Can't stop worrying :-(

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.

DentistWanaB

Full Member
10+ Year Member
15+ Year Member
Joined
Jun 4, 2008
Messages
13
Reaction score
0
Points
0
  1. Pre-Dental
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
I'm really getting a bad headache from being so worried...

I e-submitted my AADSAS application June 24th without my DAT scores and composite letter. (I'm taking the DAT next Monday, which is late I know.) It wasn't until afterwards that I realized that I didn't include any academic extracurriculars. I just mentioned what I did outside of school, like volunteering in hospitals, soup kitchens, nursing homes, New Orleans Katrina relief efforts, etc. How important is it to mention that I'm part of the pre-dental club at school or that I was Secretary for the Chem Club???

Also, is it really bad that I didn't put down any volunteer hours in a dental clinic?? My dad's a dentist and I've been working with him as a receptionist on and off since I was 12 years old. So I really don't know how many hours I volunteered watching him. It must have been 1000+ hours. Maybe I should have put that down....:-(

My composite LOE was sent to AADSAS from my pre-health advisor just 2 weeks ago. It was sent really late because I was waiting for 4 months for my dentist boss to email my advisor my recommendation letter that she promised me, but she never did. I'm really upset about that.

When I first asked my boss if she would write me one, she always said that she'd be happy to write me one and told me all these good things about me that she would include. I don't think she was as comfortable as she said in writing me a rec letter because she kept giving me empty promises. I wish she was honest with me from the start before it got too late. The week right before my composite letter was mailed in, I emailed her, texted her, handed her hand-written notes, left messages on her cell, etc. I honestly don't think I could have done anything else to remind her other than physically getting on my knees and begging her.

Then one day a few weeks ago, she came to work and told me that she finally wrote it and that it was sent that day. I was so relieved and happy until I found out that she completely LIED to me. It turned out that she had asked her husband to write me a letter. The problem is that her husband doesn't know anything about me. He emailed me 3 days later, which the entire time I thought everything was all taken care of, and he told me to write my own rec letter because he didn't know what to write. I was really upset. I cried. I've never written my own rec letter before, so I really, really, really hope I did an ok job. Her husband came to the office to print it out to give it to me one night and the dentist tried to pass it off like she wrote it. She told me that she was happy to have done me this favor because she thinks I'll be a great dentist one day, blah blah blah. I really wanted to tell her that I already knew what the letter said because I wrote it myself, but I kept my mouth shut and just smiled. Apparently, her husband never told her that I wrote it.

So I sent the letter myself to my pre-health advisor 2 weeks ago so she could finally send in my composite letter to AADSAS. She was in a hurry because she was leaving for vacation the very next day. Via email she told me she included all my rec letters, including one from a opthalmologist that stated that I volunteered so and so hours. I'm worried about that because I wanted her to disregard it. See the thing is, in my first two years of college, I wasn't sure what I wanted to do, so I volunteered in different health professions. Opthalmology was one of those professions that I observed. Will dental school see this as if I have doubt if I wanted to go into dentistry?

I'm taking the DAT next week. I took the TopScore exams and got consistent high teens to low 20s, except on QR, which I'm scoring around 15-16. I'm having a lot of trouble on time management in that area. I usually have to randomly guess on the last 20 questions.

Soooo worried......My head is spinning and I'm really stressing out. 🙁🙁🙁
 
RELAX!!!!
First of all, you will do great in the DAT. But you probably won't do good on QR to be realistic. Section isn't too important anyway.

"important is it to mention that I'm part of the pre-dental club at school or that I was Secretary for the Chem Club???"
Not important, I think schools know these types of extracurriculars are actually worthless, no offense.

The shadowing your dad would have been good to include. I think you can add this in your secondaries. It would have been better if you weren't shadowing your dad because who will say you didn't 100,000 hours?

good luck, just chill
 
don't worry too much... being a part of pre-dental club isn't all that important unless you contributed signficantly e.g as an officer or something. I have a feeling that adcoms will understand that you toyed with other healthcare professions before reaching dentistry as your #1 choice. Just chill, relax and concentrate on your DAT.
 
don't worry too much... being a part of pre-dental club isn't all that important unless you contributed signficantly e.g as an officer or something. I have a feeling that adcoms will understand that you toyed with other healthcare professions before reaching dentistry as your #1 choice. Just chill, relax and concentrate on your DAT.

As though being an officer of a pre-dental club would make someone a better future dentist...pre-dental club is like a bad version of SDN...a very bad version of it.
 
As though being an officer of a pre-dental club would make someone a better future dentist...pre-dental club is like a bad version of SDN...a very bad version of it.


Truer words have never been spoken!
 
GPA, DAT, and interviews mean a lot more than the LOE.

My extracurriculars only included running, weight lifting, cycling, and swimming.

I don't think you have anything to worry about, lol.
 
GPA, DAT, and interviews mean a lot more than the LOE.

My extracurriculars only included running, weight lifting, cycling, and swimming.

I don't think you have anything to worry about, lol.


how many people can claim your stats though
 
GPA, DAT, and interviews mean a lot more than the LOE.

My extracurriculars only included running, weight lifting, cycling, and swimming.

I don't think you have anything to worry about, lol.

Hahahaha, I am definitely going to put my hobbies down...
But you need the GPA and the DAT to get you the interviews.
 
When you find yourself at wit's end...having tried all that you can...then finding that you've done all that you needed to do...all you need to do next then, is you have to simply wait and see whether your efforts have paid off.

What will be...will be.

Good luck!
 
GPA, DAT, and interviews mean a lot more than the LOE.

My extracurriculars only included running, weight lifting, cycling, and swimming.

I don't think you have anything to worry about, lol.

Sure LOE don't mean as much but you get one negative letter and your app goes out the window...
 
Top Bottom