When asking for LOR, what to give writer?

[SCDP]

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I was thinking of just creating a sheet that says my undergrad uni along with cumulative and science GPA.
And then a list of extracurricular activities like volunteer organizations, school clubs, dental shadowing hours,
intramural sports played, and also unofficial transcript.

Would that be good enough, especially if I know they will write me a good LOR? Do I need to include a personal statement because I haven't even looked at starting that yet...

 

[shaidester]

A resume or personal statement is recommended. The more information they have about you, the better the letter will be.

 

[wjc]

Anything helps. Maybe put together a good predental resume to give to your letter writers. It's something that will be nice to have because you can adapt it for a variety of things. Short of a personal statement maybe just put one paragraph objective into the resume to explain why you want to be a dentist. Hopefully they will know you well enough to write a good letter without much input though. I would recommend putting a draft ps together sooner than later. I put that off and I don't think what went into my application was the best because of it.

 

[sjv]

A couple of mine requested a personal statement and transcript, ask if they need anything in particular to help them write a better letter.

 

[DentalDoge]

For my oral surgeon, he requested a CV and PS.

But most of my other writers (science professors) didnt request anything as I stay in contact with them. But I still slip them my CV just in case.

 

[spazway]

I had applied for some scholarships and written some essays for those, so I gave my LOR writers a list of my extracurriculars, those essays, classes taken, motivation for choosing the major I did, and my rough, rough personal statement. Both of the professors who wrote me LORs said the writing samples were very helpful.

 

[wildzodiac]

Like others have already said, the more you give them, the better the letters will be. Nobody wants to read some cliche run around LOR, (Mr. _____is very motivated, does good in class, Yada Yada yada...) boring.

I gave my professors a copy of my transcript, Cv, and a personalized letter explaining my reason to choose the field and further directions for submitting their LOR.

 

[7amsho]

i gave the writers my resume and personal statement draft at that time

 

[SCDP]

When writing the resume, under my volunteer experiences, I put the time frame from when I started to present, but should I also include how many hours I have so far? Obviously I plan on getting a lot more hours at those places but should I include how many I have so far?

 

[sjv]

When writing the resume, under my volunteer experiences, I put the time frame from when I started to present, but should I also include how many hours I have so far? Obviously I plan on getting a lot more hours at those places but should I include how many I have so far?

Up to you, the letter writer probably doesn't care either way.

 

[SCDP]

I know I've been on a roll with questions lately but I have one more. From what I've seen on the dental school application you can only submit 3 LORs right? So with some schools requiring 3 LORs from professors and then some requiring 2 from professors and 1 from a dentist, how does one manage that? If you can only submit 3 to the application, would they automatically send those 3 to the dental schools you are applying to and how do you submit the other one some schools require?

 

[shaidester]

You can submit up to 4 through AADSAS

 

[SCDP]

You can submit up to 4 through AADSAS

When submitting 4 to AADSAS, are you able to pick and choose which go to which school or do they just send all 4 too all school you apply to?

 

[shaidester]

When submitting 4 to AADSAS, are you able to pick and choose which go to which school or do they just send all 4 too all school you apply to?

I don't remember having the option to pick and choose. Every school receives the same application I believe.

 

[SCDP]

I don't remember having the option to pick and choose. Every school receives the same application I believe.

Ah I see, if anyone else could confirm that would be great. Wish I could just pick and choose because I would rather have just 2 chem professors and a dentist, but some schools require a bio professor too.

 

[DentalDoge]

I know I've been on a roll with questions lately but I have one more. From what I've seen on the dental school application you can only submit 3 LORs right? So with some schools requiring 3 LORs from professors and then some requiring 2 from professors and 1 from a dentist, how does one manage that? If you can only submit 3 to the application, would they automatically send those 3 to the dental schools you are applying to and how do you submit the other one some schools require?

You can submit 4 to AADSAS that gets sent to ALL the schools. Most schools you can send further LOR's if they require specific ones: Spiritual Leader, GP dentist, OMS, etc.

As always, check with the schools to make sure they are open to receiving additional LOR's