How can AADSAS limit LORs to 4?

[Hysteria24]

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How can Aadsas limit LORs to 4?

I was going through my list of schools and their LOR requirements, and came up with quite a list of required letters.

Here are some of the required letters I will need:
-3 science proffs (Columbia, Pitt)
-1 liberal arts proff (Nova)
-1 dentist (many)

So by my count, I need 5 total in order to apply to these schools, since they are all required.

If someone were a non-science major, they would at least need one additional letter for Penn, who requires 2 from proffs in the applicant’s major (one already counted from Nova’s liberal arts proff requirement).

I was considering using the letter forwarding service at my school, however I found while scanning the schools' websites that there are some schools who specifically state to use aadsass and not send them directly to the school. Additionally not everyone has this option at his/her school, and will be forced to use aadsas.

Aadsas 4 letter limit…. Your thoughts? 😕

 

[blasterx]

How can Aadsas limit LORs to 4?

I was going through my list of schools and their LOR requirements, and came up with quite a list of required letters.

Here are some of the required letters I will need:
-3 science proffs (Columbia, Pitt)
-1 liberal arts proff (Nova)
-1 dentist (many)

So by my count, I need 5 total in order to apply to these schools, since they are all required.

If someone were a non-science major, they would at least need one additional letter for Penn, who requires 2 from proffs in the applicant’s major (one already counted from Nova’s liberal arts proff requirement).

I was considering using the letter forwarding service at my school, however I found while scanning the schools' websites that there are some schools who specifically state to use aadsass and not send them directly to the school. Additionally not everyone has this option at his/her school, and will be forced to use aadsas.

Aadsas 4 letter limit…. Your thoughts? 😕

 

[Hysteria24]

I'm not looking for sympathy, or for someone to listen to me complain (which I am not). Rather, I'm just simply pointing out the new stipulation that doesn't make much sense, and may affect some future applicants.

 

[wizziefiend]

I’m not looking for sympathy, or for someone to listen to me complain (which I am not). Rather, I’m just simply pointing out new stipulation that doesn’t make much sense, and may affect some future applicants.

Sucks. Do a google search for services that compile letters for grad schools and the like. They do exist. Or, check with your school's prehealth office...might be of some use. Or, if one school has a very specific letter than nowhere else needs, just send it direct to them from the letter writer.

Good luck though....I know I had 9 letters total for my app but I didn't use AADSAS. My ugrad had its own little service.

 

[ElectraOnAzalea]

actually, that's a good point. I'm already having one chemistry, one physics, and one biology professor write my LOR's, and now i look and see that i need a liberal arts professor as well for nova? Somehow i missed that. This is going to be difficult since i haven't really had a chance to get to know any of my liberal arts profs since usually i only have them for one semester.

Does anyone know if this is an absolute necessity for Nova? I was thinking of getting a dentist to write one too, and now i'm confused. Blah.

 

[wizziefiend]

actually, that's a good point. I'm already having one chemistry, one physics, and one biology professor write my LOR's, and now i look and see that i need a liberal arts professor as well for nova? Somehow i missed that. This is going to be difficult since i haven't really had a chance to get to know any of my liberal arts profs since usually i only have them for one semester.

Does anyone know if this is an absolute necessity for Nova? I was thinking of getting a dentist to write one too, and now i'm confused. Blah.

It's really easy for them to reject you if you don't follow even the smallest of instructions. Not giving them a letter is pretty big.

And about not knowing...you won't be the first random person to ask them for a letter....they're used to it.

 

[jackbauer!]

👎 👎 👎

i agree with the OP. putting a limit on LORs is ridiculous!! we pay AADSAS out the ass to process our applications. not only are they generally slow, but on top of that they are limiting the number of LORs they will process??

AADSAS is a necessary evil, unfortunately. their site is constantly being hacked and often times unavailable. in addition, most schools don't even update the status of your application on AADSAS.

boooo AADSAS, boooooooooooo

jb!🙂

 

[Hysteria24]

ElectraOnAzalea's case is my point exactly... I don’t think the new limit was given sufficient thought in regards to the many different school requirements.

 

[ElectraOnAzalea]

so this could be a letter from an english, history, political science professor? Anything that isn't math or science, right?

