Category: Background Information

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AADSAS Application Advice Background Information Dental School Portfolio Tips

All You Need to Know about Letters of Recommendations

Letter clip artAs mentioned in AADSAS Application Frequently asked Questions post earlier in June, three letters of recommendation are required as part of the application. Of the three recommendation letters,  two must be from your science courses and one can be of from anyone. The letters of recommendation are important aspects of your application since they, and your personal statement, are what define you as an individual beyond numbers and ranking. The admissions faculty is looking for individuals who have personable qualities, and a strong letter of recommendation will have more merit than any personal statement written by the individual applying. For this reason, it is important to receive three strong letters of recommendation. A letter of recommendation could be the deciding factor for interview opportunity just as easily as it can be the deciding factor for receiving a rejection letter.

Some of the following questions and answers were inspired by a presentation given by Stan Constantino, a Director of Admissions from the University of Pacific Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry. Stan enlightened us on topics related to admissions.  The following list was compiled based on answers to questions given by Mr. Constantino and expanded upon.

How many letters of recommendation should I have?

Your goal should be to have 2 science curriculum letters of recommendation and one miscellaneous letter. The miscellaneous letter carries weight in its own way. It is a great opportunity to show admissions officers your life outside of academia and how people perceive you. A great miscellaneous letter can come from many places. Some common ones are from a priest, a former or current boss, or a dentist you shadowed at.

What if I have more than three letters of recommendations?

The AADSAS application accepts more than three letters! However, please be aware that admissions faculty is only required to read three letters, regardless of how many you submit. For example, imagine a scenario in which you submitted five letters, two of them were strong letters and three of them were mediocre. If three of the letters were read at random the likelihood of getting the three letters you wanted read are greatly reduced. The following table shows the probability of each combination:

2 Good/1 Mediocre 1 Good/2 Mediocre 0 Good/3 Mediocre
30% 60% 10%

Based on the assumption that an admissions officer will only read three letters, 1/10 schools you applied to did not get the opportunity to read any of your top letters, while 6/10 schools only got to read 1 of them. As you can see, the odds are not in your favor. For this reason, I highly recommend following a quality over quantity ideology when submitting letters of recommendation. Make sure to get strong letters and pick the letters that you believe will carry the most weight. It will always be better to have three very strong letters rather than 5 moderately strong letters.

Does research count as a miscellaneous letter of recommendation or a science letter?

The answer to this question depends on if you received units for research, and as a result a letter grade based on your research performance. If a letter grade was given, then research qualifies as one of your science letters of recommendation. A research letter of recommendation is highly recommended if you can get one since, in a research environment, you spend significantly more time interacting with the person who will be writing the letter than with a professor during office hours.

What characteristics are looked for in a letter of recommendation?

Admissions officers are looking for specific things in recommendation letters. It is important to nail key characteristics like interpersonal skills, teamwork, and personality. The admissions director emphasized being very careful picking who writes you a letter of recommendation. Do not go to a professor that you got an “A” in just because you got an “A”. Keep in mind that the dental schools have your transcript and as a result, having a letter of recommendation emphasizing your performance in the class does not bring any new advantages to your application.

Do you have any advice on how to get a good letter of recommendation?

Make sure the person knows who you are, and that you are in good standing with them. A letter of recommendation can go one of two ways. The recommender can write a letter recommending you, a neutral letter, or a letter against recommending you. Stan emphasized asking the writer if they could “write a positive letter of recommendation.”

At large universities it can be fairly difficult to get a letter of recommendation from a professor teaching a class of 300+ students.  Most commonly, that professor can have at least one or two other classes which can make it even more difficult for students to get a good quality and positive recommendation. One method of getting around this dilemma was recommended by the Biological Sciences Councilors here at UC Irvine. It is acceptable at large universities that TA’s assist in the writing process and that the professor agrees to co-author the recommendation letter. Doing this may be easier than getting a professor to know you on a personal level all while maintaining the same weight a letter directly from the professor has.

Should I give the person writing the letter anything to help make the writing easier?

Yes! Please do! When asking for a letter of recommendation, do not rely on a verbal agreement or an email conversation. Have a physical request that you hand directly to the person. I found a letter of recommendation template in high school and I have used it every time since when asking for recommendation letters. Please do not print out the template and fill it in. Rewrite it on a word processing program and have key parts like the due date in bold. Fill in the the accomplishments section and paperclip a resume and any other documents to the back of it.

What if the letter is not written by the due date. What do I do?

Don’t put yourself in this situation! The people who will be writing letters for you are very busy individuals and they often forget to write a letter of recommendation. The worst thing to do is to remind them last minute since at this point they will rush a letter all while being under pressure by the student.

