Chance a Teacher?

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HotchkissEducator

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Hi!

I currently teach Biology at Hotchkiss School in CT. Love it here, coach girls' basketball, quizbowl, am a dormitory head, and work at our sustainability farm...life is good! Did my bachelor's in Virginia, graduated w/ Biology & a conc + licensure to teach! Was always interested in D-School, but ended up getting more into world of educ, and let dental fall by the wayside. On my 1 year + 2 months of teaching now, and figured, I want a change of career. I absolutely love teaching, the kids are so awesome and my school is great! But, I'm in a two-year program, and living in boarding schools and teaching isn't feasible for me in the long-run. By the end of this program, I will have concurrently graduated with my MSc in Education from the University of Pennsylvania.

So what have I been up to? Graduated with a 3.71 GPA (had 2 C+'s in Organic Chemistry, 1 C in Anatomy and Physio, other than that all science courses B+ or better). Got to Connecticut, and because a teacher's budget is tight, I enrolled at Gateway Community College in New Haven and took the following courses there, throughout one year's time:

Calculus I, Calculus II, Biochemistry + Lab, Immunobiology + Lab, re-took: Organic Chemistry Lecture 1, Organic Chemistry Lecture II, Anatomy & Physio I. I received A's in all of them.

So here's my question, does this affect my BCP GPA from AADSAS? Or am I still at a 3.71 College GPA? Do Dental Schools look at AADSAS GPA or College GPA? If they are averaged, my GPA should go up to about a 3.80.

Also, I shadowed a pediatric dentist for 9 months, and organized the mission of mercy dental project at a nearby high school. I also volunteered at an English Language Learning Center and on my weekends, I give free guitar lessons to the girls down at the Juvenile Detention Center (mainly because these girls are sick at guitar). Been on 2 international trips for poverty education (should I even mention this?).

Last year, I studied like a mad person and scored a 22 on my DAT.

So I'm applying this cycle, and so very scared. My schools (in order of how badly I want to go to them) are:

1) Harvard
2) Upenn
3) UConn
4) UMD
5) Columbia
6) VCU
7) New England
8) Rutgers
9) Pitt
10) Tufts/Boston

Also, while I'd like to apply to every school ever, I am on a really tight budget, and can only feasibly apply to 10. Does my list look good? Any advice on things I should change? I know I am a LONGGGG SHOT for Harvard, Upenn, Columbia and those schools (Does my CC credits like throw me out immediately), but I just have a dream...


Any/all advice greatly appreciated.

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Any research? It would seem important for a school like Harvard, since they are heavy into research. Your GPA and DAT look good for everything else though.
 
Any research? It would seem important for a school like Harvard, since they are heavy into research. Your GPA and DAT look good for everything else though.

To be honest, little to no science research. I worked in a psych lab for 2 years as an undergrad, did some longitudinal studies.

But non-science research, I have a lot of. I was a Critical Language Scholar who went to Indonesia, and studied religious disparity in the Province of Jawa. I presented at 3 conferences.

After that, I did a longitudinal study of a new teaching methodology and it's affects on student performance, published that in the American Educator, and went to many many conferences.

Currently, I'm working on a research project on inquiry-based lessons and their affects on student learning.


BUT, again, like zero science research, just never really enjoyed that stuff.
 
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To be honest, little to no science research. I worked in a psych lab for 2 years as an undergrad, did some longitudinal studies.

But non-science research, I have a lot of. I was a Critical Language Scholar who went to Indonesia, and studied religious disparity in the Province of Jawa. I presented at 3 conferences.

After that, I did a longitudinal study of a new teaching methodology and it's affects on student performance, published that in the American Educator, and went to many many conferences.

Currently, I'm working on a research project on inquiry-based lessons and their affects on student learning.


BUT, again, like zero science research, just never really enjoyed that stuff.

Eh, I'm sure that counts. Throw in an application and see how it goes. That's what I'm doing! I don't think my application is very steller for schools like Harvard, Upenn and Columbia (I've had to work a lot in undergrad so It doesn't give me a lot of time to do other things) but I'm throwing in an App is well next cycle.
 
