Writing me own LOR?

[Do Ray]

---

Members don't see this ad.

I shadowed a general dentist for 2 weeks (~35 hours). I asked for a LOR and they said since I was mostly watching procedures they don't know what to write. Or it might be because they're too busy to write a letter. As such, they told me to write the letter for myself, and they will ok it if it looks good.

Thing is, I have to write this by tonight, and wasn't sure what to put. I was thinking about mentioning the qualities I showed during shadowing that would make me a good dentist in the future. But I'm not too sure what else. Any help is greatly appreciated!

 

[SmileswithKammy]

umm..... i dont know if its wise to ask this, because im pretty sure you're about to get flamed by everyone. This goes against ethics severely. You shouldn't be composing your own LOR...

 

[BobbyBeavis]

umm..... i dont know if its wise to ask this, because im pretty sure you're about to get flamed by everyone. This goes against ethics severely. You shouldn't be composing your own LOR...

Dentists do this all the time.

I shadowed a general dentist for 2 weeks (~35 hours). I asked for a LOR and they said since I was mostly watching procedures they don't know what to write. Or it might be because they're too busy to write a letter. As such, they told me to write the letter for myself, and they will ok it if it looks good.

Thing is, I have to write this by tonight, and wasn't sure what to put. I was thinking about mentioning the qualities I showed during shadowing that would make me a good dentist in the future. But I'm not too sure what else. Any help is greatly appreciated!

You're off on a good start. Just write what you feel is true about the experiences you garnered and if the Dentist agrees, he/she will sign their name. Don't stress it too much

 

[MK9595]

Yeah my dentist also wants me to kinda write my own and I definitely need one from him.

 

[aj30]

umm..... i dont know if its wise to ask this, because im pretty sure you're about to get flamed by everyone. This goes against ethics severely. You shouldn't be composing your own LOR...

If the dentist hires or asks someone on his staff to do it is it ok then? As long as the dentist reads and signs off on it you technically did nothing wrong (though you shouldn’t mention it at an interview...).

 

[Do Ray]

Dentists do this all the time.



You're off on a good start. Just write what you feel is true about the experiences you garnered and if the Dentist agrees, he/she will sign their name. Don't stress it too much

Another slight caveat.

I mainly shadowed an associate dentist there; the dentist who 'owns' the practice I didn't shadow too much of. However, I'd like to write the letter from the perspective of the associate dentist, since I shadowed and talked to her the most. However, I feel it would make sense to have the 'owner' of the practice sign off. So should I put both their names at the bottom of the letter?

 

[ringofkeys]

Another slight caveat.

I mainly shadowed an associate dentist there; the dentist who 'owns' the practice I didn't shadow too much of. However, I'd like to write the letter from the perspective of the associate dentist, since I shadowed and talked to her the most. However, I feel it would make sense to have the 'owner' of the practice sign off. So should I put both their names at the bottom of the letter?

dental schools don't care whether the dentist owns the practice, they just want to know the dentist's perception of you. so no.

 

[Dentalco2020]

umm..... i dont know if its wise to ask this, because im pretty sure you're about to get flamed by everyone. This goes against ethics severely. You shouldn't be composing your own LOR...

yeah ethics and all that aside, this actually happens quite often. Not just dental LOR, but at workplaces as well. You write a really good one, and if they don't see problem, they approve it and send it.

 

[SmileswithKammy]

yeah ethics and all that aside, this actually happens quite often. Not just dental LOR, but at workplaces as well. You write a really good one, and if they don't see problem, they approve it and send it.

Interesting, i had no idea.

 

[cooliyak]

Interesting, i had no idea.

Doesn’t make it right.

 

[oralcare123]

I shadowed a general dentist for 2 weeks (~35 hours). I asked for a LOR and they said since I was mostly watching procedures they don't know what to write. Or it might be because they're too busy to write a letter. As such, they told me to write the letter for myself, and they will ok it if it looks good.

Thing is, I have to write this by tonight, and wasn't sure what to put. I was thinking about mentioning the qualities I showed during shadowing that would make me a good dentist in the future. But I'm not too sure what else. Any help is greatly appreciated!

Been there. Sorry to hear that you shadowed a disrespectful person. Eventually I found good dentists , who wrote me wonderful letters
You need to make sure that your letter has different style then the future PS, otherwise it would be noticeable to someone reading all your letters at once

 

[Dentalco2020]

Doesn’t make it right.

didn't say it did. just saying that when this happens to you, how easy is it for you to insist the letter writer who's actually doing a favor for you? Not so easy.

 

[cooliyak]

didn't say it did. just saying that when this happens to you, how easy is it for you to insist the letter writer who's actually doing a favor for you? Not so easy.

Not so hard either

 

[Dentalco2020]

Not so hard either

if you say so.
tell that to others too for me. out.

 

[Jueves]

Been there. Sorry to hear that you shadowed a disrespectful person. Eventually I found good dentists , who wrote me wonderful letters
You need to make sure that your letter has different style then the future PS, otherwise it would be noticeable to someone reading all your letters at once

I wouldn’t go as far as saying someone who lets you write your own letter is a disrespectful person/bad dentist.

 

[oralcare123]

I wouldn’t go as far as saying someone who lets you write your own letter is a disrespectful person/bad dentist.

But they are. We can also say, that they don't care, don't give a s or ff or damn
In general a dentist should ask you about some figures and dates to be accurate. Maybe inquire on what you would like to emphasize, but this is a recipe to a disaster. Like I said, the style might give you up and in general it is just a lie
Sometimes one strong LOR might decide if you are admitted or not

 

[Lau Sang]

But they are. We can also say, that they don't care, don't give a s or ff or damn
In general a dentist should ask you about some figures and dates to be accurate. Maybe inquire on what you would like to emphasize, but this is a recipe to a disaster. Like I said, the style might give you up and in general it is just a lie
Sometimes one strong LOR might decide if you are admitted or not

Many applicants will find themselves obtaining a few of their LOR's simply to fulfill the requirements, especially students at schools with huge science classes. And I'm sure many of those LOR writers will lie on their behalf. They are so subjective and range so much in levels of exaggeration they might as well all be lies. I'm not sure how schools actually do it, but if I was an admissions officer I think it would make sense take into consideration the letters that do have actual substance (like specifics and not just endless general platitudes) but then disregard every other letter tbh...

Anyways, the right thing to do would be to write yourself a general af LOR, about how you familiarized yourself with all the procedures, are great with patients, etc. Your dentist will sign that general af LOR no problemo. It won't help you much but also it's not going to hurt you. And you won't feel any guilt, if that's a thing you feel.

EDIT: O this thread is old now I guess...