feedback from anyone who has done this...

[wannabadr10]

Or anyone who is knowledgeable on this topic. So I missed the deadline to get a letter of evaluation from my pre medical committee...I spoke with them and they said there is nothing they can do. Is applying this cycle a lost cause? Has anyone done this that can give me some feedback as to how schools reacted? My stats are okay but not great... Im a louisiana resident with a 4.0 gpa, 30 (11,8,11) and decent extracurriculars. I am afraid that I shot myself in the foot and shouldnt waste my time applying this year. Any thoughts?

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[phonyreal98]

Or anyone who is knowledgeable on this topic. So I missed the deadline to get a letter of evaluation from my pre medical committee...I spoke with them and they said there is nothing they can do. Is applying this cycle a lost cause? Has anyone done this that can give me some feedback as to how schools reacted? My stats are okay but not great... Im a louisiana resident with a 4.0 gpa, 30 (11,8,11) and decent extracurriculars. I am afraid that I shot myself in the foot and shouldnt waste my time applying this year. Any thoughts?

You could see if you can find two science professors and a non-science professor that can write individual recommendations for you. Although letter of recommendation requirements vary, many schools will accept this (or a similar) combination of recommendation letters in lieu of a committee letter. They may ask why you didn't get a committee letter though.

 

[Compass]

Can you get your LORs direct?

 

[wannabadr10]

Can you get your LORs direct?

Thanks for the quick responses!

What do you mean by "direct"?

I have 3 LOR already uploaded into AMCAS but all of them are science professors...does that mean I need one from a nonscience professor too? Also, should I contact the schools and let them know that I will not be submitting a comittee letter? because my application is already complete and I plan on applying early. I dont want them to delay contacting me for a possible interview because they were waiting for my comittee letter.

 

[rockaction]

Get a non-science professor. I'm pretty sure most schools are explicit about that. 2 science and 1 non-science. If you can get that letter in soon it won't delay you - schools don't really look at the letters until the secondary app time if I understand it correctly.

 

[hewmanoid]

Don't give up yet! There is still time left. I personally don't like a premed committee letter because it can be rather impersonal. I actually got individual letters from 4 different professors. If I were in your shoes, I would get 2 rec letters from science professors and 1 letter from a non-science one. This should be fine with most med schools (except for schools like UMichigan that require 4 letters). Also, if possible, maybe another letter from a physician you've volunteered under or worked with or it could be a club advisor if you hold an officer position in a club...etc. Good luck!

 

[Bildo]

And wait until you get in to call your premed advisor a dick. (i dont condone that anyways)

 

[dw2158]

You could see if you can find two science professors and a non-science professor that can write individual recommendations for you. Although letter of recommendation requirements vary, many schools will accept this (or a similar) combination of recommendation letters in lieu of a committee letter. They may ask why you didn't get a committee letter though.

i don't know... i'd call the schools you're interested in and ask. some schools are very picky about their LOR requirements, and some schools are less so.

Don't give up yet! There is still time left. I personally don't like a premed committee letter because it can be rather impersonal. I actually got individual letters from 4 different professors. If I were in your shoes, I would get 2 rec letters from science professors and 1 letter from a non-science one. This should be fine with most med schools (except for schools like UMichigan that require 4 letters). Also, if possible, maybe another letter from a physician you've volunteered under or worked with or it could be a club advisor if you hold an officer position in a club...etc. Good luck!

this may be true but if you do a quick search you'll see that LizzyM has weighed in more than once on this: if your school has a committee letter option and you don't use it, it looks bad. period.

 

[hewmanoid]

this may be true but if you do a quick search you'll see that LizzyM has weighed in more than once on this: if your school has a committee letter option and you don't use it, it looks bad. period.

You're definitely right, except the OP no longer has the committee letter option. You either get individual letters or apply next year...unfortunately

 

[acridknight]

Or anyone who is knowledgeable on this topic. So I missed the deadline to get a letter of evaluation from my pre medical committee...I spoke with them and they said there is nothing they can do. Is applying this cycle a lost cause? Has anyone done this that can give me some feedback as to how schools reacted? My stats are okay but not great... Im a louisiana resident with a 4.0 gpa, 30 (11,8,11) and decent extracurriculars. I am afraid that I shot myself in the foot and shouldnt waste my time applying this year. Any thoughts?

So let me get this straight: you invested about 4 years of your life and significant amount of money to an undergrad school that is not giving you any help with a relatively simple mistake you made? Do they not want to go to grad school? Maybe I'm just old fashioned, but the school (and departments and committees) should help you as much as possible.

The most reasonable solution is that they at least get you a committee letter that's slightly delayed. Can you talk to the dean of student affairs? What about the school president? This is ridiculous; i reiterate again: the school and the premed committee are there for you, to help you, not to lock you out.

Not having a committee letter from an undergrad school that gives committee letters will put you in an awkward spot-- you'll have to explain to each med school why you don't have the committee letter (which then puts your application at the discretion of each school at whether it should be reviewed).

 

[UVAbme2009]

I might not apply if you can't get it.

Just about all schools ask for a committee letter. If you have a committee, but not a letter from then, they ask for an explanation. If you're explanation is that you didn't ask for one in time, I think that will look pretty bad on your part. There's no reason why you shouldn't have had everything in order for this.