The following time guideline, two-two-two,  is highly recommended so that you do not find yourself such a situation. Give the person enough time so they can comfortably write a letter for you in their free time. I recommend asking them two months before the letter is needed. This way they have no reason to feel pressured. Since you are asking two months in advance, two weeks prior to the deadline, contact the individual and remind them of the letter of recommendation and see if they need any other documents or information from you. The final component of this plan is to give them a deadline that is  two weeks before the actual due date. This will give you an extra window of time just in case they do not finish it on time for any reason. At this point, you can tell them that the latest the school will take it is two weeks from the deadline and that you would really appreciate if they could still write the letter for you. Following this procedure will minimize the stress on both of you and since a two month window was given, the recommended should not have any reason to think negatively about you if the letter sees any unforeseeable delays.

 

My last piece of advice is to make sure you maintain a good relationship with the individual writing the letter. If the recommender feels, for any reason, that their recommendation is no longer valid, they can easily retract the letter or modify it. I have heard horror stories in which students stop helping their recommendation letter writer, like the principle investigators of the research group, after receiving the letter of recommendation. The researchers were able to retract their letters and sent memos to the schools the student desired explaining why. You do not want to find yourself in this situation! Be smart and respectful! These individuals are doing you a great service!

If you have any other questions of concerns please submit them using the Ask Elias form!

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ASDA Background Information Portfolio

ASDA @ UCI 2012-2013 Position

AnnouncementGood afternoon! I am excited to announce that for the 2012-2013 school year, I will be the External Vice President of ASDA @ UCI! I am glad to see that my hard work as the 2011-2012 treasurer has been recognized. My role as the External Vice President is:

1) To assist the President and preside at chapter meetings and events in the absence or incapacity of the President.

2) To contact different dental schools’ admissions personnel and invite them as guest speakers.

3) To contact different dental schools in order to schedule field trips.

4) To purchase gifts for guest speakers and take care of their parking tickets and arrangements.

5) Contact representatives such the military, etc.

I am looking forward to getting the ball rolling! A good friend of mine was chosen as the president of the club and we  have an excellent history of  working well together. We have a plan already in development that will require the whole board to step up and surpass their written responsibilities, but the pay off will be tremendous. Our club has the potential to grow to a new level just like the pre-dental club at UCLA has!

The current board members who will also be serving on the board next year have done excellent work in improving the club. This year we managed to become closely associated with Vinmar Solutions, Inc. which has lead to a lot of support from its owner, Mark Hunt. His pre-dental course for tooth waxing and denture  making, which were previously only offered at UCLA, are now at UCI at a fraction of the cost for taking the same course in UCLA. He has also come several times to meetings as a guest. One of these  events was a “Carve a Tooth” challenge in which the two individuals with the best sculpted teeth made out of clay received a free voucher to one of his courses. We have also had an excellent opportunity to visit a dental technician lab in orange county which is considered to be one of the best and most advanced labs in the nation. And last but not least we have built a relationship with local schools to offer oral health education for pre-school and kindergarten students. As you can see, we have accomplished a lot this year!

Next year we plan to continue doing all that we have done and plan to implement many new attributes. One of our focuses for next year is to develop a system that will allow general members to be more acquainted with one another. We want our members to grow a network of peers so that they can find support and help for any needs. We hope that creating “families” will result in more people participating  in social events and fundraisers throughout the year. We also plan to redesign our meetings so that they will be more connected and interesting by reducing the lecture environment experience and emphasizing more on  interaction. We found out this year that the majority of members find a lecture-like experience exhausting especially after a long day of attending courses. Last but not least, I aspire to begin a new focus on a cause that will help drive members to come out and participate at fundraisers.

I plan to start fundraising and support for Smile Train which is a foundation that goes to third word countries and corrects cleft lip and palate problems for free.  I have been interested in helping this organization since a research project I did in high school English about dentistry. The following is an excerpt from their website that shows why this issue is so important and has been motivation behind my dream to one day partake in this life changing experience.

Most cannot eat or speak properly, aren’t allowed to attend school or hold a job. Being born with a cleft in a developing country is truly a curse. Every baby born in Uganda with a cleft is given the name Ajok which means literally, “cursed by God.” Some newborns are killed or abandoned right after birth. The good news is that every single child with a cleft can be helped with surgery that costs as little as $250. It’s a true modern-day medical miracle that gives a child back their life.

I am really excited to get the ball rolling in this. Changing these kids’ lives only requires $250 dollars and a surgeon. Supporting this organization has been a passion of mine and I am exited that a door has opened that will give me an opportunity to finally get involved.

Cleft Palate Excerpt from SmileTrain

As you can see, I am really excited to start on next years goals!

