Letters of recommendation

[Lilbird123]

So I am applying to OU this summer, and they require a committee letter and an additional faculty letter. This makes my situation a bit difficult, because I had to choose my committee members and chose my two best professors along with my prehealth advisor. So basically I'm using up my two best professors on my committee and have to find another professor to get a letter from. I have a couple in mind that I can ask, but they don't know me very well. I honestly have never struggled in any of my classes, so I've never been to office hours to build a relationship with my professors.

I know I can find a professor to write the extra letter, but I'm worried about it being mediocre and hurting my application. I just don't understand why OU requires an additional letter along with the committee letter. I almost want to see if I can get the three members of my committee to just write individual letters, but I've heard a committee letters looks better. Any advice is much appreciated!

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[Lilbird123]

Reading the requirement from OU, I see nothing that prohibits you from getting a committee letter (where the composition of the committee is entirely up to the UG school) and a faculty letter from someone who happens to sit on the committee.

I hope that is the case. I will talk to my advisor about it after the committee interview. I honestly wouldn't feel comfortable asking any other professors for letters other than the ones on my committee, but I will if I have to and just deal with having a possibly mediocre letter from a professor who barely knows me

 

[Lilbird123]

Your advisor may not know or understand the nuance here. The medical school wants a committee letter. The mechanism on how that is done is up to the UG; the medical school essentially doesnt get into the details of how that works. The medical school wants a letter from faculty directly as well. If the two overlap, it really is not an issue

I'm relieved to hear that. I think my advisor said something about that but I couldn't remember for certain. I did talk to one of my professors about it and he said he couldn't write the letter since he's on the committee, but I guess he was confused about it. This will help me greatly, because one of the professors on my committee will write me an excellent letter. He has already done so much for me anyway. I'm much less stressed about this now