What happens if you don't get a pre med committee letter?

[mwsapphire]

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Hello!
I've mentioned a couple of times on here that I've started hearing crazy things about our pre med committee and them being overly harsh ( saying you need a 3.8+ to be competitive, that GPA>>>>MCAT, and other things).

So , since I've heard about this, I've been mentally preparing for the possibility of being denied a pre med letter of rec. I know it's preemptive, and what I've heard is most likely hype, and that there's a difference between a discouraging pre health committee and being denied a packet. I know I will most likely be fine in the end, and to not believe everything I hear,from profs/students, but I just am curious about this happening to other people. I know I won't be a perfect applicant by the time I apply ( I'll be applying after senior year, I'm a junior), so I have this fear in the back of my mind that I may be denied a letter.

Has that happened to any of you guys? Did you apply without a letter? What happened? Did it hurt you a lot?

And I don't meant late-non trads ( who are a special case) , I mean people who did UGrad, did 0-2 gap years, and applied to med school.

Also, did being denied a letter ruin your relationship with those professors? Two of my favorite professors are on the pre health committee, and I really like/respect them, and would hate for that to be spoiled by not liking them as pre health advisors.

Thanks everyone,
-mwsapphire

@LizzyM @gyngyn, thoughts?

 

[gyngyn]

If your school is famous for its committee letter, a traditional student without one will raise eyebrows.

 

[mwsapphire]

If your school is famous for its committee letter, a traditional student without one will raise eyebrows.

I go to a non flagship state school, so I don't think that's the case.
I mean....one of the profs literally said " they sayyyy the median is a 3.6...but you realllyyy need a 3.8."
I mean...what the heck? Our state school has a 3.6 ish matriculant median and so do most other lower mid tier programs. I mean the level of stress that would cause is nuts.
I mean , MSAR doesn't lie, so I can't be crazy, right?

 

[Mwooster]

MSAR doesn't lie, so I can't be crazy, right?

They are not mutually exclusive events 😏

 

[mwsapphire]

They are not mutually exclusive events 😏

LOL I meant I can't be crazy thinking the real median for med school is a 3.6 if the MSAR says so.
I mean, it's totally reasonable to be nervous in this situation. You work so hard, know you're a decent candidate even if you're not the best, and then be told you're not worth a letter...sounds...heartbreaking...

 

[21Rush12]

I went to a non-flagship state school also, and didn’t have a committee letter. I don’t think anyone cared. I had the choice between a committee letter that would be underwhelming (my school wrote primarily based on things already on transcript), or a personal letter of recommendation from my premed advisor. I chose the stronger letter.

If you’re asked why you don’t have one at an interview, you can respond truthfully and say it was because you didn’t meet their GPA threshold (if that’s actually the case). By that time they’ll already have decided your numbers are good enough to interview.

However, I think it’s a crock that they’d deny it and I expect you’ll get the letter anyway.

 

[altblue]

It sounds like you can work your way around it!

Yeah to be honest I still don't see the benefits of committee letters as a concept. They vary from school-to-school and just seem to be more trouble than they're worth.

 

[Saifa]

I was annoyed about the committee letter formality until I realized it overrides every school's letter requirements and is pretty much a set and forget thing. @mwsapphire glad you're posting again, I would pursue the letter and see what happens, I'm guessing you won't have anything to worry about.

 

[Goro]

Hello!
I've mentioned a couple of times on here that I've started hearing crazy things about our pre med committee and them being overly harsh ( saying you need a 3.8+ to be competitive, that GPA>>>>MCAT, and other things).

So , since I've heard about this, I've been mentally preparing for the possibility of being denied a pre med letter of rec. I know it's preemptive, and what I've heard is most likely hype, and that there's a difference between a discouraging pre health committee and being denied a packet. I know I will most likely be fine in the end, and to not believe everything I hear,from profs/students, but I just am curious about this happening to other people. I know I won't be a perfect applicant by the time I apply ( I'll be applying after senior year, I'm a junior), so I have this fear in the back of my mind that I may be denied a letter.

Has that happened to any of you guys? Did you apply without a letter? What happened? Did it hurt you a lot?

And I don't meant late-non trads ( who are a special case) , I mean people who did UGrad, did 0-2 gap years, and applied to med school.

Also, did being denied a letter ruin your relationship with those professors? Two of my favorite professors are on the pre health committee, and I really like/respect them, and would hate for that to be spoiled by not liking them as pre health advisors.

Thanks everyone,
-mwsapphire

@LizzyM @gyngyn, thoughts?

You'll need a good explanation as to why you don't have one, especially for MD schools that take a fair number of your school's students.

DO schools aren't as anal about committee LORs.

I suspect that you would have to be a really, really bad student to be denied a committee LOR.

