LOR Question

Started by bishoy20
This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.
Get help with your application

Use all the free resources available to you from SDN: articles, guides, expert advising, forums discussions, and school research.

bishoy20

Membership Revoked
Removed
10+ Year Member
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
I am still working on Letters of recommendation, However, I wonder if letters from a physics professor or a math professor are as strong as letters from biology professors. Also, How valuable is a committee letter against individual letters,,,,thanks for reponses
 
Last edited:
A letter from a physics professor would likely be as valuable as a letter from a biology or chemistry professor, I tend to think this because it's part of the BCP, the big three. I had a strong letter from a physics professor myself.

I'm not so sure a letter from a mathematics professor would be counted quite the same, in terms of the requirement that a letter often be from a hard science/BCP professor/dept. And even if someone has some anecdotal evidence to the contrary, I wouldn't rely on it across the board as fact.

A committee letter is no stronger than individual letters; besides some schools do not even have a committee to provide such a service for their applicants.
 
A letter from a physics professor would likely be as valuable as a letter from a biology or chemistry professor, I tend to think this because it's part of the BCP, the big three. I had a strong letter from a physics professor myself.

I'm not so sure a letter from a mathematics professor would be counted quite the same, in terms of the requirement that a letter often be from a hard science/BCP professor/dept. And even if someone has some anecdotal evidence to the contrary, I wouldn't rely on it across the board as fact.

A committee letter is no stronger than individual letters; besides some schools do not even have a committee to provide such a service for their applicants.

I am not sure this is the case. I am waiting on a committee letter and I have asked all the schools I applied to if it would be better for me to submit individual LORs and not wait any longer. Most all the schools suggested I continue to wait as they really do prefer the committee LOR.
 
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
I am still working on Letters of recommendation, However, I wonder if letters from a physics professor or a math professor are as strong as letters from biology professors. Also, How valuable is a committee letter against individual letters,,,,thanks for reponses

Math and physics profs would be great if there was a substantial amount of the material in the pre clinical courses.
 
I am not sure this is the case. I am waiting on a committee letter and I have asked all the schools I applied to if it would be better for me to submit individual LORs and not wait any longer. Most all the schools suggested I continue to wait as they really do prefer the committee LOR.

It's true that many say they have a preference for a committee letter when available, I can't argue there. I just find it hard to believe one will make you a better applicant than the other. Even given what they told you, how long would you be willing to wait?
 
I had a physics letter and I know it was generic. It was there to fulfill a requirement. I doubt it offered anything else to myapplication. Doesn't a committee preference by schools serve as a convenience to them? I always assumed that was part of it.

I didn't have a committee option. I did have a composite letter service option my school offered. That allowed for more than 4 letters, collecting them early, having them on file for future use, and proof read for major errors (wrong name, etc). I feel for those who are stuck waiting on committee for months.
 
I think a committee letter is just less for them to read, hence the preference. One letter compared to four for each student.
 
It's true that many say they have a preference for a committee letter when available, I can't argue there. I just find it hard to believe one will make you a better applicant than the other. Even given what they told you, how long would you be willing to wait?

I have no idea how much longer I can wait, I am going nuts lol.

In hindsight I would have rather used interfolio and had all my letters in by the 2nd week. If it gets too much into August that I am waiting for my committee letter I may have some type of meltdown😉
 
I have no idea how much longer I can wait, I am going nuts lol.

In hindsight I would have rather used interfolio and had all my letters in by the 2nd week. If it gets too much into August that I am waiting for my committee letter I may have some type of meltdown😉

I had issues with waiting on LORs myself, you have my empathy.

:luck::xf:
 
I am trying to get a committee letter now, The chair of the letter is my genetics professor and I am expecting my cell Biology and Microbiology professors to join him in the letter especially that they work together on a research project as a team. Also, I am expecting the genetics professor to write a decent letter because I served as his professorial assistant for one semester for a letter grade and he gave me A
 
In the instructions for the Evaluators, it says that there are three basic formats for the committee letter;

1- Committee letter with supporting letters attached
2- Committee letter that is composed and uses quotes from various evaluators but does not have supporting letters attached
3- Composite letter, which usually consists of a cover letter from an advising office and a collection of individual evaluation letters that are attached

I don't know which one is better but most likely I am going with the first format but what is the maximum # of supporting letters can I add and does a cover letter for that format is needed. If you have any details about the first format pls let me know
 
Last edited:
I go with choice # 1 because it looks better to Ad committees, And yes u can add as many supporting letters as you want because it does't mention a maximum #