Question about inter folio and dental school

[als33]

Hello, I am applying for this cycle, and I had a question about the rec letters. I was trying to ask about 5 letters to professors/dentists/and my manager that I have worked with. I was wondering if I could choose the letters that I want to send to the aadsas.
I am doing this because some schools require additional rec letters (and I have not chosen the schools to apply to... I will be doing this after May when my DAT is done), and I was worried that interfolio would not allow me to choose the letters that I want to send.

Also, I was wondering who people usually ask for recommendation letters. I know that most schools are requiring maybe 3 science prof and 1 dentist.... I am kind of lost who I should ask for for the aadsas app. And about the "science" professors, do stat professors count as well?

I would really appreciate it if you could share who you asked for rec letters and how you managed the letters. I am getting ready for DAT and this is quite stressing me out.
Thank you so much in advance! 🙂

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[USC-Dentistry]

I used interfolio to collect and send my LORs to AADSAS! You can collect and store all of your letters on interfolio, and then choose which letters to send to your AADSAS application, but you cannot choose to send different letters to different schools. The letters you choose to get sent to AADSAS will get sent to all of the schools you apply to. I think some schools accept mailed-in LORs, in which case you could send additional letters to specific schools that way.

I applied and got accepted with 2 science profs (immunology & nutritional science/toxicology), 1 dentist I shadowed, and 1 from my employer (I worked for 3.5 years after college before applying to dental school). I think in general, the science letters should come from the life/physical sciences (i.e. bio, chem, physics - applications of them, like immunology, microbiology, neuroscience, etc.) - so I would not recommend a letter from your stat professor to count as a science letter.

Good luck with your DAT!

 

[als33]

I used interfolio to collect and send my LORs to AADSAS! You can collect and store all of your letters on interfolio, and then choose which letters to send to your AADSAS application, but you cannot choose to send different letters to different schools. The letters you choose to get sent to AADSAS will get sent to all of the schools you apply to. I think some schools accept mailed-in LORs, in which case you could send additional letters to specific schools that way.

I applied and got accepted with 2 science profs (immunology & nutritional science/toxicology), 1 dentist I shadowed, and 1 from my employer (I worked for 3.5 years after college before applying to dental school). I think in general, the science letters should come from the life/physical sciences (i.e. bio, chem, physics - applications of them, like immunology, microbiology, neuroscience, etc.) - so I would not recommend a letter from your stat professor to count as a science letter.

Good luck with your DAT!

Hello! Can I ask what EC you had? and also the DAT score and GPA? I currently have about 83 shadowing hours (I am going to fill to 100) and some working experience, but I don't have any clinical experience and volunteer work. My advisor is saying that I would not be competitive, and I was wondering if this is really true.
My overall GPA is about 3.7, and I am aiming for about 20 AA for DAT..... Thank you 🙂

 

[macsak]

Hello! Can I ask what EC you had? and also the DAT score and GPA? I currently have about 83 shadowing hours (I am going to fill to 100) and some working experience, but I don't have any clinical experience and volunteer work. My advisor is saying that I would not be competitive, and I was wondering if this is really true.
My overall GPA is about 3.7, and I am aiming for about 20 AA for DAT..... Thank you 🙂

don't listen to your advisor...

 

[USC-Dentistry]

Hello! Can I ask what EC you had? and also the DAT score and GPA? I currently have about 83 shadowing hours (I am going to fill to 100) and some working experience, but I don't have any clinical experience and volunteer work. My advisor is saying that I would not be competitive, and I was wondering if this is really true.
My overall GPA is about 3.7, and I am aiming for about 20 AA for DAT..... Thank you 🙂

My main EC's were tutoring and research. I was a tutor at my school for a couple years. I did research throughout college, did an honors thesis my senior year, and worked at a research institute for several years after college. I scored 20AA on DAT (low science sections, high on QR and RC). I shadowed for 5 days (~40-50 hrs) lol. My overall GPA was 3.8 and science GPA was 3.75.

You don't need to do a million things to be "competitive." You really just need a couple that you are truly passionate about and speak towards who you are and what your educational & career goals are.

 

[als33]

My main EC's were tutoring and research. I was a tutor at my school for a couple years. I did research throughout college, did an honors thesis my senior year, and worked at a research institute for several years after college. I scored 20AA on DAT (low science sections, high on QR and RC). I shadowed for 5 days (~40-50 hrs) lol. My overall GPA was 3.8 and science GPA was 3.75.

You don't need to do a million things to be "competitive." You really just need a couple that you are truly passionate about and speak towards who you are and what your educational & career goals are.

Thank you for sharing! I was super discouraged when my advisor said to get more clinical experience to be competitive... I guess I should stick with my original plan!

 

[als33]

don't listen to your advisor...

Thank you 🤣 I think I'll stick with my original plan!