Still confused about committee letter

[Lost In Transcription]

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Hey all, hoping you can help me be less dense.

My committee from university is writing me a committee letter. It will contain like 6 LOR. So when I apply to places and they say "you can ONLY turn in 4 letters", does my committee letter count as 1 or 4?

Thanks, sorry for the question- I know it has been answered before, but I am hazy on how an entire committee letter can count as just one.

 

[starspells]

Your committee letter counts as just one letter. You can attach like ten letters and it would still count as one letter.

 

[Lost In Transcription]

So then...I just send one letter to all the schools? I mean, that just sounds so crazy to me.

 

[starspells]

So then...I just send one letter to all the schools? I mean, that just sounds so crazy to me.

Yes and the committee letter is almost always preferred.

 

[Lost In Transcription]

The theory here is that your prehealth committee will know the school, the professors, the courses, and in a better position to evaluate your overall academic performance that individual letters to a medical school

AMCAS
Letter Types
AMCAS accepts three different types of letters. Each letter type is equivalent to one letter entry.

• Committee Letter: A letter authored by a pre-health committee or pre-health advisor and intended to represent your institution’s evaluation of you. A Committee Letter may or may not include additional letters written in support of your application. This is sometimes called a Composite Letter.
• Letter Packet: A packet or set of letters assembled and distributed by your institution, often by the institution’s career center. A Letter Packet may include a cover sheet from your pre-health committee or advisor. However, unlike to a Committee Letter, a Letter Packet does not include an evaluative letter from your pre-health committee or advisor.
• Individual Letter: A letter written by, and representing, a single letter author. If you have already included an Individual Letter within either a Committee Letter or a Letter Packet, do not add a separate entry for that letter.

Duke Medical School
https://medschool.duke.edu/educatio...ice-admissions/admissions-process/application
Each applicant must submit four (4) letters of recommendation, two of which must be from science faculty. Going forward, if your school submits a "composite letter" or "a committee letter", be advised that this composite or committee letter trumps the four letter rule. In other words, if you have a committee or composite letter, you won't need to submit four letters of recommendation.

Yeah, I remember that. I just wanted internet affirmation haha.

 

[MaxPlancker]

When they send the committee letter, you individual letters also are sent with the packet.

 

[Lost In Transcription]

When they send the committee letter, you individual letters also are sent with the packet.

See that's what I'm concerned about. Because isn't the letter option different than the packet option? Don't they only send the committee letter?

 

[MaxPlancker]

No the committee letter is a synopsis of your letters you submitted but they also include all your original letters in the committee packet. Atleast that's what my school does...

 

[raiderette]

The thing that distinguishes a committee letter from a packet is that the committee will recommend you in the letter. At my school they would recommend based on a scale. So highest, high, recommendation, with reservations or not recommend.

 

[Orthosurg1]

I think it's different for each undergraduate institution. My committee letter is only one letter, but it is signed by all ~5 members of the committee.

 

[Orthosurg1]

We are talking about different things here.

Usually in a prehealth committee you are required to get letters from professors evaluating you. You may get interviewed, have to submit your PS, and whatever else. The committee then evaluates you, writes the evaluation now called the committee letter, and it may get signed by the committee chair or all the members or the prehealth advisor, etc. Usually the letters from professors are attached to the committee letter. This whole packet the committee letter/evaluation and the attached professor letters are sent as a single packet to AMCAS and then onto the schools.

Some prehealth schools may not do an full evaluation but put together a composite letter, consisting of quotes/parts of the all the professor letters (or phone call with professors), and write that up as "The applicant has been highly recommended by faculty members". This now composite letter, again signed by prehealth advisor or committee chair gets all professor letters attached and then is sent as a single packet to AMCAS and then onto the schools.

Just to reiterate, you will typically get a Committee or Composite letter signed by someone at schools, with LORs from your professors attached to that committee letter and this is the single letter packet that you need to fill the LOR/LOE requirement at a medical school. Individual letter requirements that medical schools list do not apply to committee letter. There are few standards to a prehealth committee process and every school will do it differently, but most do it similar to above description.

Thanks, gonnif! I guess I was still a little confused about the whole process because my undergrad does it a little differently (they don't include the individual professor's letters, it's just one letter that they all write together, if that makes sense).