how to form a committee!?

[beastmaster]

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I have a question. What constitutes a pre-med committee? Do they have to be sanctioned by some larger body such as AAMC, or can some professors just get together and proclaim themselves a pre-med committee to write me a joint letter of recommendation ?

 

[steve007]

the second thing you said.

 

[Dr. Xavier]

Get a bunch of people together and agree to disagree.

 

[SMW]

If your school has a pre-med committee, then they have one, and you're pretty much bound to use it i.e most med schools require you to use your school committee. If they don't have one, then you're in luck and you don't need to form one (it's not like with applying to med school, you need to take on something else!). Just list on your secondaries in the space provided, the profs you are asking to send your LOR's.

 

[beastmaster]

SMW, the point of forming one would be to get around individual requirements, some of which I cannot meeet (ie, non-science LORs). Committee letter satisfies every requirement, whereas my individual letters do not.

Any other suggestions?

 

[destined_wind]

So if your school has a pre-med committee, then anyone who is applying to medical school can ask them for a LOR?

 

[MDmiracle]

Originally posted by beastmaster
SMW, the point of forming one would be to get around individual requirements, some of which I cannot meeet (ie, non-science LORs). Committee letter satisfies every requirement, whereas my individual letters do not.

Any other suggestions?

I was in the same boat. Here is what I did.... I talked with the pre-medical advisor, you should have one to, and told her what I wanted to do. I applied to 31 schools so I didn't want to keep track of 100 plus letters. I put everything together, I asked the people I wanted on my committee and asked them if they could write a strong letter. Then I had them write comments and notes that they passed on to my advisor who put the letter together. So I suggest finding someone who you wnat on your committee and is willing to put everything together for you, then coordinate everyone to them. Hope this helps.

 

[SMW]

Originally posted by beastmaster
SMW, the point of forming one would be to get around individual requirements, some of which I cannot meeet (ie, non-science LORs). Committee letter satisfies every requirement, whereas my individual letters do not.

Any other suggestions?

There are good reasons for the non-science LOR requirement and most schools are not going to let you get completely around it. Also, med schools know which schools have committees and which schools don't. A committee is an established part of an undrgrad's pre-med advising system, and not something you can just set up ad hoc for yourself. A committee generally writes a composite letter from a whole raft of letters it has collected, the number and variety of which I gather varies from committee to committee. Or in some cases, the committee forwards all the letters it has on file. In any case, you still have to meet the committee's requirements for letters. I was glad my school did not have a committee, because it gave me more control over what the adcoms would see (I did waive my right to see my LORs as is recommended, but only asked people I was sure would write very strong letters). Some med schools, if you call them, will allow you to substitute one type of letter for another -- say one from your pastor or employer for the non-science prof requirement. Hope this helps.

Originally posted by destined_wind
So if your school has a pre-med committee, then anyone who is applying to medical school can ask them for a LOR?

If your school has a premed committee, then most med schools require you to use them, but as i said above, you have to have a certain number of LOR's, which I'm sure varies from school to school, sent to the committee, and then they write a "composite" LOR based on those letters.

 

[SMW]

Originally posted by MDmiracle
I was in the same boat. Here is what I did.... I talked with the pre-medical advisor, you should have one to, and told her what I wanted to do. I applied to 31 schools so I didn't want to keep track of 100 plus letters. I put everything together, I asked the people I wanted on my committee and asked them if they could write a strong letter. Then I had them write comments and notes that they passed on to my advisor who put the letter together. So I suggest finding someone who you wnat on your committee and is willing to put everything together for you, then coordinate everyone to them. Hope this helps.

The usual solution to not having to keep track of hundreds of LORs is to use a letter service, either your school's or an on-line one. I've never heard of setting up one's own committee in two years of being a pretty devoted SDNer. I would check with the schools you're applying to before trying this approach. Pre-med advisers do not always know what they're talking about!

 

[MDmiracle]

Originally posted by SMW
The usual solution to not having to keep track of hundreds of LORs is to use a letter service, either your school's or an on-line one. I've never heard of setting up one's own committee in two years of being a pretty devoted SDNer.

I did it... I go to a satellite campus, our school has a committee but it is 500 miles away. so I was able to set up one of my own.

 

[SMW]

Originally posted by MDmiracle
I did it... I go to a satellite campus, our school has a committee but it is 500 miles away. so I was able to set up one of my own.

Well, OK, but your school already had a committee i.e. that was the system med school's were expecting applicants from your school to use. I think the OP's situation is different.

 

[rjmst]

Originally posted by Dr. Xavier
Get a bunch of people together and agree to disagree.

"University of Caucasians
Lost Amongst Asians MS1"

Hhahahahahahahahha

Oh man... It's so true... I'm surrounded by smelly people like BerkeleyPremed from garbage countries.