SERIOUS advice needed pleez!

[NeLiEpS]

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Hi guyz and gals.

I interviewed at houston medical school in texas which is my home state but got rejected and now facing a big dialemma!

The main letter of recommendation I got from UT undergraduate premedical department did me in. It was really bad and there recommendation was for me not to be a doctor. And it was very negative. So I got rejected from SOM/houston.


My dialemma is if I should try for houston medical school again which is the only US school I had a chance to get into the first place. Does getting such a bad premedical board letter ruin your chance permanently at a school after the school rejects you because of it?

Has anyone had a problem like this? 😕

Missyfingers
B.A. UT 2004

 

[akademiks1989]

that really sucks...good luck next time.

 

[SmartAlek]

you could apply again with a better lor. i was told to always ask the person writing the letter if he/she would be willing to write a letter in "support" of what you are trying to do and not simply just a letter of evaluation. but i doubt that houston is the only place you could get in. what about utmb, uthscsa, tamu, etc. ?

 

[TMP-SMX]

Are you trying to fool the admissions committee to think you are someone you are not? Maybe you should think about why they wrote the negative letter in the first place? I'm going to assume that it's not normal policy for a pre-med committee to tear apart their applicants... (Lower acceptance rates are bad for pre-medical prestige for schools.)

Did you ask why they wrote a negative letter?

 

[NeLiEpS]

you could apply again with a better lor. i was told to always ask the person writing the letter if he/she would be willing to write a letter in "support" of what you are trying to do and not simply just a letter of evaluation. but i doubt that houston is the only place you could get in. what about utmb, uthscsa, tamu, etc. ?

I graduated from UT but had gone done 2 years outside TX during freshmen and junior years.

SOM houston was the only school considering me resident of a state.

So your saying a good letter next year's can replace a bad comittee letter of previous years?

 

[DrBowtie]

Hi guyz and gals.

I interviewed at houston medical school in texas which is my home state but got rejected and now facing a big dialemma!

The main letter of recommendation I got from UT undergraduate premedical department did me in. It was really bad and there recommendation was for me not to be a doctor. And it was very negative. So I got rejected from SOM/houston.

Why was it negative? Poor stats? Bad Interview? Past Incident? You don't just get a bad letter.

My dialemma is if I should try for houston medical school again which is the only US school I had a chance to get into the first place. Does getting such a bad premedical board letter ruin your chance permanently at a school after the school rejects you because of it?

Has anyone had a problem like this? 😕

Missyfingers
B.A. UT 2004

You could bounce back but they might wonder why you don't have the committee letter that every other UT pre-med has.

 

[NeLiEpS]

Why was it negative? Poor stats? Bad Interview? Past Incident? You don't just get a bad letter.

Bad interview. I prolly said something dumb. 🙁

You could bounce back but they might wonder why you don't have the committee letter that every other UT pre-med has.

I meant even if I get an OK letter this time from the comittee will the fact I got a bad letter last year kind of ruined my rep. there beyond repairs?

 

[MSTP?]

I graduated from UT but had gone done 2 years outside TX during freshmen and junior years.

SOM houston was the only school considering me resident of a state.

So your saying a good letter next year's can replace a bad comittee letter of previous years?

You can still apply as out of state. To increase your chances, apply to a larger number of schools.

Also, why did your committee write a bad letter? Their reasons are likely reflected on your primary application as well (if it is stats/experience/etc).

Schools do not keep your old applications on file (as far as I know). If the committee cannot write you a letter of support, just have individual professors who can write a supportive letter submit letters of recommendations on your behalf.

Overall, I've very confused by your post. You only applied to UT Houston? No other medical schools? Have you spoken to a pre-medical advisor about the process? Why did you only spend 2 yrs at UT? Is your application (minus the committee letter) strong (numbers/EC's)?

 

[Dr.TobiasFünke]

Hi guyz and gals.

I interviewed at houston medical school in texas which is my home state but got rejected and now facing a big dialemma!

The main letter of recommendation I got from UT undergraduate premedical department did me in. It was really bad and there recommendation was for me not to be a doctor. And it was very negative. So I got rejected from SOM/houston.


My dialemma is if I should try for houston medical school again which is the only US school I had a chance to get into the first place. Does getting such a bad premedical board letter ruin your chance permanently at a school after the school rejects you because of it?

