Class of 2015 Thread

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uclaDDS101

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Hey guys.. I thought it might be a good time to make this thread for the prospective Class of 2015 (or 2014 for the prospective UoP students). This could be an informative discussion thread to share tips, info, and encouragement with each other.

I still have a few more big things left on my checklist.
Done: DAT!
Not Done: LOR's, personal statement...

How are you guys holding up? What are you doing to prepare? June 3rd is within sight... :scared:
 
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Haha, yeah seriously. My personal statement would say "Look at my GPA and DAT... enough said."
 
I guess nobody wants to start thinking about the 2011 cycle yet?...
 
When the application cycle opens up in 4 months, people will have plenty to talk about. Right now there is not much to discuss besides DAT scores and potential application strategies. Give it some time. You are also way ahead of the game, which is great, but many students applications will not start coming together until May or later.
 
I do, and have been for a few months. Getting ready for the DAT this summer. 2010 should be a fun ride with classes, studying, DAT, applying, interviewing etc.
 
Get your LOR requests in, and say you need them by May 1 so you have buffer time if they don't finish them by then.
 
Question for you, is there a standard set of people you should get your LOR's from?

Do they all need to be from a professor, do some of them need to be? I have a few people I know in high places that I am hoping to get LOR's from, but is there a standard set of people who I need to get them from?

Thanks.
 
Question for you, is there a standard set of people you should get your LOR's from?

Do they all need to be from a professor, do some of them need to be? I have a few people I know in high places that I am hoping to get LOR's from, but is there a standard set of people who I need to get them from?

Thanks.

Usually the minimum is to get 2 science professors and one dentist and/or health committee letter from your college
 
Usually the minimum is to get 2 science professors and one dentist and/or health committee letter from your college

I'd make sure one of the science professors is a Bio professor too. Some schools won't accept two chem/physics professors.
 
Im applying in the 2011 cycle. Is waiting till may to take the DAT a risky decision. I havent taken the DAT before but I plan to take from now till may to study for it. Any opinions?
 
Im applying in the 2011 cycle. Is waiting till may to take the DAT a risky decision. I havent taken the DAT before but I plan to take from now till may to study for it. Any opinions?

May isn't late at all. I'd say you could even wait until the second week of June, submit your application the day you get your scores and put them into your application while still making it in the first AADSAS mailing.
 
Im applying in the 2011 cycle. Is waiting till may to take the DAT a risky decision. I havent taken the DAT before but I plan to take from now till may to study for it. Any opinions?

I took it in August. Everything was completed by September, and I was still managed to pull 5 pre-dec interviews and 5 acceptances.
 
Thanks for commenting back it makes me feel better. I just want to make sure that I get great scores the first time instead of rushing to take it and doing badly. Another question I had was would it be wise to ask a professor of a class your currently taking to write you an LOR?
 
Thanks for commenting back it makes me feel better. I just want to make sure that I get great scores the first time instead of rushing to take it and doing badly. Another question I had was would it be wise to ask a professor of a class your currently taking to write you an LOR?

Yeah, this is not a bad idea as long as you're doing well in his class. Make sure to ask in advance since biology professors get swamped with LOR requests around that time.
 
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Anyone figure out which schools they're applying to yet? I can't seem to get to a reasonable list. How did you guys decide?
 
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It's been a while so I figured I'd post something.

I'm (re)applying for 2015. Everything's done on my checklist (LORs, personal statement, app for the most part since I already did it last year). The only thing not done is I'm retaking the DAT in June. My list isn't completely set in stone but so far I am definitely applying to:

UMDNJ
ASDOH
NYU
Temple
Maryland
UPenn
BU
Tufts
Pitt
Buffalo
Nova
Western

Learned my lesson from last year, only applying to two schools, and way late!!
 
which schools don't accept letters from chem/physics professors?? i might be in trouble... both of my 'science' letters are from chem. professors.
 
ucladds101...u have the most amazing profile i have ever seen...

im honestly going to ask, did you feel you went overkill?

i mean my apps looking good as well, but that makes me feel like uttering defeat right about...NOW
 
LOR.... GET AS MANY AS POSSIBLE! Don't just collect 4 that you think you will need. Plan on having 4 to collect, but if you find out that your LOR don't satisfy the school's specific requirements, you can be royally screwed; hard to find a prof willing to write a letter last minute. If there is a prof that you think MIGHT write a letter, ASK! It never hurts.

I ended up collecting 8 letters of rec. I didn't use them all, but I did use about 6 between all of my schools. Always better to be prepared. When you asked your profs for a letter:

1. Asking profs can be tricky. I was on good terms with all my letter writers, so I sent them an email asking for a letter and asked a time I could meet with them to discuss it. They all agreed to meet me in their office that week and write a letter. We just sat down and talked for about 20 minutes about why I want to go to dental school and how the past semesters have been.

