WAMC - Any advice helps!

[deleted1165388]

Hi! I received my verified application last week and my gpa was lower than I expected.
Date of submission: 5/31/2023. Verified 6/2/2023. I have completed all supplementary application materials except for Dalhousie and LECOM.
Overall GPA: 3.33
Science GPA: 3.31
Bio-Chem-Physics GPA: 3.48
DAT score (include AA and all sections): 20AA, 20TS, 19PAT, 23RC, 23BIO, 19GC, 18OC, 16QR
State of Residence: Utah

Shadowing Experience: 360 hours distributed between- 3 different General Practices
Volunteering Experience: 150 hours distributed between local library helping elementary kids learn to read, and high school tutor, and human anatomy program volunteer
Employment: I've been dental assisting for 5 years.
Dental Assistant Clinic Instructor - 420 hours
GP Dental Assistant - 2880 hours
GP Dental Assistant - 600 hours
Research: 400 hours Microbiology research. Awarded research grants
Other Extracurriculars: 40 hours Pre-Dental club
Relevant Honors or Awards: Eagle Scout, and 2 was awarded 2 research grants.
LOR type and strength: 1 strong dental letter, 1 strong science professor letter. 1 avg dentist letter. 1 avg science letter
Misc Info/Things not stated elsewhere/Red Flags: 16 QR all the schools I applied to don't have subsection cut off for QR.

Schools Applied: 15 Total
AT Still AZ, MI, Boston University, Creighton, Dalhousie (they take 2 students every year from my college), LECOM, Marquette, Midwestern AZ, IL, Roseman, Louisville, UNLV, University of New England, UoP, VCU, Western.

Any advice or encouraging messages would be appreciated. No one in my family has attended college and I need all the help I can get navigating this process. If you need any additional information to formulate your thoughts please let me know. Thank you!

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[macsak]

Hi! I received my verified application last week and my gpa was lower than I expected.
Date of submission: 5/31/2023. Verified 6/2/2023. I have completed all supplementary application materials except for Dalhousie and LECOM.
Overall GPA: 3.33
Science GPA: 3.31
Bio-Chem-Physics GPA: 3.48
DAT score (include AA and all sections): 20AA, 20TS, 19PAT, 23RC, 23BIO, 19GC, 18OC, 16QR
State of Residence: Utah

Shadowing Experience: 360 hours distributed between- 3 different General Practices
Volunteering Experience: 150 hours distributed between local library helping elementary kids learn to read, and high school tutor, and human anatomy program volunteer
Employment: I've been dental assisting for 5 years.
Dental Assistant Clinic Instructor - 420 hours
GP Dental Assistant - 2880 hours
GP Dental Assistant - 600 hours
Research: 400 hours Microbiology research. Awarded research grants
Other Extracurriculars: 40 hours Pre-Dental club
Relevant Honors or Awards: Eagle Scout, and 2 was awarded 2 research grants.
LOR type and strength: 1 strong dental letter, 1 strong science professor letter. 1 avg dentist letter. 1 avg science letter
Misc Info/Things not stated elsewhere/Red Flags: 16 QR all the schools I applied to don't have subsection cut off for QR.

Schools Applied: 15 Total
AT Still AZ, MI, Boston University, Creighton, Dalhousie (they take 2 students every year from my college), LECOM, Marquette, Midwestern AZ, IL, Roseman, Louisville, UNLV, University of New England, UoP, VCU, Western.

Any advice or encouraging messages would be appreciated. No one in my family has attended college and I need all the help I can get navigating this process. If you need any additional information to formulate your thoughts please let me know. Thank you!

your list does not make much sense geographically

how come no utah?

have you volunteered/shadowed/attended events at any d school?

 

[Ryxndek]

Agree list seems a little all over the place but you did a shot gun method and your stats seem okay. Hopefully you’ll hear from a few schools. Now that the applying is over, get your supplementals all done and then start practicing for interviews.

Goodluck!

 

[deleted1165388]

your list does not make much sense geographically

how come no utah?

have you volunteered/shadowed/attended events at any d school?

Hi! Roseman is in Utah. The University of Utah only accepts 24 students in state. Less than half of these are male. Average gpa is 3.7. For these reasons it seemed unrealistic for me to apply there.

I have attended the UNLV sim course. I also will attend this event again this July. I have attended a suturing event put on by Roseman.
Hope this helps!

 

[deleted1165388]

Agree list seems a little all over the place but you did a shot gun method and your stats seem okay. Hopefully you’ll hear from a few schools. Now that the applying is over, get your supplementals all done and then start practicing for interviews.

Goodluck!

Hi! My list of schools is all over! Is this not normal?

 

[macsak]

Hi! My list of schools is all over! Is this not normal?

no, it's not normal
how did you choose your list?

 

[Ryxndek]

Hi! My list of schools is all over! Is this not normal?

not super normal, usually applicants will try to stick to 1-2 areas. For me, I live in midwest so I applied to schools in midwest, and then schools in East coast as that was another place I would have liked to go to school.


Your list has almost everything. And that's okay! You will just want to make sure you have a good answer for "why our school?" when possibly asked in interviews. So prepping for them now will help answer those questions.