Has anyone had a problem like this? 😕

Missyfingers
B.A. UT 2004

If it's the only medical school in the US you have a chance in perhaps the bad rec wasn't unwarranted... why did you get a bad rec in the first place?

Letter of rec are not a formality people.. they have to be honest else they are worthless. No all recs are good.

 

[Andre04]

Bad interview. I prolly said something dumb. 🙁

You're going to need some better insight than that if you plan to move forward. IME committee letters are less likely to reflect petty things -- personality conflicts, bad interview, dumb comments -- than any individual prof's LOR.

Getting hosed in a committee LOR is especially bad because it's usually a "big picture" thing, a distillation of many different professors' experiences with you. It's possible to overlook a single bad letter I'd guess (sometimes people just don't get along), but when a bunch of people get together and agree that you're a bad candidate we're talking about much more than a bad interview here.

I know of a few scathing committee recommendations from my undergraduate school. They all fell into such categories as "jerk," "stupid," "cheat," and/or "lazy." These are character assessments you can't make with a single interview. And they carry a lot of weight when the people making the assessment have a vested interest in seeing you go on to med school.

I meant even if I get an OK letter this time from the comittee will the fact I got a bad letter last year kind of ruined my rep. there beyond repairs?

I guess it's possible, but I don't know how a committee could decide that in few months or a year or two you've gone from being not qualified to being qualified to be a doctor. That's not the kind of decision any health professions committee is going to make on a whim.

I'd suspect that whatever the committee's concerned about is reflected elsewhere in your record, which means that your problem here might not be solved by a happier LOR.

Still, you're helped a little by the fact that your application strategy last year was insanely stupid. Of course you can apply to more than one school, residency is nice but not required. Scrounge up a not-horrible LOR or two, burn the committee letter, and apply elsewhere. Maybe an adcom will overlook the fact that you bypassed your school's committee.

You really need to talk to the committee chair, find out why they're against your becoming a doctor, and go from there.

 

[NeLiEpS]

You're going to need some better insight than that if you plan to move forward. IME committee letters are less likely to reflect petty things -- personality conflicts, bad interview, dumb comments -- than any individual prof's LOR.

Getting hosed in a committee LOR is especially bad because it's usually a "big picture" thing, a distillation of many different professors' experiences with you. It's possible to overlook a single bad letter I'd guess (sometimes people just don't get along), but when a bunch of people get together and agree that you're a bad candidate we're talking about much more than a bad interview here.

I know of a few scathing committee recommendations from my undergraduate school. They all fell into such categories as "jerk," "stupid," "cheat," and/or "lazy." These are character assessments you can't make with a single interview. And they carry a lot of weight when the people making the assessment have a vested interest in seeing you go on to med school.



I guess it's possible, but I don't know how a committee could decide that in few months or a year or two you've gone from being not qualified to being qualified to be a doctor. That's not the kind of decision any health professions committee is going to make on a whim.

I'd suspect that whatever the committee's concerned about is reflected elsewhere in your record, which means that your problem here might not be solved by a happier LOR.

Still, you're helped a little by the fact that your application strategy last year was insanely stupid. Of course you can apply to more than one school, residency is nice but not required. Scrounge up a not-horrible LOR or two, burn the committee letter, and apply elsewhere. Maybe an adcom will overlook the fact that you bypassed your school's committee.

You really need to talk to the committee chair, find out why they're against your becoming a doctor, and go from there.

😕 Hey guys most of you are getting a bit little confused about my question.

I'm still wondering if at houston SOM my rep. got ruined so badly because of the letter that whatever I do (raise gpa, take MCAT again, 100+ hours clincal, good committee letter, whatever whatever) is gonna make no difference because of the letter.

Kinda like saying "this person is bad; do not let them in under any circumstances now or in futures"? ?

That's my ?

 

[MSTP?]

.

 

[SmartAlek]

I have never applied to medical school. But I would assume that with the many applications that a school receives each year they would not necessarily be aware of an LOR from the previous application cycle. If you apply again, they may ask if you have ever applied to this school before. But I doubt that they would have a reg flag system that would automatically shoot you down. Just try to obtain a letter that is in support of you. Maybe you can meet with the UT pre-med committee to see what the problem is.

 

[NeLiEpS]

Schools do not keep your old applications on file (as far as I know). Your letter from the last cycle should not follow you into the next cycle.

Hi

I guess it's like the old saying!!

