Medical Schools that Do Not Require a Committee Letter

[FutureDoc3094]

Hello there!

I plan on applying to medical school this summer. From what I have been reading, a large majority of medical schools require a committee letter from your undergrad university. But, are there some medical schools that does not require a committee letter from your pre-health adviser? And if so, what are those schools? Thank you so much!! 🙂

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[Pattycake25]

It's been a while, but I think you've got it a little backwards. It's not that schools require a committee letter so much as it is that if your school offers committee letters, ALL schools expect you to have one. So if you go to a school that does not offer them, that won't keep you out of many places, if any at all.

 

[Hippogriff]

No schools require it (since not all schools provide it), but most will prefer a committee letter. I remember several secondaries asking the reason behind not utilizing a committee letter if your school offers it. I'm in the application process for starting this fall. Hope this helps!

 

[FutureDoc3094]

Thank you so much for the replies. My pre-med adviser made it seem like medical schools require you to have a committee letter. What would be good reason as to why you are not utilizing a committee letter, even though your school offers it? I'm just wondering.

 

[FutureDoc3094]

Also, why do we need to get a committee letter? Like what importance does it have, and does it have any weight on your application? Thanks! 🙂

 

[Hippogriff]

The advantages mentioned by my pre-health adviser are that it indicates you met the standards established by your school’s committee to recommend you for med school, in some cases compares you to the other applicants going through your committee, and the letter nicely summarizes your overall application. Not utilizing your committee may raise some red flags (aka were you denied because you missed the deadline, did not meet GPA/letters/volunteer hours/etc requirements… which are bad reasons for not using the committee). I can’t really think of a good reason not to if you're a recent grad . The closest, in my opinion, is if you did your post-bacc later at a different school and/or it’s been a long time since you were actually at your undergrad. Therefore, the committee may not be able to evaluate you as well as other more recent candidates.

 

[Inventor of Post-Its]

Thank you so much for the replies. My pre-med adviser made it seem like medical schools require you to have a committee letter. What would be good reason as to why you are not utilizing a committee letter, even though your school offers it? I'm just wondering.

There really isn't one, which is why so many medical schools require you have one if your school offers them. At my school, you have to file a request for a committee letter, fill out a questionnaire, get all of your other LORs in on time, and schedule and attend an interview with them for them to be able to write you a committee letter. So basically, not having one means you messed up on one of those steps.

 

[RedPhys]

There really isn't one, which is why so many medical schools require you have one if your school offers them. At my school, you have to file a request for a committee letter, fill out a questionnaire, get all of your other LORs in on time, and schedule and attend an interview with them for them to be able to write you a committee letter. So basically, not having one means you messed up on one of those steps.

Some overly neurotic people on SDN believe the fact that the committee letter can (and probably will) take until early August , in some cases, is the reason they won't get into a top school.

I know at least at my undergraduate school, the committee letter could have only helped my application (since it was very thorough in the information they get from you).

 

[FutureDoc3094]

Thanks for all of the input, I really appreciate it! 🙂

 

[FutureDoc3094]

Hi there. I felt compelled to reply to this thread because I applied without a committee letter last June and there seems to be a lot of misleading information here. First of all, having a committee letter, if your undergrad institution offers one, is generally extremely helpful. There are some schools that will not review your application if you don't have a committee letter, even if your school does not offer one. Rush is an example of a school that told me they would not review my application no matter what. Many private schools say that they require a committee letter IF your school offers one. However, there are plenty of private schools that simply say they "prefer" one. In my experience, a lot of public schools don't seem to care if you don't have one.

If you do apply without a committee letter, you might have to tell the school your reason for not having one. I applied to 17 schools and only one school asked me about it. That said, I received 8 interview invites this season, so you're not sunk. I highly recommend that you contact each admissions office and ask what they require, just so that you don't waste money applying to schools that were unclear about their requirements. Feel free to message me if you have any questions about the specific schools I was able to apply to! Good luck!

Thank you so much eternelle! I just sent you a message!

 

[Nontrad8]

Hi there. I felt compelled to reply to this thread because I applied without a committee letter last June and there seems to be a lot of misleading information here. First of all, having a committee letter, if your undergrad institution offers one, is generally extremely helpful. There are some schools that will not review your application if you don't have a committee letter, even if your school does not offer one. Rush is an example of a school that told me they would not review my application no matter what. Many private schools say that they require a committee letter IF your school offers one. However, there are plenty of private schools that simply say they "prefer" one. In my experience, a lot of public schools don't seem to care if you don't have one.

If you do apply without a committee letter, you might have to tell the school your reason for not having one. I applied to 17 schools and only one school asked me about it. That said, I received 8 interview invites this season, so you're not sunk. I highly recommend that you contact each admissions office and ask what they require, just so that you don't waste money applying to schools that were unclear about their requirements. Feel free to message me if you have any questions about the specific schools I was able to apply to! Good luck!

Hi, just came upon your post and private messAged you!

 

[GoCougs!]

Hello there!

I plan on applying to medical school this summer. From what I have been reading, a large majority of medical schools require a committee letter from your undergrad university. But, are there some medical schools that does not require a committee letter from your pre-health adviser? And if so, what are those schools? Thank you so much!! 🙂

In case you're curious about Univeristy of Washington or OHSU, I just spoke with them about committee letters and they pretty much don't care if you have one or not... just as long as you provide your LORs.

 

[really_nervous]

Hello,
I just graduated from undergrad and did not get a chance to meet with the new pre-med advisor. However, I need a committee letter from the person. Any idea how to approach this person (PS, i tried to get in contact with the person, every-time, the person responded by saying "they" are busy"

 

[DBC03]

I was able to get a "committee letter packet" without the letter because I graduated too long ago to warrant a letter (they generally want to be able to compare you to other students and it's impossible to compare someone who graduated that long ago). It's been really helpful because they collected my letters and the packet works for nearly all letter requirements meaning I don't have to go through each school and figure out which letters to send.

That said, there are two or three major reasons (other than graduating too long ago) people don't use committees even though their schools might have them. The first is that they didn't meet the standards and were refused a letter (doesn't really happen at our school that often, but I've heard of other schools that have GPA minimums, etc.). The second is that someone didn't realize they had a committee until it was too late. The third reason is that the head of the committee is just as human as any of us and there are sometimes professional or personal disagreements between the student and the committee head that might result in a less-than stellar committee letter. I've actually heard of this on more than one occasion.

That said, if you have a committee, definitely go with it! My health advisors have been amazing and have treated me just like any other student (aside from not being able to write a letter). If you don't have a committee, don't worry too much. I am in a post-bac program at a school that does not have a committee and the students still get accepted to quite a few places from here.

 

[really_nervous]

it is a problem if I only have my academic professor to write a letter to be used as part of the committee letter.