Health Committee versus Independent LOR

[roninishya]

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Hey everyone,
I'm in a bit of dilemma regarding my applications. After I got past the first hurdle (see my previous thread), I have once again hit a wall, this time regarding LORs. From the information I have obtained from the schools I am applying to (Temple, Barry, DMU, Scholl, and NYCPM), pre-health committees seemly strongly favored over (and nearly required) over independent LORs. The problem is that my school's pre-health committee does not meet until mid-June, way too late to wait to apply. I know not only all schools require a pre-health commitee, but that seems to be more in the circumstance that the committee simply doesn't exist at their school. It doesn't help that pre-podiatry is merely a footnote for this commitee at my school 🙁

They really only favor pre-MD/DO, dental, and optometry students from what I have experienced and heard from upperclassmen at my school...

Help!

 

[damhsoir]

I applied to Temple, AZPod, OCPM, and Scholl. I interviewed at the latter 2 and will be attending Scholl. I was in a similar situation. The LOR proceess for my pre-health committee starts in January, but they don't start producing letters by June at the earliest. So if I wanted to apply to any medical professional school I would have to compile all of my reccomendations (4 professors-2 science, 2 nonscience and 2 peers) by last January. I didn't want to sit out a cycle so I got 4 LOR's (3 science, 1 DPM). OCPM and Scholl didn't even ask why I didn't have a committee letter in my interviews.

Make sure your LORs are really strong because even the slightest neutral comment will make the adcoms question the validity (and will probably wonder why you didn't get a committee letter). I'm not sure about DMU, NY, and Barry's LOR requirements so double check to make sure they accept independent letters. You could even call and explain your situation. I'm sure admissions would be more than understanding. 👍

 

[roninishya]

Who were the 2 peers you used in your LORs?

 

[air bud]

Call the schools. They are there to help. People use SDN to answer too many questoins. The admissions people are there to help and are very friendly. Gina and Lindsay and DMU and Kim at Scholl are incredibly nice and helpful. Do not worry about any judging or anything like that from any phone conversations that you have. Ask for help ask for help ask for help. And ask for help more from the right people.

 

[air bud]

and double check and triple check any questions with AZpod since they are so disorganized

 

[damhsoir]

Who were the 2 peers you used in your LORs?

I didn't. But if I would have gone through the committee like my pre-MD/DO/dent/vet peers I would have needed 4 faculty and 2 peer letters. They compile these letters to create a committee letter. Sorry if that wasn't clear. I second getting help from the admissions committees. You don't want to go through all that trouble for nothing!

 

[JEWmongous]

Hey everyone,
I'm in a bit of dilemma regarding my applications. After I got past the first hurdle (see my previous thread), I have once again hit a wall, this time regarding LORs. From the information I have obtained from the schools I am applying to (Temple, Barry, DMU, Scholl, and NYCPM), pre-health committees seemly strongly favored over (and nearly required) over independent LORs. The problem is that my school's pre-health committee does not meet until mid-June, way too late to wait to apply. I know not only all schools require a pre-health commitee, but that seems to be more in the circumstance that the committee simply doesn't exist at their school. It doesn't help that pre-podiatry is merely a footnote for this commitee at my school 🙁

They really only favor pre-MD/DO, dental, and optometry students from what I have experienced and heard from upperclassmen at my school...

Help!

I used all independent LOR and had no problems getting into any of the schools - with scholarships. They were all very good letters though, and none of the adcoms mentioned anything about a pre-health committee letter. I don't even think we offer those type of letters at my undergrad (1000 students plus not big in science).

 

[FiNal08]

Hey everyone,
I'm in a bit of dilemma regarding my applications. After I got past the first hurdle (see my previous thread), I have once again hit a wall, this time regarding LORs. From the information I have obtained from the schools I am applying to (Temple, Barry, DMU, Scholl, and NYCPM), pre-health committees seemly strongly favored over (and nearly required) over independent LORs. The problem is that my school's pre-health committee does not meet until mid-June, way too late to wait to apply. I know not only all schools require a pre-health commitee, but that seems to be more in the circumstance that the committee simply doesn't exist at their school. It doesn't help that pre-podiatry is merely a footnote for this commitee at my school 🙁

They really only favor pre-MD/DO, dental, and optometry students from what I have experienced and heard from upperclassmen at my school...

Help!

I am a first year student at Scholl. My undergrad had a pre-health committee which I opted out of using. I had good LORs from 2 professors, my floor manager at the hospital I was working at, and a DPM. I was accepted to all of the schools I applied to (Ohio, Scholl, Temple) and was offered scholarships at all 3. I would tend to think that as long as you have the required number of letters, and they actually speak to your performance academically, as well as your character, you shouldn't have a problem. As a previous post stated, check with the admissions departments of the schools you are thinking of applying to and see what your options are. Make sure to let them know the situation with when the committee meets. Good luck!