Everyone remembers when I'm bad no one remembers when I'm good.

Missy

 

[browniegirl86]

Bad interview. I prolly said something dumb. 🙁



I meant even if I get an OK letter this time from the comittee will the fact I got a bad letter last year kind of ruined my rep. there beyond repairs?

1. I've never heard of an interview or pre-med committee letter at UT. The HPO just puts together your LORs from individual professors and attaches a VERY generic cover letter with which to send them out, at least from my experience/what they told all the applicants at the application workshops they held. The only reason I could think of for this was maybe you're at a satellite campus?

2. If UT-Houston was the only school where you thought you had a shot, you should try A&M, Tech, and TCOM. They're all easier to get into.

 

[Haemulon]

This is the starngest thread I have seen in a while, and I have seen some strange threads. I agree with many of the above posters. The OP is asking the wrongs questions. OP: you should seriously reavaluate how in the world you managed to get totally OWNED by your committee. I mean wow. To get hosed like that and never even see it coming ... you need to re-think your situation and strategy beyond merely just worrying about your reputation at UT. Something fishy is going on here in the background that hasn't been brought to light. And I know fishy, I'm a fish.

 

[ADeadLois]

This is the starngest thread I have seen in a while, and I have seen some strange threads. I agree with many of the above posters. The OP is asking the wrongs questions. OP: you should seriously reavaluate how in the world you managed to get totally OWNED by your committee. I mean wow. To get hosed like that and never even see it coming ... you need to re-think your situation and strategy beyond merely just worrying about your reputation at UT. Something fishy is going on here in the background that hasn't been brought to light. And I know fishy, I'm a fish.

I agree. If the committee was so vehement in saying this person should not be a doctor, then there's something else going on here.

 

[RAD11]

😕 Hey guys most of you are getting a bit little confused about my question.

I'm still wondering if at houston SOM my rep. got ruined so badly because of the letter that whatever I do (raise gpa, take MCAT again, 100+ hours clincal, good committee letter, whatever whatever) is gonna make no difference because of the letter.

Kinda like saying "this person is bad; do not let them in under any circumstances now or in futures"? ?

That's my ?

I think it all depends how "bad" the LOR is. Even if you get a good LOR and submit it next year, the person who reviewed your file this year might still remember that particular "bad" LOR next year. It's human nature to remember the bad and sometimes disregard the good. It's a risk that you'll have to take and just pray another person, who has absolutely no clue about this current LOR of yours, reviews your file next year.

 

[jstuds_66]

Schools do not keep your old applications on file (as far as I know). Your letter from the last cycle should not follow you into the next cycle.

Last January, I toured the U of U campus with a goup. We had about an hour of one on one time with the dean of admissions to ask questions about everything. He said that he does keep records of everyone that applies every year. If you are rejected, he has written in his notes why. All you need to do is send him a friendly email, or leave him a message, and he will tell you what you can do to improve your application. Then, for all reapplicants, he looks back at what they did in previous years to see if they improved their application. I can't imagine that UofU is the only medical school that compares previous applications of reapplicants.

My advice: figure out why your premed comitee wrote you a bad letter, and do something to fix that. Then, ask the dean of admissions at this school you interviewed at to figure out why you got rejected, and fix that for next time.

 

[DoctorPardi]

Does your school do committee interviews via internet forums? I could see how you would get a bad LOR if that was the case.

 

[TSK]

I actually think that some schools may keep your old files. On some of the secondaries that I've filled out, they allow you to check off if you're a reapplicant. Then they ask if you'd like to use old LORs previously on file...But b/c they ask, maybe they'll overlook the negative ones even if they're on file if you ask them to... OP

Schools do not keep your old applications on file (as far as I know). Your letter from the last cycle should not follow you into the next cycle.

But seriously - explain your circumstances. Everyone is asking the same questions. You only applied to one medical school? Why do you think your committee gave you a bad recommendation? Also, how do you know it was the letter? Faults as a medical school candidate are likely reflected elsewhere on your application.

 

[notdeadyet]

Everyone remembers when I'm bad no one remembers when I'm good.

Lots of folks have posted recommendations that you try to get to the bottom of why you got such a negative recommendation.

Many (if not most) medical schools require you to submit a committee letter if your school offers one. Yours obviously does. Unless you are able to find out why the rec was so negative and what you can do to improve it, you'll have a repeat of this year. Speak to them and find out what you can do.

