Should I include a 6th LOR as part of the committee letter?

[FFforM1122]

I already had 5 LOR (3 profs, 1 Dr., 1 volunteer coordinator) + committee letter since last year, but I’ve now asked my current gap year job Dr. for a LOR. I’ve seen online that people generally don’t recommend more than 5 LOR and even UCLA DGSOM for example says 5 LOR max. I asked my advisor about this and was reassured that this requirement is just for those without a committee letter. I’m just generally unsure what the opinion is on the value of having this 6th LOR because I do believe it is strong and a good help for what I have been up to this past year, but I also would not want to take out any of my previous LOR.

TLDR do I include a 6 LOR?

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[Goro]

That's just gilding the lily.

 

[FFforM1122]

That's just gilding the lily.

what do you mean by this?

 

[wysdoc]

what do you mean by this?

If you say that someone is gilding the lily, you mean that they are spoiling something that is already beautiful or perfect by trying to improve it or by praising it too highly.
Where choosing your AMCAS schools to apply to, read each school's directions to see how many letter they want and follow their directions.
If they say a maximum of 5 letters, choose 5 and send those.
If another school has a maximum of 10 letters, you could send all 6 letters to that school.

In general though I think "more is not better" and try to stick with what the school asks for.

 

[FFforM1122]

If you say that someone is gilding the lily, you mean that they are spoiling something that is already beautiful or perfect by trying to improve it or by praising it too highly.
Where choosing your AMCAS schools to apply to, read each school's directions to see how many letter they want and follow their directions.
If they say a maximum of 5 letters, choose 5 and send those.
If another school has a maximum of 10 letters, you could send all 6 letters to that school.

In general though I think "more is not better" and try to stick with what the school asks for.

Got it, appreciate the advice greatly, thank you! I think I’ll stick with the 5 then. I was just unsure because it seems like the same committee letter will be sent to all the schools the same so had to standardize it.

 

[wysdoc]

Got it, appreciate the advice greatly, thank you! I think I’ll stick with the 5 then. I was just unsure because it seems like the same committee letter will be sent to all the schools the same so had to standardize it.

ah, I should also add that any med school will take a committee letter if you have that available at your college, so you will be sending "one" thing to each school, your committee letter. Didn't mean to confuse you since you are not sending your letters individually.

 

[FFforM1122]

ah, I should also add that any med school will take a committee letter if you have that available at your college, so you will be sending "one" thing to each school, your committee letter. Didn't mean to confuse you since you are not sending your letters individually.

Ah now worries, thank you! That makes sense

 

[Mr.Smile12]

If your prehealth committee accommodates 6 letters, it's on them. The admissions offices and committees will adjust at their discretion.

 

[cj_cregg]

Not to be flippant lol, but I cannot tell you how little I want to read 6 LORs in a row about the same applicant. RARELY do I find that more than 3 are actually useful/interesting/adding anything new. In this case it sounds like this letter is talking about a significant clinical experience during your gap year, so if you want to include it I'd think pretty hard about dropping one (or two, or three) of the other ones for schools where that's possible.