recommendation letters

[enfuego]

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So, schools usually have a list of who they want to write your LORs. However, my pre-prof office has different requirements for their committee letter. For the committee letter, my school's office wants 1 science professor, 1 major professor, and 1 other person who knows you well - I'm assuming you'd send the dentist letter separately. But lots of schools ask for 2 or 3 science professors. My advisor said that their committee letter trumps the list of individual LOR writers that dental schools ask for. Is this true? If I just follow the requirements for the committee letter, will I be okay at dental schools who ask for different professors?

Also random stupid question that I don't think deserves its own thread:
What exactly are feeder schools? Some dental school websites have a list of feeder undergrad schools - does this mean they give slight preference to applicants who went to those schools? Or does that just mean that a lot of their dental students happen to come from those schools?

 

[doc3232]

hmmm...you are in the red, you must be a troll. 😀

 

[enfuego]

hmmm...you are in the red, you must be a troll. 😀

TY for killing my thread. Much appreciated. 😛

 

[Vicviper]

It depends what your major is, if your major is like Bio or Chem, you'd have like 2 bio professors, or 1 bio and 1 chem (I hear that's the school's favorite mix) - and that should cover most schools requirements. Otherwise, I've seen how the dental schools print out the AADSAS file, and it all looks the same anyways. Maybe the difference with the committee is that they'd be able to add a comment section about you overall or something like that, but I don't think it would matter much either way.

Also, a feeder school is like how some states don't have dental schools, and so they make agreements with the neighboring state schools to give preference to those residents too. That, or it just means what undergrads most people at that school come from. I.E, if a school is in California, there's a good change that a large portion of the students will be from CA schools.

 

[enfuego]

It depends what your major is, if your major is like Bio or Chem, you'd have like 2 bio professors, or 1 bio and 1 chem (I hear that's the school's favorite mix) - and that should cover most schools requirements. Otherwise, I've seen how the dental schools print out the AADSAS file, and it all looks the same anyways. Maybe the difference with the committee is that they'd be able to add a comment section about you overall or something like that, but I don't think it would matter much either way.

I'm a non-science major, so I'm really only taking the pre-reqs and a couple upper-level bios. I didn't decide to do pre-dental until relatively recently, so I don't have a lot of time to cram in extra upper-levels before I graduate.

Yeah, I'm not exactly sure what the committee letter is like. I think my advisor said that it's a letter that takes portions of the different individual LORs you submit to the office to form one big composite letter. And apparently if you have a certain GPA, they interview you and you get a letter from one of our deans or something.

 

[smurf528]

I'm a non-science major, so I'm really only taking the pre-reqs and a couple upper-level bios. I didn't decide to do pre-dental until relatively recently, so I don't have a lot of time to cram in extra upper-levels before I graduate.

Yeah, I'm not exactly sure what the committee letter is like. I think my advisor said that it's a letter that takes portions of the different individual LORs you submit to the office to form one big composite letter. And apparently if you have a certain GPA, they interview you and you get a letter from one of our deans or something.

Well, with some of the dental school websites I viewed said, for example, that you would need 3 LORs or a committee letter. So I assume that the committee letter from whoever your undergrad school requires will be fine.

My school allows us to choose three from a list: 1 BCPM prof, 1 non-sci prof, 1 faculty, peer, or dentist/doctor.

What schools are you planning on applying to?

 

[enfuego]

Well, with some of the dental school websites I viewed said, for example, that you would need 3 LORs or a committee letter. So I assume that the committee letter from whoever your undergrad school requires will be fine.

Right. But if you do the committee letter, does it have to consist of the 3 specific LORs each school asks for? Like if they ask for 1 BCP prof, 1 sci prof, 1 other prof - do I have to get those included in the committee letter?

I don't know if my question makes sense. I'm assuming it's safe to just follow whatever my school requires for its committee letter.

What schools are you planning on applying to?

I'm not applying until the 2011 cycle, but MCG, UMD, Tufts, BU, Lousiville, Pitts will definitely be on my list. Probably UOP, Bama, NYU too. It's hard to tell now since I don't have DAT scores yet.

 

[smurf528]

The schools just state "committee letter" so I think that as long as it is a committee letter you'll be sending it will be fine. If you're unsure I would ask your pre-health advisor about it. But, I'm almost positive that any committee letter will be fine.

I'm applying to some of the same schools for the 2010 cycle. I'm taking the DAT in June so I'm getting pretty nervous.

 

[enfuego]

I'm applying to some of the same schools for the 2010 cycle. I'm taking the DAT in June so I'm getting pretty nervous.

I'm taking the DAT this summer too, in August. Good luck!!

 

[smurf528]

if you don't mind me asking...how are you studyiing for it?? I have barely studied for it. I read up on some PAT and I took a Kaplan Pracitce DAT that I did bad on.

 

[enfuego]

if you don't mind me asking...how are you studyiing for it?? I have barely studied for it. I read up on some PAT and I took a Kaplan Pracitce DAT that I did bad on.

I haven't started studying yet either. I've been swamped with school work. I'm not really sure how I'm going to study yet. I've just been reading all the threads on the DAT board and looking at which books worked best for people, and then just get a few of those. I'll have to think of a strategy, but I'm sure it'll change once I actually start studying. I'm not taking the class - waste of time, and I definitely learn better on my own than having a teacher.

 

[smurf528]

Ditto to that. I was thinking about taking the Kaplan course but I don't think it is worth the $1500. I just took a free DAT test they had. I heard that Kaplan makes those free practice tests a lot harder than what the actual DAT would be like so you'll enroll in the course.

Anyways, I've heard that TopScore was good so I bought the CD for that but I haven't even looked at it. I also have the blue Kaplan book that I have been browsing through.