Reapplicants

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lovechild404

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So, i'm definitely reapplying for the next cycle. I was a very LATE applicant, yadda, yadda, yadda. Ok, i've learned my lesson. However, i consider my personal statement one of my strongest points, and i said everything i wanted to say in my statement, so i don't want to write a new personal statement. What do you guys think? For the reapplicants out there, what did you guys do?
 
I rewrote mine, but a few people here have either used the same statement or touched up on their statement from the previous cycle and still got in. Good luck. 👍 👍
 
lovechild404 said:
So, i'm definitely reapplying for the next cycle. I was a very LATE applicant, yadda, yadda, yadda. Ok, i've learned my lesson. However, i consider my personal statement one of my strongest points, and i said everything i wanted to say in my statement, so i don't want to write a new personal statement. What do you guys think? For the reapplicants out there, what did you guys do?


I just reused mine. It was, after all truly beautiful prose best left untouched and totally irreplaceable. 😀
 
I will probably write another one, but my real concern is recommendations, I am so embarressed to go to my professors and ask for another LOR. What do you guys think I should do? Do schools keep our recommendations if we ask them to? and I have also applied for a one year masters programs, hopefully that will open up some recommondation targets.Thanks
 
teefRcool said:
arash when did you apply?

Submitted on Nov 27th, A valuable lesson learned though 😡
 
yea i was wondering why you didn't get in your DAT scores are nice!!
 
lovechild404 said:
So, i'm definitely reapplying for the next cycle. I was a very LATE applicant, yadda, yadda, yadda. Ok, i've learned my lesson. However, i consider my personal statement one of my strongest points, and i said everything i wanted to say in my statement, so i don't want to write a new personal statement. What do you guys think? For the reapplicants out there, what did you guys do?

If your Personal statement is a good one keep it, but I would suggest adding what yuo will be/or are doing during your year off. If you are taking more classes or doing some research, I would add that into your statement.

Good luck.
 
arash said:
I will probably write another one, but my real concern is recommendations, I am so embarressed to go to my professors and ask for another LOR. What do you guys think I should do? Do schools keep our recommendations if we ask them to? and I have also applied for a one year masters programs, hopefully that will open up some recommondation targets.Thanks

Anyone?
 
i used the same one but changed some things to past tense that were in present tense.
 
arash said:


don't be embarrased..

i applied to medical school first.. then went back to some of the same ones explained the change of heart i had and got them to write one.. you have picked those professors b/c you think highly of htem and htey think highly of you.

also you can probably get a letter from one of the professors from the masters program. i took one grad school course while on that one year vacation and right after the first test which i did well on i asked the professor to write me a letter of recommendation based on that.. informing him of the situation and the basis for the recommendation.. -- all of this was done prior to october so my application wasnt slowed down at all.. oh wait i applied late as well last year.. (sept)
 
to the op..

i am not on a committee by any means.. and a person who is on the committee should respond to this.. BUT i do not think committees keep personal statements more than application cycle unless accepted.

so go ahead keep that personal statement, but add to it what you will be doing for that one year off....
 
arash said:
I will probably write another one, but my real concern is recommendations, I am so embarressed to go to my professors and ask for another LOR. What do you guys think I should do? Do schools keep our recommendations if we ask them to? and I have also applied for a one year masters programs, hopefully that will open up some recommondation targets.Thanks


Does your undergrad school offer a filing service that keeps letters of reccomendation???
 
hockeydentist said:
Does your undergrad school offer a filing service that keeps letters of reccomendation???

Yeah but I didn't take advantage of the service cause I was stupid, just like the reason I applied late and I have no one to blame. But yeh very good lessons learned from this whole application proccess: "Today is the tomorrow that you were expecting yesterday". My dad always says dad but I never really thought about it before realizing how by delaying everything to "tomorrow" I reduced my chances of getting into dental school and possibly wasted a year of my life.
 
arash said:
I will probably write another one, but my real concern is recommendations, I am so embarressed to go to my professors and ask for another LOR. What do you guys think I should do? Do schools keep our recommendations if we ask them to? and I have also applied for a one year masters programs, hopefully that will open up some recommondation targets.Thanks


One of my teachers gave me two so i didn't need to ask her for another one. But i did for the other teacher. Luckily all she had to do was print it off her computer. The second time, i learned from my mistake and made a copy of all my letters and sent off the copies and retained the originals just in case.
 
arash said:
Yeah but I didn't take advantage of the service cause I was stupid, just like the reason I applied late and I have no one to blame. But yeh very good lessons learned from this whole application proccess: "Today is the tomorrow that you were expecting yesterday". My dad always says dad but I never really thought about it before realizing how by delaying everything to "tomorrow" I reduced my chances of getting into dental school and possibly wasted a year of my life.

Well Arash it's never too late, I applied twice (the first time late of course) and I finally got in. I agree with your dad but I always believe that you can make a victory from your mistakes and also I believe if you realize what you did wrong today is much better than not realizing it at all. So don't regret the past & do your best for next round. About recommendation letters, I got 2 of mine from the same professors which totally understood how competitive it is to apply now, and one new letter. Don't be ashamed, it's a very tough time to apply for dental schools and your professors do understand that.
Good Luck
 
lovechild404 said:
So, i'm definitely reapplying for the next cycle. I was a very LATE applicant, yadda, yadda, yadda. Ok, i've learned my lesson. However, i consider my personal statement one of my strongest points, and i said everything i wanted to say in my statement, so i don't want to write a new personal statement. What do you guys think? For the reapplicants out there, what did you guys do?

