LoR's - Is there such a thing as too many?

[DMD-2-B]

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Hi Folks,

I'm compiling my LoR's for submission to dental schools (through my college's Health Services Office).

I'm lucky enough to have many professors and professionals who would be happy to write LoR's for me. If I proceed and get LoR's from all my sources I would be collecting about 10-12 LoR's.

Of those 10-12 LoR's I would say 5 of them are the "shining stars" and the remaining 6, while still great, are not as powerful as the other 5.

Should I submitt only the 5 very powerful LoR's and disregard the others?

My concern is that other 6 will dim the impact of the my top five LoR's.

What do you recommend?

 

[aggie-master]

Take the 5 that would write you the best letter.

 

[tinman831]

Check the schools you are applying to and make sure you have LORs from the right people. Some schools have specific requirements such as letters from, a chem, bio, dentist, and one from another source. After you check with the schools, pick the right teachers so you can have all your bases covered.

 

[IndDent]

frankly, adcom members have tons of applications to sift through during any given day...if they see 5 LORs...chances are they will skim over each one in order to save time instead of reading them carefully like they should.

5 is too many.

Option 1 Maybe use your health professions committee, it often looks way better to have 5 individual writers put together separate letters, and then choose 1 out of the 5 to combine them all into one health-professions committee letter.

Option 2 Limit individual LORs to 3 for maximum impact. There is an optimal level - 2 is too few, and 5 is too many. 3 is best

As for me, I sent in 3 LORs from professors...and then later on decided to add 1 LOR from a DDS I shadowed. I interviewed at several top schools in the Northeast...and ultimately settled on NYU

Best of luck in the process,
Indy

 

[Audio]

Hi Folks,

I'm compiling my LoR's for submission to dental schools (through my college's Health Services Office).

I'm lucky enough to have many professors and professionals who would be happy to write LoR's for me. If I proceed and get LoR's from all my sources I would be collecting about 10-12 LoR's.

Of those 10-12 LoR's I would say 5 of them are the "shining stars" and the remaining 6, while still great, are not as powerful as the other 5.

Should I submitt only the 5 very powerful LoR's and disregard the others?

My concern is that other 6 will dim the impact of the my top five LoR's.

What do you recommend?

send in 10-12. With any luck, aadsas will get about 5 of them there on time

 

[philicity]

send in 10-12. With any luck, aadsas will get about 5 of them there on time

good plan!

 

[Sprgrover]

send in 10-12. With any luck, aadsas will get about 5 of them there on time

This is the sad truth.

I would go ahead and send in your glowing five LOR's. While it is true that adcoms do sift through many applications, when it comes time to make an admissions decision having a couple more references promoting you will bode well for your chances. I sent in four, myself. Best of luck!

 

[DMD-2-B]

Hmm... so then it unanimous that 10-12 is definately out of the question?

yes / no?

 

[philicity]

Hmm... so then it unanimous that 10-12 is definately out of the question?

yes / no?

out of the question, that's way too many. aadsas doesn't even have that many slots for you fill out recommendation writer names.

 

[L8DYV]

yes, include only the cream of the crop letters. if all 10-12 are cream of the crop then YES, if not then NO.

 

[americanpierg]

hook me up with 4 of them letters, we have the same name so we can pull it off

 

[toothealer12]

Hmm... so then it unanimous that 10-12 is definately out of the question?

yes / no?

10-12 is definitely TOO MUCH. I didn't even consider 5, but if i had alot of LOR's, i'd limit myself to 5. Like the others have said, they don't have time to sit down and read 10-12 letters and may just set your appl. aside, which is what you don't want. It's the same reason they have limits in the application like the length of the personal statment. If you're a good candidate, they will KNOW THAT from not only your few letters, but the rest of your application. GOOD LUCK

 

[dexadental]

I had 5 letters, a professor of organic chemistry wrote me one, a biology professor, and a microbiology professor, and two dentists, one who was a facial pain surgeon.

 

[deejay]

2 GOOD science professors
1 GREAT dentist (clinical experience)
1 AMAZING research professor

4 total

 

[food4thots]

2 sci professor
1 from researcher
1 from dentist
1 from dean of admissions

 

[deejay]

2 sci professor
1 from researcher
1 from dentist
1 from dean of admissions

I guess it would be good to get the dean to recommend you to himself