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- Pre-Dental
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Didn't see a general FAQ thread or anything, so I was wondering if some people could answer a few questions for me?
1) I heard that Dental schools would like their students to work relatively in the area or state that the school is located in. So if my permanent residence is in Virginia, should I not even bother applying to a school in California since it's unlikely I'll work around there?
2) When in your undergraduate career should you apply to Dental school?
3) Is a letter of recommendation from a Dentist really necessary? I volunteer at a free dental clinic where I assist dentists, manage front desk, and do other things not really worth mentioning. The program director there offered to write me a letter or recommendation. Do you guys think that would do in lieu of a letter from a dentist? (of course I could always ask one of the dentists there to write me one, but that's not the point!)
4) How long was the longest time between from when you asked someone to write you a letter of recommendation to when they finally wrote it. I'm currently in second semester of sophomore year, but at the end of last semester, I asked one of my profs to write me a letter. Of course he wanted to finish the ones for seniors first and work down to me, but he hasn't even started on mine yet. Must be really busy, I gave him a bunch of my documents and a picture to help him remember me, and I e-mail him every so often to check up, but pretty soon I'm gonna visit him again to give him an updated resume and hopefully renew our relationship if we can talk some.
5) Would the "rank" of the person writing you a letter have a factor to it's credibility? As in, would a LOR from someone with a PHD or MD or some further education be more valuable than one from a professor who doesn't?
6) Because I'm working at a free clinic, I'm not taking as many credits as I would like, this semester, I'm taking 14 credits and next semester I plan on taking 13, though that would be the last semester I'm working at the clinic so the semester after that would have a higher amount of credits I'm taking. Would Dental schools take into consideration that I'm not taking very many classes these 2 semesters?
1) I heard that Dental schools would like their students to work relatively in the area or state that the school is located in. So if my permanent residence is in Virginia, should I not even bother applying to a school in California since it's unlikely I'll work around there?
2) When in your undergraduate career should you apply to Dental school?
3) Is a letter of recommendation from a Dentist really necessary? I volunteer at a free dental clinic where I assist dentists, manage front desk, and do other things not really worth mentioning. The program director there offered to write me a letter or recommendation. Do you guys think that would do in lieu of a letter from a dentist? (of course I could always ask one of the dentists there to write me one, but that's not the point!)
4) How long was the longest time between from when you asked someone to write you a letter of recommendation to when they finally wrote it. I'm currently in second semester of sophomore year, but at the end of last semester, I asked one of my profs to write me a letter. Of course he wanted to finish the ones for seniors first and work down to me, but he hasn't even started on mine yet. Must be really busy, I gave him a bunch of my documents and a picture to help him remember me, and I e-mail him every so often to check up, but pretty soon I'm gonna visit him again to give him an updated resume and hopefully renew our relationship if we can talk some.
5) Would the "rank" of the person writing you a letter have a factor to it's credibility? As in, would a LOR from someone with a PHD or MD or some further education be more valuable than one from a professor who doesn't?
6) Because I'm working at a free clinic, I'm not taking as many credits as I would like, this semester, I'm taking 14 credits and next semester I plan on taking 13, though that would be the last semester I'm working at the clinic so the semester after that would have a higher amount of credits I'm taking. Would Dental schools take into consideration that I'm not taking very many classes these 2 semesters?
