When should I apply?

[Mary1984]

Hello guys,
I have Master's degree in electrical engineering and after researching a lot and asking so many questions in different forums finally I decided to change my career to dentistry. My GPA in BS is 3.7 and my GPA in MS is 3.73. I am taking the prerequisite courses now. Because of my background I have already had the prerequisite courses in Physics. I took one course in English and one course in Biology. I have to take 14 credits in Chemistry and 5 more credits in Biology to have all the prerequisite courses. I am planning to take these courses in Summer 2014, Fall 2014 and probably in Spring 2014. Because I work full time I can't take the courses faster than this. I live in California and one of the schools which I have plan to apply to is UCLA. According to their deadline the application time starts June 1st.
There are my questions:
1. Which year is better for me to apply for? Should I apply June 2014?
2. When is the best time for me to take the DAT exam?
3. Should I send all the transcripts of my prerequisite courses at the time of applying?

Thanks,

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[Blake1e]

Hello guys,
I have Master's degree in electrical engineering and after researching a lot and asking so many questions in different forums finally I decided to change my career to dentistry. My GPA in BS is 3.7 and my GPA in MS is 3.73. I am taking the prerequisite courses now. Because of my background I have already had the prerequisite courses in Physics. I took one course in English and one course in Biology. I have to take 14 credits in Chemistry and 5 more credits in Biology to have all the prerequisite courses. I am planning to take these courses in Summer 2014, Fall 2014 and probably in Spring 2014 ((do you mean 2015?)). Because I work full time I can't take the courses faster than this. I live in California and one of the schools which I have plan to apply to is UCLA. According to their deadline the application time starts June 1st.
There are my questions:
1. Which year is better for me to apply for? Should I apply June 2014?
2. When is the best time for me to take the DAT exam?
3. Should I send all the transcripts of my prerequisite courses at the time of applying?

Thanks,

1) Yes, apply this June. If you stick with your plan youll be done with all your classes by spring 2015, just in time to start D school.
2) Seeing as how you havent take all the prereqs it might take you 3 or 4+ months with no other commitments to teach yourself all the topics on the DAT, if you dont have prior knowledge of the topics. And with your full time job, I'll have revise my answer to (1) and so dont apply this june, apply next year instead. Ideally the best time to take the DAT is after youve completed all your pre-reqs and reviewed everything for 4-6wks before finally taking it. Apply June 2015, take the DAT maybe in June or July 2015.
3) Yes, when the application website is open theyll make it clear what you have to do.

 

[Mary1984]

1) Yes, apply this June. If you stick with your plan youll be done with all your classes by spring 2015, just in time to start D school.
2) Seeing as how you havent take all the prereqs it might take you 3 or 4+ months with no other commitments to teach yourself all the topics on the DAT, if you dont have prior knowledge of the topics. And with your full time job, I'll have revise my answer to (1) and so dont apply this june, apply next year instead. Ideally the best time to take the DAT is after youve completed all your pre-reqs and reviewed everything for 4-6wks before finally taking it. Apply June 2015, take the DAT maybe in June or July 2015.
3) Yes, when the application website is open theyll make it clear what you have to do.

Thanks, So do they really need all of my prerequisite courses at the time of application?
I think I can do good in DAT without taking the courses. So what's your suggestion now? When is the best time to apply and take DAT?

 

[Blake1e]

Thanks, So do they really need all of my prerequisite courses at the time of application?
I think I can do good in DAT without taking the courses. So what's your suggestion now? When is the best time to apply and take DAT?

You have to get all your prereqs completed before you start D school.

Then you should apply this June. And take the DAT whenever youre ready, at the latest July 2014, however if you feel you arent ready for whatever reason then take it in August. Any later than that and you run the risk of having your app being late.

 

[sgv]

UCLA has an average DAT score of 22 which is about 98 percentile. UCLA receives more than enough applicants with these stats to fill their class. A master's degree is impressive but I'd advised getting some significant research credit under your belt. I'm assuming you already have engineering related research from your Master's degree. Always apply early.

 

[sgv]

You have to get all your prereqs completed before you start D school.

Then you should apply this June. And take the DAT whenever youre ready, at the latest July 2014, however if you feel you arent ready for whatever reason then take it in August. Any later than that and you run the risk of having your app being late.

Thanks, So do they really need all of my prerequisite courses at the time of application?
I think I can do good in DAT without taking the courses. So what's your suggestion now? When is the best time to apply and take DAT?

No you can simultaneously be taking a few prereq's and have applied (awaiting interview). Some popular courses that people take during the application process is biochem or some nonscience gen ed. Make sure you get the core sciences before applying (biology, gen chem, and ochem). Ideally you will have all prereq's completed with a grade before the application begins so that they can gauge your performance and decide whether or not to give you an early interview. Getting a pre Dec interview gives you a much better chance of acceptance than does a post Dec interview. I also recommend applying to schools that offer instate tuition after your first year. One of the best options is UConn. Attending UConn and getting instate tuition after your first year will be cheaper than going to UCLA as a CA resident.

It takes two to three weeks after your test date for AADSAS to receive your DAT. It may take another week for AADSAS to upload your score onto their website for schools to see because they only update applications every Friday of the week. So if AADSAS receives your score on a Monday, it won't be uploaded onto AADSAS website for schools to see until the next Friday. This is where the term batch comes from. How many Fridays after the first week of AADSAS opening that your completed application gets uploaded (PS, LOR, coursework, and DAT score uploaded) is your batch number.

