rec letter question...advice please

[ATX04UT]

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Hey Guys..I got a question, I had asked this question during the summer now I have a delimma.. So I have everything complete with my application except a dentist rec letter now..I had asked the dentist I shadowed several months ago to write me rec letter which he said yes...then somehow the app services never received them..humm? Then I took advice from SDN's to go into his office in July to ask to resend face to face...and he told me that he promised to send it the following week...Now it is Sept and I got a letter from some schools saying they still have not received my DDS rec letter...


My question is WHY WHY WHY WHY MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE??????? I do not understand why he never sent it in...I spent about 100 hours volunteering and working in the front office. If I were a dentist and someone volunteered in my office that much, I would totally try to help them out...how long does it take to put a letter in the mail? He was very nice and we got along well... I don't get it?

I would like to know from you guys, does this mean I will not even get into dental school now because I do not have a dentist recommendation? I am so disappointed about this. I know that two of the schools I applied to required it, but the others I applied to just said science teachers. And a few required shadowing experience which i did do. I figure if they ask me about my experience I would just have to give the Dentist's and Office Managers phone number and address now. What would you do? Will I get in no where now?

 

[Lilith]

Similar situation happened to me too. One of my professor kept delaying, and she just finished the letter a couple of days ago. I kept bugging her about the letter throughout the past months. I suggest that you go talk to your dentist one more time, and asked him if he has any problem writing you one. You can even make an appointment with him to pick up the letter and mail it yourself.

Good luck!

 

[DDS2BE]

I had similar situation with my LORs. I spent over 4 months chasing them for my letters. Don't feel bad about doing it, since your future depends on these letters!

 

[eric275]

If I were you I would go and talk to the dentist in person. Let him know that several or all of the schools have not recieved it and tell him that you need to come and pick up the letter in person so that you can mail it to the schools yourself. If you are actually going to mail it to the schools, or AADSAS, yourself make sure that he has the appropriate matching forms if needed for the different schools or AADSAS so that he can include them in the envelopes along with his signature across the seal. You may even want to supply all of the envelopes with the school addresses already on them, anyhting to make it easier for him to get it done,but tell him that you have to mail the envelopes so that he is not tempted to put them in the mail himself. That way if you so choose you can send them with a return reciept to each school if you so wish. That way you won't be relying on him to mail them like you have in the past. Also by going and picking it up yourself you may be able to better pin him down to a certain date that he will have the letter completed by.

 

[Sprgrover]

First off, break out that doll and do some voodoo on his behind - maybe that will speed things up a bit. Second, you are not lost and hopeless. Have all of you other LOR's been sent in and distributed? If so, great. While a letter from a dentist is a good thing to have in your LOR lineup, many schools don't require it. If you still want to get that letter out you have one of two options to choose from: 1. You can return to your dentist's office and see if a third visit will indeed be a charm. If you do that, I would follow eric275's advice and pin a date down when you can go into the office and pick it up. 2. If you are comfortable with any other dentists (e.g. have been shadowing them, etc.) you could always ask him/her for a LOR instead and have that sent in the original's place. I know what you are going through and I wish you the best of luck! 👍

 

[ATX04UT]

I really feel like I am stalking this guy now...I don't wanna call him again, you would think If I asked him 3 times and he said 3 times " I will promise to get it out next week" would be good enough... I stamped and wrote out addresses on the envelopes, and gave him everything he needed twice... this is stressing me out! anyone else feel like they harrass their letter writers? What do I say this time? GEEEEEEEEEZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

 

[eric275]

Well maybe if he feels like your stalking him.......it might just motivate hime to get on the ball and get your letter done. You could always drop a comment like, "If I didn't get into dental school because of a missing LOR, I could just KILL someone!!!" Whatever it takes man, hehe jk.

I hope you find a solution to your problem, it sucks having to depend on others for important items. As if the whole process weren't stessing enough.

 

[toothcaries]

tough one..


u dont wanna piss him off...
...but at the same time u need the lor.