Congratulations to all the 2012-2013 board members, and I am looking forward to working with you all!

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Advice Background Information Portfolio Tips

Resumes: Guide to the Perfect Impression

At my interview a few weeks ago for the research position, I brought several documents with me in a binder. Two copies of my resume, a business card, a letter of recommendation demonstrating a strong work ethic, and 2 awards I received demonstrating good team work skills. The key document in that binder was the resume which is a brief account of one’s professional or work experience and qualifications. Apart from the application, the resume is the first thing an interviewer will look at, and as a result, it’s perfection is key. A resume should be sculpted to perfection and geared towards EVERY specific position so that the interviewer will be amazed with the accomplishments you have achieved and can clearly apply your skill set to that needed to fill the open position. The personalization also helps impress the interviewer as it gives them an idea of how important getting the position is to you and how serious you are about it. For these reasons, I believe it is vital  for the first guide in the portfolio building series to be dedicated to creating and perfecting a resume.

When I wrote my first resume in 2008, I had no idea what I was doing. It was for a job search engine optimizing (SEO) a website that sold home made crafts through an online store. I was asked for a resume hours before the online interview and since I didn’t have one prepared, I quickly make one from scratch. I had no idea how to write a proper resume, let alone what to write in it. I had no confidence in my own accomplishments and was not able to display my achievements effectively. Here is the original copy I emailed to the business owner. Needless to say  I didn’t get the position.

The next resume was for an Intel Internship during the summer of 2009. This was a much more serious position and I had plenty of time to prepare and create the resume for the position. I researched the basic parts of a resume and modified my original design to be better structured and more informational. Unfortunately, I didn’t get this internship either; however, that same summer I found another internship at Prima Games, a company that publishes most of the video game guides sold for games like Call of Duty . The resume I sent them was a modified version of the one I gave to Intel.

The following school year I was required to make a new resume for my dental assisting courses from scratch. Using resources provided by the dental assisting school, I created a resume template that I am still satisfied with and still use as my primary template today. This template has gone through many revisions including: a job as a dental assistant, a position as the ASDA @ UCI treasurer for the 2011-2012 school year, and my recent research position. As you can see, they are all slight variants of each other with emphasis on qualities that are related to the position. I would recommend loading up all of the resumes listed above and compare them side by side to see how they differ and evolve over time.

Regardless of how far you are already in the resume making process I would undoubtedly recommend reading through the following guide, tips, and examples.

In my experiences mentoring other pre-dental students, I have noticed that many of my mentees do not have a resume yet. And when I ask them for their reasoning, their answer is that they do not feel like they have anything to write about. This seems to be the biggest hurdle for everyone. I felt exactly like that when I was writing my resumes for the home craft online store. However, by giving my resume time to evolve through several intermediate revisions, I turned my disaster of a first resume into a professional document representing me. For those just starting, my advice is to begin with a brainstorming phase. Just start writing down things you have done and skills you have gained from these experiences. Experiences as simple as being a club member are great to have and can be used to show what you are involved in. Give this brainstorming period a fair amount of time and energy and you’d be surprised at how much you have accomplished over the years. Taking this first step by writing things down in a list will help relieve the stress involved in drafting your first resume.

Start adding details to this list. Gather as much detail as possible. Experiences, like internships, or events, like fundraisers, should have names, dates, phone numbers, and descriptions. Group the skills into categories  and write a description of how that skill could benefit an employer in general. Going through this brainstorming phase will not only start building a foundation network to your resume, but it will also help you explain any part of your resume when asked about it in an interview.

Now open a new document and begin composing the resume. Writing a resume involves balancing several factors just enough to come off as professional to an interviewer. The key factors are design, which includes formatting and organization organization, detail level, and experience. Composing the resume involves balancing these factors to work in unison.

Design, is very important. A resume with a good design will catch the readers attention, and if well structured, can impress an interviewer even with less experience than the other guy. Look through templates online and search google for resume examples. Microsoft Word and Publisher have many templates to choose from which are accessible by navigating to File->New and searching for “Resume”. This process should take some time. Pick a template that fits you, demonstrates professionalism, and is easy to read.

Once you have found your template, begin filling in the basic fields and experiences and skills sections based on the brainstorming done earlier. I recommend referencing a guide sheet for resume writing, which helped me write my own. It explains the goal of each section in a basic resume.  Find and use “resume verb” lists like this one to help write your resume using professional and proper diction. Some of these words can completely change the emphasis on a specific experience or skill, and as a result this step is highly encouraged.

