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Letter of Recommendation Requirements (lor)
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All Schools require a minimum of 3 letters of evaluations as a part of the application process. A letter from the Dean of your previous/current school is mandatory, and two letters can be either from either faculty in your dental school or/and from dentist you assisted/shadowed in the U.S. In case of students involved in research/fellowship programs in the U.S., you could also take LORS from your faculty guides.

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basic guidelines of an lor

  • Original signature of the recommender is needed.– photocopies, electronic signatures and similar signature types will not be accepted on the LOR.

  • Date of signature (letters must have a date on them) must be present on the letterhead.

  • The letter is required to be on the organization’s/ dentist’s official letterhead.

  • Contact information of the recommender including physical address, email address and phone number must be present on the letter.


the length of the letter


To begin with, you should know that the most persuasive letters come in at least paragraphs of three. Letter length is always deciphered as a measure of the strength of your evaluation – if your recommendation is strong. Sometimes, it could even go on to the second page. However, this is not a must have. Sometimes even short LORs may be very effective.

 
THE LINGO OF THE LETTER


Words do matter when it comes to writing a letter of evaluation. If there is one thing, we can teach you after reading lots of letters of evaluations is that no one wants to read a cliche letter. So be sure to include events that humanize you. Include detailed descriptions and clear examples of the student's strengths – avoid both ambiguous and overtly indefinite/generic descriptors. In explaining any weaknesses, frame them positively (e.g., "exhibited improvement in grades, instead of poor grades"). DO NOT review exact grades and scores unless you are adding additional context to that information.
 
First Paragraph(Introduction)
The introduction should state how long and in what capacity you have known the student. You may choose to include an overall summary of the student's ability. 
 
Second Paragraph(Body)
This body should outline details of your assessment of the student's abilities. Consider the qualities that your student demonstrates, which makes them a valuable addition to a program.
 
 Third Paragraph (Conclusion)

The conclusion should include an overall summary of the student's performance, summarizing their strengths you have observed.

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TAKE HOME POINTS

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  • Letters must speak about your recent specific clinical skills, academic skills and personal strengths. The best letters are those that give an in-depth and specific description of the applicant’s current or recent clinical dental skills and accomplishments, dental knowledge base, patient management skills, work ethic, personality, personal skills, character and reliability. Letters that highlight different aspects of you and show you are well-rounded are also valued.

  • It is important for the admission committee to get a sense of all your dental experiences, both US and foreign, from your letters. Thus, letters from faculty, internship/preceptorship leaders, health profession employers

  • Do NOT plagiarize. This means that letters should be original wording from recommenders and should not be copied from wording/ templates found on the internet or by copying from letters of previously accepted applicants. Plagiarized letters can cause your application to be denied. 

 

 

 

how to submit LORs to CAAPID

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  •  Applicant provides the evaluator's email address on the 'Evaluations' section of his/her CAAPID portal.

  •  As soon as the evaluator's name and email address are provided, the evaluator receives an email from ADEA CAAPID directing him or her to the ADEA CAAPID Evaluators Portal.

  •  The first time an evaluator enters the Evaluators Portal, the evaluator is asked to provide contact information

  •  The evaluator follows simple step-by-step instructions for submitting/ uploading the soft copy of the Letter of Evaluation; ADEA CAAPID can accept electronic Letter of Evaluations in these formats: Microsoft Word (.doc), Rich Text Format (.rtf), Portable Document Format (.pdf), and ASCII text (.txt) 

  • ADEA CAAPID requires letters of evaluation received to be written on official letterhead from the organization the evaluator is affiliated with as well as a signature from the author. Include these requirements in the “Personal Message/Notes” field on the request page.

  • ADEA CAAPID collects up to three letters of evaluation per applicant. Applicants are advised to check the specific letter requirements for each advanced standing program by visiting the ADEA CAAPID Program Directory.

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SAMPLE LOR FORMATS

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Please feel free to download some sample letters of recommendation that we could compile below. Please remember that these samples are only to give you an idea regarding the basic formats and structures of the letters. Your letter has to be personal and individualized to you. Copying content is considered as plagiarism by schools.

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