Extracurricular activities and letters of recommendation

[wlee009]

Hi.. I just joined SDN today and this is my very first posting.
I have a few questions about extracurricular activities and letters of recommendation:
1. I am an extremely passive student, and I haven't had any extracurricular activities, haven't joined any clubs, was not involved in any research, have no job experience, and haven't shadowed any dentist. All I did was volunteering at a local hospital for 4 months (56 hrs so far), which I'm still doing right now. I'm a junior right now, and I will be applying for dental schools this summer. Will I be able to get in to any of the dental schools (my GPA is ~3.5, haven't took DAT yet) with my extremely weak extracurricular activities, especially in CA? If I join an honor society right now, will it make me a little better applicant? Wouldn't it be too late?

2. Since all of the classes that I took in my university was big (more than 150 people), I really didn't have a chance to get to know my professors. But now, I need to get letters of recommendation from them. How do I obtain letters of recommendation from the professor who doesn't know me?

What should I do?????

Thank you in advance for your time.

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[whiskeysour]

Hi.. I just joined SDN today and this is my very first posting.
I have a few questions about extracurricular activities and letters of recommendation:
1. I am an extremely passive student, and I haven't had any extracurricular activities, haven't joined any clubs, was not involved in any research, have no job experience, and haven't shadowed any dentist. All I did was volunteering at a local hospital for 4 months (56 hrs so far), which I'm still doing right now. I'm a junior right now, and I will be applying for dental schools this summer. Will I be able to get in to any of the dental schools (my GPA is ~3.5, haven't took DAT yet) with my extremely weak extracurricular activities, especially in CA? If I join an honor society right now, will it make me a little better applicant? Wouldn't it be too late?

Stop volunteering at the hospital and ask your dentist if you can shadow them. It's kinda late to get involved in EC's, but try to get as much dental experience as possible.

2. Since all of the classes that I took in my university was big (more than 150 people), I really didn't have a chance to get to know my professors. But now, I need to get letters of recommendation from them. How do I obtain letters of recommendation from the professor who doesn't know me?

What should I do?????

Thank you in advance for your time.

Start visiting their office hours NOW. If your not confused, act confused. Then ace the tests. Make sure they know you by name. Being passive is not an excuse for not getting letters. Letters are a requirement, so get em! Obviously your grades and DAT are key, but there is much more your going to have to do. You realize this, so it's up to you to step it up. 🙂

 

[INFNITE]

well, just do what you can with the time you have. If there is one thing you really need to do, it would be dental shadowing. Just get as many hours in as you can before you actually apply, and continue to do these extra curriculars even after these things are sent in. If interviewers ask you about it, you can at least say you are currently doing this and that, so it won't be THAT bad. What did you do during the past summers anyway?

As far as recommendation letter, you can definitely get one from your advisor, who should know you quite well. Do your large lecture classes have recitation sections or labs? You can ask your TA to write a recommendation letter, and they would get the professor to sign it. This occurs pretty often for large large classes. I mean, it doesn't hurt to ask. Professors are always willing to help students, so if you did well in a particular class, just ask the professor, say you enjoyed the class, blah blah, and ask if he/she can write you a rec letter. Even if they don't know you all that well, just give them your personal statement and arrange a meeting or something. There's bound to be at least one or two professors who will be willing to help write your rec letter.
Good luck