 

[boogaking]

I've been stalking my Anatomy Prof for the past 6 months ....I last left phone msg...msg #zillion... yesterday... he promises it by tomorrow afternoon... important letter for me cuz I actually TA'ed his labs too... Hoping he will fall thru but expect the worst and any result would be good... if he does't I'm off to his office again ...professional professor stalker here 😀 ...there's ways to stalk without offending... there's way to put your request on there urgent burner... don't worry how you may look... just make sure you stress the importance of this letter every time you see he person.... just a note... when you ask for an interview.... did you give him any info packet..... anything that may assist him to write this letter... a brief synopsis about yourself... etc. It sometimes helps the writer to come up with positive adjectives ...and guides the writer to produce the letter the way you want the letter to turn out.... just a tip!

 

[ATX04UT]

Thank you guys!!!!!! I thought I was the only one still stalking letter writers! I am gonna give it one more shot.... I just don't like this feeling like I am stalking this guy and I get this uncomfortable feeling when I try to contact him......grrrrrrrrrr Not nice!

 

[ATX04UT]

How about this....

For those of us still pestering our letter writers... how about doing this? I have already given this guy everything and talked and visited him on several occassions, like my personal statement, resume, envelopes with addresses and stamps already written, and he asked me to jot down things he would like me to address in the letter which I gave him that as well.....

What about sending his guy a thank you card now, assuming that he already wrote the letter even though I know he didn't? Do you think that will get him thinking, oh yeah....i almost forgot again????

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

 

[BigJ77]

How about this....

For those of us still pestering our letter writers... how about doing this? I have already given this guy everything and talked and visited him on several occassions, like my personal statement, resume, envelopes with addresses and stamps already written, and he asked me to jot down things he would like me to address in the letter which I gave him that as well.....

What about sending his guy a thank you card now, assuming that he already wrote the letter even though I know he didn't? Do you think that will get him thinking, oh yeah....i almost forgot again????

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

Hey, if I were you I would be careful. Make sure that you do not stalk him to the point that writing the letter is something that he does not want to do!! Do you really want a letter that is substandard? Quick Question though...I am in Iraq and have been working with an Iraqi and American Dentist and am planning on getting my LOR before I leave the country. I did not even know that there is a special form that needs to be included in the envelope. Can I find it online? Thanks!

 

[dyarhea]

...about the quality of that LOR? what if it's a 1-line letter 😱 !!!!

 

[mobius]

I would tell him that you would like to pick the letter up from him the following week and you will send it out because "they keep losing them" and you are going to send it certified plus you can make copies so as not to bother him anymore about it.... see if that helps, otherwise you may want to start shadowing someone else......

 

[hockeydentist]

I am glad I didn't have to do it, but there always the write your own letter of rec and have him review it add somethings, etc. Get the ball rollin. I imagine if you give him a template he will fill out the rest. Not saying you have to write it all the way through, just write strong points, have him add whatever else he wants to add.

Did you give your reviewer anything to write about, or did you just simply ask for the letter. I make it a point to give my professor and or dentist a resume. That way they have something to write about. I have talked to several professors, who have all stated the same thing, they wanted to write a good letter but didn't have enough of the details of the person to really write a good letter. Rather than spend hours trying to write a decent letter, they just push it aside and hope that you forget about it.

HD

 

[drat]

I understand your dilemma completely! I always try to be polite, and given these circumstances, you've done everything right and in a professional manner. So frustrating that the dentist cannot be equally as professional. If I were you, I would talk to him just like you're talking to us. Say something like, "I realize I've been bothering you for 2-3 weeks about this letter, and I'm really sorry about that. I'm just anxious and excited to complete my applications at X and Y school because they require a letter of recommendation from the dentist I've been observing. Please let me know if I can do anything that will make this process easier for you. I'm more than willing to photocopy and mail out the letters for you because I know you're busy. Etc."
Gosh, keep us posted.