 

[Isoval]

Ironically, a majority of our state schools have a 3.7+ matriculant median (with many of those above 3.8) and I’ve never heard this come out of the mouths of our premed advisors.

Anyways, as some others have mentioned, if your school offers a committee letter then you’d better be getting one. Medical schools know which schools in the state offer committee letter and which ones don’t. If they see you’re from a school that is known to provide committee letters, it’ll certainly raise flags that you are without one.

 

[crunchywhit]

Just a thought...
Are you 100% CONFIDENT that your other non-committee letters are stellar? I chose to skip the committee letter in lieu of what you are proposing. In retrospect, this was a mistake. One of my letter writers ended up writing a very mediocre letter. I think he’s a really busy person, and someone that doesn’t write med school letters, and therefore it wasn’t intended to come off as lukewarm. But it did. I have to wonder retrospectively if the committee letter would have been a safer bet. Maybe less impactful, but not hurting me either.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[mwsapphire]

I went to a non-flagship state school also, and didn’t have a committee letter. I don’t think anyone cared. I had the choice between a committee letter that would be underwhelming (my school wrote primarily based on things already on transcript), or a personal letter of recommendation from my premed advisor. I chose the stronger letter.

If you’re asked why you don’t have one at an interview, you can respond truthfully and say it was because you didn’t meet their GPA threshold (if that’s actually the case). By that time they’ll already have decided your numbers are good enough to interview.

However, I think it’s a crock that they’d deny it and I expect you’ll get the letter anyway.

I know it's unlikely I"ll be flat out denied a letter, but I just wanna prepare for the worst possible scenario in my head.

That's what I was thinking- if the school sees that you are a good candidate with decent grades/MCAT/EC's and no crimes or IA's, and your committee denies you a letter for a silly reason ( not having a 3.8+, for instance), I'd imagine they wouldn't see it as a flaw in your but more that the committee is picky?

And yeah, if they offer me a interview they would already think I'm good enough.

I was annoyed about the committee letter formality until I realized it overrides every school's letter requirements and is pretty much a set and forget thing. @mwsapphire glad you're posting again, I would pursue the letter and see what happens, I'm guessing you won't have anything to worry about.

Haha thanks. This past fall semester had been so tough for me, I needed a break from the over achieving SDN.


Wait, so you can have individual letters from science/non science professors, or you can have the committee letter?

So you have the option of either or, if I'm understanding you correctly.

And wow, Harvard! That's amazing!

I get that this is a silly fear, I've only heard of one guy with a 3.1 gpa being denied a letter, but the thing is, it's getting to the point were I can't concentrate on studying because there's this little voice in my head that the pre med committee won't think I'm good enough so what is the point?

You'll need a good explanation as to why you don't have one, especially for MD schools that take a fair number of your school's students.

DO schools aren't as anal about committee LORs.

I suspect that you would have to be a really, really bad student to be denied a committee LOR.

I mean, if my explanation is my committee didn't think I was good enough with a sub 3.8 gpa , but if the school thinks I'm a good applicant and they extended me an interview, then isn't that the best I can do?

I mean, if the pre med committee is so jaded that they think DO schools suck and that if you have below a 3.8 you aren't competitive, then isn't that more a reflection of them and not of me?

 

[21Rush12]

Who cares what they think of you. The Premed committee isn’t the admissions committee. They’re here to help their students get into professional schools, and if they won’t they can politely chew on dog turds as far as I’m concerned. Get the strong letters you deserve from others if the committee won’t do it for you.

 

[bananafish94]

I did not have a committee letter because my school didn't offer a committee letter. I don't know how much it did or didn't affect my application, but it never came up in any interviews and I know a lot of people from my school who had extremely successful applications.

 

[DancingwithDelilah]

I did not interview for my schools commitee letter. I instead got a letter from my department (Also happened to be on the comittee), another science professor and one from a humanities professor. I was never asked about it during any of my interviews.

 

[mwsapphire]

Actually adcoms do care. Virtually every medical school either requires, recommends, or prefers committee letters over individual letters (see attached or https://aamc-orange.global.ssl.fastly.net/production/media/filer_public/d1/80/d18002bf-ce17-4afa-9497-100ed43d4e1d/msar_medical_school_letter_policies.pdf)

I skimmed through the list.
Nowhere I would apply to requires it ( like Harvard does but I mean...Im not applying there).
most places prefer it but give you space to explain why you don't have one.
Is it fatal though? I know its a slim chance I would be denied totally , but if this nightmare situation happens, and if a school sees me as a solid applicant, isn't that not totally a reflection of me and more a reflection of a snooty committee?

Edit; I'm actually starting to get a bit worried now, like 1.5 out of 10.

 

[21Rush12]

I don’t doubt that they prefer it, it’s much simpler and organized and the work is already done for them. It just seems as though there are so many variations that it can’t be an absolute requirement. What’s more, being denied for silly reasons shouldn’t (and doesn’t) kill chances. Having a legit reason for not getting it seems to be enough of a defense, but I can’t speak for adcoms.

