Letter of recommendation/committee composite letter

[arish]

Hey everyone

So I have been having a little problem with my school regarding getting the composite letter from the pre-med committee. I have sent all the letter of Recs from all the professors and doctors that I have worked with and it is on file. I haven't been able to set up an interview with them yet and they are not working with me. They are asking for the whole application to be completed before setting up an interview. Plus they are saying the letter of Recs are part of the secondary application, not the primary. And they want to send the letter in the Fall.
I was wondering if that is the case for other people?

I am still working on my personal statement and studying for the MCAT at the same time so I might be able to submit my apps as soon as it opens and give it to them.

My question is what should I do at this point? Does it really matter to have a Composite letter from school or should I just go ahead and have the people who wrote the letters submit individually to AMCAS? I might be able to push them so they send the letters earlier. They mentioned it is not going to be make a difference.

Is the letter of Rec part of the primarily or the secondary application?
If it is part of the secondary, what should I do with section 6 (LOR) of primary application?

Thanks very much guys

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[milkphlegm]

Most schools in my experience don't need your letters of recommendation as part of your primary application, and will send you a secondary regardless of whether you have them. The LOR's need to be in with your secondary applications.

I think it's pretty valid for the committee letter writer(s) to want your personal statement and a copy of your AMCAS, because it's the most comprehensive review of you as an applicant, obviously. Then on top of their interview it sound like they have with you, it'll be a nice set-up and they'll get to know you the best they can in that limited exposure.

Wait for the composite letter, as I believe most schools prefer this. When did they say the letter would be submitted, or just said "Fall"? I think so long as its submitted soon after you start receiving most of your secondaries (like end of July/August or something?) then you should be just fine. You don't want it to hold up review of your secondaries, but I don't think it's going to hold up review of your primary.

 

[arish]

Bump

 

[PanRoasted]

milkphlegm gave you an accurate answer. Just fill out the information they request for your committee letter in the AMCAS application, they'll provide you with a LoR ID number, and that's the number you'll provide to your committee in order to let them submit a committee letter for you.

 

[SoMinty]

Take it from someone who didn't... get the committee letter. I didn't and I ended up getting rejected from 14/15 schools without an interview got very lucky and was accepted at the 15th. I have strong stats otherwise and great individual recs. I can't say for sure that the committee letter is what hurt me but I would make sure to get it.