 

[ElectraOnAzalea]

Nova's Website

"Two of these should be from science instructors and the other one from a liberal l arts instructor. If possible, these letters should be from faculty who know the applicant’s scholastic abilities and personal character; otherwise, they should be from individuals (nonrelatives) who can provide an evaluation to the committee on admissions."

Otherwise they should be from individuals who can provide the evaluation. Now they are making this too ambiguous. It says two from science one from liberal arts, then it goes on to say ideally the letter writes should know the applicant. Does this mean if the letter write does not know the applicant they should write the letter and they should get someone who does know them to write it?

I might have to call the school and clarify this for myself.

 

[dmd2011]

👎 👎 👎

i agree with the OP. putting a limit on LORs is ridiculous!! we pay AADSAS out the ass to process our applications. not only are they generally slow, but on top of that they are limiting the number of LORs they will process??

AADSAS is a necessary evil, unfortunately. their site is constantly being hacked and often times unavailable. in addition, most schools don't even update the status of your application on AADSAS.

boooo AADSAS, boooooooooooo

jb!🙂

i agree that AADSAS should process the letters necessary for each school. However, there are many "gunner" applicants who would send 10+ letters if they could which would slow down the processing of everyone's applications. they had to draw the line somewhere, only 4 is just too few.

 

[Hysteria24]

Nova's Website

"Two of these should be from science instructors and the other one from a liberal l arts instructor. If possible, these letters should be from faculty who know the applicant’s scholastic abilities and personal character; otherwise, they should be from individuals (nonrelatives) who can provide an evaluation to the committee on admissions."

Otherwise they should be from individuals who can provide the evaluation. Now they are making this too ambiguous. It says two from science one from liberal arts, then it goes on to say ideally the letter writes should know the applicant. Does this mean if the letter write does not know the applicant they should write the letter and they should get someone who does know them to write it?

I might have to call the school and clarify this for myself.

At first I took it as you should get proffs who know you well, and if there aren’t any, then any proff who meets the requirement (for either science or liberal arts) will work. But now after re-reading it, it almost seems like if you cannot get any proffs who know you well and will fulfill the requirement, then get any non-relative who can provide some evaluation to the committee. But that would make the requirements not required, just recommended. If you call, let me know.



And, Dmd2011, I agree that’s why they made the limit.

 

[Duysal]

Where does it state the 4 letter limit???? And is this now in effect for 2008 cycle applicants???

 

[ElectraOnAzalea]

Where does it state the 4 letter limit???? And is this now in effect for 2008 cycle applicants???

• New for 2008:

• AADSAS accepts and processes:
  

A maximum of individual four letters of evaluation

or

One Pre-dental Committee Report/Letter*, plus the option of one additional letter of evaluation.

 

[1992Corolla]

4 letter limit!!!?!?!?! That seriously brings aadsas down a couple of notchs in my book. I would suggest making a chart listing all your schools and the letters of rec that they want. The top 4 go to AADSAS and the random ones get sent personally to the school.

AADSAS board meeting:

"How can we make our job easier (by being more lazy) and make it harder for the applicant?"

I bet they hire temps during the hot season who could care less about Joe Student and his strenuous attempt at getting into school...

 

[dmd2011]

• New for 2008:

• AADSAS accepts and processes:
  

A maximum of individual four letters of evaluation

or

One Pre-dental Committee Report/Letter*, plus the option of one additional letter of evaluation.

if your school has a committee, go through that. it makes things 10X easier.

 

[burton117]

I agree that the number of LORs is pretty dumb. They didn't have a limit before and I am definitely sure that was a problem with those gunners sending out 10 LORs. So, I am in agreement that a limit on LORs is needed.

However, AADSAS has obviously set the limit too low. With the average applicant applying to 10 or more schools, fulfilling the MINIMUM requirements for these schools can easily be 6 letters as discussed above.

If enough concerned applicants contacted AADSAS and explained the need to increase the limit to 6, I bet they would be willing to consider changing the limit for LORs before the next cycle.

AADSAS
1400 K Street NW, Suite 1100
Washington, DC 20005
Email: [email protected]
Telephone: (800) 353-2237 or (202) 289-8123
Customer Service Representatives
Hours of Operations
Monday - Friday
9:00 am - 4:30 pm - Eastern Time
​

Just like when you write your congressman, anybody want to post a sample letter for anybody to cut and paste and thus email or mail to AADSAS? Just an idea!​

 

[reapply2007]

http://www.interfolio.com/

Yes, you pay a fee, but they will copy and forward your entire pile of LORs, or part of your pile, to every school you apply to, when you ask them to do it. I have no interest in the website but it would have helped when I was putting my application together.

