18 schools, on 4 wait-lists, no acceptance, preparing for my gap year, advice needed!

[Bigbirdo]

I submitted my application to 18 schools at the beginning of August, and the schools received everything in mid-August. I received 4 pre-December interviews, but I was waitlisted in all of them. By the time of submitting my application, I had a 3.8 cGPA and 3.69 sGPA. My GPA dropped after this semester. I have a 3.74 cGPA and 3. 61 sGPA. I took the DAT twice, the first time I got a 20 with a 18 in PAT and a 16 in reading. My second DAT score was 21. Nothing was below 20 except a reading score of 18 (English is not my first language). As I am patiently waiting for the good news, I want to be prepared for a gap year.

What are some options for me? I am not sure if I should do a master or post-bac programs since I think my GPA is fine. I am from NYC. I want to work in a dental clinic as a receptionist or assistant. However, I am not sure if I can find a receptionist job as a male. I am also not sure how likely that someone will be willing to spend the time to train me to be an assistant because I will leave after a year. Any inputs will be greatly appreciated!

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[Jbrowndds]

You might want to just practice interviewing. When a school invites you for an interview that means that they have accepted your grades and want to see if you are a good fit for the school. Your GPA and DAT score are not the problems.

 

[Bigbirdo]

You might want to just practice interviewing. When a school invites you for an interview that means that they have accepted your grades and want to see if you are a good fit for the school. Your GPA and DAT score are not the problems.

I don't know what went wrong in my interviews. During my interviews, I answered pretty much everything smoothly, and I did not detect any unpleasant expressions from the interviewers. Most of them give feedback to my answers, and most, if not all, of them smiled and nodded a lot when I was giving my answers. None of them really challenged my answers, so I guess that there were no detrimental points in my answers. I first thought it might be my accent, but I went to formal and informal mock interviews in my school multiple times. None of the people had problems understanding what I said. However, I do agree with you that interview might be the part that went wrong. If I want to practice more in my gap year, would you suggest me to take these interview skills training courses? The career center in my school will be no longer accessible to me after graduation.

 

[chikonan]

hey, you mind to say which schools you apply ?

 

[dyesht]

You might want to just practice interviewing. When a school invites you for an interview that means that they have accepted your grades and want to see if you are a good fit for the school. Your GPA and DAT score are not the problems.

So if GPA DAT and the interview are all good, but you still get wait listed, then what's your answer to the problem?

 

[Bigbirdo]

hey, you mind to say which schools you apply ?

I applied to my state schools, about 9 private schools and the rest are OOS friendly schools (at least I thought they were)

 

[SXCoronado]

.

 

[distressstudent]

I dont think OP's problem is applying late. He received 4 pre-dec interviews. The trouble is trying to figure out why he got waitlisted instead of an acceptance. I am trying to figure out the same thing myself. I have zero acceptances and I am on more waitlists than I can count with one hand. The only flaw I can identify is that there's not a single thing that is extraordinary about my app : / Gotta work on expressing a passion

 

[Jbrowndds]

You might want to just practice interviewing. When a school invites you for an interview that means that they have accepted your grades and want to see if you are a good fit for the school. Your GPA and DAT score are not the problems.

So if GPA DAT and the interview are all good, but you still get wait listed, then what's your answer to the problem?

It means you should probably just call the school ans ask..

 

[cacajuate]

It means you should probably just call the school ans ask..

Schools aren't going to give you a straight answer during acceptance season.

 

[BeaverLover]

How are ur ECs?

 

[DentalDoge]

How are ur ECs?

Should be fine. Since he got interviews.

I don't know what went wrong in my interviews. During my interviews, I answered pretty much everything smoothly, and I did not detect any unpleasant expressions from the interviewers. Most of them give feedback to my answers, and most, if not all, of them smiled and nodded a lot when I was giving my answers. None of them really challenged my answers, so I guess that there were no detrimental points in my answers. I first thought it might be my accent, but I went to formal and informal mock interviews in my school multiple times. None of the people had problems understanding what I said. However, I do agree with you that interview might be the part that went wrong. If I want to practice more in my gap year, would you suggest me to take these interview skills training courses? The career center in my school will be no longer accessible to me after graduation.

I personally thought I did well on my interviews as I interviewed at 4 schools and got 4 acceptances. So I thought I would give you a few pointers.

But first I'm going to need a bit more information to go on. And feel free to move this to pm's if you dont feel like answering these publicly.

First of all, when you were doing the mock interviews, did they give you any advice or criticisms? Know that most of these interviewers have been doing it for a while. They will almost always smile/nod or maintain a neutral expression. If you could, give me some examples of some of the questions asked and how you answered them. Mainly some of the crucial ones like the tell me about yourself, why dentistry, why [insert school].

 

[DentalFox]

I submitted my application to 18 schools at the beginning of August, and the schools received everything in mid-August. I received 4 pre-December interviews, but I was waitlisted in all of them. By the time of submitting my application, I had a 3.8 cGPA and 3.69 sGPA. My GPA dropped after this semester. I have a 3.74 cGPA and 3. 61 sGPA. I took the DAT twice, the first time I got a 20 with a 18 in PAT and a 16 in reading. My second DAT score was 21. Nothing was below 20 except a reading score of 18 (English is not my first language). As I am patiently waiting for the good news, I want to be prepared for a gap year.

What are some options for me? I am not sure if I should do a master or post-bac programs since I think my GPA is fine. I am from NYC. I want to work in a dental clinic as a receptionist or assistant. However, I am not sure if I can find a receptionist job as a male. I am also not sure how likely that someone will be willing to spend the time to train me to be an assistant because I will leave after a year. Any inputs will be greatly appreciated!

The second wave of acceptances is coming this week or the next one. I'd wait until then before looking into your options.

 

[doc toothache]

You applied kind of late. Re do with early June

With 4 interviews, applying "late" hardly qualifies as a reasonable explanation.

 

[Bigbirdo]

Should be fine. Since he got interviews.





I personally thought I did well on my interviews as I interviewed at 4 schools and got 4 acceptances. So I thought I would give you a few pointers.

But first I'm going to need a bit more information to go on. And feel free to move this to pm's if you dont feel like answering these publicly.

First of all, when you were doing the mock interviews, did they give you any advice or criticisms? Know that most of these interviewers have been doing it for a while. They will almost always smile/nod or maintain a neutral expression. If you could, give me some examples of some of the questions asked and how you answered them. Mainly some of the crucial ones like the tell me about yourself, why dentistry, why [insert school].

Hi, I just PM'ed you. Thank you!