do they just get them from my professors, that I choose? I really am confused and unknowledgeable about this whole process.

It works a bit differently at every school, but the basic output is the same. A group of professors/advisors collaborate and write one comprehensive letter. At some schools this involves taking snippets of individual letters, some schools you're interviewed by a committee of professors.

From a logistical standpoint, it's MUCH better for you to have a committee. You'll know what I mean secondaries time. This is coming from someone who has to send in individual letters.

 

[MollyMalone]

I don't know that I agree that it's necessarily better to have a committee... I was grateful that I didn't when I heard the stories about people having to wait weeks to months for their meetings or composite letters. I appreciated having as much control as possible over the process. But maybe that's just me. If the committee works well, I can see it being a good thing.