Too many letters?

[IzzyMarieDMD]

I know that most schools require 2 letters from science professors and 1 from a non-science. My question is, if I get an extra science professor letter, and two dentist letters, will that make any difference at all? My idea is that it couldn't hurt.... any thoughts?

 

[KOM]

Never hurts to ask for a lot and then get to pick and choose the best ones. Not to mention, sometimes recommenders aren't all that reliable so it's good to have a backup.

You can use them all if you'd like. I doubt it matters.

 

[SFPredent]

I had three science, 1 non-science and 2 dentists. No one complained.

 

[cocokeala]

when i went to this UOP sim clinic thing the dean of admissions said they dont want extra letters. first off they dont want to read them all, and second off they want letters good enough that they can get all the info they need from just a couple letters. i see through the viewpt of the applicant, that we just want to ensure the best letters possible. but i guess what he is saying from the adcom standpt is that the more letters=the more iffy of an applicant. idk..thats just UOP though

 

[SugarNaCl]

I had 6 letters but I have been working for awhile so I had 2 from my grad school professors, 3 from the different PIs I work for at the cancer institute bc their names are recognizable and I knew they would write good ones for me and 1 from a dentist I shadowed. No one said anything and I am accepted.

 

[munch22]

I found that to meet the requirements of the schools I applied to, I had to have more than three. Some specified they wanted a letter form 2 sci proff. and a dentist, some wanted one from a non sci, some wanted one from a proffessor of your major....etc. so to make sure they all had what they wanted, I had about 6 letters. They all went to AADSAS and thus they all were sent to each school. I figured that the schools could decide which ones they needed and wanted to read. But I would atleast make sure you have all the required letters from each school you want to apply to.

 

[Mila]

I had 5 letters in addition to my very long committee letter - making 6 total. I was also worried it being too many letters, but no one complained, and in fact some schools commented that I had very strong letters (That probably had more to do with content/quality of the letters over quantity). Don't worry about having a few extra.

 

[1992Corolla]

Not at all. I had the minimum amount and I know some people had 'overkill' 😉 but no one complained.

Also make sure the schools you are applying to have the right amount. Some schools i applied to wanted exactly three science, and each science had to be from a chemistry prof, a bio prof, and a physics prof, along with a dentist. It can also help to get a letter from someone besides these three to talk about some of your other qualities besides 'excellent student' and 'worked hard in my office'.

I wrote an article about the subject here.

 

[IzzyMarieDMD]

Not at all. I had the minimum amount and I know some people had 'overkill' 😉 but no one complained.

Also make sure the schools you are applying to have the right amount. Some schools i applied to wanted exactly three science, and each science had to be from a chemistry prof, a bio prof, and a physics prof, along with a dentist. It can also help to get a letter from someone besides these three to talk about some of your other qualities besides 'excellent student' and 'worked hard in my office'.

I wrote an article about the subject here.

Thanks so much, the article was very helpful 🙂