*This is the timeline sequence
1. You take the DAT.
2. Prometric sends your score to AADSAS which can take two to three weeks. During this time, your application is considered "Incomplete".
3. AADSAS receives your score and uploads it onto their website the very next Friday. Your application is now considered "Complete".
4. Schools take however long to put your application file from the "Completed" pile to the "Under Review" pile.
5. You wait to see if you get an interview or not.
6. If you get invited for an interview, your status will change from "Under Review" to "Invited for an interview".
7. After the interview, your status will change from "Invited for an interview" back to "Under Review" again.
8. At Dec 1st, your status will change from "Under Review" to "Accepted", "Waitlisted" or "Rejected".

I think the application opens in June. So if you take the DAT in May, your application will have an accompanying DAT score. If you have everything else ready, your application is considered Complete (and ready for review). That's great! You're in the first batch. A less than ideal scenario is if you apply in June (all letter of recommendations submitted, personal statement, and coursework uploaded) but take the DAT in June, you will have an uncompleted application until your DAT scores become uploaded in late June or July. You will be in ~5th batch which is still considered early.

I would definitely knock out the general chemistry courses in Summer 2014 and possible a few low level biology courses. Then save ochem for Fall 2014 and Spring 2015 while taking additional Bio courses. I would take a few weeks off from work and dedicate 100% to DAT prep and then take it May or even June if I really have to.

https://www.khanacademy.org/test-prep/mcat
https://www.khanacademy.org/science/chemistry
https://www.khanacademy.org/science/organic-chemistry
https://www.khanacademy.org/science/biology

*there's a good chance I'm wrong about what I'm saying because this information is not from AADSAS. I got it from surfing SDN.

 

[ktran17]

It depends on how well you do your DAT.

Good: this year
Bad: next year

 

[Mary1984]

No you can simultaneously be taking a few prereq's and have applied (awaiting interview). Some popular courses that people take during the application process is biochem or some nonscience gen ed. Make sure you get the core sciences before applying (biology, gen chem, and ochem). Ideally you will have all prereq's completed with a grade before the application begins so that they can gauge your performance and decide whether or not to give you an early interview. Getting a pre Dec interview gives you a much better chance of acceptance than does a post Dec interview. I also recommend applying to schools that offer instate tuition after your first year. One of the best options is UConn. Attending UConn and getting instate tuition after your first year will be cheaper than going to UCLA as a CA resident.

It takes two to three weeks after your test date for AADSAS to receive your DAT. It may take another week for AADSAS to upload your score onto their website for schools to see because they only update applications every Friday of the week. So if AADSAS receives your score on a Monday, it won't be uploaded onto AADSAS website for schools to see until the next Friday. This is where the term batch comes from. How many Fridays after the first week of AADSAS opening that your completed application gets uploaded (PS, LOR, coursework, and DAT score uploaded) is your batch number.

*This is the timeline sequence
1. You take the DAT.
2. Prometric sends your score to AADSAS which can take two to three weeks. During this time, your application is considered "Incomplete".
3. AADSAS receives your score and uploads it onto their website the very next Friday. Your application is now considered "Complete".
4. Schools take however long to put your application file from the "Completed" pile to the "Under Review" pile.
5. You wait to see if you get an interview or not.
6. If you get invited for an interview, your status will change from "Under Review" to "Invited for an interview".
7. After the interview, your status will change from "Invited for an interview" back to "Under Review" again.
8. At Dec 1st, your status will change from "Under Review" to "Accepted", "Waitlisted" or "Rejected".

I think the application opens in June. So if you take the DAT in May, your application will have an accompanying DAT score. If you have everything else ready, your application is considered Complete (and ready for review). That's great! You're in the first batch. A less than ideal scenario is if you apply in June (all letter of recommendations submitted, personal statement, and coursework uploaded) but take the DAT in June, you will have an uncompleted application until your DAT scores become uploaded in late June or July. You will be in ~5th batch which is still considered early.

I would definitely knock out the general chemistry courses in Summer 2014 and possible a few low level biology courses. Then save ochem for Fall 2014 and Spring 2015 while taking additional Bio courses. I would take a few weeks off from work and dedicate 100% to DAT prep and then take it May or even June if I really have to.

https://www.khanacademy.org/test-prep/mcat
https://www.khanacademy.org/science/chemistry
https://www.khanacademy.org/science/organic-chemistry
https://www.khanacademy.org/science/biology

*there's a good chance I'm wrong about what I'm saying because this information is not from AADSAS. I got it from surfing SDN.

 

[Mary1984]

Thanks for your good suggestions. But I would like to get admission from one of the universities in CA. I know that UCLA dental school is the cheapest one in CA.
I do have some research experiences in engineering. But does it really affect on my application to have research experience in engineering not something related to dentistry?

 

[sgv]

Thanks for your good suggestions. But I would like to get admission from one of the universities in CA. I know that UCLA dental school is the cheapest one in CA.
I do have some research experiences in engineering. But does it really affect on my application to have research experience in engineering not something related to dentistry?

Any research is good. They just want to see if you have an understanding for statistics and have past experience in publishing and presentation. I'm sure that you would agree that conducting research requires a very critical form of thinking and problem solving than just studying. I think research involving an applicant selection process with a prestigious program such as NIH or the ones offered by some schools is very impressive. This is far from necessary and unlikely to accomplish considering how you work full time but it will certainly help you stand out. For big research schools, I would assume they would like to see if you appreciate the importance of research. Some predents don't know this but whenever schools update their curriculum in a large way, they publish their changes and CODA's response. Usually you can find a condensed report in the school journal. There you'll find what schools think is important. You can also look up what past and present deans are writing about their school. This is one way you can tailor your secondary to each particular school.

You'll still have to apply to other schools. Adding UConn would not be a bad decision.