You can even archive LORs. For example, you take gen chem this year and get a LOR sent to interfolio this year. You take o chem next year and have the LOR sent to interfolio next year. You take biochem the year after that and have the LOR sent to interfolio. Then when you apply, interfolio mails copies of all three LORs directly to the schools you want. Again, yes you'll need to pay for the service but this it might be worth it if your career services office at your school doesn't already do this for you.

 

[Fonz]

I am doing the whole Committee thing but hopefully thier letter is really good at combining all the stuff my evaluators said. hmm its weird though because the committee is also supposed to be a letter filiing service that will send the all letters in your packet plus the letter they for you. I guess i have to request they only send their letter and one of my choice? that seems like a waste...

 

[burton117]

http://www.interfolio.com/

Yes, you pay a fee, but they will copy and forward your entire pile of LORs, or part of your pile, to every school you apply to, when you ask them to do it. I have no interest in the website but it would have helped when I was putting my application together.

You can even archive LORs. For example, you take gen chem this year and get a LOR sent to interfolio this year. You take o chem next year and have the LOR sent to interfolio next year. You take biochem the year after that and have the LOR sent to interfolio. Then when you apply, interfolio mails copies of all three LORs directly to the schools you want. Again, yes you'll need to pay for the service but this it might be worth it if your career services office at your school doesn't already do this for you.

Do any dental schools have a problem with using interfolio? Or does AADSAS for that matter?

It sounds like a good solution, but if dental schools are not going to accept LORs from interfolio, then it would be pointless to use the service. It is especially annoying as we are already paying AADSAS to do the very same thing.

Anybody have any experience with using Interfolio from previous cycles?

 

[rocknightmare]

i recommend interfolio myself.. if i were you guys i wouldn't trust aadsas with anything, giving them the responsibility of delivering 4 or 5 extra sheets of papers is crazy

 

[Fonz]

i recommend interfolio myself.. if i were you guys i wouldn't trust aadsas with anything, giving them the responsibility of delivering 4 or 5 extra sheets of papers is crazy

So have you used interfolio? Would you even bother sending any letter to AADSAS then? Hmm im wondering if i should just have my pre-health committee/letter filing service to just send all the letters directly to the d-schools...

 

[polf]

My pre-dent committee report includes 4 faculty letters, so 1 additional letter added to that means 6 letters total (including one from the pre-dent advisor). lucky me 🙂


"One Pre-dental Committee Report/Letter*, plus the option of one additional letter of evaluation.

*A Pre-dental Committee Report /Letter is often written by a pre-dental advisor. It can include the advisor’s own letter plus individual letters/comments written by faculty members, dentists and others who have personal knowledge of the applicant’s abilities and interests.

(NOTE: Providing the one additional letter of evaluation in addition to a Pre-dental Committee Report/Letter is generally not necessary. AADSAS has created this option for applicants whose Pre-dental Committee Report does not include a letter that may be required by a particular dental school, e.g., from a practicing dentist)."

 

[Hysteria24]

The added benefit of having a committee letter is that you are generally exempt from sending the required letters. Most school sites state that a committee letter is preferred and will be sufficient, but for students attending schools that do not write committee letters, then they should submit the specified individual required letters.

I thought I was golden being able to attain a committee letter at my school, but due to budget cuts this year guess what got the ax. Now I’ve been scrambling, putting together plan B.

 

[dmd2011]

The added benefit of having a committee letter is that you are generally exempt from sending the required letters. Most school sites state that a committee letter is preferred and will be sufficient, but for students attending schools that do not write committee letters, then they should submit the specified individual required letters.

I thought I was golden being able to attain a committee letter at my school, but due to budget cuts this year guess what got the ax. Now I've been scrambling, putting together plan B.

that is a bad break. i do think most schools prefer a committee recommendation because it is the opinion of several people, not just one person. plus, doing the committee interview gives you practice for dental school interviews. that said, i dont think it will hurt your application by just submitting the letters from individual professors.

