<p>I think you are correct, however, if you choose not to go through the committee it may imply your application is not competitive - again, if I’m reading the info correctly</p>
<p>“The Pre-professional Health Committee (PHC) is a group of faculty from the University of Pittsburgh that will evaluate your credentials for medical school (with the exception of your MCAT scores) in the same way that they will be evaluated by a medical school admissions committee; the PHC then writes a composite evaluation (sometimes referred to as a �Committee letter�) that you can have Career Services send to medical schools in support of your application. Medical schools prefer (and some require) that you have a composite evaluation as a part of your application, so it�s important to participate in this process. You should apply for evaluation by the PHC in your application year.”</p>
<p>Re the rankings mentioned above, according to the website students are ranked into groups such as “outstanding”,“very good”, “good”, “fair”, “poor” etc. and can get an idea of what that ranking is likely to be by speaking with an advisor. If they will not rank well they may be advised to bypass the committee and apply directly to med schools.</p>