Committee Letter
Dental, medical, optometry, and podiatry schools often prefer (when available) a University Committee Letter*. This is a letter drafted by the Pre-Health Advisory Committee and is meant to be an unbiased evaluation of how prepared a candidate is for the professional school of choice. Below are common questions related to the letter as well as a checklist for easy reference.
*Students in our Accelerated Programs - you follow these specific requirements
Do I qualify for a letter?
To receive a letter you must meet the following minimum requirements:
Current students or have graduate from Rowan University within the last two years
Met GPA minimum:
3.4 for Allopathic Medical School,
3.3 for Osteopathic Medical School and Dental School
3.0 for Optometry and Podiatry School
Clinical and service experience: a minimum of 40 hours in both
Clear conduct record: single low level violations may be considered
Attending / watching our Application Workshop series (4 required workshops)
Completing a Committee Letter Application and Interview
Receiving a minimum admission test score (see Evaluation Guidelines) - retaking is allowed
How is my evaluation determined?
We have developed Evaluation Guidelines to help you gauge the holistic evaluation process. The information we assessed comes from:
Your Committee Letter Application
Information collected from your academic record
Three evaluators of your choosing (at least one science faculty member)
A Committee Interview
Your admission test score
What should I know about the Committee Letter Application
Committee Letter Applications are sent to all applicants for dental, medical, optometry, and podiatry school in December. Applications will be due by February 28th.
You will be asked to complete an "Experiences" log to report clinical, service, research, and other relevant experiences. This log mimics the Professional School Application and not only allows our committee to assess your experiences but also gives you a draft of your actual application to work on.
You will provide contact information for your 3 evaluators (1 science faculty member). We will reach out to evaluators with an assessment form and a request for their individual letter in March. They will have about two months to complete these (we collect letters at the end of April).
Your school list - we want to know what schools you are considering applying to and why!
The application auto-saves allowing you to complete it at multiple sittings.
Are there any deadlines?
Below are the general timelines for the Committee Letter process:
Fall: workshops begin
December: before leaving for winter break, we highly encourage you to ask three individuals if they will write you a STRONG letter of recommendation and if so collect their contact information.
December - February: you will have about two months to complete you Committee Letter Application. Applications will be due by February 28th. This application will collect your evaluator contact information so it is critical you contact these evaluators well before you complete the application.
Spring: finish workshops
early March - evaluators receive requests for their letters and they have until the end of April to submit their letters. They are sent all directions for this.
May-June: Complete your Committee Interview and receive evaluation (pending admission test score)
May - July: APPLY - when you apply and have your admission test score, you will be given directions for having your committee letter sent in for your application. We have a three week maximum turn around time.