so-so LOR's???

[BallDontLie]

i am a little concerned about my LORs. how important are these in the selection process??

The problem is, i go to a pretty big school and its tough to get to know the professors to the level necessary for a good detailed letter with personal references. I mean the smallest science class ive had thus far was about 250 students. I've gotten several professors to write me letters, but i get the feeling that they will be the run of the mill type letters that say so and so did well in the class, came to office hours, class is competitive, full of motivated students that go on to be successful, confident that ### will is a good candidate, etc....

it seems like these kinds of letters dont say anything useful, or anything that cant be seen from the rest of my app....so getting back to the point, should i go ahead and send these letters to dental schools, or should i be trying to get more detailed personal letters even if it means waiting till the fall?

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[rocknightmare]

my recommendation is go talk to the professor, and spend a little time with them talking about their subject and/or how you think their subject will help you in the future. also your desires of what you want to do in dentistry.. basically help your professor sell you to the admission committee by selling yourself to him/her.

good luck

 

[amartins02]

I kind of have the same issue. I am completing most of my upper level courses this year. I have two prof. writing LOR's for me. I read one of them and it was so and so was in my class, very studious, and on a personal note he is very nice and works hard. He told me it was a standard letter he uses and he changed it a bit. That was my 1 credit org chem lab. So I don't know how they will take that from a 1 credit class. The other is from a physics teacher. I don't know what he wrote as of yet. We will see I guess. I would like one from a bio teacher but like I said most of those are coming this upcoming fall so I am kind of stuck and don't know what to do.

 

[ackbar]

it seems like these kinds of letters dont say anything useful, or anything that cant be seen from the rest of my app....so getting back to the point, should i go ahead and send these letters to dental schools, or should i be trying to get more detailed personal letters even if it means waiting till the fall?

you are absolutely correct. 99% of the LORs for all applicants don't do anything useful. Some adcoms don't even read them.

A blatant letter that badmouths you hurts your chances. A letter from someone famous or that has clout at the school helps you. All other letters are all run of the mill usual crap that adcoms are flooded with. As long as you meet the requirement in terms of number of letters, it won't matter.

 

[miravyn]

you are absolutely correct. 99% of the LORs for all applicants don't do anything useful. Some adcoms don't even read them.

A blatant letter that badmouths you hurts your chances. A letter from someone famous or that has clout at the school helps you. All other letters are all run of the mill usual crap that adcoms are flooded with. As long as you meet the requirement in terms of number of letters, it won't matter.

Is there a maximum number of letters we are allowed to submit? I'm thinking of sending in four--one from a dentist (which I have to write myself), one from o chem prof (which I practically wrote myself), one from molecular cell prof, and one from biochem prof...