 

[deleted1165388]

no, it's not normal
how did you choose your list?

Great question. I only chose schools who's average gpa's was around mine. (My college transcript was 3.47) and this is how I decided. My AADSAS gpa was lower than this. So I made this post!

 

[Ryxndek]

Great question. I only chose schools who's average gpa's was around mine. (My college transcript was 3.47) and this is how I decided. My AADSAS gpa was lower than this. So I made this post!

AADSAS might have weighted things differently depending on how your school graded you. This helps dental schools get an idea of your gpa compared to others. If you feel that it's super wrong you could reach out and ask

 

[deleted1165388]

not super normal, usually applicants will try to stick to 1-2 areas. For me, I live in midwest so I applied to schools in midwest, and then schools in East coast as that was another place I would have liked to go to school.


Your list has almost everything. And that's okay! You will just want to make sure you have a good answer for "why our school?" when possibly asked in interviews. So prepping for them now will help answer those questions.

What is the reasoning behind applicants choosing to do this? With my low stats I guess I don't care where I get into school because I cant be picky right?

 

[deleted1165388]

AADSAS might have weighted things differently depending on how your school graded you. This helps dental schools get an idea of your gpa compared to others. If you feel that it's super wrong you could reach out and ask

No I've retaken 2 classes, so it seems accurate. My college slots in the highest grade received for the class. AADSAS does not haha

 

[Ryxndek]

What is the reasoning behind applicants choosing to do this? With my low stats I guess I don't care where I get into school because I cant be picky right?

it's more so because schools might think you're more likely to attend if you are IS or near a surrounding state and you're less likely to move across the country away from family. So generally, applicants might try to apply to states around them to maximize their chances, or they will focus on one section of the country as well. For example, someone in NY might apply to all NY schools and surrounding states and also apply to west coast as well.

Your method is less common since you might have a harder time convincing an adcom that you chose the school for any other reason besides "it's average stats are near mine", which isn't compelling. So my advice is to research each school now, or when they invite you to interview, and figure out their mission and how your app lines up with their mission. UNE for example likes it's applicants to be interested in rural health, Michigan might want applicants who have research since they get a ton of funding from NIH to do research. (but research isn't required to get into dental school, it might just help when applying to very research heavy schools)

A shotgun method with what you have here will hopefully get you into at least one school, or a few and then you can decide from there. It might just be that you have to relocate further from home. But that's okay! Just try to focus now on doing your best for interviews and nailing them!

 

[deleted1165388]

it's more so because schools might think you're more likely to attend if you are IS or near a surrounding state and you're less likely to move across the country away from family. So generally, applicants might try to apply to states around them to maximize their chances, or they will focus on one section of the country as well. For example, someone in NY might apply to all NY schools and surrounding states and also apply to west coast as well.

Your method is less common since you might have a harder time convincing an adcom that you chose the school for any other reason besides "it's average stats are near mine", which isn't compelling. So my advice is to research each school now, or when they invite you to interview, and figure out their mission and how your app lines up with their mission. UNE for example likes it's applicants to be interested in rural health, Michigan might want applicants who have research since they get a ton of funding from NIH to do research. (but research isn't required to get into dental school, it might just help when applying to very research heavy schools)

A shotgun method with what you have here will hopefully get you into at least one school, or a few and then you can decide from there. It might just be that you have to relocate further from home. But that's okay! Just try to focus now on doing your best for interviews and nailing them!

Thank you for your input. I appreciate it!

 

[Mr.Smile12]

I only chose schools who's average gpa's was around mine. (My college transcript was 3.47) and this is how I decided. My AADSAS gpa was lower than this. So I made this post!

Most dental schools practice holistic review, and part of that review includes geographic proximity. I was really surprised with Dalhousie... how does your profile compare with those students who got accepted? Were those students US citizens or Canadians? Don't they want you to take the CDAT?

What is your GPA trends year-by-year, especially in your science/BCP coursework?

I don't get a sense of what your mission is as a dentist. Do you want to be back in Utah practicing (which I know is a really saturated market in the usual cities)? What do you see yourself doing in 10 years? I don't get a strong sense of your mission fit is that would compel a school to interview you. But then, we don't have your AADSAS essays.

 

[deleted1165388]

Most dental schools practice holistic review, and part of that review includes geographic proximity. I was really surprised with Dalhousie... how does your profile compare with those students who got accepted? Were those students US citizens or Canadians? Don't they want you to take the CDAT?

What is your GPA trends year-by-year, especially in your science/BCP coursework?

I don't get a sense of what your mission is as a dentist. Do you want to be back in Utah practicing (which I know is a really saturated market in the usual cities)? What do you see yourself doing in 10 years? I don't get a strong sense of your mission fit is that would compel a school to interview you. But then, we don't have your AADSAS essays.

Thank you for the clarification on the geographic proximity. Dalhousie has made the effort to come out and present at my university every fall. They have taken 2 students every year for the past 10 years. My advisor recommended applying.
GPA trends upward. I did poorly my sophomore year.
My AADSAS essays capture what I want to be as a dentist. I would come back to Utah to practice if one of the doctors I have worked for invites me to work with them. Otherwise I'm happy to see what job opportunities are out there!