Recommendation letters

[wisdom_tooth]

This actually pertains more to American dental schools. Most want at least 3 letters, some want at least 2 of them to be either from a physics, bio, or chem prof some want all of them from a science prof. Anyways, i'm having a difficult time as I am a psych major but doing a Bsc. and most of the science courses i have taken (like first year bio, chem, organic, and biochem) are huge lectures. In other words there's no way to really get the professor to notice you or build a relationship with the prof. I've already sent out formal letters to 8 professors (4 science profs) asking them if they could write a letter for me and I wrote about how their course has helped me and as I predicted all my science professors said no, with the same explanation for all: "I don't know you well enough yada yada ya". I don't have any upper year science courses and I'm doing research but it's in the field of psychology. I have an anthro prof who's writing me a good letter and I have a really good letter from my employer of 5 years (i worked at a pharmacy) and I'm pretty sure i'll be getting a letter from my research supervisor that I'm working with currently, but none of them are science profs. That being said, does anyone have any advice or has anyone been in the same predicament but overcome it?

 

thanks,

-Wisdom_tooth

[wisdom_tooth]

in addition, a lot of the american schools accept pre-health/pre-dental committee recommendation letters (something like that). I emailed I believe, one school about that but for some odd reason they ended up sending me a link to the school's requirements (they really didn't answer my question). So does anyone know what a pre-health committee is??? or is it an american thing??

 

Thanks again,

-Wisdom_tooth

[Sweeney5]

You should def do a committee letter! I was in the same boat. A committe letter is basically a composit letter. You get as many people as possible to write you a recommendation (do them all closed envelop style...sign away all rights to see what is in them...if not, they don't hold any weight) then you get your "carreer services" (or whatever they are called at you school) to put the letter together. They use quotes from all the recs that you received. This way they can really put a lot of things in from your employer and you can get by with one little quote from a science prof whom you didn't know..."she/he came to every class" and that surfices. I bet if you tell your science profs that you are doing a composit letter they will be much more likely to write you one. Let me know if you have any other questions about it. I am from the US and have been through all the fun jazz a couple times. The only thing that stinks is you better hope the person that compiles it takes the time to do a good job.

[wisdom_tooth]

You should def do a committee letter! I was in the same boat. A committe letter is basically a composit letter. You get as many people as possible to write you a recommendation (do them all closed envelop style...sign away all rights to see what is in them...if not, they don't hold any weight) then you get your "carreer services" (or whatever they are called at you school) to put the letter together. They use quotes from all the recs that you received. This way they can really put a lot of things in from your employer and you can get by with one little quote from a science prof whom you didn't know..."she/he came to every class" and that surfices. I bet if you tell your science profs that you are doing a composit letter they will be much more likely to write you one. Let me know if you have any other questions about it. I am from the US and have been through all the fun jazz a couple times. The only thing that stinks is you better hope the person that compiles it takes the time to do a good job.

 

Hey thanks!

 

I'll definately do that, but just one more question, what do i tell the prof who is writing me the letter, do I tell them to send it to my university's career centre as opposed to ADDSAS?

 

-wisdom_tooth

[Sweeney5]

Yes. I would first talk to the people in the career services department, find out who is going to write it for you (make sure you like them). I would think that they have done this many times in the past and will be willing to do it for you BUT i don't think it technically has to come from them. What i am getting at is if you aren't comforable with the person who will be writing it for you than maybe someone in a different administrative position could. The only thing to keep in mind is that if a dental school gets 10 composite letters for students from your university (present or past) and your letter is the only one that is compiled by a different person it may look weird.

[Gsman]

Hey,

 

i am from a canadian university and we do not have a committee that does it and i dont think canadian schools do. Composit letters are an US thing i think...

[wisdom_tooth]

thanks for the replies

 

yea I better check with my university's career centre and see if they are willing to write a composite committee letter. This is really bumming me out, I just got another 2 "maybes" but with dire warnings like "well it's better to get a letter from a lecturer who you've had a smaller lecture with". Honestly, it's hard, my uni is big and the smallest class I have is one with 30 students, and even then, it's a 4th year psych course. The smallest science class I was in had like 150 students and it was a physics course I took in the summer and the prof blatantly said no.

 

Dental school applications are going to be the death of me lol

 

[Gsman]

hey man dont worry. i was in the same boat a few months ago.

 

I had 3 profs that each taught me one in first year. They had no clue who i was. i just set a meeting with them and talked to them. I explained my position and how the US schools require a bio, physics and chem prof and that they were my only choices. Ask if they could have a longer meeting to discuss ur motives so they get to know you better.

 

Thats what i did and they ended up writing me letters and i got in.

 

just dont be afraid to be honest and tell them u really need it or else u cant apply. its not too late for them to get to know you.

 

 

goodluck

 

 

 

thanks for the replies

 

yea I better check with my university's career centre and see if they are willing to write a composite committee letter. This is really bumming me out, I just got another 2 "maybes" but with dire warnings like "well it's better to get a letter from a lecturer who you've had a smaller lecture with". Honestly, it's hard, my uni is big and the smallest class I have is one with 30 students, and even then, it's a 4th year psych course. The smallest science class I was in had like 150 students and it was a physics course I took in the summer and the prof blatantly said no.

 

Dental school applications are going to be the death of me lol