Do I have to go through the pre-med committee

[ClueBooM]

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In my school, premeds are encouraged to go through the committee. They have meetings every couple of months, have mock interviews, and I just think that this may be a waste of time but I'm not really sure.. I just thought that it would go smoother and faster if I do everything myself. What do you guys think?

 

[URHere]

Use the committee unless it is impossible to do so. It is generally known which schools provide committee letters, and you will look out of place applying without one. At the worst, adcom members will assume that you had something to hide. At the best, they'll assume that you were too disorganized to meet deadlines or too independent to follow the rules.

 

[eli20]

Generally if the school has a committee it looks better to go through it. Especially if you're a traditional student and it's easy for you to do the mock interviews/other things they want.

 

[gravitywave]

med schools have seen applicants from your school before, most of whom have gone through committee. if you don't, they will notice. you might want to consider having a good reason for not having done so (what you've said, isn't) - otherwise it reflects poorly on you.

 

[rhcarolina]

In my school, premeds are encouraged to go through the committee. They have meetings every couple of months, have mock interviews, and I just think that this may be a waste of time but I'm not really sure.. I just thought that it would go smoother and faster if I do everything myself. What do you guys think?

Generally, medical schools ask for a committee letter if your undergraduate has one--and if you don't provide a committee letter, medical schools will ask for an explanation. The mock interviews, I believe, are a committee's method of getting a fair evaluation from one of the faculty members who don't know you as personally as one of your LOR writers. All in all, the premedical committee is pretty useful at making your application as strong as possible.

 

[ClueBooM]

Thanks everyone.. Everyone's post makes a lot of sense! 🙂

 

[WuMedic]

Unless you have a compelling reason, (do you?) you should use the committee. It looks weird otherwise.

 

[Ursa]

It sounds much better for an accredited university to endorse you saying that you are "highly recommended for medical school" rather than having multiple LORs from individuals who could be your aunts and uncles, for all they know. Go through the committee please.