LORs and committee letter

[vincvega]

will it hurt me if i choose not to use my schools committee letter and just have my LOR's sent to my designated schools. i have a very short list of schools, so it wouldn't be a hassle for my profs to make 2 or 3 copies.

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[SuzieQ3417]

I have heard that if you have a committee that can write a cover letter, then you are "highly encouraged" to go that route. If you choose not to use your committee, I think the med schools tend to believe that there is something wrong with the situation. I'm not sure how other schools do it, but when I talked to my pre-med advisor she said the main point in the letter was to summarize what your LORs stated, and to compare you to other applicants from the same school. Thus if you are above average at your school, it is most definitely to your advantage to use this cover letter. Also, considering you will have 3+ LORs, some adcoms may only read the cover letter...which would hopefully include the best parts of your other letters. My advice would be to go through the committee...based on what I've been led to believe.

 

[dilated]

It depends. My committee gave an overall "applicant rating" that appears to be primarily based on gpa (relative to other applicants from our school) and not the letters of recommendation.

I'm fricking pissed. I don't know if adcomms will actually read the attached letters or not - they may just assume that the stupid ass rating they gave me is indicative of the quality of the letters (which it is not). Grr. I'm very tempted to ditch the stupid thing and just have the letters sent in separately.

 

[tomorrowgirl99]

Can anyone explain to me why those damn committee letters are so important? I don't know since I attend a school that doesn't have one.

 

[wetlightning]

straight from the 20+ schools i asked the same thing: "your not having a committee letter will be more of a red flag than if your letters come in slightly late."

no clue why this is so important, except that maybe they look at it as a 'pre-screening' of sorts... if you have an eval from your health prof committee, you've already submitted an application, an essay, your grades, records, etc. hence, it's like the adcoms already have an opinion of sorts....from another committee. maybe that's why it's so crucial.

anyway, short answer: if your school has a committee, med schools would prefer a LATE committe letter to an early one from all your profs.....

 

[jhanchar]

If your school has a pre-professional committee (or pre-medical committee as they are sometimes called), medical schools will want to see a letter from these people. Why do they want one? Well, there are several factors the first being it shows you have had contact and a least some guidance from this committee, which is the supposed to its function for undergraduates. If you try to bypass this route it will make the admissions committee suspicious. Some questions that will pop into their head will be: "Was this student a problem student? Did the student just all of a sudden decide in a career in medicine? Did the student have a problem with his/her advisor?" The list continues. My recommendation is to, at all costs, get your letters complied through this committee. Consider the committee letter and their services not to be optional. Of course if you school has no such mechanism you are off the hook. If this is your situation, it is a good idea, however, to have your letters accompany a privacy statement to assure the admissions committee you had no hand in guiding the writing of the letter (even if you did). I would caution again applying to only two or three school regardless of how good the applicant's credentials are, as insurance apply to at least ten. Best of luck!

 

[jbrice1639]

Can anyone explain to me why those damn committee letters are so important? I don't know since I attend a school that doesn't have one.

It was explained to me partly as being an issue of credibility. A pre-health committee is much less likely to exaggerate in its letter than an individual because the committee has a reputation to uphold. The committee knows it will not be taken seriously in future years if it inflates applicants in any given year...on the other hand, if you ask an individual to write a letter, they may not care as much about their future credibility, so they are more likely to exaggerate in their letters (i'm not saying this is the case, only that this is what i've been told).

So the theory is that the committee letter represents a fair, level playing field where everyone from your school is evaluated (a pre-screening, as someone else mentioned).

 

[vincvega]

i have a couple of issues though. i don't reall like my advisor and i know she would not be giving the committee the best impression of me. also, i have also graduated from college and don't know if the committee is exactly for a person like me. i have very competitive stats for my schools and i think i can get ok letters of rec. so if it is not absolutely crucial, i really don't want to go through the committee. unless someone can convince me otherwise, i think that is what i'll do.

 

[LJDHC05]

i have a couple of issues though. i don't reall like my advisor and i know she would not be giving the committee the best impression of me. also, i have also graduated from college and don't know if the committee is exactly for a person like me. i have very competitive stats for my schools and i think i can get ok letters of rec. so if it is not absolutely crucial, i really don't want to go through the committee. unless someone can convince me otherwise, i think that is what i'll do.

Most schools believe that you've consulted with a premed advisor. The committee letter serves several purposes:
-shows that you have prepared for this path with some guidance, so that you're not going into the process with some ER-like concept of what doctors do and that Med School will be just like undergrad
-Shows that your school is willing to stand by your academic performance
-Schools dont want to read 3 letters when they only have to read one
-Essentially it's a secret communication between a group of adults at your ugrad school and a group of adults in the med school. 14 heads are better than one in their opinion!
-if you dont use your school's advising committee, admissions committees automatically want to know why. Often there are stuborn students with less than desireable stats who apply despite the pre-med committee's advice not to. You may be stuffed into this category automatically by the admissions committees unless you explain it.

 

[MoosePilot]

i have a couple of issues though. i don't reall like my advisor and i know she would not be giving the committee the best impression of me. also, i have also graduated from college and don't know if the committee is exactly for a person like me. i have very competitive stats for my schools and i think i can get ok letters of rec. so if it is not absolutely crucial, i really don't want to go through the committee. unless someone can convince me otherwise, i think that is what i'll do.

I graduated 9 freaking years ago and I did a committee interview. That's not much of a reason. Do what you want, it's a free country, but I really do think you'll make the adcoms wonder. Why risk it?

 

[OrGoMan]

I graduated 9 freaking years ago and I did a committee interview. That's not much of a reason. Do what you want, it's a free country, but I really do think you'll make the adcoms wonder. Why risk it?

My problem is that the August MCAT score comes out in mid october, meaning the committee wont send out its LOR till like nov-> mid november. Is it worth being that late? Right now, I can ask individual professors to send out letters of Rec, and be complete at most schools. All they will need is my MCAT. Which way should I go?

 

[titoincali]

It depends. My committee gave an overall "applicant rating" that appears to be primarily based on gpa (relative to other applicants from our school) and not the letters of recommendation.

I'm fricking pissed. I don't know if adcomms will actually read the attached letters or not - they may just assume that the stupid ass rating they gave me is indicative of the quality of the letters (which it is not). Grr. I'm very tempted to ditch the stupid thing and just have the letters sent in separately.

Oh my gosh! An "overall applicant rating"? I didn't know that that is how they wrote the letter. I wish I knew what mine said. I got a committee letter from my undergrad even though I didn't graduate with the best gpa and never took any science classes there. I knew the pre-med advisor well so when I asked him if they would write me a letter all I was told was "we'd be happy to". I didn't realize that they compare you to all applicants from their school and give you a rating.

Now I'm going to be paranoid about what it says!