Need some advice about a LOE situation

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Danielqta

Dentist
10+ Year Member
Joined
Oct 4, 2011
Messages
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Hi everyone,

I'll break this up because as I am writing this, I see it's a little long. Hope this helps.


BACK STORY:
So I was in, or currently am in, a bit of a predicament. I submitted my AADSAS application on July 25th, and it was mailed August 1st (7th batch). Everything was submitted except for one LOE from a dentist that I used to work with in the Navy and still keep in touch with outside of the Navy.

At the time of my submission, I had a LOE from my Physics professor (whom I took classes with for four semesters straight and worked for as a teaching assistant for a year and a half) and a LOE from my PI (whom I've done research with for a year and a half and am currently publishing under). Those two satisfied the two LOEs from professors that most of the California schools that I applied to required.

My last letter was from this dentist (Dentist 1); another requirement for most California schools. I had asked a dentist (Dentist 2) I deployed with to write me one last year, but I ended up not applying because it was August, and I hadn't taken the DAT yet. Didn't think it would have been worth it. I felt bad and didn't want to bother him with it again this year, so I asked Dentist 1 instead.

DILEMMA:
So I asked Dentist 1 in June to write me an LOE and told him I was planning on submitting in July. He said okay. It's September, and he's still yet to submit it... I have reminded him a bunch of times, and he's been like "it'll be done by Wednesday, latest." I texted him Thursday asking what's up. He says, "It's done. I'll submit on Sunday." Text him Monday morning to remind him to submit it. No response but sees that he read the text thanks to iMessage. Call him in the afternoon; no response. That was this past week.

So the reason I hassled him so much was because all the California schools have started sending out interview invites, but a couple schools (UoP and Western) have e-mailed me and said my record is on hold until I get the last LOE in. Other schools (UCSF) I think are waiting for the info but just aren't updating me on the status.

I got fed up with him yesterday, so I called Dentist 2; something I should have done from the beginning, says Captain Hindsight. I tell him my story, and he says he doesn't have the LOE he wrote me from last year, but he'd be happy to write a new one. I send him the LOE request, and two minutes later it's in. I e-mail him saying my thanks and that he finished amazingly quickly. He says, "I actually found the one from last year and when I read it, it was so good I just changed the date." Wanted to add in his humor.

So from my understanding, the LOE will be mailed out Friday, but schools should already have access to it. My question is, will my application still be on hold because this Dentist 1 hasn't submitted his LOE yet? Or will the schools see that I have met the 3 LOE requirement that they're looking for and finally start the reviewing process?

My debate is whether to not use Dentist 1's LOE and work with what I have, or keep it because I know he'll still write something good if he ever decides to send it.

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Just delete Dentist 1 from your list of LOE. I'm pretty sure you can do that. The guy obviously don't not care enough about you to sit down for an hour to write a letter. Not to mention you gave him several months to do it.
 
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Glad you finally sorted it out! I knew your first dentist was a huge troll.. And like Julian said, I believe you can just delete his no-good LOE from your list
 
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Wow, such a douche move by your dentist 1. My professor gave me the run around for 4 months despite constant reminders/harassment, so I feel you buddy!
 
Wow, such a douche move by your dentist 1. My professor gave me the run around for 4 months despite constant reminders/harassment, so I feel you buddy!

I was in the same boat as you. I asked my orgo professor back in april for a LOE......received by interfolio on 9/2..........
 
Thanks for the advice, guys. Yeah, I'm still flabbergasted that this is happening.
 
SAME THING HAPPENED TO ME! Thank goodness for interfolio. I asked 6 different writers to fill the 4 spots on my AADSAS app. One of them did the whole run around and then fell off the face of the earth - never submitting a letter. and another one took forever to submit (like a month past the date I submitted, regardless of incessant reminders). Good thing is that I had everyone submit to interfolio and I was able to update AADSAS to accomodate the 4 letters that I got in time without too much hassle. (If any changes for letters through AADSAS occur, say you delete someones request, they email the letter writers.)
 
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Wish I had planned ahead like you did! But it seems to be working out now. Thank goodness for the both of us.
 
How did you manage I inter folio?
 
It looks like some applicants have a difficult time taking a hint.
 
It looks like some applicants have a difficult time taking a hint.

Could they be more mature and just say outright that they are not comfortable writing a strong LOE if that's the case? This doesn't seem like the case of "I can't write one for you, hence I am ignoring you" case. Seems like they are just lazy as hell to even think about what kind of impact this would have on applicant's chance to get into dental school.

They should not give you a run around like that if they are not going to write one for you. If they just say no, you can just look for someone else.

In my case, I asked my Ecology/ecosystem professor first to write me one, and he flat out told me he doesn't know me well and also added to tell me that a letter from ecology professor wouldn't even really help with dental school admission compared to other science classes. I ended up going to a different professor for a letter right away, instead of waiting 3 months to find out he doesn't want to write it.
 
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You serve 5 years with a person and deploy with them to the Afghanistan, you tend to give them the benefit of the doubt.
 
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