Non Trad, no committee letter?

[Maybedoc1]

Hello campers,

The general consensus seems to be that if your school offers a committee letter it's a bad idea not to use it. However I'm wondering if it would be okay to forego it in my individual circumstance.

To make a long story short I started college off in 2012 as a premed science student where I completed most of my prerequisites. I then transferred schools, switched my major/focus to music performance in 2014 and forgot about the whole medical school thing. After graduating in 2017, I did a lot of self reflection and decided a year or two ago that I wanted to go to medical school. I've now finished all my remaining prerequisites (at a third school), MCAT, etc. I'm ready to apply this summer.

The school I received my degree from does offer a committee letter, however I had nothing to do with the premed process while I was there. I was a music major and I had no intentions of going to medical school. I never stepped foot in that premed office. I did no research, volunteering, shadowing or anything clinically related. In the three and a half years I was a student there I took 2 science classes. 8 out of my 51 science GPA credits came from that school. The rest came from my first school and the third school that I finished the remaining classes at. I also live 2,000 miles away from my degree granting school now.

I'm wondering if its okay to forego a committee letter from them in this circumstance? The majority of schools I looked at prefer one and ask you to explain yourself if you don't have one. I feel like I have a good explanation as to why I won't have one from my school. I'm not actually sure if I'm even eligible for one to be honest. They state that you must have taken at least 24 credits of relevant coursework at the school when I took 8. I also missed the deadline so there's that.

I'm hoping this isn't a big deal if I don't have one. I've heard some people recommend a gap year if you can't get one, but 1) I really don't want to do that. 2) They only offer committee letters for alumni that graduated within the last 3 years. If I were to take a gap year I wouldn't even be eligible next year.

Thnxxxxxx

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[deleted859689]

Committee letters are not required especially for non-trad students. However, you should have 2 science LOR from professors that have taught you, 1 non-science LOR, a research PI LOR if you did research, and a physician LOR. If you have all of these, then you don’t need a committee letter, and may not need to use all of them. Schools understand you are a non-trad. I only had 1 science LOR from a professor that taught me - two of the schools I interviewed at (DO) listed needing two science LORs from professors that taught you which I definitely did not have.

I would be more concerned if I had no volunteering or a physician LOR.

 

[LizzyM]

You are okay to apply without a committee letter from your undergrad institution given your specific circumstances of having graduated years ago, not having been on the pre-med path at that time and not having taken many (<25%) of your pre-reqs at that school.

 

[deleted1028537]

Usually 3 letters (2 science professors and 1 non-science professor) should do the trick plus you can add other letters such as shadowing,research,medical scribing or any clinical work you have done. I didn't get the committee letter from my Post-Bacc program since the director is clueless/biased so make sure you get it from professors you trust and have a good relationship with.

 

[IsleyOfTheNorth]

Usually 3 letters (2 science professors and 1 non-science professor).

This, but make it 5 total letters.

 

[CyrilFiggis]

Current M4, non-trad with a BA in music. You need nothing from your music school except the transcript. If you had a really good professor or advisor, especially someone in your principal instrument, that’s a good non-science letter. I was asked in every interview for med school about the work ethic of being a musician - how many hours a day I practiced, how I dealt with failure or a difficult piece of music, etc. if you have a professor who can speak to that, great. If not then I would avoid any letters specifically from the school of music.

 

[Styrene]

I did not have a committee letter and was accepted. I had two science letters, a non-science (philosophy) letter, and a volunteer letter. Just decided to do my own letters since my time was split between community college and then a four-year. Vaguely recall having to explain on some secondaries, but I have no idea what I wrote--matriculated in Aug 2016.