# of letter of recs

[Dr. Kulkarni]

hey,

is it a bad thing to send in "too" many letter of lecs? i'll have 7 on file and was wondering if i should send them all to each of the schools? thanks

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[kpax]

thats way too many. I think you should send up to 5 at most.

 

[Rhea]

My school had told me that all the letters I got from faculty would get attached to the committee letter and hence, count as ONE letter. Then I could include a letter from a dentist, or employer making the total 3.

So, I sent in my committee letter with letters from 3 faculty, one from a dentist, and 3 from ex-employers. But, when I called AADSAS, they told there's a total of 8 letters that they are sending out. I know that's too many, but I cannot help it now. I am just hoping the schools will not look negatively at my sending in so many letters.

 

[DesiDentist]

you gotta do what you gotta do. This is a fierce battle, if the more you have the better then so be it. Also, it's not our fault that the ADA or ADEA hasn't put up a systemized system for letters. All schools that are through AADSAS should set up a system that outlines general rules for letters. I think, one science, one non-science and one dentist is the way to go. However, there are schools that are picky that want only 3 science, or one from biology and one from chemistry. So they can't blame us for sending in 6+ letters. Each school has different requirements. I could have seperated them out, but I was like "hey, I got 6 so I'm going to send six, they can pick and choose which ones they want to read."

Honestly, getting LOR's was probably the most frustrating and tiring experience of my pre-dent life next to studying for the DAT.

Just one more step to go...

DesiDentist

 

[sjdent]

Actually, I would try to narrow it down to five at the MOST. I think 7 is too many.

The only reason is that you don't want to come across as trying too hard, trying to brag, etc. You probably have a pretty good idea of who will give you the most stand-out LOR's of those 7 individuals.

Choose a professor (who loved you and thought you were very bright), an employer (who thought you were extremely hard-working), and if you have it.....a dentist you shadowed/worked for (and found you to be interested, helpful, and inquisitive).

 

[DesiDentist]

I somewhat agree with sjdent. I remember my admissions director at U.Washington told us that sending too many LOR's illustrates a lack of confidence in your other application. Like sjdent says, "trying to hard." The adcom only has a couple of minutes to review the LORs some don't look at them until the day or even at the interview. But in my case, each one of the six letters I gave was crucial to my app. I included one work, one english prof, one dentist, one dental prof, and two science (chem/ochem). But I wouldn't worry too much about it though.

DesiDentist