2. When you meet and ask for a letter, you want to include as much information as they need to write it. Give them a packet of information that includes: a cover letter (why do you need this req and how will them writing it help you out; what are some things you would like them to stress in your letter?), an unofficial copy of your transcript, your personal statement, your resume, and the Interfolio print out that describes how they can upload it for you.

3. Give them plenty of time to write it (at least a month or 6 weeks). And, as said earlier, if you want the letters by, say, June 1st, ask for them to be done by May 1st, which will give them plenty of time to be processed by Interfolio or if some profs don't get them in right on time.

4. When you get it, confirm with them that you got and say thank you. And, as a courtesy, keep them updated with your progress once you find out where you are going.

And as for asking a prof this semester for a letter, it depends on the prof. Some prof's might want to wait until at least after midterms, others will only consider once the class is finished. If you are on super cool terms with the prof, I think after the midterm would suffice. And it never hurts to ask!
 
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which schools don't accept letters from chem/physics professors?? i might be in trouble... both of my 'science' letters are from chem. professors.

I only have 2 chem letters and a english one. I don't have a bio letter. Hope it is not needed for the schools I apply to.

Anyone know if they will take a Anatomy/Physiology letter instead of biology? It is offered by the Movement Sciences/Dept of Kinesiology.
 
ucladds101...u have the most amazing profile i have ever seen...

im honestly going to ask, did you feel you went overkill?

i mean my apps looking good as well, but that makes me feel like uttering defeat right about...NOW

Haha, thanks. By 'overkill', are you referring to my EC's? I honestly don't think I've done too much over the past few years. In fact, I would say that my list of activities pales in comparison to some of the other Bruins that I've met. A lot of the stuff I listed are common activities for UCLA pre-health students. I wouldn't say I've done anything sensationally unique... I just like to get things done. And don't worry. You don't have to compare yourself to anyone. Every application has its strong points and weak points; you just have to focus on highlighting the former. Good luck this cycle!
 
Interfolio (interfolio com) is, for our purposes, a confidential letter of rec service.

How it works: become a member. A membership for a year is about 20 bucks. Then, you can make a "slot" for a LOR from Dr. Smith, Jones, and Johnson, in anticipation of their letters. In creating these slots, you have unique identifier forms that will go along with their letters. Before asking for a letter, you will want to create these slots and print out those forms.

So, you get the courage to ask Dr. Smith for a letter. You have created your packet of info to give him. Included in your packet is their unique Interfolio form. It has their name, email, a unique identifier, and, more importantly, YOUR name. When they are done writing a letter, they follow the directions that are on the form. They can log into Interfolio and enter the unique code that will designate the letter to YOUR account. They then upload the letter and you instantly have your letter. Since its a confidential LOR service, you can only see that you received Dr. Smith's letter, but you can't read what it says.

*****on the other side of the spectrum****

AADSAS has LOR matching forms. They are basically scantrons; any LOR they receive, they scan, and it immediately registers to your account. You will want to print these forms off, fill out the info, and then scan them into Interfolio. That way, when you send your letters from Interfolio to AADSAS, you will want to send the LOR AND (can't stress this enough) ANNNNNND the LOR matching form from AADSAS, TOGETHER! That way, when AADSAS gets a letter from Interfolio, they can instantly upload your LOR to your account, without taking 6 weeks to manually process it.

Mailing letters from Interfolio to AADSAS does cost money (like 7 bucks for 5 day mailing). It may seem like an extra step, but its surprising how many school DON'T accept LOR from AADSAS. In that case, you can use Interfolio to send the letters directly the school. If you were to ask your letter writers to send the letters to AADSAS, the letters would be gone forever and you would never be able to resend them to a school if needed.

Also, I was used 6 LORs between all of my schools (which all had varying requirements). AADSAS only lets you upload 4. Using Interfolio, I wasn't limited to the space on AADSAS and, if needed, just sent whatever extra letters I needed to that specific school.

The point to this service is that you have the letters at your disposal, but you are still maintaining the confidentiality agreement of your letter writers. AADSAS and schools readily accept LOR from Interfolio, so its a handy service.

(I tried to make that as simple as possible. Hopefully makes sense!)
 
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in response to psi169s post....what is Interfolio? I was also wondering if I'm contacting professors soon to write LORs for the application cycle starting June 3, where should I have them sent or what should I have the professors do with the letters in the mean time since AADSAS says don't send them anything until June 3rd?

If the cycle starts June 3, I would ask for your letters by May 1, or no later than May 15. Ask profs to upload them to Interfolio (all my profs were familiar with the service).

