HELP! all i want to do is submit AADSAS but I can't cuz of LOE/hours

[Dentalicous1234]

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my app is all done and i want to submit but I can't cuz my dentist office finally got back to me and said they wouldn't write me a letter cuz i haven't been in for a long enough time. I was hoping they would just write me a general letter right now so i can put something down and send in AADASAS so they can start processing it and then i promised i'd come in for weeks after my DAT to make it up and actually do the rest of the hours and thne just update that for my schools. but they said no it hasn't been long enough

i know it's probably better cuz i dont' want someone writing me a bad letter just for the sake of writing a letter when they ddon't wanna write me one but what do i do now! I take DATs soon and I can't just take off 2-3 weeks to go shadow more which is what they expect before writing a letter. i completely understand their situation but dunno what do to now

🙁 please help it's sad to see everyone getting interview invites and even rejections and getting this whole things started when I havne't even submitted my app yet and now i just found out i can't now cuz of this hold up and gotta think of something elese.....ANY advice?

 

[reapply2007]

Put the shadow time estimate on AADSAS, put in the LOE information. Submit AADSAS today. AADSAS will not delay mailing out the application if all that is missing are LORs. Then, after the DAT, go and shadow for enough hours to get your dentist comfortable writing a LOR that verifies your hours and snail/e-mail in the LOR.

 

[Dentalicous1234]

they made it sound like i gotta do it for like a year or something though cuz the weekS i suggested i'd do still didn't convince them. i'm afraid now when after DATs i put in hours and with them that even when i go and ask them after 2-3 weeks they'll still say no and i can't afford to delay then too.

i think i'd rather just figure out somethign else now or do something with another practice maybe one that doesn't expect me to be do a year of shadowing for a letter. i just dunno what the fastest action would be cuz i just wanna submit. i've been doing nothing but apps and stopped studying DATs for it and now i can't even submit it now

 

[ddhm]

try to cheer up about your situation, dentalicious. here's my suggestion -- submit your app as soon as possible. for dental experience, state that you will do some shadowing in the very near future. it would be best if you include the name of the dentist you'll be shadowing and estimated number of hours you expect to shadow. i don't know when you scheduled your DAT, but if it's less than a month, i think you should use your time to just study for that. if it's gonna be more than a month away, then you could resume your shadowing now and divide your time between shadowing and studying. hopefully, you'll get to know your dentist a little better to request a letter by around september or so. by that time, your schools should have received your app, so they'll just be waiting for your letter. so don't delay your app just because your letter isn't there yet.

another option might be to apply to schools that don't specifically ask for a dentist letter.

i hope i've helped you out some. cheer up and good luck!!

 

[DMDreaming]

I agree with the previous poster. Also, I like your idea shadowing another dentist if you're sure this one won't write a letter until you've shadowed for a year. Don't worry. Something will work out for you and you will be fine.

 

[reapply2007]

I would document the hours done already on AADSAS and then either get the current dentist to verify the hours after additional shadowing or get a different dentist and start from scratch. You can put the new dentist on your secondary applications.

You should also check your schools and see if a dentist LOR is mandatory or if it is a nice addition. You can have the LOR sent directly to the schools or use a forwarding service like Interfolio to get it reliably forwarded to schools. Since AADSAS needs to be submitted soon, timing makes a private forwarding service more useful for your situation.

Either way, call the old dentist and tell them you would like to shadow more and would also like a LOR. If the answer is no then start over with the same conversation with another dentist.