 

[HurricaneAlana]

is there any way for those writing letters for me to send them in, and them be on file, without be being able to read them? I know some professors require that their recommendation letters to not be read by the applicant...

and i just don't know that i'll make it in type for 08 cycle 🙁

 

[Fonz]

My pre-dent committee report includes 4 faculty letters, so 1 additional letter added to that means 6 letters total (including one from the pre-dent advisor). lucky me 🙂


"One Pre-dental Committee Report/Letter*, plus the option of one additional letter of evaluation.

*A Pre-dental Committee Report /Letter is often written by a pre-dental advisor. It can include the advisor’s own letter plus individual letters/comments written by faculty members, dentists and others who have personal knowledge of the applicant’s abilities and interests.

(NOTE: Providing the one additional letter of evaluation in addition to a Pre-dental Committee Report/Letter is generally not necessary. AADSAS has created this option for applicants whose Pre-dental Committee Report does not include a letter that may be required by a particular dental school, e.g., from a practicing dentist)."

oh ok so as long as all the letters are in the committee packet you can send as many as you want pretty much. 👍 👍 👍
I guess I just didn't read the note well enough. But I got a 25 on RC?!?!?! A fluke I guess hehehe

 

[Fonz]

Nova's Website

"Two of these should be from science instructors and the other one from a liberal l arts instructor. If possible, these letters should be from faculty who know the applicant's scholastic abilities and personal character; otherwise, they should be from individuals (nonrelatives) who can provide an evaluation to the committee on admissions."

Otherwise they should be from individuals who can provide the evaluation. Now they are making this too ambiguous. It says two from science one from liberal arts, then it goes on to say ideally the letter writes should know the applicant. Does this mean if the letter write does not know the applicant they should write the letter and they should get someone who does know them to write it?

I might have to call the school and clarify this for myself.

This is what I got off the NOVA website:


"If a pre-health comitee evaluation cannot be provided, three individual letters of evaluation from undergraduate instructors may be sent to NSU (if they were not previously evaluation forms submitted to AADSAS). Two of these should be from science instructors and the other one from a liberal l arts instructor. If possible, these letters should be from faculty who know the applicant's scholastic abilities and personal character; otherwise, they should be from individuals (nonrelatives) who can provide an evaluation to the committee on admissions. Dental LOR highly recomended but not required"

The pre-health committee puts me in the clear. But really by the way they word it I would think they are pretty open as far as evaluators go because everything is recommended but not required.

 

[DentalHope]

What’s the point? Ask anyone in any application review board, all the letters are basically the same. It’s dumb not to have a limit, its just going to speed up the process that is slowed by you people above who think its fine to send ten letters common. Even four is a lot THEY ARE ALL ABOUT THE SAME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[jackbauer!]

What’s the point? Ask anyone in any application review board, all the letters are basically the same. It’s dumb not to have a limit, its just going to speed up the process that is slowed by you people above who think its fine to send ten letters common. Even four is a lot THEY ARE ALL ABOUT THE SAME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

you, sir, are clueless 😴

 

[Nasem]

👎 👎 👎

i agree with the OP. putting a limit on LORs is ridiculous!! we pay AADSAS out the ass to process our applications. not only are they generally slow, but on top of that they are limiting the number of LORs they will process??

AADSAS is a necessary evil, unfortunately. their site is constantly being hacked and often times unavailable. in addition, most schools don't even update the status of your application on AADSAS.

boooo AADSAS, boooooooooooo

jb!🙂

Do you mean like... we litterally pay them from our asses? cause if thats the case YOU JUST GAVE ME A WHOLE NEW WAY TO PAY FOR MY DENTAL APPLICATION PROCESS 🙂

 

[Veneto]

i recommend interfolio myself.. if i were you guys i wouldn't trust aadsas with anything, giving them the responsibility of delivering 4 or 5 extra sheets of papers is crazy

👎 👎 👎

i agree with the OP. putting a limit on LORs is ridiculous!! we pay AADSAS out the ass to process our applications. not only are they generally slow, but on top of that they are limiting the number of LORs they will process??