 

[dw2158]

You're definitely right, except the OP no longer has the committee letter option. You either get individual letters or apply next year...unfortunately

way to restate what the OP said in the original post?

apply next year. not having the committee letter will look bad, whether it's because they don't like you (not the case here, obv) or because you screwed up and missed the deadline.

also, taking a year/more years off is awesome.

 

[wannabadr10]

Thanks for all the help and advice. Too give yall a little feedback on the surrounding circumstances...my dad's health went south quickly a few weeks around the deadline. I know that this isn't a perfect excuse but I was hoping that the medical schools can realize that we are all human (which means mistakes do happen) but I also understand that they have a lot of applicants to choose from.

 

[mvenus929]

I don't understand why your committee has its deadline so early in the year. I mean, as much as it seems impossible on SDN, some people really don't start applying until school starts in the fall, and someone not very involved with the pre-med life at your school may not realize that. I'd heavily petition to get them to write a letter for you, even if it is delayed. As someone else said, they are there for your purpose, not their own.

 

[dw2158]

I don't understand why your committee has its deadline so early in the year. I mean, as much as it seems impossible on SDN, some people really don't start applying until school starts in the fall, and someone not very involved with the pre-med life at your school may not realize that. I'd heavily petition to get them to write a letter for you, even if it is delayed. As someone else said, they are there for your purpose, not their own.

lots of committees have "early" deadlines. i went to a small school and our deadline is in june as well. i see nothing wrong with that... they've got a crapload of letters to write and they don't want to screw the students over by making them late. so they set june deadlines. makes perfect sense to me.

 

[URHere]

This happened to me when I applied - my school had an early deadline for a committee letter (May I believe), and I wasn't even certain I was going to apply until late July of that year. I missed out on the committee letter and sent in my own set of individual letters. I wrote a letter to each of my schools, explaining the situation and none of them had a problem accepting the individual letters.

You may run into a very picky school, but I think most places understand that these things happen.

 

[mvenus929]

lots of committees have "early" deadlines. i went to a small school and our deadline is in june as well. i see nothing wrong with that... they've got a crapload of letters to write and they don't want to screw the students over by making them late. so they set june deadlines. makes perfect sense to me.

It makes more sense to do it on a first-come, first-serve basis. If the student doesn't have their materials together in May, but gets them together in July, that person will be later than others, but that doesn't necessarily 'screw the students over'. Especially since we're talking secondaries, and not the primary.

 

[rotatedline]

So let me get this straight: you invested about 4 years of your life and significant amount of money to an undergrad school that is not giving you any help with a relatively simple mistake you made? Do they not want to go to grad school? Maybe I'm just old fashioned, but the school (and departments and committees) should help you as much as possible.

The most reasonable solution is that they at least get you a committee letter that's slightly delayed. Can you talk to the dean of student affairs? What about the school president? This is ridiculous; i reiterate again: the school and the premed committee are there for you, to help you, not to lock you out.

Not having a committee letter from an undergrad school that gives committee letters will put you in an awkward spot-- you'll have to explain to each med school why you don't have the committee letter (which then puts your application at the discretion of each school at whether it should be reviewed).

Unfortunately it doesn't work like it should. I too missed the deadline, had a meeting with the advisors etc, and they said there was nothing they could do about it. By the way, my deadline was in February.

 

[cher25]

So let me get this straight: you invested about 4 years of your life and significant amount of money to an undergrad school that is not giving you any help with a relatively simple mistake you made? Do they not want to go to grad school? Maybe I'm just old fashioned, but the school (and departments and committees) should help you as much as possible.

The most reasonable solution is that they at least get you a committee letter that's slightly delayed. Can you talk to the dean of student affairs? What about the school president? This is ridiculous; i reiterate again: the school and the premed committee are there for you, to help you, not to lock you out.

Not having a committee letter from an undergrad school that gives committee letters will put you in an awkward spot-- you'll have to explain to each med school why you don't have the committee letter (which then puts your application at the discretion of each school at whether it should be reviewed).

I totally agree. They know how important this is. I had a friend several years ago who had the same issue. The committee refused to write her a letter because she missed the deadline. I also recommend that you speak with the committee again, as well as get individual letters.

 

[LAman10]

part of your student fees are going toward their service. they should write it for you. Of course, since you're later than everyone else, you should be penalized a bit, but seeing as how it was because of your dad's health, they should understand. did you tell them about your situation?

 

[dw2158]

It makes more sense to do it on a first-come, first-serve basis. If the student doesn't have their materials together in May, but gets them together in July, that person will be later than others, but that doesn't necessarily 'screw the students over'. Especially since we're talking secondaries, and not the primary.

i don't know... i guess i'm sort of playing devil's advocate here, because i agree with you, but still. they can't just write committee letters whenever. at my school (and i assume at many others) they want to get a clear picture of the current applying class so they can make their "judgments" about how strongly to recommend people. they definitely do a bit of comparing in the letters they write.

also, at least at my school, the pre-health deans have other responsibilities as well; one is the sophomore class dean and the other one is... something else, i forget. so they can't continue writing committee letters into the late summer or fall.

but i still think you're right, at least in sentiment