Non-composite committee LOR?

[Svart Aske]

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So my school's health committee only does non-composite LORs, meaning that they don't incorporate individual LORs from professors. Does this mean that I should request additional LORs from my professors?

If so, should I ask two science professors or one science and one non-science? My choices of science professors are quite limited because I am a non-science major.

EDIT: According to AADSAS, "Applicants may submit a maximum of four individual Letters of Evaluation or one Committee Letter/Report plus the option of one additional individual letter."

Can I still submit individual letters from professors to AADSAS even if I submitted a committee letter (since it's non-composite)?

 

[ajlst11]

I am doing a committee letter as well. However, mine will be a composite of 3 total from professors. However, I am pretty sure that AADSAS limits you to only ONE additional letter after the committee letter. If you go to the AADSAS site, and look at the application directions, under the LOR it will explain that there are 3 types of committee letters. One may be the type you are doing, so check if you need to.
If I were you, and I wasn't satisfied with the committee type letter your school uses, I would rather just do the alternative approach and send 4 total, some from science profs, maybe a dentist, and even a non-science prof if they know you welll and can accurately describe your achievemnets in a good way. Hope this helps.

 

[Svart Aske]

Thanks for the reply. I took a look at the AADSAS instructions and I don't think the letter provided by my school fits under any of the categories because it's written completely independent of outside evaluations. I don't want to forfeit the committee route either.

If I do submit a committee letter to AADSAS, will the system actually forbid me from submitting >1 additional letter?

 

[rewJW]

If I do submit a committee letter to AADSAS, will the system actually forbid me from submitting >1 additional letter?

I'm not sure of the answer to this question, but I have a suggestion: You can always have LOR writers send the letter directly to the schools, bypassing AADSAS. Because I had two dentists who wanted to write me letters and already used up all of the space in AADSAS for letters, I provided one of the dentists with pre-addressed stamped envelopes AFTER checking that the schools I applied to would accept outside letters (some specifically say they will not consider letters not sent to them through AADSAS; some say they will consider extra letters).

 

[rewJW]

I don't want to forfeit the committee route either

Why is this the case? If you feel the committee letter will not benefit you any more than getting separate LORs, go the separate LOR route. That's the decision I chose this year -- last application cycle my committee LOR was not submitted to AADSAS until November (so not sent to schools til December) even though all of my individual LORs were submitted to the committe by Julyl. I could not risk that happening again so I chose to forego the committee letter this year, even though it is 'highly recommended' to have a committee letter if one is available, in lieu of individual letters. This worked out to my benefit because all of my letters were sent out to the schools from AADSAS by early October.

 

[Svart Aske]

Why is this the case? If you feel the committee letter will not benefit you any more than getting separate LORs, go the separate LOR route. That's the decision I chose this year -- last application cycle my committee LOR was not submitted to AADSAS until November (so not sent to schools til December) even though all of my individual LORs were submitted to the committe by Julyl. I could not risk that happening again so I chose to forego the committee letter this year, even though it is 'highly recommended' to have a committee letter if one is available, in lieu of individual letters. This worked out to my benefit because all of my letters were sent out to the schools from AADSAS by early October.

Because I do think the committee letter will benefit me, for the following reasons:
1) It's highly regarded by dental schools
2) It's a procedure that most, if not all, pre-health students at my school go through
2) It will probably be the most thorough and detailed evaluation of me as a student, as it is based on a long questionnaire that I have to fill out as well as a draft of my personal statement

I don't think I will have the problem of a super-late letter because it's guaranteed by the committee that it will be ready before August 31st, provided that I submit my questionnaire in time.
I might eventually decide to have extra letters sent straight to the school, but I'll ask the health adviser if it's at all possible to include individual faculty letters in the final draft (not their policy, but it's worth asking).