Committee Letter Problems

[Cheesecake1]

---

Members do not see this ad.

Hello everyone,

So, today I found out that I may not be able to get a committee letter by June 1st... I thought I had everything set - application for committee letter interview sent in to my school's health professions office weeks ago, plenty of letters of recommendations- everything!! except... my DAT score.

I am taking my DAT in the middle of June (long story as to why it got pushed back to so late), and HPO apparently won't consider me for an interview until I have my DAT scores in. They told me they didn't want to have the trouble of having to do a lot of paperwork (? what? I don't know...) if my DAT scores didn't end up meeting the requirements.

I was planning to apply as soon as possible once the application comes out this June, but now I might have to delay submitting my application in to maybe the end of July because, who knows if and when I'll be scheduled for an interview for my committee letter after I send my DAT scores to HPO?

What should I do? Should I just forget about the committee letter? or should I wait to get a committee letter and apply to dental schools later in the summer?

Thank you. 🙁

 

[gnleff]

The best solution is to submit everything you have once you take the DAT.

You can always submit your committee letter later even after you submitted your app on aadsas.

 

[larrylu]

If you get you score mid/early july, and then go through the whole committee interview process. And if you can, say get the letter in 2 week after your interview( really depending how fast your HPO write the letter) it's still early august maybe late july. So if you are pretty confident about your GPA and DAT score. Go ahead submit you AADSAS and wait for the committee letter. Cause early august is not terribly late.
But if your GPA and DAT(I mean you find out the day you take you test) are average or maybe below. I'd say just get individual letters.
Thats what I'd do if I were you man. I got my committee interview last week. I took my DAT during spring break. But school's committee do C. letter with/without official DAT scores.

 

[Cheesecake1]

So I should wait for the committee letter? :S

I can't believe my school won't do my committee letter because I don't have my DAT scores yet.. I didn't know that they would do that. It's really frustrating.

 

[kingenamel]

So I should wait for the committee letter? :S

I can't believe my school won't do my committee letter because I don't have my DAT scores yet.. I didn't know that they would do that. It's really frustrating.

My school didn't complete my committee letter without my DAT score either.

 

[Cheesecake1]

My school didn't complete my committee letter without my DAT score either.

Agh

 

[kingenamel]

Agh

Ya they really took their sweet time after preaching how important it is to turn in everything early lol

Feel your pain

 

[djd0516]

Most schools won't do a committee letter without test scores. I submitted my primary application mid june, took the DAT july 31, and my committee letter wasn't done until the end of september. I still got six interviews and accepted to my top choice. You'll be fine; a later app with a good committee letter is better than an earlier app with individual letters in my opinion. Just think...instead of professors and a dentist recommending you (who will obviously write letters in your favor), you'll have your university providing a systematic review in an unbiased manner. What would help you evaluate a student better if you were part of an adcom?

That being said, I agree with @larrylu that if your DAT and GPA are average or low, then definitely get in there as early as possible with individual letters.

 

[Cheesecake1]

Most schools won't do a committee letter without test scores. I submitted my primary application mid june, took the DAT july 31, and my committee letter wasn't done until the end of september. I still got six interviews and accepted to my top choice. You'll be fine; a later app with a good committee letter is better than an earlier app with individual letters in my opinion. Just think...instead of professors and a dentist recommending you (who will obviously write letters in your favor), you'll have your university providing a systematic review in an unbiased manner. What would help you evaluate a student better if you were part of an adcom?

That being said, I agree with @larrylu that if your DAT and GPA are average or low, then definitely get in there as early as possible with individual letters.

Oh wow. Can you really do that? Submit the application, then submit DAT scores, THEN committee letter? What did you do for the part for letters of recommendation 😳

 

[kingenamel]

You put down committee for the letter option, and it will give you a box to put the email address of your pre-health advisor or whoever is in charge of it and they will be sent an email to submit the committee letter for you. Once they actually do it, the status will change on AADSAS to "completed"

 

[djd0516]

Oh wow. Can you really do that? Submit the application, then submit DAT scores, THEN committee letter? What did you do for the part for letters of recommendation 😳

Yeah you can definitely do that. After you submit your AADSAS application, most things can't be changed such as personal statement, professional experience, etc. You CAN add DAT scores and evaluators pretty much anytime after you submit your app. Your evaluators don't need to have your letters complete for you to submit your application. The best idea is to get your primary submitted ASAP so they can verify your transcripts and coursework.

 

[hitmans45]

I didn't know this was a thing. My school didn't need my DAT at all. I think it all depends on how fast they will crank out the letter. You should ask them about a time frame. I'm sure you'll do fine on the DAT so that would be my primary concern. If its an unacceptable amount of time, take the LORs you've collected and use those instead. But if you can get it before September, I say submit what you can and wait it out. I've heard stories of schools taking months to complete letters. Find out and good luck!

 

[Cheesecake1]

You put down committee for the letter option, and it will give you a box to put the email address of your pre-health advisor or whoever is in charge of it and they will be sent an email to submit the committee letter for you. Once they actually do it, the status will change on AADSAS to "completed"

Yeah you can definitely do that. After you submit your AADSAS application, most things can't be changed such as personal statement, professional experience, etc. You CAN add DAT scores and evaluators pretty much anytime after you submit your app. Your evaluators don't need to have your letters complete for you to submit your application. The best idea is to get your primary submitted ASAP so they can verify your transcripts and coursework.

Omg. That makes me feel a whole lot better about this situation. Thank you so much everyone. I will see what I'll do about this entire situation during the summer

 

[Cheesecake1]

I didn't know this was a thing. My school didn't need my DAT at all. I think it all depends on how fast they will crank out the letter. You should ask them about a time frame. I'm sure you'll do fine on the DAT so that would be my primary concern. If its an unacceptable amount of time, take the LORs you've collected and use those instead. But if you can get it before September, I say submit what you can and wait it out. I've heard stories of schools taking months to complete letters. Find out and good luck!

Good idea. I will definitely go and ask how long it would take them to write and send the letters. Thank you! 🙂