AADSAS is a necessary evil, unfortunately. their site is constantly being hacked and often times unavailable. in addition, most schools don't even update the status of your application on AADSAS.

boooo AADSAS, boooooooooooo

jb!🙂

To third both of these responses AADSAS is a horribly slow, waste of money, letter, DAT, and transcript losing dictatorship. I only say this because during my three application cycles they have done at least one or all of these things. Since the Bush Administration is so proficient at dispaching and ridding the world of evil, horrible dictatorships I am personally asking President Bush to go and relieve AADSAS of their monopoly on the application process. In the end though funding will probably get held up in Congress. So to answer the OP's question I would send all of the letters directly to the schools, so AADSAS has their hand in as little as possible of your application. The less they have the less they can screw up.

 

[DentalHope]

you, sir, are clueless 😴

Its not from me buddy, it's from 4 differnt DEAN'S OF DENTAL SCHOOLS and doctors, so I guess they are clueless about what THEY WANT! Way to fail buddy.

 

[HurricaneAlana]

so if you decide to send them in yourself to the individual schools, does a form need to be sent in along with them?

 

[jorUW]

To answer the OP's original question. My school, like yours, has a LOR service through our career center similar to interfolio. Like everyone has said, AADSAS has its flaws, the worst of which is losing LORs or even failing to send them to each of your schools.

I sent my LORs directly to schools (even to those that say don't ie Pitt) from my career center and had no problem getting interviews and acceptances. Use your schools service and save yourself the trouble of tracking your LORs first to AADSAS and than from AADSAS to each one of your schools. Good luck to all of you applying next cycle

 

[Hysteria24]

I sent my LORs directly to schools (even to those that say don't ie Pitt) from my career center and had no problem getting interviews and acceptances. Use your schools service and save yourself the trouble of tracking your LORs first to AADSAS and than from AADSAS to each one of your schools. Good luck to all of you applying next cycle

Thanks, that's what I wanted to hear. Stories of applicants having no problems sending letters to schools directly that specifically state to go through AADSAS.

What's the point? Ask anyone in any application review board, all the letters are basically the same. It's dumb not to have a limit, its just going to speed up the process that is slowed by you people above who think its fine to send ten letters common. Even four is a lot THEY ARE ALL ABOUT THE SAME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I agree that they can get repetitive, especially if 5, 6, 7 letters are sent to the same school. But my original post stated that in order to meet the basic letter requirements of the schools that I'm applying to, I would need a minimum of five, putting me over the new AADSAS limit.

If the "application review boards" really think the letters are all basically the same, then why are they so specific on the letters they request? If they dropped the specific requirements, then there would be absolutely no reason to go above the limit.

 

[jackbauer!]

Its not from me buddy, it's from 4 differnt DEAN'S OF DENTAL SCHOOLS and doctors, so I guess they are clueless about what THEY WANT! Way to fail buddy.

ok buddy... i'm not disagreeing with the fact that anything more than the minimum # of LORs is extraneous, but every school has a different LOR requirement. some want 3 science, some want 2 science and a liberal arts, some want 3 science encompassing bio/chem/physics or math.... not to mention that it's pretty much an unwritten rule that you need a LOR from a dentist for some additional pull.

with that said, i think my application required 5 or 6 LORs just to meet the min. requirements of all the schools i applied to. for AADSAS to place the limit at 4 is ridiculous. we pay this bureaucratic monopoly (aka AADSAS) anywhere from $500-$1000+ to do something we could do ourselves for practically free.

bottom line is that AADSAS is a lazy monopoly and there is nothing we can do about it. is there a limit needed? certainly. should the limit be 4 LORs? hell noooo... jb!🙂

 

[CSI Dentist]

why not just apply through your undergrad HPO, that way you can have ten letters, compiled into one, and maybe one letter from a dentist in addition to the HPO letter.

 

[jackbauer!]

why not just apply through your undergrad HPO, that way you can have ten letters, compiled into one, and maybe one letter from a dentist in addition to the HPO letter.

not all schools have a HPO. Mine did, but they only compiled a composite letter for pre-meds and no other pre-professionals 🙄

jb!🙂

 

[Mstoothlady2012]

Hi guys i already have 3 LORs but i am planning on getting 1 more at the end of summer for my another science prof requirement....does this mean that my application will count incomplete?
thanks!

​

 

[tamkhan]

this is obviously ridiculous stuff from aadsas. is it not possible for you guys to send LORS directly to schools.
I am sure schools will take note of this limit and, either change their LOR reqs, or allow applicants to send in the letters on their own.