Should I use my school's committee?

[Govols22]

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*Hey everyone, this is my first thread/post on this website, and I just want to say thanks for the awesome website. This website has been helpful in regards to the medical school application process and so forth.*

I am debating on whether or not I should use my Pre Med committee when submitting my Letters of Recommendations. From what I have heard, the easy answer is almost always yes if I have the option to do so. On the other hand, I have heard of many individuals who have chose to forgo this route with no issues.

I am a senior who is currently attending a relatively large and average ranked state university (which has no relation to my username and avatar), and to be honest I was unaware that we had a pre medical committee at all. Here is what is asked of my committee....

3 LOR from science faculty members (Biology, Chemistry, Physics)
2 LOR from non science faculty/physicians/extracurricular references/etc.
Minimum of 3.2 GPA (I have a 3.9+)
A Personal Statement
MCAT Score (not yet taken)
(essentially my application)

There is no committee interview that I know of, and I am fairly sure that I will never have to actually meet a committee member. I currently feel comfortable with a LOR from 2 Science Professors, 1 non Science Professor, a Physician, and an extra curricular reference.

My first issue is that I do not have a solid third option in terms of a science faculty LOR. If need be, I can essentially scrape my way into an average LOR from a teacher I have probably spoken to maybe twice in my life, but I do not know if that is really worthwhile.
My second issue is that I do not know much about the committee or how trustworthy the committee is. The committee says it will finish the committee letter midway through July at the earliest, assuming they are true to their word and nothing goes wrong on my part.

The real question is... Should I suck up my way into an average LOR, as well as put my faith into my committee in regards to completing the letter in time and delivering a strong letter, or should I choose to forgo the committee and submit individual Letters of Recommendations?

 

[deleted482591]

midway through July

Isn't this incredibly late? It's supposed to be out by the beginning of June. However, if your school offers a committee letter and you don't have one I'm pretty sure it looks bad...

 

[Cotterpin]

My school writes committee letters from June through September. I think it's pretty normal for committee letters to delay applications a bit. Midway through July isn't that bad. That might delay completion by a week or two at the very most. Not a big deal at all.

A lot of schools will ask in the secondary app something that goes like "If you aren't getting a committee letter from your school, please explain why not." I would think that if you can't come up with a better explanation than "I couldn't get a third science LOR," then you probably want to just go ahead and try to get the committee letter.

 

[Yleio381]

Letters of rec are needed for the secondary application and aren't needed to submit your primary application, so mid-July should be fine (assuming they complete it by then).

I don't have a pre-medical committee at my school, so I couldn't use one and can't speak to their usefulness, but I think that it's a good idea to use every resource available to you.

 

[Govols22]

So I can't fill out and submit secondary applications until I have my LORs in?
Would me saying that I think my university committee is unreliable and I preferred not to postpone the application process a couple months a somewhat viable reason?

 

[Cotterpin]

So I can't fill out and submit secondary applications until I have my LORs in?
Would me saying that I think my university committee is unreliable and I preferred not to postpone the application process a couple months a somewhat viable reason?

No, not at all. You can submit your whole application as soon as you can. If you were to submit your primary app on June 1 and receive secondary requests in the beginning of July, then you could have your secondaries submitted the same day if you want. But you won't be "complete" until the LOR's get in. But being complete on July 15 instead of July 1 is really not a big difference and I don't think you should be worried about it. You will not be postponing your application by months.

 

[Glandzburg]

If your school offers a committee letter and you don't use it, you better have a good reason why. Most secondaries ask why you didn't, and your reason is not a valid one.

I agree with @Cotterpin above. Just by reading around SDN, you would think that not submitting all of your secondaries within the first week of July is a death sentence, but this is far from the truth. Just submit your primary early and then fill out all of your secondaries. That way you will have them ready to send out immediately upon completion of your committee letter. If this doesn't happen until early or even late August, I think you'll still be better off than if you don't use the committee at all.

 

[LizzyM]

I can tell you that some of the top undergrad schools in the country don't get their committee letters out until August and it does not appear to hurt their students one bit but if I saw an application from a student from one of those schools without a committee letter, I would wonder why.

 

[Ochemphd]

.

 

[Doug Underhill]

For traditional applicants, yes. For nontrads who have been out of their university for many years, it's not that important.

 

[drhopeful2018]

I have a question, if traditional applicants should use their institution's committee letter do they still have to obtain separate letters from professors? I am very confused, I am in the process of asking a few of my mentors/professors if they'll write me a rec letter... Can you have separate letters on top of your committee letter?

 

[Doug Underhill]

I'm a non-trad so I don't have much experience here, but I think you have to individually ask the professors and have them submit the letter to the pre-health committee, who will then deal with it on your behalf.

 

[drhopeful2018]

I'm a non-trad so I don't have much experience here, but I think you have to individually ask the professors and have them submit the letter to the pre-health committee, who will then deal with it on your behalf.

Oh, okay! That makes sense!

 

[Slave to the Game]

Should I use my school's committee?

Yes. Otherwise, you'll have to explain how you failed the committee's requirements, or are otherwise skirting the premedical office. Bad relationship with administrators or faculty? Were you blacklisted for some (horribly negative) reason? Too lazy to ask a 3rd science professor for an LOR? None of these alternatives look good on you. Get the committee letter, or go ahead with a red flag in your application.

 

[Govols22]

It seems like the committee is my only option. Thanks for the feedback guys. I suppose waiting until mid to late July for a complete application isn't the end of the world.

But is it usual for committees to submit the letter a month or so past June 1st? Otherwise I would assume no one would have a complete application by June.

 

[Glandzburg]

It seems like the committee is my only option. Thanks for the feedback guys. I suppose waiting until mid to late July for a complete application isn't the end of the world.

But is it usual for committees to submit the letter a month or so past June 1st? Otherwise I would assume no one would have a complete application by June.

It doesn't matter if schools complete letters in June because medical schools don't start accepting secondaries until the very last days of June or early July.