Medical Schools That Prefer Committee Letters (and Which Don’t!)

Collecting letters of recommendation is a stressful part of the medical school application process. To make it easier for you to decide which letters to collect, I did the research! (You’re welcome.)

There is an exciting development this year—there are no longer any medical schools that require a pre-health committee letter of recommendation from your college campus. It is no longer necessary for you to participate in the often lengthy and stressful process that your pre-health advising office has to obtain a committee letter. Woohoo for you! Finally, some good news!

What Is a Committee Letter?

A pre-health committee letter is a composite letter of recommendation typically written by a school’s pre-health advisors and sometimes one or more additional faculty members who oversee premed advising. It differs from a regular letter of recommendation which is written by a single writer of your choosing. As I mentioned above, there are no longer any medical schools that require a pre-health committee letter, only schools that prefer it but do accept individual letters as well (see table).

Schools that require a committee letter	0
Schools that prefer a committee letter	50
Schools that have no preference	104
Total number of allopathic U.S. med schools	154

Sixty-eight percent of all allopathic medical schools located in the continental U.S. do not have a preference for the types of letters you submit. Thirty-two percent of schools prefer the committee letter, but do not require an explanation if you use individual letters.

The Pros and Cons of Committee Letters

Pros of applying without a committee letter:

• You can customize your letter packet to each school.
• You can skip the step and process of obtaining a committee letter, which may include an application, interview and take a little more time to collect as the “committee” writes it based on your other letters of recommendation.
• The absence of a committee letter is not going to have any impact on your application at most medical schools.

Pros of applying with a committee letter:

• It can serve as an official endorsement from your campus, if your school provides committee letters only to students who meet specific criteria. Consequently, schools that require committee letters may view their presence or absence as an additional screening tool and a positive reflection on the quality of applicants who have them.

Cons of applying without a committee letter:

• While medical schools no longer require committee letters, some, as noted below, prefer them. For those schools, you may need to explain why you don’t have one when applying.

Cons of applying with a committee letter:

• If you send the committee letter to the AMCAS letter service as one packet, you will not be able to customize your letter packet for each school. Many schools have specific requests in terms of what types of letters they prefer to see and how many letters you can submit.

Medical Schools That Prefer a Pre-Health Committee Letter

As of March 11, 2022, the medical schools that prefer the pre-health committee letter this application cycle include:

• Albany
• Albert Einstein
• Central Michigan
• Columbia
• Cooper
• Creighton
• Drexel
• Emory
• Florida Atlantic
• Geisinger
• Harvard
• Hofstra
• Icahn
• Johns Hopkins
• Keck
• Loma Linda
• Louisiana State in Shreveport
• Loyola University Chicago Stritch
• Northwestern
• NYU Grossman
• Pennsylvania State
• Perelman
• Renaissance
• Rush
• Rutgers New Jersey
• Sidney Kimmel
• SUNY Downstate
• SUNY Upstate
• Texas A&M
• Uniformed Services
• Universidad Central del Caribe
• University of Alabama
• University of Arkansas
• UC San Francisco
• University of Central Florida
• University of Colorado
• University of Louisville
• University of Maryland
• University of Massachusetts
• University of Miami
• University of Missouri
• University of Oklahoma
• University of Pittsburgh
• University of Rochester
• University of South Alabama
• University of Texas Rio Grande Valley
• University of Vermont
• Wake Forest
• Weill Cornell
• Yale

*This data was taken from the MSAR in March 2022. Information can change, so check the schools’ web sites when you apply.

In my opinion, the pre-health committee letter simply serves as an additional hurdle for applicants to complete. It’s exciting to see that it is no longer required. I hope this information is helpful and will make the process of preparing to apply to medical school less stressful.

Check out our med school application packages for more info on how we can help make your entire application process less stressful while helping you get into medical school. Learn more here >>

