Hi everyone! I've been out of school 4+ years now. Although I've always known this is the path I want to take, it's taking me a while to get there. I was wondering how the non-trads here submit their LORs? Most schools require a committee letter from your undergrad institution. I noticed from the forums that interfolio is mentioned all the time. Do you use interfolio AND your pre-med committee? If you've been out of school for a few years now, is it better to use interfolio or the committee? Do I have a choice? Thanks in advance!!
I'm a nontrad applying this cycle, but I did postbacc at a school with a committee, and I used it. Really, I had no other choice: this was a prestigious (and really expensive) program at a private school that is known for its committee letters, so if I hadn't gotten one it would have raised a lot of suspicions in the mind of adcoms. (I've had five interview invites so far, but no admissions decisions yet, so I can't tell you how well it worked in getting me in.)
In general, if there is a committee at your school that is accessible to people in your situation, it would probably be wise to use it. In addition to giving you the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval from your school, the hoops you have to jump through to get the letter can be good practice for the actual admissions process. My school had an extraordinary amount of folderol: I had to write 6 3-page essays which were due in January, as well as have a committee interview in the spring. But all that writing helped get me started on the thought process for my PS, and I ended up mining a lot of those essays for secondary applications later on. I also had a very successful interview (so said my advisor), and the feedback afterwards was very valuable (as well as a nice confidence booster).
The final thing I'd say about committee letters is that they're a no-brainer way to satisfy the letter requirements at all your schools, without having to worry about whether you have one from column A and two from column B. There's a lot of variation in letter requirements among schools (min/max number accepted, how many science vs. non-science, etc.), but if you have a committee letter, it is automatically considered compliant, no matter how many individual letters it contains or who wrote them. (Your committee will have its own rules, of course, but once you follow those you'll be off the hook.)
But if your school doesn't have a committee or you're not eligible to use it, go with Interfolio--it makes the logistics of sending the letters much easier. Just allow plenty of time for your writers to get the letters in; ASK MONTHS BEFORE THEY'RE DUE, because people procrastinate, especially doctors (who are notorious for needing prodding). And ask more writers than you'll need, because recommenders do stand you up surprisingly often.
This advice applies to the committee situation too, of course, with the added caveat that the committee itself can be quite slow. (I nearly had a heart attack when mine took until 9/30 to send out my letter, even though all my materials had been in months earlier as required.) So DO EVERYTHING EARLY, and good luck.
