When is the right time to ask for LOR/PEF?

[hammoudeh71]

---

Members don't see this ad.

i understand there are NO quantitative answers for this.. but how well a faculty has to know you before they can give you a good LOR/PEF during applications for postgrad training? How many exposures do you have to have with the faculty before you can go ahead and ask them for a recommendation? What if you asked a faculty/director/ chairman for a recommendation and they were not sure they know all aspects of your personality as a professional, do they usually deny your request? or do they just give you a weak one? What if the chairman at your school is always busy and no matter how hard you try to get in contact with, you still can barely see them! specially that many programs require a professional evaluation from the dean of department you are interested in. Any input on this from experienced people would be much appreciated.

 

[DavesNotHere]

For letters of recommendation i looked for two things:
1. Someone impressive
2. Someone who knows me very well

So i got 2 from my clinical faculty that i worked with 6 hours a day and knew me super well. Then i got two from faculty i'd worked with a fair amount, talked too about the specialty, and went to office hours who were "famous" in the dental world. With all of them I emailed them first telling them my intent to specialize, how theyd influenced me, and how a lor from them would help me cuz theyre so impressive (feel free to stroke their ego) and attached a CV and personal statement. And the next day after the email Id ask them in person. That way they arent surprised and dont worry about whether they know enough about you.

With your dean, all deans are used to this letter, set up a meeting via email/secretary telling them you want to talk about applying. Itll be a 5 10 minute convo. Some of my classmates didnt even do the meeting the dean just sent it. They dont need to know you, if they do its just a plus.

Ask for these the week before pass opens. Some will do it the night of, others will take weeks/months. I always asked for more than i needed just in case some flaked.

 

[charlestweed]

None of the faculty who wrote me the LORs knew me well. The Dean's letter was actually written by the assistant dean. The orthodontic chairman who wrote me the LOR was an interim chairman…and he didn't know anything about me. The third letter was an ortho faculty who did my braces. And the fourth letter was from a fixed prosth clinical instructor.

I don't think LORs are very important. Your board score is the most important thing that the admin committee will look at. I applied for ortho twice and I used the same LORs for both application cycles. And for both cyles, I received the same number of interview invitations (7 programs out of the 17 ortho programs that I applied to).

The LORs may be more important when the NDBE part I will be P/F in 2012.

 

[Charmm]

So if someone has two options, one a prof who knows you very well but he/she is not considered "big", and someone who is big and does not know me, which one would you ask a letter from?

 

[DavesNotHere]

So if someone has two options, one a prof who knows you very well but he/she is not considered "big", and someone who is big and does not know me, which one would you ask a letter from?

Well why cant you do both? Programs require 2-3 LOR along with those quickie ones

And i dont think one trumps the other...but if youre a stretch candidate the big name might get you an interview...if youre a strong applicant then a solid personal letter assuring the interviewer you are pleasant and not a sociopath is better

 

[hammoudeh71]

Thanks everyone for your input, that was really helpful. The department's chairman in our school is like a celebrity in his field with solid connections nationwide, yet he's so hard to catch, and amongst the very few times I get to see him, I feel he does not even remember me. Besides, we have different faculty and instructors in our clinics throughout the week, they even change from a.m to p.m. I am finding a hard time establishing this long working hours relationship with any of them. I guess I gotta do my best and see how it goes.

 

[senpai]

None of the faculty who wrote me the LORs knew me well. The Dean’s letter was actually written by the assistant dean. The orthodontic chairman who wrote me the LOR was an interim chairman…and he didn’t know anything about me. The third letter was an ortho faculty who did my braces. And the fourth letter was from a fixed prosth clinical instructor.

I don’t think LORs are very important. Your board score is the most important thing that the admin committee will look at. I applied for ortho twice and I used the same LORs for both application cycles. And for both cyles, I received the same number of interview invitations (7 programs out of the 17 ortho programs that I applied to).

The LORs may be more important when the NDBE part I will be P/F in 2012.

This may be true for ortho, that it's more of a formality. For OMS I felt like it was a huge advantage to have a good letter or two from big-wigs who are well known in the field. It's almost like picking up endorsements for a presidential race hahahaha

 

[Skibum19]

On a similar note, for OMS, is it important to have all letters come from OMS faculty? or if I did research with someone who is not OMS, but I feel he knows me better, would it be better for him to write a letter for me? I feel like the OMS know me well enough to write letters, but the other one may be more personal. I'm just not sure how important it is to have the letters be from OMS.

 

[Charmm]

Well why cant you do both? Programs require 2-3 LOR along with those quickie ones

And i dont think one trumps the other...but if youre a stretch candidate the big name might get you an interview...if youre a strong applicant then a solid personal letter assuring the interviewer you are pleasant and not a sociopath is better

👍