After you have filled out the resume template as best as possible, share it with some friends and have them evaluate several factors. The evaluation point is the resume’s first impression when you handed it to them, if it was professional, cluttered, too much white space, etc. Next have them evaluate the content for any cliche or odd areas. These areas will stand out like a sore thumb, and so it is important to not have anything that deters from the resumes primary focus. The final part of the evaluation is grammar usage. When it comes to resumes, one grammar mistake could easily leave your resume in the trashcan.

After receiving your evaluations modify the resume accordingly until it is approacing a final draft stage. At this point I would highly recommend going to a resume workshop and having your resume evaluated by somebody who has much experience doing so. You will get great tips and revision recommendations from these professional individuals.

My final piece of advice is, do not lie, do not lie, DO NOT LIE! It’s not worth it. Trust me! The lie may slip through the cracks and you may get the job, but eventually they will find out and when that day comes your integrity will disappear.  Earn the position the right way.

UPDATE 5/03: What perfect timing! Apparently Yahoo’s CEO, Scott Thompson, lied on his resumes to Yahoo and PayPal about his education history by claiming he had a computer science degree. Unfortunately for him, his lie was exposed today, and now his reputation in the technology industry is for sure tarnished.

UPDATE 10/14/2022: After 10 years, I am removing the links to past resumes to limit personal information online. Please visit https://www.linkedin.com/in/eliasalmaz/ for a comprehensive list. You are welcome to contact me through Ask Elias and request copies of the old resume.

If you would like me to review your resumes send them in using the Ask Elias page. NOTE: The only accepted file types are .doc, .docx, .pub, .pdf. If I am missing your file type, send me an email using the same form and I will add it.

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Background Information Portfolio

Update on my Research Hunting!

Yesterday, after the interview, I was fortunate to have the opportunity to watch two surgeries performed by the graduate student who interviewed me. The surgery part of research is something that has driven me to really pursue it.  In the surgery, we make several incisions in which we added catheters directly into the rats’ blood stream. I really enjoyed the experience and throughout the surgery I asked questions about everything. I especially found the fine motor skill requirement of the surgery to be right up my alley. The surgery involves adding a catheter into a very small vein which is a fairly challenging task. You can read more about the actual research here on Dr. Leslie’s lab webpage.

At 9:00 AM this morning I checked my inbox and saw a new email from the graduate student I interviewed with yesterday. He congratulated me and welcomed me to the group as his research assistant. I am really excited that this opportunity was given to me.  After going over several logistics about the position, it was decided that the initial training period will require 5-8 hours of my time per week. I have a feeling that I will end up spending more time there than the allocated amount. Ironically, the researcher said the same thing himself. I am glad that my work ethic and dedication easily recognized in the short time I spent with him in the interview and surgery.

The time I ask you to put in each week depends on the experiments we’re conducting. But from what I saw today, I might have a hard time keeping you away.

I am really excited to start working. One of my goals for this research is to eventually gain the trust, knowledge, and skill to be able to perform the surgeries myself. It would definitely be a key milestone experience for me. With this new addition to my schedule I definitely have to reorganize my priorities and better manage my time so that my performance isn’t crippled in ASDA @ UCI or my performance in classes.

This experience has given me the opportunity to refresh my portfolio and gave me the motivation to write a portfolio creation guide  about how to create a universal portfolio ready for any professional occasion. To begin I will be writing my upcoming post on creating the perfect résumé. They require a lot of nurturing in order to perfect. I will be providing advice, templates, and examples to create the perfect résumé.

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Advice Background Information Portfolio Tips Website

Welcome to the Portfolio!

I am happy to announce a new section of the website titled “Portfolio” in which I will be writing guides on what kinds of documents you should have ready to pull or reference for any professional occasion. It will also include instructions and tips on how to write and perfect some documents like resumes, cover letters, etc.

I started a portfolio of my life my senior year of high school. In this portfolio I have copies of different resumes, cover letters, letters of recommendation, awards, certification, Continuing Education Units (CEUs), etc. The portfolio also has documents that guide me when I need to create new versions of resumes, write letter of recommendation request letters, and any of the other documents mentioned above. Having a resource like this always within my reach is very beneficial in any professional situation. For example, tomorrow, I have an interview for a research position at the UCI Medical School. Rather than writing a new resumes and looking for other documents to bring with me, all I need to do is open my portfolio and pull papers based on the occasion. For this occasion, I will likely bring some awards along with my resume that demonstrate my ability to work in a team. Doing this puts much less stress on  me in anticipation for the interview.

If you like this idea, get ready for a series of guides covering all kinds of documents you should have prepared and any other documents you should add into your comprehensive portfolio. I will be scanning in many examples and templates that I have accumulated over the years. These should help you get ideas as to what to include and how to format things for maximum efficiency.

 

Have a good weekend!