Thoughts on bypassing premed committee letter

[Broke student]

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Im applying in the spring and was gonna just submit my own letters without going through the schools premed committee. The reason is because I never developed a relation with my premed advisor (had 4 different ones in 2 years ) plus I transferred my sophomore year so they dont consider my first two years grades since it's not part of the institution.

Does this look bad to med schools ?

 

[RunawayGrape]

.

 

[Strange Peanut]

I didn't really need to develop a relationship with my premed advisor. I didn't know her name until the very end when all 5 LOR were submitted to the premed office. Unless I'm confused and you're talking about the person that will ultimately write the cover letter for your committee letter. My cover letter writer was different from my premed advisor. All my premed advisor did was make sure everything was together, scanned, and sent to schools. I got a person who wrote one of my letters (who was also a chair on the premed committee at my school) to write my cover letter.

I don't think it would harm your app but schools would question why you didn't go through a committee. Given the plethora of post on SDN and maybe /r/premed where people are freaking out because they've either been waitlisted or haven't heard anything, I personally wouldn't give a school another opportunity to question my application.

 

[SydSing]

Im applying in the spring and was gonna just submit my own letters without going through the schools premed committee. The reason is because I never developed a relation with my premed advisor (had 4 different ones in 2 years ) plus I transferred my sophomore year so they dont consider my first two years grades since it's not part of the institution.

Does this look bad to med schools ?

I didn't use mine and my letter packet apparently says it on the front that my university offers a committee and I didn't use it. Only one school so far has even asked and one of those interviewers explicitly stated that it wasn't big deal but he still had to answer for it.

So will they notice? Yeah. But I don't think it's a deal breaker providing what you have is strong.

 

[Fluffy123]

my school didn't even offer a committee letter considering I didn't have a pre-med adviser until the end of summer so I applied with 6-7 LOR and have been fine so far

 

[RunawayGrape]

.

 

[wizzed101]

^ how do you explain it? Will it come up in secondaries or interviews?

 

[turtles43]

I didn't use a committee letter this past app cycle. I just explained that I felt the individual letters better illustrated my potential rather than a committee letter, and this was due to the strong relationships I developed with my professors and supervisors.

 

[LizzyM]

The value of the letter go beyond what the committee says about YOU. Some of these school (most of the letters I see are from top 50 academic powerhouses) also tell me about the school: the typical and more challenging courses that meet the pre-reqs (eg Physics 101-102 and Physics 150-151), the average GPA in the graduating class (goes to grade deflation), and whether your extracurriculars were atypical or rose to a level of leadership in a group.

 

[cloudstrife2054]

The value of the letter go beyond what the committee says about YOU. Some of these school (most of the letters I see are from top 50 academic powerhouses) also tell me about the school: the typical and more challenging courses that meet the pre-reqs (eg Physics 101-102 and Physics 150-151), the average GPA in the graduating class (goes to grade deflation), and whether your extracurriculars were atypical or rose to a level of leadership in a group.

Sorry to dig up a dead thread, but I wanted to ask you something. I knew a committee letter is more comprehensive, but I didn't know any specifics. So a committee letter tells you if an applicant has stood out in their extracurriculars and have demonstrated leadership qualities, even if they never held an official leadership position of any sort, correct? In other words, it allows you to get a better view on what an applicant is truly capable of even if their history does not really show it well (such as never holding a leadership position). Is this correct?

 

[kal995]

I'm new to the application process and haven't heard of committee letters before. What are they exactly?

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[P0ke]

I'm new to the application process and haven't heard of committee letters before. What are they exactly?

Sent from my LG-H901 using Tapatalk

Your school's pre-med committee interviews you and assembles a letter to submit to medical schools that you apply to. They're more common at big schools with lots of pre-meds.

 

[kal995]

Your school's pre-med committee interviews you and assembles a letter to submit to medical schools that you apply to. They're more common at big schools with lots of pre-meds.

Is it part of the primaries or secondaries? Is it included with the LORs?

