PreHealth Committee

[tcon91]

I'm sure this thread has been beaten to death and I do apologize in advance but..

Do Osteopathic schools require a Prehealth Committee LOR?

My school has a Prehealth committee but here's the deal. The adviser in charge of the committee is a disgruntled jerk. I hate dealing with him. He never answers emails leaving me to set up apts for little things and when I do show up for the apt,he acts as if I don't have one and makes me wait 30 minutes or longer which is ridiculous. I've just about had it with him.

Should I put up with this bullsh** or should I just get my LORS from professors myself? Also, my committee doesn't really write an LOR, he just sends all my info with a cover sheet.....I can just do this myself. I'm just worried whether or not this will hurt me for certain schools.

What do you guys think?

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[iWillOneDay]

I think most schools prefer the health committee letter and some require it.
All i know is, my school committee was ****ty also. They collected my letters in may and sent them out in september... I was complete at schools last week when i was ready to be in july...

Even though they are dreadful, i'd recommend using them if your school has it.

 

[PlasticBag]

I'm not sure about DO but MD schools often ask in the secondary for explanation why you didn't use a committee letter. Do you have any legitimate sounding reason other than that the guy is a jerk?

If he only forwards things with a cover sheet, it might be worth dealing with him - i guess if he doesn't write much himself, he cannot hurt you too much

 

[tcon91]

I'm not sure about DO but MD schools often ask in the secondary for explanation why you didn't use a committee letter. Do you have any legitimate sounding reason other than that the guy is a jerk?

If he only forwards things with a cover sheet, it might be worth dealing with him - i guess if he doesn't write much himself, he cannot hurt you too much

Gotcha. No, I don't. I'm just real fustrated with him. I don't understand why people work jobs they don't want to do but that's another conversation. I guess I'll just have to suck it up. Thank you everyone for your input.

 

[IslandStyle808]

Gotcha. No, I don't. I'm just real fustrated with him. I don't understand why people work jobs they don't want to do but that's another conversation. I guess I'll just have to suck it up. Thank you everyone for your input.

PCOM was probably the only school (probably true for both PCOMs) that was strict on the pre-health committee letter (I applied last cycle). They would not use the 2 science letters as substitutes (even though I did not have a pre-med committee at my school). Other than that I had no problems with the other schools.

 

[PlasticBag]

PCOM was probably the only school (probably true for both PCOMs) that was strict on the pre-health committee letter (I applied last cycle). They would not use the 2 science letters as substitutes (even though I did not have a pre-med committee at my school). Other than that I had no problems with the other schools.

I don't understand why they wouldn't accept substitute letters if someone didn't have a premed committee? Seems like a stupid reason to reject potentially good applicants.

Good to know though regarding other schools!

 

[bcurtis]

This is why I'm happy my school does not have a pre-health committee.

 

[IslandStyle808]

This is why I'm happy my school does not have a pre-health committee.

Mine doesn't either lol

EDIT: Sorry I think you were referring to the above situation. My mistake

 

[IslandStyle808]

I don't understand why they wouldn't accept substitute letters if someone didn't have a premed committee? Seems like a stupid reason to reject potentially good applicants.

Good to know though regarding other schools!

You can look through the threads and see what past applicants needed to do to get approved for PCOM (some of those stories were ridiculous).

 

[CharmanderMD]

I applied to 6 DO schools, including PCOM, without a committee letter with no problems. PCOM just needs 2 science and 1 non science in place of a committee. If I were you I wouldn't use it.

 

[karling]

I applied to 6 DO schools, including PCOM, without a committee letter with no problems. PCOM just needs 2 science and 1 non science in place of a committee. If I were you I wouldn't use it.

Does PCOM accept 3 science letters (without a non science letter)? Someone on the PCOM school-specific thread said they did, but no one else confirmed or denied it, so it's just the word of one person.

 

[CharmanderMD]

Does PCOM accept 3 science letters (without a non science letter)? Someone on the PCOM school-specific thread said they did, but no one else confirmed or denied it, so it's just the word of one person.

Their website actually says three faculty letters, two of which must be science. So, given that, I'd assume three science recs would be fine.

 

[IslandStyle808]

I applied to 6 DO schools, including PCOM, without a committee letter with no problems. PCOM just needs 2 science and 1 non science in place of a committee. If I were you I wouldn't use it.

Is it this application cycle, because I heard PCOM was more laxed about the letter requirements this year?

 

[CharmanderMD]

Is it this application cycle, because I heard PCOM was more laxed about the letter requirements this year?

Yup, I think they changed their requirements last year.

 

[IslandStyle808]

Yup, I think they changed their requirements last year.

I like their curriculum a lot, and I will give PCOM-ga a shot when my app is verified. Thanks for the info.