<p>heres wut i wrote in the other post, which is similar to this...well, on the phone i received pretty much the same thing, HOWEVER, i was also informed that if the student has done poorly during their time at Harvard, then the committe would not provide a letter...why would they? It seems obvious that a school of this caliber would not endorse a 2.1 GPA and a 20 MCAT score.</p>
<p>What this individual wrote is understandable, and the situation i describe is probably rare...its analogous to you receiving letters from a teacher. Unless you have done poorly in the class and were a totall ***, the teacher will write you a rec. This is rare, but it happens and i believe that its justified. My business teacher did it, he also refused to sign the same girls yearbook. </p>
<p>Again, its rare, but it happens. I told you the answer i received, and i read the one you have...so whether you choose to believe me or not is entirely up to you. However, not agreeing with me would just boggle my mind and would lead me to believe you just enjoy arguing with me.</p>
<p>If you had a reputation which is equivelant to that of Harvard's, would you endorse mediocrity? Why should you, it makes your school look bad. So again i was told, that if the student does poorly, he/she will not receive a letter.</p>
<p>Look, I put up what I got, with a completely verifiable and traceable name and contact info. Her name is Marlys Farrett, she can be reached at the email address I stated above, so you can check out my story to your heart's content. I would appreciate if you would provide contact info for where you got your information.</p>
<p>And again, it's not about me agreeing with you or arguing with you. This has nothing to do with me vs. you. Rather, I now have an official response, in writing, from Harvard. Again, if you don't believe my response, you can contact Ms. Farrett yourself. </p>
<p>And besides, I would have to say that your situation seems like quite the corner case. Remember what we're talking about - you were trying to justify the fact that Harvard can boast of a 90% premed placement rate (and public schools cannot) due to your assertion that these committees are out there denying letters to poor candidates. Even if that is correct, look at how 'poor' has been defined. I think it's safe to say that even at the public schools that don't have any committees, very very few people with 2.1 GPA's are going to be applying to med-school - and certainly not enough to explain a difference of a 90% Harvard premed placement rate vs. the much lower (usually 40-60%) placement rate of a public school.</p>
<p>not gonna lie that im kicking myself about not keeping the name of the man i spoke to, but i have my info and thats all i need. Do what you want.</p>
<p>I have another one for you, came back today. The guy's name is S. Khoshbin, MD, an Associate Professor at Harvard Medical School and another one of Harvard's premed committee members. His email address is in the text. </p>
<p>From: Khoshbin, Shahram,M.D.
Date: Monday, October 03, 2005 11:00 AM
To: XXXX
Subject: RE: Hello, may I ask you something about the premed process?</p>
<p>Dear XXXX, It is very nice of you to check on such terrible rumors -and I hope you will also check with your own house premed tutors - I am not aware of any house at Harvard that would sit in judgement of any student -if you don't mind I will forward your concerns to the Premed office at OCS-OCL so they can also reassure you.
S.Khoshbin M.D.
Associate Professor of Neurology
Harvard Medical School </p>
<p>-----Original Message-----</p>
<p>Hello:</p>
<p>If you don't mind, I would like to ask some questions about the Harvard premed process.</p>
<p>I understand that the premed committee gets together to generate a House letter for each premed candidate, and I understand that this House letter is a statement of endorsal and confidence from Harvard to the med-schools. However, I have heard some people assert that the premed committee is standing in judgment to decide whether it should actually provide the House letter, and if the committee decides that a particular student is subpar, then it may simply refuse to write a letter for that student. Is that true? I thought that it was a simply mechanical process - any student that requests such a letter will get it. Is it possible for you to actually get denied the House letter? </p>
<p>Consider this 3rd response I got from Harvard.</p>
<p>Dear XXX,</p>
<p>I understand that you have emailed several premed advisors with concerns
about the premed process. More specifically, you said that you heard
rumors that students could be denied House letters if they are
"subpar". I would be interested in knowing how you came to hear this
rumor, as it is most definitely NOT true, and it is important that
students understand that the House letters are letters of support.