Eh, I'm sure that counts. Throw in an application and see how it goes. That's what I'm doing! I don't think my application is very steller for schools like Harvard, Upenn and Columbia (I've had to work a lot in undergrad so It doesn't give me a lot of time to do other things) but I'm throwing in an App is well next cycle.


Thank you so much for the feedback...what do you think about those CC credits? Do you think they'll adversely affect me?
 
Thank you so much for the feedback...what do you think about those CC credits? Do you think they'll adversely affect me?

D-Schools count in all your credits from a college, Whether it be CC or Uni. Regardless, I don't think it will affect you too much since 1. You're a non-trad 2. You've taken em at a 4 year before.

It would've been better to taken them at a 4 year but like I said I don't think it will be a big deal but some schools won't accept the pre-reqs from a CC which might go against you in some schools.
 
Hi!

I currently teach Biology at Hotchkiss School in CT. Love it here, coach girls' basketball, quizbowl, am a dormitory head, and work at our sustainability farm...life is good! Did my bachelor's in Virginia, graduated w/ Biology & a conc + licensure to teach! Was always interested in D-School, but ended up getting more into world of educ, and let dental fall by the wayside. On my 1 year + 2 months of teaching now, and figured, I want a change of career. I absolutely love teaching, the kids are so awesome and my school is great! But, I'm in a two-year program, and living in boarding schools and teaching isn't feasible for me in the long-run. By the end of this program, I will have concurrently graduated with my MSc in Education from the University of Pennsylvania.

So what have I been up to? Graduated with a 3.71 GPA (had 2 C+'s in Organic Chemistry, 1 C in Anatomy and Physio, other than that all science courses B+ or better). Got to Connecticut, and because a teacher's budget is tight, I enrolled at Gateway Community College in New Haven and took the following courses there, throughout one year's time:

Calculus I, Calculus II, Biochemistry + Lab, Immunobiology + Lab, re-took: Organic Chemistry Lecture 1, Organic Chemistry Lecture II, Anatomy & Physio I. I received A's in all of them.

So here's my question, does this affect my BCP GPA from AADSAS? Or am I still at a 3.71 College GPA? Do Dental Schools look at AADSAS GPA or College GPA? If they are averaged, my GPA should go up to about a 3.80.

Also, I shadowed a pediatric dentist for 9 months, and organized the mission of mercy dental project at a nearby high school. I also volunteered at an English Language Learning Center and on my weekends, I give free guitar lessons to the girls down at the Juvenile Detention Center (mainly because these girls are sick at guitar). Been on 2 international trips for poverty education (should I even mention this?).

Last year, I studied like a mad person and scored a 22 on my DAT.

So I'm applying this cycle, and so very scared. My schools (in order of how badly I want to go to them) are:

1) Harvard
2) Upenn
3) UConn
4) UMD
5) Columbia
6) VCU
7) New England
8) Rutgers
9) Pitt
10) Tufts/Boston

Also, while I'd like to apply to every school ever, I am on a really tight budget, and can only feasibly apply to 10. Does my list look good? Any advice on things I should change? I know I am a LONGGGG SHOT for Harvard, Upenn, Columbia and those schools (Does my CC credits like throw me out immediately), but I just have a dream...


Any/all advice greatly appreciated.

tufts and boston don't accept CC credits for their prereqs so that would have saved you couple hundred bucks.
 
Dental schools LOVE mature people. This is something I keep hearing over and over again from current students, advisors, and dental school dean. I met this older dental student who said that he believes he got into dental school because of his experiences (very similar to yours) and his maturity which showed during the interview. Your situation reminds me of his, but you also have much higher stats than he did. (I believe he scored 20 on his DAT.)
In all honesty, I personally think you have a really good chance to get in, even into the school of your dreams!
 
I genuinely think you have a great chance. Not only are your stats very good, but your life experience and ECs make you appear very special.
Harvard might be a reach school, but who knows, they might value experience/maturity over research experience and offer you a seat.

I doubt you will have difficult time getting an acceptance somewhere.
Your list of experiences make me wonder what I have been doing post-graduation. Not much!!


Anyways, nice comeback on the two orgo classes!
 
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