Few questions

[KyoPhan]

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Greetings, I'm planning on taking the dat probably late June. However, I still need to do shadowing. I was hoping to do this after the DAT is done. So I may be able to get the LOR from the dentist by early-mid July possibly.

My question is whether I will make it in time to apply for this cycle? Or should I wait until next cycle?

Also, if I'm indeed not too late, should I start requesting my LOR from my professors now, and if so, when do I tell them the deadline is for them to write it?

Thanks everyone. I appreciate it.

 

[4thMolar]

You definitely need to start contacting professors for LOR purposes NOW. It will take time for professors to reply to you, set up a time to meet with you, and also write an LOR for you. You don't know how busy they are and they can take weeks to months to write you one, which is understandable. You can't expect them to write you one days after a request.

As far as shadowing, I think you should take some time now to contact dentists and shadow a couple of days a week. It may take a long time to find one willing to let you shadow, plus they may take weeks to months submitting an LOR for you. Waiting until the end of June to even start is a bit late in my opinion. Although you should make studying for the DAT your number 1 priority, it won't take too much time out of your day to shadow a couple days a week until you take the DAT.

 

[Assimilation]

Just to clarify, do you need to get some shadowing done solely for the purpose of obtaining a LOR from a dentist, or are you still in the process of accruing enough hours to satisfy admission requirements?

Just to reiterate what 4thMolar said, you need to get the ball rolling with this stuff asap, as things like writing an LOR will take some time, and especially if you still need to build up shadowing hours for your application. If you're dead-set on applying this cycle, expect to be busy.

 

[KyoPhan]

I've done 50 hours of shadowing a random dentist about 2 years ago, but the dentist told me that she wouldn't write me a lor but will confirm that that I've done the hours, which suprised me. But it is my understanding that most schools want a LOR from a dentist?

 

[Maygyver]

First, hopefully you realize you need to schedule your DAT pretty far ahead. You might want to get on that. Also, you can shadow while studying for the DAT; it doesn't take 15 hours a day of studying to do well.

Yes, a lot of schools need an LOR from a dentist. Hopefully you have talked to a dentist more recently. If your shadowing experience is from 2 years ago, that doesn't really look too strong. It's surprising that after spending 50 hours with you, the dentist didn't want to write you an LOR. You should start looking around for another dentist to shadow and mention needing an LOR. Hopefully, the other one just didn't have time to write one.