Letters of recommendation issue

[Tmala]

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All,

I graduated undergrad in 2008 and immediately applied to a few dental schools and had an average application so never heard back (mostly due to a low DAT score.) After not hearing back I took a job out of college and four years later I am finally getting back to what I should have done a while ago! My issue is I have been out of school for four years; one of the professors I did research with and had a strong recommendation from has since passed. My other recommendations at the time I feel were a little weak. What are my current options? I plan to apply May 2013 so I have time to form new relationships for a letter, what should I look for? I’m a little confused on how to tackle this problem.

My main concern it a lot of schools require letters from certain people, anyway that can be bent?

 

[Kahr]

That's quite a predicament.

What I would do: shadow a dentist/specialist for a while (shouldn't take more than 2-3 days/20 hours of shadowing before asking), and secure a letter from them. While you're doing this, I would attempt to revisit the professors you took science classes with, talk to them IN PERSON about your situation and see if there's anything they can do or would be willing to do; email is a big no-no, they will probably evade like master ninjas.

Worst case, you might need to go back and take a class or two to get the letters (and this wouldn't exactly hurt your application).

 

[II H5 II]

That's quite a predicament.

What I would do: shadow a dentist/specialist for a while (shouldn't take more than 2-3 days/20 hours of shadowing before asking), and secure a letter from them. While you're doing this, I would attempt to revisit the professors you took science classes with, talk to them IN PERSON about your situation and see if there's anything they can do or would be willing to do; email is a big no-no, they will probably evade like master ninjas.

Worst case, you might need to go back and take a class or two to get the letters (and this wouldn't exactly hurt your application).

I think it might take a little more than 2-3 days for the dentist to get comfortable with you and write you a letter but realistically it all depends on if they're a nice person etc. Hopefully you have a relationship with a dentist already. I agree that you should deff go back to your professors and talk to them about your specific situation and see if they can pull your grades up and all that.

 

[Tmala]

I plan on shadowing for the next few months, hopefully I can find someone who wouldn't mind writing a recommendation. I have no problems putting in enough hours in a practice for a recommendation.

Taking a class just for a recommendation would be rough, where I live now is about 3 hours from my undergrad college. I thought about potentially offering myself up to a professor as a lab assistent or something of that nature, but driving 3 hours there and back would be a total PITA. I'm hoping I can figure out an alternative.

I'm already coming to terms with the fact that having poor letters of recommendation means I have to make the other aspects of my application look that much better. I'm curious though just how much the letters of recommendation matter to the admissions committee.....