 

[StaphRx]

I agree with what has already been said- call the admissions office up and ask them your questions. They are very helpful.

And as far as the health-committee goes, yes, most schools prefer that LOR/LOE's come from them, but I find myself at a disadvantage if I have to wait for them to write all the other pre-med's their letters first, as well, and I always feel that the more individual letters are personalized, although the admissions might not like to look through each letter submitted for your application. In my opinion, it's better than a summed up letter from the health-committee, who might not even really know you as an individual and is only basing their letter on the other letters (taking a few quotes here and there) and your resume.

But definitely check with admissions first. I just had a horrible experience with my health-committee. They told me that my chances were not good for the professional school I applied to many years ago...and yet, I still got accepted. 👍

 

[msuDPM]

I have another LOR question, but i didnt want to make a whole new thread about it, so i'll just post it here.

Has anyone who has gotten accepted done so with less than stellar LOR's? I attend a very large undergrad and am obtaining an interdepartmental bio degree, so all of my classes are very large. In fact the smallest core science class i have taken was about 200 people, commonly my classes are in the range of 450-600. Due to this, ive never really done much more than email my professors questions when i had them and thus dont know them very well. With that said i have a couple profs who are willing to write letters for me but warned me that they cant be overly personal due to our limited contact.

I sent in my application last week to DMU, Scholl, OCPM and Barry and have already recieved interview invites from DMU and OCPM. This is without my MCAT scores bc i will be taking it this saturday, so i hope that speaks positively about my academics, but i am still worried about the LOR's.

Any input would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[StaphRx]

I have another LOR question, but i didnt want to make a whole new thread about it, so i'll just post it here.

Has anyone who has gotten accepted done so with less than stellar LOR's? I attend a very large undergrad and am obtaining an interdepartmental bio degree, so all of my classes are very large. In fact the smallest core science class i have taken was about 200 people, commonly my classes are in the range of 450-600. Due to this, ive never really done much more than email my professors questions when i had them and thus dont know them very well. With that said i have a couple profs who are willing to write letters for me but warned me that they cant be overly personal due to our limited contact.

Any input would be appreciated. Thanks.

I don't know what my professors wrote for me, but then again, I tend to pick those who knew me, or remembered seeing me in person in class or office hours (by the way, of a lecture hall with 200 something students, the professors won't remember you). I think if you're okay with a professor just writing a little description of his class, and perhaps how many students he has, and your specific grade, then ask the prof for a rec. But if you really want to stand out and have a personalized one, find another prof who really knows you, or worked with you enough to put something else into the letter, ie. such as so and so often comes for help during office hours, she raises her hand in class, she is in the top 3% of the class..., something that stands out from the others. I'm sure the attitude/tone of the profession (how well he knows you) will be reflected in his letter, even if it's a generic one he uses for everyone.

Unless, you did stellar in the class, or the professor really knows you by face, then don't ask for a rec from that professor, because you can probably do better. If you're pressed for time, then ask for one (hopefully, you did okay in his class, 'cuz I'm sure they will look up your grade before they decide to write you a letter).

If you have time, continue to email the professor, so he knows your name pretty well. =) And hopefully, go meet him a few more times in person, and ask for the letter. You want the professor to be able to feel more confident in writing you something, after he has more interactions with you (ie. email contacts, office hours, etc.) Good luck! 👍

 

[dadadadoc]

I'm in the same boat and I have a question that might in fact come off stupid. Do the professors have to write separate LORs to all of the schools we apply to or can they just write one and we send it to those schools ourselves. If it was separat, it would seem like a lot of work to ask of people I'm not really familiar with.

 

[FiNal08]

I'm in the same boat and I have a question that might in fact come off stupid. Do the professors have to write separate LORs to all of the schools we apply to or can they just write one and we send it to those schools ourselves. If it was separat, it would seem like a lot of work to ask of people I'm not really familiar with.

They will write one letter. You will most likely never see it. It should go sealed to your pre-health adviser who's office will forward it to any number of schools that you apply to. Each undergrad is different, but that's how mine worked. Professors typically will not write you a letter unless you waive your right to see it. I also had my LORs from sources outside of school sent to that office as well. Then I just gave them the list of schools to send the letters to, and it was done. Hope this helps. Good luck!

 

[air bud]

i saw three of the four LORs written for me. In fact, I was asked for input from my charge nurse and PHD head lab guy. By this I mean they asked for general ideas and had a few questions on how to phrase things for pod school. The DPM i followed sent me a copy of the letter. The only one I didn't see was from my anatomy instructor. I got and A+ in his class, so I wasnt too worried. Bottom line...If you are sincere, smart and motivated, LOR;s should be nothing to worry about.

and as talked about before, dont use interfolio, mail them to the schoosl, and it doesnt matter when if they are there first. the schools will just set up a file and put any of your incoming stuff into it.