Which committee Letter?

[krazydesi]

Advertisement - Members don't see this ad

Hey all,

So I am getting ready to contact some professors and get my letters of recommendation started. I decided I wanted to do dental just a year ago.

I already graduated from Penn State University with Major in Industrial Engineering with minor in Bio-engineering and Entrepreneurship.

My senior year I decided I wanted to apply for dental school so I decided to take upper level science classes back home at Stony Brook University. I am currently taking 20 credits of science classes and next semester hope to take another 20 credits. So far doing well, got A's on all my first exams.

Now this is the problem I am in, where should I get my committee letter from? Stony brook or PSU?

I am going to have five letters of recommendation (3 from stony brook, 1 PSU, and 1 dentist)

The only reason majority are from stony brook is because I haven't taken too many science classes at PSU (or when I did never got to know the professors well enough to write recommendation letters).

The other thing is that my senior year I took Ochem lab and I failed due to a plagirism issue with another student. I actually got an A- then called in next semester and got an F. Nothing on my transcript that says plaigrism.

That is another reason I am taking lots of science classes at stony brook to remedy the situation and next semester starting to volunteer in Stony brook dental clinic rotation program.

so my questions are

1)where to get committee letter from?
2) How will the F on ochem lab look if I have had straight 3.7+ gpa senior year and this year at stony brook taking 20+ credits each semester
3) How do I explain the F in front of the committee? Just tell them how I was dishonest and copied a section of a lab from another student?

I am hoping if I get above 3.7+ this semester and next semester to apply with 3.5 gpa and 3.3-3.35 sgpa ... I will be taking DATs in January or February

I know you can't say much about my chances without DATs, but have lots of extra-curricular, volunteering, went to Nicaragua and worked on dental clinic for 10 days - 9-10 hours a day (have pictures to prove it lol)

Thank you in advance.

 

[Maygyver]

I'm not completely sure about the committee letter, but I know some schools don't do committee letters so you would just need to get individual letters. For this, I don't think it matters where they come from, so long as they meet the requirement (science, major, non science, dentist, etc).

I think the F will look bad unless you retook it and did well (not sure what called in means in this situation). Also, doing well on the ochem section of the DAT will help you out in this case.

Be honest with the committee. I am sure they would be able to pick out a lie pretty easily. Make sure you let them know why you copied it, and hopefully, how the event made you stronger and that you know cheating is bad, etc.

Your application sounds pretty solid with the extra curricular activities and what not. Good luck!

 

[krazydesi]

thank you for your response. yes I retook ochem lab and got an A.

I am hoping that more science classes and other involvement will help make me a strong candidate...

I know my GPA will hurt me but I hope admissions committee look into fact I also did engineering background, even though I know I should have tried harder.

Thank you again.

 

[krazydesi]

bump just seeing if anyone else can give me and advice ? thank you

 

[namiie]

3) How do I explain the F in front of the committee? Just tell them how I was dishonest and copied a section of a lab from another student?

Yes. Yes, yes, yes. And yes. Academic integrity is of the utmost importance. You may not see anything regarding the incident on your transcript, but sometimes notes can be made without your knowledge....if that's the case, it's going to look even worse if you keep quiet about it.

Like Maygyver said, the most important part is just letting them know what was going through your mind when you did it, and how you learned from it.

Oh, and there is a section on AADSAS that asks if you've ever been disciplined for any violation of school policy...so yeah, you will have to mention it anyway.

 

[krazydesi]

For the Dental application for where I write about violation of school policy would this count for it ? I mean should I still write it on there or just show the failing grade because I don't have an XF its just an F

 

[Denteeth]

For the Dental application for where I write about violation of school policy would this count for it ? I mean should I still write it on there or just show the failing grade because I don't have an XF its just an F

As Namiie mentioned dental schools' app explicitly ask about any disciplinary actions due to violation of schools policies and you will have to tell them the truth...

my advice would be to go and discuss this matter with the dean at Stony or other schools before you submit your app.

Good luck