<p>1.) Thanks for the tip on Interfolio. I've never heard of this service, and my non-advised friends certainly never got the chance to use it.</p>
<p>2.) Again, I concede that the nine-letter story (my friend from UCB) is anecdotal, but I suspect that it's going to take a lot more than three letters if you don't want to restrict your options.</p>
<p>3 and 4.) Well, I suppose one could say that a good committee is very worthwhile.</p>
<p>YSK:
1.) Yes. Be better than everyone else at everything else.
2.) Unless he's a full-time premedical advisor with a long history with medical schools and the ability to keep perspective on medical school applicants from all over your school, I doubt it.</p>
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1.) Yes. Be better than everyone else at everything else.
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bluedevilmike: Is that the only way of making up for an absense of a premed committee? :(</p>
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2.) Unless he's a full-time premedical advisor with a long history with medical schools and the ability to keep perspective on medical school applicants from all over your school, I doubt it.
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bluedevilmike: How influential can a LOR from a premed committee advisor be?</p>
<p>1.) Well, it's the only way of making up for any weakness. Do poorly on the MCAT? Be better than everyone else at everything else. Don't interview well? Don't know your professors very well? Got a C in organic chemistry? The answer is always the same.</p>
<p>Be better than everyone else at everything else.</p>
<p>2.) Enough that if it's offered at all, it's a mandatory part of your application. Medical schools won't consider your application without it unless your school flat-out doesn't offer it.</p>
<p>Enough that it's the part of your application which puts everything else in context. Enough that when you have a bad grade, or an easy-looking schedule, or a confusing course, they'll turn to your advisor letter to help them explain it.</p>
<p>Enough that interviewers will sit down, shake your hand, and tell you how lucky you are to go to Duke, because Dean Singer always writes the best letters.</p>
<p>Some schools don't accept electronic submissions. In that case, whether you use Interfolio or a premed committee, the letters must be sent by mail. Interfolio will still take care of everything (printing out the letters, addressing the envelopes, etc.). That's what you pay them for.</p>
<p>Med schools say they prefer an advisor LOR over individual LOR's because, with 5000-10000+ applicants, they don't want to read all those letters. They'd rather your advisor/committee read your individual LOR's and evaluate you rather than having to do it themselves. Again, I don't see it as a significant advantage or disadvantage.</p>
<p>A lot of the people on SDN that I see complete very early (in July) went to schools that did not have premed committees. They got their professors to finish the letters quickly, uploaded them to Interfolio, and sent them off the med schools. I, on the other hand, had my LOR's written by mid-March, had my interview with Cornell's committee in April, but could not get my letters distributed until last Tuesday (Cornell's policy). Consequently, there are plenty of people with interviews at Jefferson, GWU, Georgetown, UChicago, SLU, Upitt, etc. already while I'm only complete at a handful of schools and only have 2 interview invites so far. I requested my LOR's in February and couldn't get them distributed until August. Not an advantage if you ask me.</p>
<p>And there are people in even worse shape than me. Some people's committees don't convene until SEPTEMBER and don't send off LOR's until late Sept./early October. Ouch. As BDM noted, if your school has a committee, you must use it. You cannot choose another option for distributing your letters.</p>
<p>thats kind of not fair is it? I mean what if the school you go to does not have a committee. I am pretty sure UF has a committee, they have a medical school. thats where inshAllah I want to transfer too.</p>
<p>Well, as mentioned I suppose a good committee provides an advantage. Duke promises to have packets sent out within a week of your first secondary -- often meaning June 22nd.</p>
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thats kind of not fair is it? I mean what if the school you go to does not have a committee. I am pretty sure UF has a committee, they have a medical school. thats where inshAllah I want to transfer too.
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Yes, that's unfair. But what can you do about it? As bluedevilmike said, you just need to be better than everyone else on everything else. :(</p>
<p>Public schools often do not have committees. And why on earth would the presence of a medical school imply the presence of a premedical advising committee?</p>
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Public schools often do not have committees.
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I go to a Canadian school; I think I heard that a premed committee is rare in most Canadian schools, whether it be public or private. This is unfortunate for Canadians. But it may not matter that much for Canadians applying to Canadian med school, because most of them won't have a premed committee LOR anyway. Only the Canadians applying to the US med schools will be at a disadvantage. Was the premed committee first invented in the US?</p>
<p>A premed committee is not the greatest thing since sliced bread. You'll have to do more legwork but otherwise you're not "screwed" b/c your school doesn't have a committee. There are plenty of good schools that don't have committees, Berkeley, Stanford, etc.</p>
<p>I've often wondered if this was the explanation behind Stanford's slightly-lagging percentages despite much-more-qualified students. It seems unlikely to me -- far more likely to be the fickleness of the UC medical schools -- but it's a thought that's occurred to me more than once.</p>
<p>Of course, as we've discussed, UC Berkeley is just a catastrophe overall.</p>
<p>Considering that a lot of UF pre-med undergraduate student end up getting in to UF medical school. But your 100% right I should not assume such important things. BDM I am going to call the school up monday to ask. I called them ones already to ask about the CC thing as I am very very very worried about it. I keep dreaming about it lol.......</p>