Application Photos

[ElCid]

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Several schools Im applying to have requested small passport size photos. That could be a potential problem. I went to a military college but have been out of school for over a year. I have pics of me from as an undergrad that make me look extremely respectable. However, a picture of me now would be almost offensive. (I have long hair and a beard now. Plus Im 20 lbs heavier)

Should I:

1. Send them one of my pictures from my undergraduate career or
2. Send them a pic of me now

Also, would a printed digital photo suffice or is that just too unprofessional?

 

[mathnerd]

My friend, the time has come to get down to brass tacks. I, too, had some serious hair, but what really matters here? Head down to Fantastic Sams, clean up your act, get some decent & recent photos taken and become a dentist.

 

[w3chen99]

If you plan on going to your interviews the way you look now, then you send in a picture of what they should expect to see on interview day. However, since it is likely you are going to clean up for the interview, then might as well do it now and then take a picture and send that in.

 

[Reed1978]

Go for the digital. It's way cheaper than having someone take photos of you - plus you don't have to worry about having bad shots taken. and, if you are good at photoshop and super anal about your appearance (like me), then you can edit out every little blemish, out of place hair, and even change the lighting so that you look super-charming😀 no one has said anything about my digi-pics yet, and i personally think that my photos look much better than everyone elses so far that i have seen.

mathnerd is right - get your act together and cut the hair, shave the beard, and go into your interviews looking like a professional!

 

[ElCid]

You all have good points. However I have always had every intention of "getting my act together" before I go to an interview, but since I dont have any interviews on the books yet I dont see the need to completely alter my appearance.

What kind of paper do you use for your digital photos?

 

[PashaJ]

How is it going to hurt by cleaning up now? Do it now and perfect it by interview time.

 

[ItsGavinC]

I used regular Kodak photo paper for my photos. Shot them myself in my own living room, and then turned out just fine.

Some of the schools that I went to requested a photo with the secondary, while others took their own photos during the interview process.

 

[Reed1978]

i don't have a very good printer...so i just took my photos to a camera store (saved as a jpeg on a zip disk). it cost me a whole 49 cents to have 6 photos printed out. each photo was 2x2 as so you can fit 6 perfectly on a standard 4x6 photo.

 

[awallace]

Are you looking for a career in the military or looking for an acceptance to a dental school?

I never before realized that cleaning up ones act involved hair grooming and facial hair removal.

Be who you are, after all that is who you are.

 

[PERFECT3434]

Elcid,
i hope you don't get offended, but you had to ask for an advice on this?

god help you!

 

[ElCid]

Perfect3434,

Im not exactly sure what part of my original question you are criticizing. Are you referring to the actual question that I asked or one of the tangent replies? I had what I thought was a legitimate question that I figured many pre dental students could possibly relate to.
Let me just take a second to clarify and specify the question in relation to my original post for everyone.
When I was referring to "sending a picture from my undergraduate career" I was talking about one of me in my uniform. Probably my yearbook photo. I was originally supposed to be commissioned as an Army Infantry officer in May 2002 but became ill and was released from service. That threw my plans off track and pushed any hopes of applying to dental school back one year. I intend to reapply for a commission after dental school and hope to make a career out of the Army. Its been a year since this happened and in that time I have grown my hair out and grown a beard.
Now I like my hair and I like my beard however I believe that the picture of me in as a cadet better represents me and where I have come from.
I really do appreciate all the input from everyone. It was never some huge issue - I was just looking for some thoughts. I figured there had to be one other person out there who had similar issues.

Perfect3434- I take negative criticism just as well as positive criticism. However, I think your "god help you" comment was really rude and uncalled for. That was just mean and unprofessional.

 

[PERFECT3434]

Elcid,
i appologize if i offended you in any way. I just thought that it was very easy to know that you should send a pic of you that looks professional, and clean cut.

i know that you may like your hair and beard, but you should know that you are gonna have to sacrifice your likings to what the ad com wants. we all like things, but seriously you gotta show them what they wanna see, tell them what they wanna hear, and do what they want you to do. i know this sucks, but long hair and beard will not get you into a dental school.

again, i am sorry if i offended you.

 

[ElCid]

Dont worry about it🙂

I can see that you are very dedicated to getting into dental school, as are we all. However you seem a little extreme in you suggestions. Im not going to tell the admissions committee what they want to hear or show them what they want to see for the sake of getting in. Im not going to go to an interview and blow smoke up their skirts about how I want to dedicate my career to serving the homeless or something just because it makes me seem like the perfect applicant. I am a grad student at Indiana University and can tell you that I know for a fact that admissions committees are capable of completely ripping you to shreds unless youre straight up with them. I saw it with my own eyes.

Now we both know you werent talking about lying, but even just over-elaborating can raise questions. We all should do our best to make our applications the best they can be. But in no way should we just feed them what they want to hear. If our lives and our goals fall in line with what they want in an applicant then
we know were doing something right. If not and we have to blow all sorts of smoke up their arse then we probably dont belong here in the first place.

Now cutting my hair is not a big deal. I guess I will gladly do it when the time comes. Hair shouldnt matter. (Actually Im remembering quite clearly two Surgeon General's of the United States in the last decade or so with big full beards.)

As an asside: Im sure the interview process for dental school will be much different than the interviews for admission to a PhD program. So who knows...

 

[groundhog]

awallace,
Looks do matter. While visiting a certain dental school three years ago, I witnessed the Dean of Admisssions order one of the male dental students to trim up his well groomed moderately lengthy hair. The directive.was given in a respectful but firm manner.

 

[ElCid]

Youre right. Looks DO matter. That is the unfortunate truth. However, there are many variations and different levels based on many different factors. For example, schools in the southeast tend to be more conservative than those in the rest of the country. Older and more "reputable" schools (harvard, columbia, ..) also tend to lean more towards the conservative side.

Personally, I believe the way you carry and present yourself says more than your general appearance. Your personal appearance is just one of many factors that schools use to select new students (whether subconsciously or not). And like the other factors, your appearance can probably be offset by other, higher rated factors. I doubt NYU would choose average scoring Wally Cleaver over a guy with a ponytail and a goatee who scored a 28 on the DAT ,has a 3.8 from Harvard, and worked for five years in the peace corps as a dental assistant or soemthing.

It all just adds to "The Big Picture" and the final score is all that counts. How bad do we need the points?

 

[ItsGavinC]

Originally posted by awallace
Are you looking for a career in the military or looking for an acceptance to a dental school?

I never before realized that cleaning up ones act involved hair grooming and facial hair removal.

Be who you are, after all that is who you are.

True, being who you are is important, but you have to remember that adcoms are largely comprised of older conservatives. It may be sad, and it may be unfair, but odd looks (or looks that aren't part of the norm) won't get you too far at 99% of the schools.