Pre-med Committee Letter Required?

[Vuronev]

I was looking over the AUC website to see the application requirements and procedures.

From what I can tell, AUC seems to require a letter of recommendation/evaluation from a school Premedical committee:

"For freshman applicants, an official letter of evaluation from your Pre-Medical Advisory Committee"

My question is, is that truly "required"? Or can official rec/eval letters from premed faculty etc. suffice?

I was not a premed major as an undergrad and after a few years returned to take my premed requirements on a part time basis. I am not connected to any Pre-medical advisory committee at my school, and am not entirely sure we have one. I do have many science professors who would be happy to write me recs, but will that not be enough?

I am contacting AUC directly to clarify, but in the interim was wondering if anyone got in with just individual recs?

Thanks!

[dc79md]

Vuronev,

I think most students that have applied lost contact with their pre-med advisor or didn't even have one to begin with. I would be very surprised if this hurts you and you shouldn't be discouraged either. Go for the safe route and get your 2 LOR from your 2 favorite science Profs and try to get LOR from your closest official advisor that you've earned/will earn your degree in. Maybe, set a deadline for yourself and use the best two LOR then proceed with your application.

Beware that "official LOR" must appear on Official letterhead paper and envelope. My initial LOR from a MD friend wasn't. It was returned and my application was "Incomplete",even though this MD was an AUC Grad! He had to reprint the LOR on an official Hospital stationary and mail it in a Hospital envelope. Good luck, Dan

[jgilbert63]

I had been out of school for quite a while when I applied. I explained to my admissions advisor a letter from a professor and/or pre-med committee would not be feasible. They accepted a LOR from a MD and one from my boss (military officer). Call your advisor, explain your situation, and work out a solution.

PS: Daniel is correct about the letterhead. They are hard over on that requirement for some reason. I speak from experience.

[YODA]

if you are a recent graduate (2 yrs or less) and your school has a pre-med committe, get the letter. the school really likes these because its an objective look at you, these letters carry alot of weight. the school will also notice that if you send in just some random LORs from science proffs or MDs you worked for even though your school does have a committe, it will look suspicious as to why you did not want to go through the normal chanels, are you hiding something.

Keep in mind though that most non-traditional students will have trouble getting this letter, but they should try anyway. If they cant letters from folks who taught them
and after that letters from people they worked for in the medical field.

avoid at all cost letters from your clergy, neighbor, or your dad's friends who was one a patient having a toe nail removed.

Later
YODA

[anencephalic]

I told them my undergrad did not have a premed committee...they allowed alternate LORs.

Aloha,

[gluconeogenesis]

I am doing postbac studies to satisfy prerequisites for medical
school. The advisory committee guidelines at my school seem
to imply that you should have at least a 3.5 gpa to be an
acceptable candidate for medical school. I am also concerned that
the advisor will have a second reason to have an unfavorable
opinion of me once I convey that I will apply to some Caribbean,
Australian, and European schools in addition to selected
osteopathic schools. The sole Oregon state medical school OHSU
is competitive and is definitely not IMG friendly.
When I told some students from OHSU that I would be applying to
osteopathic schools such as PCOM and UME they made the remark
"Don't apply to St George".

I am going to bluntly ask the advisor if she will write a favorable
letter, before I have her to send a letter.

[MushieCookie]

pre-med advisory boards are overrated. Just a bunch of **. Why not get letters of rec from people who actually know you like prof's, other doctors you may have worked with, etc? That's what I did...and it worked.

I think this 'requirement' is nonsense. These beaurocratic 'advisory boards' can go suck a nut...

[stateofequilibrium]

Like the stormtrooper said, they accept alternative LORs. Best to have one letter from a science prof and one from someone you worked with medically related (ie volunteer, research, shadow), but use anything to make you look good.

[Skipper]

i think pre med advisors blow--
they never know anything--

just get some from your profs--that is what i did even with my school having a pre med committee

anyways most pre-med committee letters are their generic form where they add your name to--unless you have had personally contact with the prof--better off getting them from a prof you know and who knows you

skipper

[microphage]

I told them my undergrad did not have a premed committee...they allowed alternate LORs.

Aloha,

ditto here.

[Vuronev]

Thanks for all the info guys, it's greatly appreciated.

I figured that AUC being a carib school catering to non-traditional premeds, it would be unlikely that they would be very strict about LORs from Premed committees.

I've never had direct experience with "premed advisors" I've had some pretty bad indirect experience with students being led astray.

In addition to working in a hospital, I also teach prep courses for various medical admissions tests. Once I was teaching the intro class for an MCAT course and midway through teaching, I had a student ask me why I was only referring to "medical school" and "doctors" and wondering why I didnt mention "Pharmacy school" or "pharmDs".

I was somewhat shocked and told her that the MCAT is strictly for admission into Medical Schools for earning an MD, and that Pharmacy school required a totally different test.

She then told me her "premed advisor" had told her that pharmacy school required the MCAT "just like all those other health schools like dentists and such".

Once I convinced her that her advisor was wrong, she promptly got up to leave and try to get a course refund.

Pretty scary really.

[stateofequilibrium]

Just more proof girls are crazy!!

Even a lot of US schools and not just AUC requests either a letter from your premed commitee or letters routed compiled through your premed commitee.. IF you have one.