This is what I did the second time, I talked to a few people that I trust, like recently graduated dentistis, I updated my my personal statement, stating the new things I am doing that make me more competitive or even future plans that I had and I made it better. If you feel your statement is great, you keep the format and frame but you update it and you take unnecessary stuff out and add more important and up to date info. in it. No matter how much confident you are about your statement if you show it to someone else in the field, they'll point out somethings that you never thought of. So definitely talk to a few people and try to make it the best. There is always room for improvments.
Good Luck
 
Lidopaine82 said:
One of my teachers gave me two so i didn't need to ask her for another one. But i did for the other teacher. Luckily all she had to do was print it off her computer. The second time, i learned from my mistake and made a copy of all my letters and sent off the copies and retained the originals just in case.

Thank you eveyone for your help and advices. Lidopaine82, isn't it usually advised to waive your right to read those recommendation letters? just wondering 😕 But I think what I should have done was to ask them to keep an extra copy just in case. One of these recommendation letters is from this top notch, getting all the grants type of guy which I did a research with. I only need his LOR. The rest I can live without. 🙂
 
...and possibly wasted a year of my life.[/QUOTE]

i thought i was wasting a year of my life. boy was i wrong. i got to relax a bit, make some money to start paying off loans in the future, and i am moving to europe for 4 months. i would have highly regretted going to dental school without this year and hey i got into USC this year and interviewed with unlv and ucsf. good luck and enjoy this next year...after you get all your dental school stuff in ofcourse. IN JUNE!!
 
talk to the dental schools you will be reapplying to...some will keep the old LOR's if you ask them to...make sure they think it's ok for you to do this or recommend you to do this first...some do and some dont think it is ok(found this out from personal experience when i thought i wasn't getting in anywhere this year)...save your old personal statement (b.c. you shouldn't have been able to change your opinion on why you want to be a dentist..but, add a few new things) if the d-schools dont keep the LOR's then ask the same professor to rewrite one for you...it will most likely be about the same anyway, and it will come back to them the things they wrote about you the first time
 
thanks for all of the advice. i honestly appreciate it. i'm just really down on my luck/hope/anything positive. i hate having to be a reapplicant. i wasted so much money!!
 
Im probably going to be in the same boat with all of my other late applicants. I had one interview and am waiting for a response but it is not looking good. Luckily I had the people writing me a recommendation to send me a copy so I have them all if I need to reapply. Good luck everyone and a year off of school might be the better way to go anyway.
 
arash said:
I will probably write another one, but my real concern is recommendations, I am so embarressed to go to my professors and ask for another LOR. What do you guys think I should do? Do schools keep our recommendations if we ask them to? and I have also applied for a one year masters programs, hopefully that will open up some recommondation targets.Thanks

I feel your pain - me too! I am 25, almost 26 - I cannot believe I have to wait another year when I thought August(app sent out)/October(DAT sent out) was well before the March deadline. So sad... Anyway, what recommendations did you use to get into your masters program? Did you have your professors revise their dental school ones? I hate to ask my profs to redo everything, but it's true they should understand.
 
jbeaner said:
I feel your pain - me too! I am 25, almost 26 - I cannot believe I have to wait another year when I thought August(app sent out)/October(DAT sent out) was well before the March deadline. So sad... Anyway, what recommendations did you use to get into your masters program? Did you have your professors revise their dental school ones? I hate to ask my profs to redo everything, but it's true they should understand.

I have applied but haven't given any LORs yet. I need 2 for this program. The problem is I barely knew my professors' names. I could care less at the time. I went to a big school with big lecture halls for science courses (300+ students) so even though I did well in many of those classes I can't just go up to one of these teachers and ask them for a LOR when they dont even know my name. For the 2006 cycle I sent them 2 dentist recommendations and one from my research supervisor. Now for this program I need a new one to replace the dentist and the balls to go ask my research supervisor for another one. Good luck to you.
 
arash said:
I have applied but haven't given any LORs yet. I need 2 for this program. The problem is I barely knew my professors' names. I could care less at the time. I went to a big school with big lecture halls for science courses (300+ students) so even though I did well in many of those classes I can't just go up to one of these teachers and ask them for a LOR when they dont even know my name. For the 2006 cycle I sent them 2 dentist recommendations and one from my research supervisor. Now for this program I need a new one to replace the dentist and the balls to go ask my research supervisor for another one. Good luck to you.
When I needed a LOR this year from an academic teacher, I had to ask my prof from my biochem class (100+ students). He was totally cool about it, and I hadn't even talked to him once before that. Plus, when I went in to ask him, there were a bunch of other students asking him for a LOR too. Just go right up to them and ask. Trust me, they want to help you. Give them a copy of your personal statement so they have something to write about. I am not only telling you this, but also I am telling myself - ha!
 
I am a business major and had the same situation, but my bio professor actually told me he wouldn't write recommendations for anyone who didn't work in his lab (read: nicely declining). I received an A from him, and he knew my name from visiting office hours and lecture...

I wonder how strict schools are about having letters from "science professors," rather than non-science professors, advisors, and dentists.

Anyone have experience with this?

jbeaner said:
When I needed a LOR this year from an academic teacher, I had to ask my prof from my biochem class (100+ students). He was totally cool about it, and I hadn't even talked to him once before that. Plus, when I went in to ask him, there were a bunch of other students asking him for a LOR too. Just go right up to them and ask. Trust me, they want to help you. Give them a copy of your personal statement so they have something to write about. I am not only telling you this, but also I am telling myself - ha!
 
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