Harvard does not screen applicants to medical school. At some colleges,
only students with a certain GPA and MCAT score are provided letters of
support. However, we support all students who wish to apply to medical
school, not just through the letters, but through individual advising
during their undergraduate years and even as alumni..</p>
<p>I hope this addresses your concern. Please let me know if you have any
questions about premed advising at Harvard.</p>
<p>All the best,</p>
<p>Lee Ann--</p>
<p>Lee Ann Michelson, Ph.D.
Director, Premedical and Health Career Advising
Office of Career Services</p>
<p>And I would love to know which specific staff member you are referring to, so I can relay it back to them. What am I supposed to do, tell them that some guy on the Internet who I don't know, says that some Harvard advisor, who he can't/won't name, told him a conflicting story? In other words, a conflicting story from an anonymous person about another anonymous person? How well do you think that's going to go over?</p>
<p>I'm not getting worked up over it, believe me.</p>
<p>However, it looks like the evidence from Harvard is pretty clear. Hence, it gets back to my original point, which is that Harvard is probably one of the better places to go for premed.</p>
<p>All i simply said was on the phone call and with discussions with harvard pre-med students, ive been told they screen, youve been told they dont.</p>
<p>Hey, you've been hanging around this thread just as much as I have. So when you tell other people to get over something, I don't think you have a leg to stand on.</p>
<p>Furthermore, it's not just a simple matter of Harvard people telling me that they don't screen. These Harvard people have gone ON THE RECORD to declare that this doesn't happen.</p>
<p>and again, im not denying this, im just telling you what ive been told.</p>
<p>Im actually kind of curious now to see what Brandeis pre-med would say since i know for a fact they engage in this practice. If they say the same thing the Harvard guy says, then I know they are silver-coating this.</p>
<p>Like I said, I don't deny that some schools in fact do what are alleging. In fact, I have strong evidence that, for example, Johns Hopkins does this. Brandeis may well be doing this, I don't know. </p>
<p>However, as far as I can tell, the evidence on Harvard is fairly clear. You have Harvard administrators who are willing to go on the record, with their names and contact info, with an answer in writing.</p>
<p>* From: Lowell House Pre-Med Committee <a href="mailto:lohomed@fas.harvard.edu">lohomed@fas.harvard.edu</a>
Date: Thursday, October 06, 2005 6:42 AM
To: XXXX
Subject: Re: Hello, may I ask you something about the premed process?</p>
<p>Hello XXX,</p>
<p>It is not the job of house premedical committees to decide who ought to
apply to medical school, and applicants are not denied letters on the
basis of judged qualification. We try to help applicants achieve their
goals, and we write letters for virtually all students who request them.
These letters take a lot of time to write (they are not generated
`mechanically,' as you suggest). In very, very rare instances, a student
might contact a premedical committee too late in the process for a letter
of the usual form to be written. In such cases, an abbreviated letter and
a resume, with a statement of endorsement (or more rarely, no letter at
all), may be sent for such a student.</p>
<p>Ben Rapoport</p>
<p>On Sat, 1 Oct 2005, XXX wrote:</p>
<br>
<p>Hello:</p>
<p>If you don't mind, I would like to ask some questions about the Harvard premed process.</p>
<p>I understand that the premed committee gets together to generate a House letter for each premed candidate, and I understand that this House letter is a statement of endorsal and confidence from Harvard to the med-schools. However, I have heard some people assert that the premed committee is standing in judgment to decide whether it should actually provide the House letter, and if the committee decides that a particular student is subpar, then it may simply refuse to write a letter for that student. Is that true? I thought that it was a simply mechanical process - any student that requests such a letter will get it. Is it possible for you to actually get denied the House letter?</p>
<p>I continue to post here not just for you, but more for the benefit of other people who are reading this thread. Those other people should be allowed to weigh your evidence against my evidence and draw their own conclusion.</p>