I really need advice!

[TeddieBelle]

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I just recently started a pre-dental club at my college. Last night we had a meeting and a huge concern for everyone applying this year is the fact that my Pre-health committee does not send out evaluations until September. We are under the impression that Dental schools do not consider the application complete until EVERYTHING is turned in. This means that we all will be applying late no matter how early we get our AADSAS in. I went to the head of the Pre-Health committee today and he told me that that was absolutely nonsense and that the most important thing was for us to make sure our application was done well and not worry about getting it early. (So wrong!) He then said that I should take the entire summer to really work on it and turn send it in in August. I tried to explain the rolling process and he said that students who say they didn't get in bc they applied in September were just using the committee as a scape goat and that if you have the credenitals you'll get in regardless of how early you application is sent. What do I do?? I want to have the best chance possible of getting in for members of my club as well as myself. Should I talk to each school I apply to and tell them the situation? Will they be understanding and over look it? Help!

 

[onetoothleft]

I just recently started a pre-dental club at my college. Last night we had a meeting and a huge concern for everyone applying this year is the fact that my Pre-health committee does not send out evaluations until September. We are under the impression that Dental schools do not consider the application complete until EVERYTHING is turned in. This means that we all will be applying late no matter how early we get our AADSAS in. I went to the head of the Pre-Health committee today and he told me that that was absolutely nonsense and that the most important thing was for us to make sure our application was done well and not worry about getting it early. (So wrong!) He then said that I should take the entire summer to really work on it and turn send it in in August. I tried to explain the rolling process and he said that students who say they didn't get in bc they applied in September were just using the committee as a scape goat and that if you have the credenitals you'll get in regardless of how early you application is sent. What do I do?? I want to have the best chance possible of getting in for members of my club as well as myself. Should I talk to each school I apply to and tell them the situation? Will they be understanding and over look it? Help!

I would disagree with your advisors. I interviewed at columbia in september. My eagerness to get everything in early in my opinion contributed to my acceptence. If I were you I would get everything else in as early as you can (do it May 25th when online AADSAS opens!!). If they wont budge, then just work with them, but see what you can do to make in happen sooner. I did not go through my committee anyway so you really dont need them. . . you can get everything in yourself. maybe do both or something.

in their defense though, if you got everything in by september, you are still pretty early . . . as long as all your interviews are before dec 1, you are still in the "early group"

 

[Darksunshine]

I just recently started a pre-dental club at my college. Last night we had a meeting and a huge concern for everyone applying this year is the fact that my Pre-health committee does not send out evaluations until September. We are under the impression that Dental schools do not consider the application complete until EVERYTHING is turned in. This means that we all will be applying late no matter how early we get our AADSAS in. I went to the head of the Pre-Health committee today and he told me that that was absolutely nonsense and that the most important thing was for us to make sure our application was done well and not worry about getting it early. (So wrong!) He then said that I should take the entire summer to really work on it and turn send it in in August. I tried to explain the rolling process and he said that students who say they didn't get in bc they applied in September were just using the committee as a scape goat and that if you have the credenitals you'll get in regardless of how early you application is sent. What do I do?? I want to have the best chance possible of getting in for members of my club as well as myself. Should I talk to each school I apply to and tell them the situation? Will they be understanding and over look it? Help!

Hmmmm. Well, while it is true that some schools (most in fact) don't consider your application complete until their requirements are met (transcripts, application to the AADSAS, LOR, etc.) there may be a way around your pre-dental committee. Get three letter of recommendation from others and use their (the committee) letter as a fall back. I believe most schools require one from a dentist, a college professor, and a third being a personal ref/ or another school recommendation. While this process has gotten more and more competitive, there is a way around your dilemma.

You could also go to your schools committee chair and talk with them about starting this process sooner. The school I last attended (I am a post-bac, so insert a long line of transcripts here.) had a committee that would write letters for you, but I didn't rely on them on my soul source as they were also slow in turning things in (I believe they didn't start doing letters till late Aug/early Sept).

Either way, many schools will not offer you an interview until your application is complete, so if I were you (since you are asking for advice) I would find a way around that. My reasoning is because I had 3 interviews before the middle of September because my file was complete in June. 2 of those interviews offered me acceptance in December. (This is only my .02 cents, so please know that this is not the only way to do it.)

 

[J2AZ]

I would plan on having your prof send letters of recomendation directly to AADSAS or the schools. This way you cut out you pre-health advisor and committee. Secondly you may want to find out the names of pre-health advisors at other universities or deans of admission at a few dental schools. You can set up a meeting between them, you, and your advisor to discuss admission issues. During the meeting bring up your concern.

 

[wimmcs]

I agree w/Darksunshine, I would see if there is a possibility of getting individual LOR's instead of a committees'; that's only if they won't budge on the timing issue. I also agree with your concern that turning LOR's in Sept. may not be advantageous to you. What you may also want to do is to look at individual school's websites and print out where it's stated that applying early is best for the student (I'm sure you'll find this statement in plenty of schools and I would print them all). Then, take it to the head of the committee and see if they might change their timing in giving out LOR's. Good luck in the future!

 

[drat]

I would plan on having your prof send letters of recomendation directly to AADSAS or the schools. This way you cut out you pre-health advisor and committee. Secondly you may want to find out the names of pre-health advisors at other universities or deans of admission at a few dental schools. You can set up a meeting between them, you, and your advisor to discuss admission issues. During the meeting bring up your concern.

Yeah, J2AZ has it going on. Have your committee leader talk to the deans of admissions at various dental schools. They will set him/her straight. 🙂

Personally, I submitted my AADSAS in mid-August and it wasn't sent to my schools until mid-October. I was granted interviews at all of the schools I applied to, but only 2 of the 8 were before Dec. 1. Some were even scheduled the last week of February!

Good luck!

 

[javagrl]

i personally think you'll be ok. my undergraduate college didn't send out their stuff until late aug/early sept, and i was still ok (i remember arguing with them about it for a while too!). most of the schools replied by october and then i had all 9 of my interviews finished by the second week of dec. i remember being really frustrated with my undergrad school, but mine is really experienced with the med and dental school app process-- in the end i decided to just trust my school. in fact, the reason i didn't finish everything before dec. 1 was because i procrastinated on my secondaries....

 

[Tzips]

If you have your AADSAS app in before, and have the committee send the letters directly to the schools, you should be ok - having one's file complete in say early Sep. isn't bad. I do sympathize though - the committee at my college was _very_ lackadaisical about sending the letters in (we're talking end of Oct) and sometimes forgot to send to some schools entirely 🙁 . Good luck!

 

[Comet208]

It seems like your pre-health advisory committee's knowledge is not really up to date or they don't really care about their students. In this case, save your time and just treat the matter as if the committee did not exist. (afterall, you dont have to use that "service"). just get 3 LOR's from your profs and send them in when you apply.

 

[TeddieBelle]

Thanks so much for all of your advice! I think I am going to go ahead and get LOR's from my teachers, send those early, and have the committee send theirs whenever. I'm going to suggest to everyone in my Pre-Dent club to do the same. I did actually try to get him to send ours (pre-dents) in earlier and he just made me feel really stupid. I am also thinking about having some deans of admissions at various dental schools talk to my pre-health advisor as well. (However, I'm not the most outspoken person so I'm a little nervous about doing that!) Once again, thanks for the advice! You guys are great!