Premed Advisor

[alphacat92]

At my school, we have one premed "advisor". The reason I put advisor in quotes is because I don't really see what he does in terms of advising (and I took bio with him). I've known him for a long while (even talked to him before I started ugrad) and I honestly don't think he'll be that big of a help to me. I don't even trust him to write me a recommendation (besides, I think I could get much better recommendations from other professors I've worked closely with). I'm not sure I want to use him in my application cycle...could this pose any problems? Would schools ask my why I didn't use my premed committee (if they even consider it a premed committee). I know one guy who got into med school who told me that he didn't use him and he did just fine

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[Doctor Strange]

If your school has a committee than it would be better to get a committee letter. Some schools are quite picky about them.

 

[alphacat92]

I'm not sure what a committee is. He's the only advisor, and I'm not even sure if that's an official thing or something he does on the side in addition to teaching a few courses

 

[MusicJunkie]

We have a pre-med advisor at my campus, but he isn't considered a "committee."

I got four separate letters (including one from the pre-med advisor, since we've known each other for quite some time) and used that because our school doesn't do packets. If you don't have a committee, it's fine. Do separate letters. But if you do have a committee, some schools would prefer that you had a committee letter.

From what it sounds like, you might not have a committee. If you don't have a committee then you don't need a letter from your pre-med advisor and can use others. For what it's worth, I got about six interviews before I ended up adding the letter from my pre-med advisor.

 

[cookiemonsters]

I would call the schools you are applying to ahead of time and find out how much they care. My relationship with the premed advisor at my school sounds like yours... never really had any reason to get to know him (got all my help from SDN) until it came time for a committee letter. His letter was lukewarm at best and it probably didn't help my cause that much. In retrospect I wish I didn't use his letter because all the schools that were very insistent on a premed committee letter ended up rejecting me anyway :-/. Not saying his letter is the reason I got rejected, but still, the more you know.

edit: if your school insists on JUST sending out 1 committee letter and not each individual letter, use your discretion at what you think will help you best. I was lucky that my college sent out all my individual letters in addition to the committee letter... otherwise I DEFINITELY would have skipped using the committee.

 

[Doctor Strange]

I'm not sure what a committee is. He's the only advisor, and I'm not even sure if that's an official thing or something he does on the side in addition to teaching a few courses

You should probably ask if there's a committee system in place at your school for medical school applications. It works a little differently at every school, but the way it generally works is that there is a "committee" that writes a letter of support for you in addition to any other letters you may have from faculty. Depending on your school, the committee may already exist or you may be able to choose your own committee. My school had the latter option, and I had to gather letters from six professors before I was able to get a committee letter which acted essentially as "cover letter" to the other six.

tl;dr: A committee letter is an "official" letter of support from your school.

 

[sector9]

You should probably ask if there's a committee system in place at your school for medical school applications. It works a little differently at every school, but the way it generally works is that there is a "committee" that writes a letter of support for you in addition to any other letters you may have from faculty. Depending on your school, the committee may already exist or you may be able to choose your own committee. My school had the latter option, and I had to gather letters from six professors before I was able to get a committee letter which acted essentially as "cover letter" to the other six.

tl;dr: A committee letter is an "official" letter of support from your school.

This.

You need to figure out if your school has a committee letter or if this guy just writes letters for students on his own as an advisor. If your school has an actual committee letter, then you should probably jump through the hoops to get it

 

[alphacat92]

I really appreciate the quick replies guys. It might be worth it to just ask him if we technically have a premed committee. If not I may end up not going through him and doing it alone.

Thanks again guys!