www.DMDstudent.com

Scenario: You have just taken your last final towards the last couple of weeks in April and your mind wanders to what you have to do next: Apply to dental school. You go down the checklist. You need to write an AADSAS essay of 1,000 words, you need to take the DAT, you need to log into AADSAS and fill out the application and you also need…4 LETTERS OF RECOMMENDATION? WHAT?!?

This process may sound familiar to you and this is exactly what happened to me the first time I applied. I scrambled at the last minute trying and get decent letters from good professors who barely knew who I was. I was unorganized which made the professor unorganized which made my letters of recommendation look unorganized which reflected on me: unorganized.

I will hopefully be able to present to you in this short segment the things to do to get a killer letter of recommendation from the most important auxiliary people in your application: The dentist you shadow and the professors who teach you.

WHO?
EACH SCHOOL HAS ITS OWN REQUIREMENT. Some schools want letters from two professors and a dentist. Some schools want letters from three science teachers (physics, biology, chemistry) and a dentist. Some schools want a letter from a math teacher, a non-science teacher, a dentist and a monkey. You get the point. The AADSAS website has a list of all the schools and the types of letters that they require. Figure out where you want to apply and then go from there.

Once you know who you need to get a letter from then it becomes your job to network with this professor and become their friend. This may not come naturally as some professors can be jaded or reclusive. Try to choose someone who has the reputation of liking their job and bending over backwards to help. Then sign up for their class. The next part is critical. In order to shine to the professor you must show the that you work hard and that you care about the class. How do you do that? Easy. You get an A in the class. Easier said than done, and admittedly, I got B+’s in the professors classes who wrote me a letter. But I worked my tail off striving for the A grade.

I went to their offices for any type of questions I had (real or made up). I was talkative, I joked with them, I participated in class, I TA’ed for them, they knew about my hobbies, my family, my friends, interests and I knew theirs and in the end we did became good friends and we still correspond through email. It is important not to approach the professor to become friends with them purely for the intent of getting a letter of recommendation. Don’t be fake. I tried to become friends with another teacher and our personalities didn’t mesh. When I asked him for a letter of recommendation (first time I applied) he basically handed me a letter that would have been more useful had it been filled with cow manure. I don’t think he did anything wrong nor is he to blame. We just never had a good student/professor friendship and it showed in the letter.

You will also need a letter from a dentist. You can get a letter of recommendation from specialist if you want (endodontist, oral surgeon, orthodontist, periodontist, etc.) BUT I would recommend getting on efrom a general dentist in addition to a specialist if you choose to go that route. Remember that you are applying to dental school and not specialty school - that comes later. Find a dentist that you would feel comfortable shadowing (your dentist, your mom’s dentist, a dentist in your church, community, etc.) and go ask him if you can shadow for a couple of weeks or for 40 hours. Tell the dentist that the purpose is to view dentistry first hand and that you will be seeking a letter of recommendation when you are done. This way the dentist knows what to expect and what to look for when you are in his office.

WHEN?

After you do good on he first test and are good friends (you may have to find a compatible professor with similar interests) you go to their office and tell them that you would like them to write you a letter of recommendation. They should already know that you will be applying to dental school. Just bring it up and see if they agree. “Would you be comfortable writing me a letter of recommendation in April?” Something to this effect. After their approval you say, “Great, thanks, I’ll give you more information later”. This is called soft sale. Now they have it embedded in their subconscious that you want a letter from them and they will keep it in mind. Remind them weekly just in case. Smile a lot. The earlier you can notify the professor the better. You will also shine more when you have given ample warning and at the end of the semester 20 slackers come into their office and say “Give me a letter.”

As stated above warn your dentist the day you start shadowing that you would like him to write you a letter at the end of your shadowing.

WHAT?

What should your letter say? Well this is up to the person writing it…BUT you can give them a nudge in the right direction. When the deadline for your letter is coming near, sit down at your computer and write a resume/biography of yourself. A single sheet of paper with an outline of who you are. List your hobbies, interests, family (like if you’re married and have a cute kid named Chuck), extracurricular activities, honors, awards, scholarships, community service, clubs, everything you can think that would recall memories of things you talked with the professor about. Also include a transcript of your grades so they have an idea of what type of student you are or where. Also include a copy of the letter of intent you plan on submitting to AADSAS on why dentistry.

Do the same for your dentist.

The idea is to make yourself credible by having your letter of recommendation writer put things in his letter that you wrote in AADSAS. For example if you shadowed for 40 hours then you put it in AADSAS when you fill out your application. When your dentist writes you a letter of recommendation he includes that you shadowed him for 40 hours. You now look credible or have credibility with the admissions committees at the schools which you are applying to.
This will hold true for the letters the professors write for you too. If you put down in AADSAS that you love building model airplanes as a hobby and one of your professors mentions that you have an extensive collection of model airplanes then you gain credibility. When you write down in AADSAS that you were the Pre-Dental Club president and volunteered 20 hours a month for the United Way and then your professor writes down the same information than you have gained credibility. Without any other way to prove that you did what you said you did on AADSAS it is a good idea to get a couple or 5 letters that confirm he things you have claimed.

Make sure to tell the professors/dentist you are getting your letter from the same thing and bold the things you would like them to mention in the letter they are writing for you. It is another aspect to make you shine and you want to have as much control over it as possible.

In the end make sure to have them send the letter directly to AADSAS with the AADSAS cover sheet from the AADSAS website. Then ask for additional copies for backups in case you decide to apply to more schools or a school never received a copy to begin with (heck, ask for 10 sealed copies). From these extra copies open one to read yourself. You will not be disappointed.