Then get your LOR matching forms from AADSAS. Upload them to Interfolio.

Mail your matching forms AND letter together to AADSAS. (The LOR matching form says on it, in big bold letters, MAIL TO THIS ADDRESS....)

I can't remember how long it took (surely no more than a week or two), but they will be processed by AADSAS and be included in your complete AADSAS app.

****** Same for transcripts. Get your transcript matching forms from AADSAS. Go to your school's registrar's office and request to have your transcripts mailed WITH the transcript matching form. Schools do this at the end of every year, so they will mail it with your transcript.
 
I'm glad someone asked about Interfolio, because I was wondering this too. They've already got all of my LOR's, so when the AADSAS opens on June 3rd, and I submit my app after filling it out, I just need to upload the LOR matching forms to my Interfolio account, as if they were a LOR themselves? And then mail them all (LOR's and matching forms) to the AADSAS address? Sorry if this is a stupid question, but I was kind of confused about this, and when I e-mailed Interfolio for help, they didn't give me much to work with.
 
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They've already got all of my LOR's, so when the AADSAS opens on June 3rd, and I submit my app after filling it out, I just need to upload the LOR matching forms to my Interfolio account, as if they were a LOR themselves? And then mail them all (LOR's and matching forms) to the AADSAS address?

When you start an Interfolio file, you name it and Interfolio requires a label. So, when you start slot for Dr. Smith, it will ask for Dr. Smith's name, email, and what kind of document Dr. Smith will be uploading. You will check confidential LOR. Then, when Dr. Smith actually uploads his letter, you can see that there is some kind of file for the slot you created for him.

When you upload your AASAS LOR matching form, you can select "general document" (or something similar) and then you would label it "LOR matching form for Dr. Smith." Then you can upload your file (and, since its not confidential, you can see it).

Then when you start to send letters, in 1 envelope, you would select "Confidential LOR from Dr. Smith" and "LOR Matching Form for Dr. Smith." In another envelope for Dr. Johnson (Confidenital LOR from Dr. Johnson and LOR Mathcing form for Dr. Johnson) and so on.

I think that answers your question.
 
WOW THANKS!!!!! 👍👍👍

When you start an Interfolio file, you name it and Interfolio requires a label. So, when you start slot for Dr. Smith, it will ask for Dr. Smith's name, email, and what kind of document Dr. Smith will be uploading. You will check confidential LOR. Then, when Dr. Smith actually uploads his letter, you can see that there is some kind of file for the slot you created for him.

When you upload your AASAS LOR matching form, you can select "general document" (or something similar) and then you would label it "LOR matching form for Dr. Smith." Then you can upload your file (and, since its not confidential, you can see it).

Then when you start to send letters, in 1 envelope, you would select "Confidential LOR from Dr. Smith" and "LOR Matching Form for Dr. Smith." In another envelope for Dr. Johnson (Confidenital LOR from Dr. Johnson and LOR Mathcing form for Dr. Johnson) and so on.

I think that answers your question.
 
Ok, I see. "AADSAS LOR Matching Form" is actually a document type you can upload. Thanks so much for the help!

Just to clarify another point, it's all right to submit on June 3rd, and then submit transcripts and LOR's after, right? And the transcripts will take a few weeks to process, and then the app is mailed out to all designated schools? Sorry for all the questions, I just want to make sure I'm as on top of things as possible.
 
I have been a member of this site since I was a senior in high school. It's unbelievable I am about to apply to dental school this May. I don't know if I will get in though because my cumGPA is 3.49 and my sciGPA is 2.95
and I haven't taken my DAT yet, but I've been studying very hard and I am feeling confident about it. My sciGPA does NOT reflect my intelligence of science...I received an F in gen chem1, and it messed up my sciGPA up pretty badly. Do I still have a shot at getting in dental school this cycle? I have a lot of EC's, and I think my LOR's will be good, and ...I'm an exceptional writer so I know my personal statement will be good. Thanks in advance for helping me out guys, you're all appreciated.
 
Haha, thanks. By 'overkill', are you referring to my EC's? I honestly don't think I've done too much over the past few years. In fact, I would say that my list of activities pales in comparison to some of the other Bruins that I've met. A lot of the stuff I listed are common activities for UCLA pre-health students. I wouldn't say I've done anything sensationally unique... I just like to get things done. And don't worry. You don't have to compare yourself to anyone. Every application has its strong points and weak points; you just have to focus on highlighting the former. Good luck this cycle!

not jus the ec's

your dat scores and gpa are extremely impressive

i know my gpa is great, but no dat scores yet...im going to aim for the sky, but i think my sky ends somewhere in the mid 20's

:laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh:
 
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