Letters of Recommendation question

[pchan]

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Hi, I had a few questions about Letters of Rec (LOR) please:

1. How does getting LORs for med school traditionally work? Like, what do most premed students in postbacc programs usually do to get LORs? Do they usually just ask professors in their science courses, and have the professors send the LORs to each med school they want to apply to? That's a lot of LORs to send out, especially if you want to apply to like 15 schools!

2. I've been trying to figure it out, but I can't seem to, or at least can't find it on the different med school websites I've looked at, what's the difference between a LOR and a committee evaluation letter? And which one do med schools want? From what I've gahtered so far though, the committee letter is a bunch of LORs put into one, single LOR. Say, for eg, I go to someplace like Harvard Extension School (HES), and maintain a 3.0 GPA and 30 MCAT, then HES says they will write a committee evaluation letter. Tha'ts great news. However, if I go to UCLA Extension, then no matter how well I do, it doesn't appear they offer one. So what would I need to do to get a committee evaluaton letter from someplace like UCLA Extension if I went there?

3. Also, what's the difference between a committee letter and a sponsorship (like HES offers both it seems)? Is it necessary to have either one?

Okay, sorry I was just a bit confused over these terms as I'm so new to the process. Thanks in advance for all the help. 🙂

 

[Sundarban1]

Committee letters are composate letters from your schools pre-med committe that usually take the place of individual letters from individual professors. Typically med schools either ask for a committee letter, or individual letters in its place if your undergrad school does not have a pre-med committee. I dont know about UCLA, but sponsorship at HES gives you a committee letter providing you meet requirements. If you do not meet sponsorship requirements, you are able to ask individual professors for letters in the absence of a committee letter. In a way committee letters are better because they show you have backing from the whole department if your school has one. Obviously if you dont, individual letters are your only option. At HES the committee letter and sponsorship refer to the same thing.

 

[pchan]

Committee letters are composate letters from your schools pre-med committe that usually take the place of individual letters from individual professors. Typically med schools either ask for a committee letter, or individual letters in its place if your undergrad school does not have a pre-med committee. I dont know about UCLA, but sponsorship at HES gives you a committee letter providing you meet requirements. If you do not meet sponsorship requirements, you are able to ask individual professors for letters in the absence of a committee letter. In a way committee letters are better because they show you have backing from the whole department if your school has one. Obviously if you dont, individual letters are your only option. At HES the committee letter and sponsorship refer to the same thing.

Oh, I see. Thanks so much Sundarban. 🙂 One follow-up question, please: So, if say I can't get a committee letter (either cos I don't meet the requirements or my post-bacc school doesn't offer one), and most med schools require 3 LORs, so I need to ask 3 different profs at my post-bacc to send 3 LORs to each med school I want to apply to -- isn't there some sort of a "centralized place" where I can have the profs send the LORs to, and that will forward them onto all the med schools somehow? Or is that what the AMCAS thing does, so we just have our profs forward the LORs to the AMCAS, and then the AMCAS forwards them to each med school?

Sorry, hopefully that didn't sound completely naive, althugh I'll freely admit that I prtty much am about the med school app process. 😉 Thanks again.

 

[Sundarban1]

Oh, I see. Thanks so much Sundarban. 🙂 One follow-up question, please: So, if say I can't get a committee letter (either cos I don't meet the requirements or my post-bacc school doesn't offer one), and most med schools require 3 LORs, so I need to ask 3 different profs at my post-bacc to send 3 LORs to each med school I want to apply to -- isn't there some sort of a "centralized place" where I can have the profs send the LORs to, and that will forward them onto all the med schools somehow? Or is that what the AMCAS thing does, so we just have our profs forward the LORs to the AMCAS, and then the AMCAS forwards them to each med school?

Sorry, hopefully that didn't sound completely naive, althugh I'll freely admit that I prtty much am about the med school app process. 😉 Thanks again.

Usually pre-med departments offer a letter service and send out the LORs to the schools that you apply to. I know HES has this service. There is a centralized service that most people use otherwise, the name escapes me at the moment because I'm not at that phase yet. However if you ask in the pre-allo forum I'm sure someone will know.

 

[Medic2doc]

The service is called Interfolio.com. It is extremely user friendly and I am using it to apply for my SMP program.

 

[Sundarban1]

Thank you! Right, and no, your AMCAS does not get your LORs they are sent directly to the medical school seperate from your application.

 

[pchan]

Ah, cool thanks guys, that straightens everything out! 🙂