How does your pre-med committe work?

Hi Everyone,
I was wondering how other schools pre-med committees work–who write the composite letter to the med schools. At my school, things are somewhat disorganized–whihc greatly worries me.
There is ONE permanent member of the committe—who is the Chair of the committe and the faculty advisor for the pre-med society. When a pre med student is ready to apply, she sends out an e mail to several faculty members with a date and time in mind to review everything and “help” her write the letter (bio, chem, phy, math, psych etc). Whomever responds to the email and is available at the designated date and time basically sits on the committee for that particular student.
I’m concerned about this process. I don’t like the idea that there could be faculty members on the committee who are randomly chosen who may not even know me. I brought up the idea of choosing the faculty members I would like to sit on my committe–as they would know me the best and be able to lend an informed opinion of my abilities and attributes.
The pre med advisor didn’t think this was appropriate, as “members of the committe ought to be objective in reviewing your LORs, grades, etc…”
How do other schools do this??? Are you guys able to pick your faculty members for the committee?? IS there a SET committee for everyone??? Ph.D. candidates are allowed to choose their faculty members for their dissertation defenses…
Any info would really help out. Thanks guys, Anna

My school has a set pre-med committee with the same members for everyone. I don't believe any of them know me, except for my advisor who is on the committee. The committee will do my letter based on references from 3 of my profs, a copy of my personal statement & list of my volunteer/work experiences, and an interview with me.
I think they try to make it almost like a mock interview–remember, the admissions committees won't know you either. I feel comfortable that the committee will be able to write me a good letter based on the info they gather.
Beth

My school is similar to Beth's, minus the interview. If my Biochem prof didn't happen to also be on the committee no one there would know me personally. They base their level of recommendation on personal statement, transcripts, and LORs. So choosing the LOR writers is the way we get a voice in this process, along with the personal statement.
Theresa

We do not get to select committee members. The idea is that the committee will give an objective comparison of students. In some ways this is good, since if you can convince someone who does not know you that you are fantastic, in a short time, that is a bonus point in admissions.
My biggest concern is that I will end up with a committee full of faculty members who I've pissed off at faculty meetings in the past!

I just got back from my premed committee interview. I think it went well and they gave me some good feedback on my application. I'm not sure what to make of their feedback on my essay though. One of the profs said that he liked my essay with the exception of the vignette I used to open it. He said the vignette bored him and should be reduced to 2 or 3 sentences or left out altogether. The other 2 committee members however liked the vignette. hmm…guess I better start collecting more opinions.