Letter of Recommendation Questions

[NYgatorDDS]

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Hello all. Hopefully a bunch of you could shed some light of my letters of rec questions before I start to e-mail certain schools.

Now most schools ask for typically around 3 letters. Mostly from science professors,etc. For my situation, I graduated in May '10. For me I feel like the best letters would come from an employer which was in hospitals and working with patients, volunteer work and the dentists i've been under....those are the one's who really would have the best idea of who I am. rather than teachers from 3-4 years ago in my prereqs...anyone know if they have bend room for requirements..especially those applicants who applied post graduation

also...when a few schools say they want a biology letter..does that mean just the basic biology..or say i was a biology major, it could be something like anatomy

any advice would be great

 

[JonNCSU08]

You have to get science professor lor at most schools.

 

[doc toothache]

Grandma Bertha could probably write an lor that would reign supreme, but that is not quite what ds have in mind.

 

[notin]

you want 1, preferably 2, letters written by professors who taught you a class that counts in your BCP gpa. doesn't have to be a pre-req in particular. the third from a dentist or maybe employer.

 

[bing12]

Hello all. Hopefully a bunch of you could shed some light of my letters of rec questions before I start to e-mail certain schools.

Now most schools ask for typically around 3 letters. Mostly from science professors,etc. For my situation, I graduated in May '10. For me I feel like the best letters would come from an employer which was in hospitals and working with patients, volunteer work and the dentists i've been under....those are the one's who really would have the best idea of who I am. rather than teachers from 3-4 years ago in my prereqs...anyone know if they have bend room for requirements..especially those applicants who applied post graduation

also...when a few schools say they want a biology letter..does that mean just the basic biology..or say i was a biology major, it could be something like anatomy

any advice would be great

it can be any bio, intro, upper level. ( mine were from a upper level bio and a intro bio)

 

[Impulse155]

doesnt just have to be bio too,
ill be having intro bio, and organic chemistry

 

[DATlongshui]

Since you can get up to four LORs, my suggestion is: get two LORs from your science professors, one from your employer and one from dentist who you shadowed. You should ask only those who can write excellent letters about you. Good luck!

 

[NYgatorDDS]

thanks for all my replies everyone...basically i'm going to be getting one from my chemistry teacher...dentist i shadow, my employer at the hospital i worked at for over a year and then from a volunteer organization i'm really involved with for over two years

my one question though is for the biology...does anyone know if it is acceptable to have it be an anatomy class...or should i look more into say my microbiology teacher...the problem was for biology at UF was the intro classes had 3 teachers that rotated every 3 weeks..so it was never easy to get close to them

 

[MAR89]

An anatomy professor is fine. One of my science LOR's si coming from my anatomy professor.

 

[wizi]

thanks for all my replies everyone...basically i'm going to be getting one from my chemistry teacher...dentist i shadow, my employer at the hospital i worked at for over a year and then from a volunteer organization i'm really involved with for over two years

my one question though is for the biology...does anyone know if it is acceptable to have it be an anatomy class...or should i look more into say my microbiology teacher...the problem was for biology at UF was the intro classes had 3 teachers that rotated every 3 weeks..so it was never easy to get close to them

When it comes down to choosing who is going to write your LOR, always choose the one who knows you the most. Letter from any biology professor is fine.

Choose them based on how closely you are to them NOT from what class they teach.

 

[Indentation]

.

 

[wizi]

I've got a question related to the OP's:

When some schools are asking for LOR's from BCP professors, does biochemistry fit into this category? I also took my chem courses several years ago in classes of 300-400 students, so I doubt the professors would remember me. My more recent biochem classes are much smaller (15-30 people), and have allowed me to get to know my professors better.

Do you think a LOR from biochemistry would be a good alternative to one from general/organic chem? I'd greatly appreciate any feedback!

Yes yes yes

 

[dentalWorks]

Hello all. Hopefully a bunch of you could shed some light of my letters of rec questions before I start to e-mail certain schools.

Now most schools ask for typically around 3 letters. Mostly from science professors,etc. For my situation, I graduated in May '10. For me I feel like the best letters would come from an employer which was in hospitals and working with patients, volunteer work and the dentists i've been under....those are the one's who really would have the best idea of who I am. rather than teachers from 3-4 years ago in my prereqs...anyone know if they have bend room for requirements..especially those applicants who applied post graduation

also...when a few schools say they want a biology letter..does that mean just the basic biology..or say i was a biology major, it could be something like anatomy

any advice would be great

I agree with the underlined statement, but unfortunately, most dental schools I contacted regarding thier LOR requirements were VERY strict.

Here are some examples:

-some schools require 3 LORs (2 from biology type courses, 1 from any course, and recommend one from a dentist)
-some require 3 LORS (2 from any science class 1 non science) and recommend dentist
-I forgot which school it was, but there is a school out there that requires 3 science LORs ALL from biology professors(NOT CHEM, OR any other science, strictly biology type courses).... I couldn't complete this requirement cause my LORs were 2 biology / 1 orgo / 1 dentist... so this school was out of the selection for me.

So when you apply, make sure you check out the school's website for LOR requirements, they are not all the same, and from what I remember, they can be pretty strict about it

 

[Lane138]

I major in history, and I have two really great letters of recs. Where would they fit in? Can I only get 1 science letter then, or are dental schools adamant on 2 science letters?

 

[notin]

I major in history, and I have two really great letters of recs. Where would they fit in? Can I only get 1 science letter then, or are dental schools adamant on 2 science letters?

different dental schools are different. generally speaking, having 2 science LOR's is a good idea. i think whether you can get away with one is impacted by the schools you most want to attend and their preferences, how strong your GPA's are, etc.