Committee Letter for Medical School: Do You Need One?
/What is a committee letter for medical school? Learn how to get the best committee letter of recommendation, plus answers to frequently asked questions
A premedical committee letter from your undergraduate institution can enhance your medical school application
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Part 1: Introduction
If you’re premed, you’re probably well aware of the intensity of the application process that awaits you on your journey to medical school. You’re going to have to take the MCAT, write many essays including the whopping medical school personal statement and AMCAS Work and Activities section, and gather support from recommenders.
Depending on your undergraduate institution, a prerequisite to all of that may be the letter of recommendation that you seek not from your professors individually but from your school’s pre-health committee. Be sure to read this guide to the end where we include a comprehensive list of undergraduate schools that offer a committee letter for premed students!
What is a committee letter for medical school?
A pre-health committee letter (sometimes referred to as a “composite letter”) is a little like the counselor recommendation that you probably got from a guidance or college counselor when you were applying to college. It’s a letter that essentially contextualizes you as a premed student, threading together your academic interests and extracurriculars for medical school, and making a nice narrative case for you as an applicant. It’s often sent in a packet with the letters of recommendation you’ve sought individually from your professors.
In most cases, if your school offers one, a pre-health committee letter is not required but is recommended.
In this guide, we’ve set out to answer the most common questions you might have about this component of your medical school applications.
Should I get a pre-health committee letter?
If you’ve had the chance to meet with a pre-professional advisor about your path through college and to medical school, you’re very fortunate and should definitely seek a committee letter from that person. They’re prepared to tell a story of who you are, where you come from, and what your journey toward medical school has been like. A letter from them is a chance to confirm the narrative you’ll tell about yourself in your personal statement.
But what if you don’t have a personal relationship with a pre-health or pre med advisor? Say you attend a large university and the pre-health counseling services are overwhelmed with candidates? You should still seek out a pre-health committee letter if at all possible, in part because some schools will ask why you’ve chosen not to include one—it’s a default assumption for many medical schools that you’ll have a letter in your file.
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Part 2: Preparing for your pre-health committee letter
How do I prepare someone to write a pre-health committee letter for me?
Different schools have different requirements for what students who need a committee letter might need to do. For example, some schools’ committees may ask you to write an autobiographical reflection about why you’re applying to medical school, often combined with a CV. (Boston University calls theirs a Portfolio of Accomplishments and Reflections.)
These materials help a committee-letter-writer who doesn’t know you personally to write a strong and clear story of who you are. Of course, that letter will only be as good as your autobiographical reflection! And since most letters are due between January and March, we recommend beginning your autobiographical reflection in the early fall. It can serve both as the basis for your committee letter and as the beginning of your medical school personal statement brainstorm.
Other schools actually have a formalized application or interview process for the health committee letter. The interview might not be a screening interview; Carnegie Mellon, for instance, provides letters and interviews to all its students applying to health profession schools, and the pre-health committee interview questions are simply means to gather info.
Regardless of what your school requests, you can proactively influence the content of your committee letter.
Build strong relationships with committee members. The people who will develop your committee letter won’t always know you on a personal level, but you can make it a point to ensure they do. Stop by the pre-health advising office and learn more about who writes the letters, then take the time to form a bond with them.
Share career goals. Not sure where to begin to form a bond with committee letter-writers? Start by sharing your career aspirations. Let them know what relevant experiences you’ve had up to this point. By producing a personal narrative on your own, you can help shape the one later told about you.
Keep letter-writers updated. Be sure you share any significant accomplishments that might go into your letter with your letter-writers. This can include academic and personal accomplishments since both will help paint a more well-rounded picture of you as an applicant.
Does my medical school personal statement need to be finalized before I apply for a pre-health committee letter?
Your personal statement will typically be requested as part of your committee letter application. Although it need not be finalized—you can change it for your actual medical school application—you should submit a polished personal statement draft to leave a positive impression on your readers. While it’s true that your pre-health committee members (ideally) wants to build you up to med school adcoms to maximize your chances of getting in, remember that they’re also people who can be biased—in your favor or against you—depending on the quality of your work.
(Suggested reading: Medical School Personal Statement Ultimate Guide)
What’s a good timeline for pre-health committee letters?
You should follow your school’s particular timeline, since this varies by undergraduate institution. But, in general, here’s a timeline you can adapt depending on where you are in school:
First and second year premed: visit the pre-health advising office to get to know your campus advisors.
Third year premed: if you’re applying to medical school as a senior or soon after, check in with advisors as a junior to find out what you need to provide them with, i.e., autobiography, updated CV, information about summer plans, etc.
Application year: take the summer before your application year to assemble the materials you need. Keep in mind that these may include some extensive writing that will require you to have a clear head and time to think about what has gone into your pre med journey.
(Suggested reading: The Ideal Medical School Application Timeline)
How should I prepare for my pre-health committee interview?
Pre-health committees routinely tell students that the interview is informal, that they only want to get to know you better and contextualize your achievements for medical schools. However, this doesn’t mean that you should approach the process casually. Instead, you should prepare for your committee letter interviews just as you would for your eventual medical school interviews. Not only will this allow you to leave the best possible impression, but it will also serve as great practice, especially since some pre-health committee interviews are modeled after official med school interviews.
Should I get a pre-health committee letter or a post-bacc committee letter?
If you’ve done a post-bacc after undergrad or have spent a significant chunk of time away from school before applying, don’t worry. You might have a graduate or post-bacc committee available to write for you; check with your program. If you don’t, just get back in touch with your pre-health office, giving them enough notice, and provide them with updated information about your career path.
As a matter of policy, some pre-health committees unfortunately will not agree to submit a letter on your behalf if it’s been a year or more since graduation. If that’s the case for you, don’t worry. Medical school admissions committees won’t hold against you a policy that’s completely out of your hands. Just make sure that your standard medical school letters of recommendation are top notch.
Does every school offer a committee letter?
No. Great schools like UC Berkeley don’t offer committee letters. You won’t be penalized for attending a school that doesn’t opt into this part of the application process. Med schools understand that undergraduate institutions have plenty of reasons for organizing college advising their own way.
About the Author
Dr. Shirag Shemmassian is the Founder of Shemmassian Academic Consulting and one of the world's foremost experts on medical school admissions. For nearly 20 years, he and his team have helped thousands of students get into medical school using his exclusive approach.
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Appendix: Comprehensive list of undergraduate schools that offer pre-health committee letters
Below is a list of undergraduate institutions that provide committee letters for premed students seeking acceptance into med school.
