LOR-am i understanding this correctly?

[BigD311]

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For many of the schools they say a prehealth adviser/committee letter.

From the additional info, I am led to believe that if we get that letter from the adviser/committee, then any other letters are optional, unless they explicitly state a letter from a specific professor is required. For example, I know USUHS requires a clinical experience letter.

So my question is: Do most of the MD schools require an committee letter OR 2-3 sciences and the rest? Or do most require you to submit BOTH?

Hope that was clear

 

[BigD311]

bumping this one

 

[CanHasNaps]

Ask the admissions office(s) directly for each school you are interested in (or look on the websites).

 

[BigD311]

well yea, i see many of them say OR but do people commonly submit 2 sciences with the prehealth committee letter?

If not, is it bad to have 1 science and a variety of others?

 

[cpants]

If you submit a committee letter that is all you have to submit. This means you submit 5 or so letters to the committee, then they interview you and compile the key points into one letter from the committee. The individual letters are also included in the package. The schools don't specify what letters must be included in the committee letter. However, the committee probably will specify.

 

[CanHasNaps]

As long as you meet the requirement, you can send them 100 letters. I wouldn't suggest it, because it increases the likelihood that your whole application will get tossed, but sending in a committee letter plus a few (less than 5) letters from specific areas (science, non-science, clinical) would be acceptable. Just don't go overboard.

 

[Chocolate Bear]

If you have a committee at your school, they'd like to see that letter. If your committee sends a PACKET of letters, which includes your individual LORs, then that's perfect. If your committee sends a SUMMARY letter, for which they draw material from your sci/non-sci LORs, then that will generally meet all requirements for academic LORs.

It's best if you include a physician letter as well.

Many applicants submit the following, which should suffice for most schools:

--Committee letter if available
--2 x Science letters (natural science)
--Non-science letter (Lit/Arts/Psych/etc)
--Physician letter
--Employee letter (for certain scenarios, like non-trad, etc)

Hope that helps.

 

[aggieallure]

The committee letter depends on your school. At mine, you submit your 3 letters. They compile the key points. They add their personal experiences with you and some of your replies to a questionnaire you submit. This serves as a cover letter, and all 4 letters are then sent as a packet.

However, you have to keep on top of the deadline. Mine was in April. In addition, they required me to have my application submitted before September or all the effort I put into finishing their packets and attending their workshops would be for nothing.

 

[arez10]

If you have 6 mandatory letters already for your premed committee, would it look bad if you add a couple more that you think are important (one from a DO, one from my research professor)? the mandatory ones I need are 3 science professors, 2 non science, and 1 volunteer adviser. Thank you.

 

[Chocolate Bear]

If you have 6 mandatory letters already for your premed committee, would it look bad if you add a couple more that you think are important (one from a DO, one from my research professor)? the mandatory ones I need are 3 science professors, 2 non science, and 1 volunteer adviser. Thank you.

Physician letters are important, so that one's fine.

The research one, if it were my app, I'd include it.

 

[cpants]

It would be better to get any letters you want considered included in the committee letter. If you have extra letters, you should see if your committee will accept additional letters above their requirements. Any letters that were already submitted to the committee should not be resubmitted to the schools, as that information (and usually the full letter) will be included in the committee eval. A letter that came later which will add to your application, such as a letter from a DO for your DO applications, would be fine to submit independently.

 

[BigD311]

well we use interfolio and my prehealth committee just adds it into my account along with all my other letters.

Just wanted to know if 2 science professors are required with a prehealth letter. It seems that they arent.

 

[cpants]

The school requirements only apply in the absence of a pre-health letter, except for the DO letter requirement at many DO schools, I believe.