Should I wait on a late COMPOSITE letter?

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At my school the post-bacc students get a composite letter written by the head of the pre-medical department--not a committee. The regular pre-meds get an actual committee letter. My concern is, the content of these letters is known to be unpredictable, and last year the letters went out in late-August/early-September.

Am I committing the SDN-sin of declining a "committee letter" if I opt to just send in my LORs on their own? Is declining the composite letter the same thing? Last year, as the letters got later and later in the cycle, the applicants were all sent a very frustrated-sounding email saying to just go ahead and submit their own LORs if they were so concerned about it. I don't know if that was advice or what?

I've been looking everywhere but I'm still not sure what I should do. I have very "average-matriculant" stats, so I want everything else about my application to be buffed to a high polish. Thanks for your help.

 

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Thanks for replying, @gonnif . So, I'm gathering composite and committee letters are treated the same way, just variance in terminology. Still not sure what I'll do... I feel like I've read many people who, in hindsight, wish they'd skipped the committee letter, plus a few people who said a delayed letter didn't hurt *them* any, and then two adcoms who say it absolutely can hurt you. Nobody in hindsight has said they wished they'd taken the committee letter. Aghhh...

Life is tough when you sweat the small stuff this hard, but I'm a real champion like that.

 

[wholeheartedly]

Sorry, I don't really have much to say except I think it sucks that committees don't send letters out in a timely fashion if a study is on the ball for their part.

 

[alalia]

My post-bac was similar (CCNY?). I applied with individual letters only. I interviewed at a lot of places, and no one mentioned it. It's a smart thing to consider, timing is a big deal for med school admissions.

 

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My post-bac was similar (CCNY?). I applied with individual letters only. I interviewed at a lot of places, and no one mentioned it. It's a smart thing to consider, timing is a big deal for med school admissions.

Hi! Your experience is very relevant to my interests! Would you mind if I PM'd you?