Pre-Medical Committee

[Trauma_DOc]

Hello,
I am going to be applying in the upcoming application cycle. My school has a pre-medical committee that writes the required academic LOR's. My intention was to have my entire application in by June 1st pending a June 17th MCAT score. My committee said they will not even start interviewing until this coming August, they said it would not affect my application one way or another as long as I had my application in by October 1st. I feel like this is contradictory to everything I have read online. Can anyone confirm or deny this?
Thank you,

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[ksmi117]

Hello,
I am going to be applying in the upcoming application cycle. My school has a pre-medical committee that writes the required academic LOR's. My intention was to have my entire application in by June 1st pending a June 17th MCAT score. My committee said they will not even start interviewing until this coming August, they said it would not affect my application one way or another as long as I had my application in by October 1st. I feel like this is contradictory to everything I have read online. Can anyone confirm or deny this?
Thank you,

What school is that? And yes, I think it could hurt your chances. That's ridiculous.

 

[Trauma_DOc]

Missouri State University in Springfield

 

[88pich14]

This will absolutely hurt your chances. Applying early is key. Many applicants will have already interviewed before your application is even complete if your letters aren't ready until Oct. 1st. You need to have a conversation with your premed advisor and ask for a much earlier interview- like right now. Make sure you're nice about it because he/she is the one who will most likely write your LOR.

If you can't get your premed committee to write the letter earlier then I would suggest sending in seperate letters from individual recommenders instead.

 

[Trauma_DOc]

The problem is my Pre-medical advisor is one of the Co-heads of the Pre-Medical Committee.... I've already approached him. He said the only way they will interview early is for early decision consideration. Taking the June MCAT puts me out of that consideration. I'm on my advisors research team, I believe he has a pretty favorable opinion of me. Its just how things are done.... my state schools MU as well as SLU will expect a pre-medical committee letter. I'm really at a loss for what to do....

 

[azrael87]

Hello,
I am going to be applying in the upcoming application cycle. My school has a pre-medical committee that writes the required academic LOR's. My intention was to have my entire application in by June 1st pending a June 17th MCAT score. My committee said they will not even start interviewing until this coming August, they said it would not affect my application one way or another as long as I had my application in by October 1st. I feel like this is contradictory to everything I have read online. Can anyone confirm or deny this?
Thank you,

I'm confirming your feelings. That's a big delay for no reason other than just "that's how they do things". Maybe you should go back to them and bring up the the fact that most med schools have rolling admissions and therefore the later you submit, the later your interviews, the less open spots for acceptance there are. Perhaps there is some info or documents they need from you to proceed first. Find out specifically how the process works and if there is ANY way they can make an exception and review your file earlier.

With that said, I submitted my primary in the middle of October and I am doing well this cycle. Two acceptances, a waitlist, and several schools to hear back from still. If you are definitely bound by this crappy policy, it won't have a major negative effect on your app, but a minor one. Still, it's unfair to receive ANY disadvantage because of someone else's laziness, so go see what can be done about it.

 

[Trauma_DOc]

This is the email I just sent my advisor:
Dr. Zimmerman,
I was curious if I could meet with you to discuss classes for fall/summer 2010 semester. I would also like to ask a couple more questions about the pre-medical committee. I did a lot of research on application timelines from a couple of sources, including the AMCAS website and Student Doctor Network. The censuses from both, is that I should have all my LOR's ready for when I finish my application, pending an MCAT score June 1st. My plan is to call SLU and MU tomorrow and ask about their opinions as well as their relative application timelines.
Thank you,



Hopefully he is willing to negotiate.
Thanks for the help.