 

[Dentalicous1234]

i think you guys are right. I really just need to submit. I will put that I went in for 20 hrs with this dentist but not him for my LOE. I will not put a dentist in as one of my evaluators right now but put anticpated hours with the secod dentist that i will shadow for 2 weeks in august and then ask him to write a leter and hopefully he will say yes if not at least i will have at least made my hours count legit and use a forwarding service or just give him envelopes and ask to send the letter to all my schools.

i know i need a letter cuz my state school (VCU) only one here requires it and i gotta apply there. I'm taking DATs end of july and can shadow the second i get done and will shadow then. i just hope the new dentist agrees for a letter after at least 2 weeks so that way his letter can be send out like before august 15th and probably just have to play a little bit of catch up with my AADSAS apps and my DAT scores...it will probably end up getting there all together even if I dont' have them listed as LOE...the issue is just how manyhorus to put for the new guy without doing them yet.

worst case sceanario - i write 2 weeks down now and for some reason he doesn't let me do 2 weeks. then what woudl i do? could i just tell my schools i aniticipated that and tha'ts why i put it based on our convos but it didn't happen like that so please edit it...god that sounds like such a bad red flag 🙁

ugh what's the best thing to do? just submit with current and anticipated hours and not list a dentist for LOE is what i'm concluding so far? plllleaseeee help cuz i think i am gonna submit tonite, i've waited so long i just want it submitted 🙁

 

[dackmonkey]

i would say, call the AADSAS and see what they have to say about the anticipated hours. i dunno if they can shed some light on the situation, but it's worth a shot. personally, if i were you, i'd do what others suggested and just write down how many hours you expect, and then if anyone asks about it, just clarify. i don't think it's necessarily a red flag, just be honest and they will know you're not bsing.

 

[Dentalicous1234]

thank you guys for all your responses! i'm really sorry i'm being such a nervous wreck i just realllyyy want to send it and was worried that it looked awful that I don't have a letter from a dentist. How bad does this look? Did any of you NOT send in a letter?

It seems like such a given that if you want to be a dentist you should at least be able to shadow one and get a letter so it's makeing me upset that I can't even do this much already, but it's only cuz of time constraints and studying for DATs. It just puts more pressure on DATs i guess and makes me feel like one more part of my app is not stellar like everyone else's that do have dentist letters to begin with.

 

[reapply2007]

Last year you could add LOR requests after you submitted. There was nothing else that could be changed on AADSAS. But, you can always use a commercial forwarding service such as interfolio or send in a pile of letters snail mail to each school for the ultimate dentist LOR. There is nothing magical about the dentist LOR going through AADSAS.

Ultimately 50-80 hours of shadowing is enough to get your feet wet. If you are worried about an accurate number than put into AADSAS the minimum you'll do and update the actual number on the secondary or on a letter to the admissions office once you are done. You could also use the letter to indicate your dentist LOR is/is not coming through AADSAS or whatever other service you'll be using.

 

[lemoncurry]

you can still add/delete LORs after submission unless they have already been received.

 

[Dentalicous1234]

awesome thank you guys! i guess i should just submit then and not even list a dentist in the LOE area but just list them in the dental experience area. Should i try to ask another science professor for a rec so i'm still sending 4 through aadsas? did any of you just send in 3? i guess that would total 5 though once my dentist sends it in later hopefully, tha'ts a lot then i think

so far i have

physics prof
food microbio prof
business prof

next person on prof list: cell microbio prof (if the others continue to be slow)

 

[lemoncurry]

remember, you can only have a total of 4 LORs sent through AADSAS if you don't use a committee letter.

 

[Dentalicous1234]

ALL RIGHT thank you guys! this helped so much! i am gonna submit it with the anticipated hours for the new dentist. will they ask for verification from everyone i list under dental experience though? in that case i will try to go back to the first dentist to make a better impression so that they're more inclined to fill out the verification forms, but if schools only check with one dentist for your hours then i will just go to the new guy and not list any more hours for the old one...

so can anyone plz tell me do they verify with everyone or just one dentist?

 

[goodcook]

I'm kind of in the same boat. I have an LOR from my dentist, but I don't have enough shadowing hours (20hrs). I think a couple schools have 30-40 hr shadow minimums. I am planning on shadowing more in a month or two, so I think I'll throw that in on AADSAS.

 

[Dentalicous1234]

thanks for all your help, i finally submitted it w/o stating a dentist letter in LOE and will just get one after i finish shadowing after DATs at the end of this month👍

 

[albodent]

Go to a new dentist and tell him your situation. They have nothing to lose by writing you an early letter.