I have heard that University of Houston's HPAC(i think) review committee is kind of anti community college when it comes to a cover letter for recommendation. Also i have been running into problems with a pre-med advisor who is a little unsure about non-trad admissions and people who don't fit the profile of a classic med-student. I am doing the 2+2 college plan of 2 yrs comm college with 2 yrs university. I am just interested if any of you have had similar problems and how you dealt with them. (I know a cover letter is not needed but i wonder how much weight adcomms put on them.) Thanks and congratulations to all of the OPM acceptances.
Are you talking to Diane Dorris? She’s my advisor at UH ( I’ve known her for 7 years!). If you are, you may just need to convince her that you are dedicated. I heard yesterday that nearly 70% of students who declare themselves as “premed” change their minds by the senior year. If you’re not talking to Diane, you should be. She knows the ropes very well and will give sound advice.
As for the HPAC, I have heard it said that if you don’t have a committee review, adcoms want to know why. It’s best to have that letter. Make sure your LOR’s are from UH profs, it will lend more credibility than the CC.
Hope that’s not too much advice-giving!
Are you applying this year?
Theresa
Well the answer is yes, i am applying in the fall. Unfortunately I will only be taking genetics lec + lab and physiology lec + lab since i am majoring in hist and minor in bio. I just dont know if that is enough time to convince the professors of those courses to write me a strong LOR. As to the committee maybe Diane can help with that, (i havent spoken with her but once on the phone.)
Oh and too much advice can be a good thing. thank you.
-(i already did all of my other pre-med prereqs at hcc) (might be kicking myself for that now)
If you can ace Genetics and Physiology, you should be able to get good LOR’s from those profs. That ought to appease the mighty comittee! 
Then you should have some LOR’s from other sources, volunteering, doc who knows you, etc. Did you have an advisor at the CC who can attest to your commitment, hard work, etc? That might be a useful letter as well.
Good luck! I’m in there with you!
Theresa