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[P0ke]

Is it part of the primaries or secondaries? Is it included with the LORs?

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It'd be part of your primary application, I believe there is a "Committee Letter" LOR designation on AMCAS.

 

[Dwight K Schrute]

Michael gave me a letter of recommendation

 

[P0ke]

Michael gave me a letter of recommendation

The title of "World's Best Boss" holds a lot of weight in med school admissions. You'll be a shoe-in.

 

[NickNaylor]

For those considering not using their committee due to concerns essentially about not getting individual letters included with your application, I would suggest asking about your school's process. At my university, the bulk of the committee letter was the committee's assessment and all the filler information, but they also included individual letters that I submitted along with my committee application in full. So, I had the opportunity to get the best of both worlds: a committee letter (which, as stated above, medical schools really do prefer if they're available) and individual letters.

I would be shocked if your committee refused to include individual letters with your committee letter if you asked.

 

[amg_la]

i have a question for ADCOMS regarding committee letters. Does the committee letter itself dilute the other letters. My specific school requires six letters of recommendation in the packet on top of which the committee letter is written. Do schools end up looking at an of the individual letters of recommendation past the committee letter?

 

[gyngyn]

i have a question for ADCOMS regarding committee letters. Does the committee letter itself dilute the other letters. My specific school requires six letters of recommendation in the packet on top of which the committee letter is written. Do schools end up looking at an of the individual letters of recommendation past the committee letter?

We have to read everything that is submitted (if the applicant makes it to committee). That's why we prefer a committee letter.

 

[Seihai]

We have to read everything that is submitted (if the applicant makes it to committee). That's why we prefer a committee letter.

It appears that my school does not actually write premed committee letters anymore; they only send out committee packets (of multiple letters). Will this put me at a disadvantage in my application?

 

[gyngyn]

It appears that my school does not actually write premed committee letters anymore; they only send out committee packets (of multiple letters). Will this put me at a disadvantage in my application?

We don't harm the student for the quirks of their school. Just don't send additional letters!

 

[Seihai]

We don't harm the student for the quirks of their school. Just don't send additional letters!

Thanks for the information!

Could you clarify what you mean by "additional" letters? My school states that two science, one non-science, one personal (boss/research supervisor), and one professional letter are required by most medical schools. Do you mean that I shouldn't ask for more letters than are necessary?

 

[gyngyn]

Thanks for the information!

Could you clarify what you mean by "additional" letters? My school states that two science, one non-science, one personal (boss/research supervisor), and one professional letter are required by most medical schools. Do you mean that I shouldn't ask for more letters than are necessary?

Use whatever the school requires. Do not send letters in addition to the packet.

 

[Seihai]

Use whatever the school requires. Do not send letters in addition to the packet.

I see what you mean. Do medical schools tend to have different requirements for the number of letters they wish to receive? My school will only send all of my letters as a packet, it seems, so it will be harder for me to tailor the number of letters in the packet to match the number of letters that each different medical school prefers.

For example, Harvard says that I need to submit a letter from all of my research supervisors but does not say I need a "professional" recommendation from a doctor.

My school does not require specific letters to be in the packet - they only make recommendations for which letters to include based on what most medical schools generally seem to want.

 

[gyngyn]

I see what you mean. Do medical schools tend to have different requirements for the number of letters they wish to receive? My school will only send all of my letters as a packet, it seems, so it will be harder for me to tailor the number of letters in the packet to match the number of letters that each different medical school prefers.

For example, Harvard says that I need to submit a letter from all of my research supervisors but does not say I need a "professional" recommendation from a doctor.

My school does not require specific letters to be in the packet - they only make recommendations for which letters to include based on what most medical schools generally seem to want.

You will not be held to the standard of those submitting individual letters if you send a school-approved packet.

 

[Seihai]

You will not be held to the standard of those submitting individual letters if you send a school-approved packet.

This makes sense. Thank you so much for the information! I just joined, but I already see you all over this board, so thank you for taking the time to answer my (admittedly naive) questions.