 

[browniegirl86]

I still kind of think this thread is made up.

Because UT does not interview pre-meds, have a pre-med committee, or write a pre-med committee letter other than a cover letter saying you're a student in good standing at the university.

All they have is a Health Professions Office, and all that office does is take your letters, take your money, and take their sweet time sending out your letters. Any interview with them would only be a mock interview for your own practice purposes. If UT had to interview every pre-med and write them an actual personal letter of recommendation, it would take forever and they'd have to have more than 5 or 6 people in the office like they do now.

OP?

(disclaimer: I don't know anything about the satellite UT's, so if the OP went to one of those maybe it would be different. In that case, sorry.)

 

[Andre04]

😕 Hey guys most of you are getting a bit little confused about my question.

I'm still wondering if at houston SOM my rep. got ruined so badly because of the letter that whatever I do (raise gpa, take MCAT again, 100+ hours clincal, good committee letter, whatever whatever) is gonna make no difference because of the letter.

Kinda like saying "this person is bad; do not let them in under any circumstances now or in futures"? ?

That's my ?

Nobody's confused about your question. It's just that your question is the wrong one to be asking. Reason: it doesn't matter whether any individual school will "know" you had a bad committee LOR before if the substance of that LOR is that you shouldn't be a doctor. Any subsequent application is bound to fail if you're such a bad candidate that your own school's committee will screw you over in such a major way.

Is English your first language? Abu at the local 7-11 is easier to understand than you.

 

[NeLiEpS]

Nobody's confused about your question. It's just that your question is the wrong one to be asking. Reason: it doesn't matter whether any individual school will "know" you had a bad committee LOR before if the substance of that LOR is that you shouldn't be a doctor. Any subsequent application is bound to fail if you're such a bad candidate that your own school's committee will screw you over in such a major way.

hey andre04 so your saying that even a new good letter won't help in my case right? That sux.

 

[Law2Doc]

hey andre04 so your saying that even a new good letter won't help in my case right? That sux.

I don't think he said that at all. He (and everyone really) said there is no way to even begin to advise you without having a better sense of the whole story.

 

[Andre04]

hey andre04 so your saying that even a new good letter won't help in my case right? That sux.

I'm saying you need to find out why your premed committee is convinced you shouldn't be a doctor, and go from there.

I think it's very likely that whatever their concerns are will show up elsewhere on your application, and may well be shared by whatever other LOR writer you go to next. It's not just someone's opinion of you we're talking about; it's your potential to become a doctor that you need to evaluate, because that is what the committee is commenting on.

It's possible that you could get into med school in the future, but with your obvious unwillingness to honestly evaluate yourself as an applicant, let alone do anything to improve, it's not very likely. And yes, that sux.

 

[MrDreamWeaver]

What everyone is trying to tell you:

The problem here isn't simply the LOR, it stems much deeper than that. A premed committee does not deliberately try to keep their students out of medical school -- they help their students get into medical school.

SO... it's obvious that you're hiding something here (whether you know it or not). There's a huge red flag in your application or character. Something like getting caught for cheating 2 times or having an extremely low GPA or having absolutely no clue how to communicate/socialize effectively. This red flag promoted your premed committee to keep you the **** out of medicine.


So what's up?

 

[Pemberley]

I still kind of think this thread is made up.

Because UT does not interview pre-meds, have a pre-med committee, or write a pre-med committee letter other than a cover letter saying you're a student in good standing at the university.

All they have is a Health Professions Office, and all that office does is take your letters, take your money, and take their sweet time sending out your letters. Any interview with them would only be a mock interview for your own practice purposes. If UT had to interview every pre-med and write them an actual personal letter of recommendation, it would take forever and they'd have to have more than 5 or 6 people in the office like they do now.

OP?

(disclaimer: I don't know anything about the satellite UT's, so if the OP went to one of those maybe it would be different. In that case, sorry.)

In addition, the UT medical schools do not consider residency independently. A central committee in Austin does it, so if this person were a resident for the purposes of one school, she would be for all of them.

 

[NeLiEpS]

The problem here isn't simply the LOR, it stems much deeper than that. A premed committee does not deliberately try to keep their students out of medical school -- they help their students get into medical school.

Yep i 4 1 totally agree with U!! I think I must have come across as a prune during the questions by the comittee. Whether this is fixable OR not is debateable.