 

[Mad Jack]

I suspect that you would have to be a really, really bad student to be denied a committee LOR.

Not true at all. My committee required all sorts of nonsense in addition to a GPA of 3.7 and a MCAT score of 30+ before March, along with several meetings, volunteer requirements, and premed community involvement. Was a stupid number of hoops to jump through.

 

[mwsapphire]

Not true at all. My committee required all sorts of nonsense in addition to a GPA of 3.7 and a MCAT score of 30+ before March, along with several meetings, volunteer requirements, and premed community involvement. Was a stupid number of hoops to jump through.

Did you know of any solid applicants being denied letters but still being fine in the end?
I honestly kind of want to cry right now. Imagine working so hard only to be turned down from the committee for a ******* reason, and even if you could still apply to med school, that it look suspicious.

 

[Mad Jack]

Did you know of any solid applicants being denied letters but still being fine in the end?
I honestly kind of want to cry right now. Imagine working so hard only to be turned down from the committee for a ******* reason, and even if you could still apply to med school, that it look suspicious.

I was denied and did fine

 

[mwsapphire]

Its not an absolute requirement but as I said previous virtually all schools either require, recommend or prefer these letters. The variation in these letters form the premed committee is done under the concept that that local committee will know the student and the school much better than the adcom and therefore can best present the info and evaluation to the adcom.

Applicants may look at these premed committee hurdles as just nonsense yet the adcoms may look at this as a rigorous process and recommendations from such a committee carry significant impact to an adcom.

You still didn't answer my question tho- if you get denied for a dumb reason is it fatal? Will it raise more questions about you as an applicant or what the committee is like?
At least DO schools aren't as anal about it ( according to Goro) so that can make me feel more relaxed.

 

[mwsapphire]

I was denied and did fine

That does make me feel better, but if you applied DO only and DO schools aren't as picky, then if I apply MD I'm still nervous.

 

[Mad Jack]

That does make me feel better, but if you applied DO only and DO schools aren't as picky, then if I apply MD I'm still nervous.

I think you'll still be fine

The thing is, a lot of schools don't even have premed committees these days, so it isn't that big of a deal if you're coming from a school with less of a reputation. They probably won't even look into it. I'd chill

 

[begoood95]

I applied without a committee letter and turned out okay! As long as you replace the committee letter with strong, personal letters, then I don't think it's a dealbreaker.

 

[mwsapphire]

I applied without a committee letter and turned out okay! As long as you replace the committee letter with strong, personal letters, then I don't think it's a dealbreaker.

Thanks 🙂
And you applied to many MD schools and also came from a small state school , correct? So , since I'm coming from a similar situation, I would pray that I'm fine.
Care to elaborate why you applied without one? Does your school have a pre med committee?

 

[begoood95]

Thanks 🙂
And you applied to many MD schools and also came from a small state school , correct? So , since I'm coming from a similar situation, I would pray that I'm fine.
Care to elaborate why you applied without one? Does your school have a pre med committee?

I wouldn't characterize it as "small" (~27,000 students), but it isn't our flagship school, yes. As long as you have the stats and EC's to make up for any stigma that may come from being at a state school, you'll be fine.

My school does actually have a premed committee. But I chose to forego the letter because I believed I had better personal letter writers; on top of that, the requirements for getting the letter were low, and the only information they have besides your transcript is a small form you fill out that inquires about your EC's. Basically, I thought my personal letter writers would do a better job evaluating me as applicant and advocating for me.

 

[Goro]

I think you'll still be fine

The thing is, a lot of schools don't even have premed committees these days, so it isn't that big of a deal if you're coming from a school with less of a reputation. They probably won't even look into it. I'd chill

Just to clarify, while this is true, applicants who lack pre-med committee LORs are most at risk at MD schools that receive a fair number of students from known feeder schools.

 

[mwsapphire]

Just to clarify, while this is true, applicants who lack pre-med committee LORs are most at risk at MD schools that receive a fair number of students from known feeder schools.

Yes I would suspect that, but at least my school is not a large school that is a feeder, so maybe they wouldn't look into as much.
Not to mention, most of those programs are top programs that I'm most likely going to avoid? So I'm trying not to overthink this. I'm glad my school isn't a major feeder so lack of a committee letter ( potentially) would not raise eyebrows.

 

[Goro]

Yes I would suspect that, but at least my school is not a large school that is a feeder, so maybe they wouldn't look into as much.
Not to mention, most of those programs are top programs that I'm most likely going to avoid? So I'm trying not to overthink this. I'm glad my school isn't a major feeder so lack of a committee letter ( potentially) would not raise eyebrows.

You have nothing to worry about then.