Recommendation Letter Preferences By Medical School

School Name	Prefer Committee Letter	No Preference	Letter Packet Accepted
Albany Medical College	X		X
Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University	X		X
Baylor College of Medicine		X	X
Boston University School of Medicine		X	X
Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University		X	X
California Northstate University College of Medicine		X	X
California University of Science and Medicine School of Medicine		X	X
Carle Illinois College of Medicine		X	X
Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine		X	X
Central Michigan University College of Medicine	X		X
Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine at Florida Atlantic University	X		X
Chicago Medical School at Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science		X	X
Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons	X		Preferred
Cooper Medical School of Rowan University	X		X
Creighton University School of Medicine	X		X
Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell	X		X
Drexel University College of Medicine	X		X
Duke University School of Medicine		X	X
East Tennessee State University James H. Quillen College of Medicine		X	X
Eastern Virginia Medical School		X	X
Emory University School of Medicine	X		Preferred
Florida International University Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine		X	X
Florida State University College of Medicine		X	X
Frank H. Netter MD School of Medicine at Quinnipiac University		X	X
Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth		X	X
Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine	X		X
George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences		X	X
Georgetown University School of Medicine		X	X
Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine		X	X
Harvard Medical School	X		X
Howard University College of Medicine		X	X
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai	X		X
Indiana University School of Medicine		X	X
Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at the University at Buffalo		X	X
Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine at Marshall University		X	X
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine	X		X
Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine		X	X
Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California	X		X
Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine at UNLV		X	X
Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University		X	X
Loma Linda University School of Medicine	X		X
Louisiana State University School of Medicine in New Orleans		X	X
Louisiana State University of Medicine in Shreveport	X		X
Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine	X		X
Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine		X	X
McGovern Medical School at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston		X	X
Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University		X	X
Medical College of Wisconsin		X	X
Medical University of South Carolina College of Medicine		X	X
Meharry Medical College		X	X
Mercer University School of Medicine		X	X
Michigan State University College of Human Medicine		X	X
Morehouse School of Medicine		X	X
New York Medical College		X	X
New York University School of Medicine		X	X
Northeast Ohio Medical University		X	X
Northwestern University The Feinberg School of Medicine	X		X
Nova Southeastern University College of Allopathic Medicine		X	X
NYU Grossman School of Medicine	X		X
Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine		X	X
Ohio State University College of Medicine and Public Health		X	X
Oregon Health and Science University School of Medicine		X	X
Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine	X		X
Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania	X		Preferred
Ponce Health Sciences University School of Medicine		X	X
Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University	X		Preferred
Robert Larner, M.D. College of Medicine at the University of Vermont	X		X
Rush Medical College of Rush University	X		X
Rutgers New Jersey Medical School	X		X
Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School		X	X
Saint Louis University School of Medicine		X	X
San Juan Bautista School of Medicine		X	X
Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University	X		X
Southern Illinois University School of Medicine		X	X
Stanford University School of Medicine*		X	X
State University of New York Downstate Medical Center College of Medicine	X		Preferred
State University of New York Upstate Medical University	X		X
TCU and UNTHSC School of Medicine		X	X
Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine	X		X
Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center Paul L. Foster School of Medicine		X	X
Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center School of Medicine		X	X
The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio Joe R. and Teresa Lozano Long School of Medicine		X	X
The University of Toledo College of Medicine		X	X
The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University		X	X
Tufts University School of Medicine		X	X
Tulane University School of Medicine		X	X
Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences F. Edward Hebert School of Medicine	X		X
Universidad Central del Caribe School of Medicine	X		X
University of Alabama School of Medicine	X		X
University of Arizona		X	X
University of Arizona College of Medicine Phoenix		X	X
University of Arkansas College of Medicine	X		X
University of California, Davis, School of Medicine		X	X
University of California, Irvine, School of Medicine		X	X
University of California, Los Angeles David Geffen School of Medicine		X	X
University of California, Riverside School of Medicine		X	X
University of California, San Diego School of Medicine		X
University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine	X		Preferred
University of Central Florida College of Medicine	X		X
University of Chicago Division of the Biological Sciences The Pritzker School of Medicine		X	X
University of Cincinnati College of Medicine		X	X
University of Colorado School of Medicine	X		X
University of Connecticut School of Medicine		X	X
University of Florida College of Medicine		X	X
University of Hawaii, John A. Burns School of Medicine		X	X
University of Houston College of Medicine		X	X
University of Illinois College of Medicine		X	X
University of Iowa Roy J. And Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine		X	X
University of Kansas School of Medicine		X	X
University of Kentucky College of Medicine		X	X
University of Louisville School of Medicine	X		X
University of Maryland School of Medicine	X		Preferred
University of Massachusetts T.H. Chan School of Medicine	X		X
University of Miami School of Medicine	X		Preferred
University of Michigan Medical School		X	X
University of Minnesota Medical School		X	X
University of Mississippi School of Medicine		X	X
University of Missouri, Kansas City		X	X
University of Missouri-Columbia School of Medicine	X		X
University of Nebraska College of Medicine		X	X
University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine		X	X
University of New Mexico School of Medicine		X	X
University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill School of Medicine		X	Preferred
University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences		X	X
University of Oklahoma College of Medicine	X		X
University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine	X		X
University of Puerto Rico School of Medicine		X	X
University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry	X
University of South Alabama College of Medicine	X		Preferred
University of South Carolina School of Medicine		X	X
University of South Carolina School of Medicine Greenville		X	X
University of South Dakota, Sanford School of Medicine		X	X
University of South Florida College of Medicine Morsani College of Medicine		X	X
University of Tennessee Health Science Center College of Medicine		X	X
University of Texas at Austin Dell Medical School		X	X
University of Texas Medical Branch School of Medicine		X	X
University of Texas Rio Grande Valley School of Medicine	X		Preferred
University of Texas Southwestern Medical School		X	X
University of Virginia School of Medicine		X	X
University of Washington School of Medicine		X	X
University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health		X	X
Vanderbilt University School of Medicine		X	X
Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine		X	X
Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine		X	X
Wake Forest School of Medicine of Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center	X		X
Washington State University Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine		X	X
Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine		X	X
Wayne State University School of Medicine		X	X
Weill Cornell Medicine	X		X
West Virginia University School of Medicine		X	X
Western Michigan University Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine		X	X
Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine		X	X
Yale University School of Medicine	X		X
University of Utah School of Medicine**			X

* If a committee letter is used it will not count towards total number of letters. 

** Does not accept committee letters.

Related Resources:

• Navigate the Med School Maze: 12 Tips from Start to Acceptance, a free guide
• What Does an Excellent Medical School Letter of Recommendation Include?