I am planning to apply to dental school this cycle and I need opinions on who all I should ask for letters of recommendation. Obviously, I am going to get the required one from my professors (My school does a committee instead of single letters). I also have a general dentist, an orthodontist, and my high school basketball coach willing to write letters. Should I get letters from all those people or just choose one/two? I know that a lot of people get letters from dentists, so would a letter from a former basketball coach help differentiate my application? I feel like it would be good to have him write a letter, because he is in a unique position to judge character and work ethic. He sees how his players perform under pressure, handle adversity, etc. Any opinion is appreciated! Thanks in advance!
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- Thread starter DC1230
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Why not just do all of them? can't harm.
I like the coach as well, shows a different side of you.
I like the coach as well, shows a different side of you.
That's what I was thinking, but I wasn't sure if there was a limit on how many I can have.
I would recommend asking your pre-health advisor or whoever is in charge of your committee letter about the limit.
For my school’s committee letter, my pre-health advisor told us that we had to submit 5-6 letters (mandatory 2 science profs and 1 dentist).
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You'll have 4 spots to give out for the LORs on the AADSAS app, so you should be able to fit your committee letter (assuming it counts as one, my school did individuals so), plus your other three.
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It behooves you to read the LOR requirements for dental schools. It is unlikely that a letter from a "high school" coach will sway any adcoms even if he/she claims he/she witnessed you performing miracles.
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If you have a committee letter it reduces the spots for other LORs, you may only have an option for one additional letter and in that case it needs to be from the dentist or orthodontist.
fishing28
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The website says that a committee letter counts as three letters. I'm not sure what to do because every school I am applying to requires a committee letter except for one. Instead of a committee letter they require two individual professors. Could I use a committee letter instead since its a combination of professors?
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Take this with a grain of salt, just my observations from applying during 2 cycles and getting in one the second.
The order of relevancy goes: dental professionals > professors you did research under > professors you took classes with > non professionals who can vouch for your work ethic/character (basketball coach) >>>>> random supervisors at volunteering gigs >>> anybody else
A letter should never sink your app. Include all of the letters if you think they can do a good job of vouching for you but if I had to choose which ones I would want to get squared away ASAP it would be the letters the schools want and dental professionals
The order of relevancy goes: dental professionals > professors you did research under > professors you took classes with > non professionals who can vouch for your work ethic/character (basketball coach) >>>>> random supervisors at volunteering gigs >>> anybody else
A letter should never sink your app. Include all of the letters if you think they can do a good job of vouching for you but if I had to choose which ones I would want to get squared away ASAP it would be the letters the schools want and dental professionals
This is about what I figured, and it makes sense because dental professionals know exactly what it takes to be a dentist. I was just kinda brainstorming ideas to possibly make my application stand out amongst the bulk of apps. Thanks for the input!
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I also don't think you should include your high school coach...Quite frankly, I doubt schools care much about who you were in high school. If high school basketball was very significant to you and your path to dentistry, you can find clever ways to weave that into your personal statement narrative if you really wanted to.
Schools want to know how you are in an academic/professional setting, and that's what they'll be looking for in your LORs. I would stick with your committee letter plus a letter from the general dentist, as many schools actually prefer a letter from a general dentist over a specialist.
Schools want to know how you are in an academic/professional setting, and that's what they'll be looking for in your LORs. I would stick with your committee letter plus a letter from the general dentist, as many schools actually prefer a letter from a general dentist over a specialist.
