Ranking Students for Committee Letters and Med Schools..... and other Comparisons.

Pre-Med & Medical School Pre-Med Topics
1

So, undergrad schools that write Committee Letters (CL) rank their students and put some sort of designation in each student’s CL.

For example if School A has 100 students applying to med school, they might use a ranking system/appellation something like the following:

Very Highly recommended (90-100 Percentile)…so the top 10 students would get this designation in their CL
Highly recommended (75-90 Percentile)
Recommended without reservation (50-75 Percentile)
Recommended with reservation (25-50 Percentile)
Not recommended (0-25 Percentile).

The above breakdown may not be set in stone if, for example, one year a school has fewer “weak” applicants, so more would be placed in the higher 4 levels. And one year, a school may have 15 amazing applicants out of 100, so all 15 might get that highest designation.

So, is this to help streamline the app process for med schools? What I mean is: if a med school receives 5 apps from students from School A, and one of the students has one of the weaker designations, the med school may quickly move onto other apps?

Furthermore… if School B doesn’t use a CL system, and a med school receives 10 apps from students from School B, will that med school compare the applicants from that school against each other?

(Also, if you’re aware of other schools’ ranking systems, please include them here or include a link.)

And if schools are using different rankings/breakdowns, how would a med school know what is “the best”? Is there a “key” included”? For instance, if a CL begins with words like: “The University of XXX highly recommends John Doe…,” how does the med school know that those words indicate the cream of the crop from that school? Or do they all use a standardized breakdown?

2

@WayOutWestMom

3

Isn’t the school pre-health office would ask if the applicant would waive their right to see the Letter? If they do, there is no way to know the ranking in the letter.

On a side note, saw Hunter College (CUNY) has clear-cut guideline:

  • Have at least a 3.3 BCPM (Bio, Chem, Phys, Math) GPA and at least a 3.3·cumulative GPA at the time of the Committee Letter Application.
  • Competitive test scores are: MCAT: 512 (ALLOPATHIC); MCAT: 507 (DO); DAT: 21; GRE: 315. If you score below the competitive scores, we strongly recommend that you postpone your application until the following cycle.
4

Wouldn’t a college with a pre-med committee heavily discourage the pre-meds in the lower two or three ranking groups from applying, in order to keep its percentage of applicants admitted to medical school high?

That may also benefit the pre-meds, so that those with essentially no hope of admission can avoid wasting time and money on a futile effort and more quicky pivot to their backup career directions.

5

@mom2collegekids

I suspect how an adcomms uses a committee letter is idiosyncratic and dependent on the school. A CL is not the be-all end-all of an application; it’s just one of many factors considered.

An adcomm will not dismiss an application just because an applicant is ranked lower by the HP committee than another student from the same undergrad. The lowered ranked student may receive a lower priority for review than a student with a stronger CL, but they will get reviewed so long as the CL doesn’t give them one of the lowest two rankings (recommend with reservations and do not recommend).

And based on what I’ve heard adcomms do not directly compare students from the same undergrad whether or not they have a CL. Many med schools use a scoring schema where a student receives up to A points for GPA, up to B points for MCAT, up to C points for sGPA, up to X, Y,and Z points for the strength of their PS, for ECs, for LORs, etc. Students with higher point totals get reviewed first, with lower scoring students getting reviewed later. Applications that fail to meet a point minimum are rejected.

Also I’ve been told that categories for are pretty clear— recommend (of varying degreesj, recommend w/ reservations and not recommend. CLs always include an explanation of their ranking for the student and why. CLs are multiple pages long. (10+ pages is pretty common.)


Health professions offices require that  students waive the right to see their letter if they want a HP committee letter. Unless the right is waived and the letter is confidential, med schools will simply not consider the letter for admission purposes and the the student’s file will essentially be considered incomplete. The app will never get reviewed. 

Now the HP office or other recommenders may voluntarily Offer the student an opportunity to see thei letters, but  an other thing altogether.

HP offices usually will tell a student outright if they are not going to recommend them or recommend them with reservations to discourage unqualified students from applying.
6

I have seen paperwork in the past describing UT Southwestern interview selection process where they said the GPA and MCAT alone can determine who gets the initial round of interviews, without reviewing LORs and other contributing factors. The highest ranked ones usually get called within the first 2 to 3 weeks.

7

IIRC. The process that @ucbalumnus mentioned of committees approach is similar to that at DS ‘s undergrad . Yes they definitely protect their numbers.

8

A similar system is used when applying for residency.
The Dean or Vice Dean of the medical school will write a letter of recommendation and will provide a key at the end of the letter. For example:

Exceptional: 20%
Outstanding: 50%
Excellent:. 25%
Very good: 5%

9

How does it work for schools with Pass/fail? Does the school have an internal ranking for its class?

10

@Andorvw ,For the rotations in the third and fourth years, you are definitely evaluated on your clinical performance and on your shelf exams. Most schools will give out pass, fail, or honors. (Some even have a high pass category).

11

@Andorvw

Many P/F med schools internally rank students and record course grades— grades that are not publicly released or used for anything else besides an internal ranking for the MSPE.

12

^I think only a minority of schools claim to be pass/fail but internally rank based on exam scores. The majority of pass/fail schools are not pass/fail in MS3 and so the ranking is based on MS3, step 1, and potentially other things.