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[nintendodds]

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[RYost234]

Some schools auto filter you out if you score <17 on any subsections, but qr is least important so I'm not sure there. The 18 rc isn't a great look, since it's arguably the most important subsection. Everything else on dat looks good. The lack of volunteering could be problematic, do you have meaningful work experience to offset that? Any leadership roles? Dental related work?

Working/volunteering at a dental office and having meaningful volunteering experiences would be the top of my priorities once the virus passes. If you get any interviews (i think you will) you'll be able to talk about what you've been doing. They like people that stay proactive. Good luck!

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Please provide your information according to the template: ► How to Format your WAMC Thread ◄

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Shadowing Experience: 100+ hours at general & cosmetic dentist.
Volunteering Experience: 100, food banks, food donation charities.
Employment: I've only worked part-time (weekends) during my fall semester of 2019 as retail worker.
Research: None.
Other Extracurriculars: 50+ hours as a pre-dental society member.
Relevant Honors or Awards: Deans Honor list, spring 2018. no other awards.
LOR type and strength: have not received yet; will update.
Looking to apply to west-coast schools, though I would need to do some further research on each particular school.

How am I looking in terms of overall competitiveness? Is there any advice that anyone could give me to make me a more well-rounded, more competitive applicant for this upcoming cycle? Was there anything you did differently that can increase ones chances of getting interviews/ acceptances? I would love to hear. (also, how do you guys feel about this upcoming cycles ADCOM's feelings as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic? will they be more lenient to applicants who don't have as much hours as they should have? I'm curious to know . Many people have said that you were "technically supposed to have those hours completed way before taking the DAT/applying," though I do agree that not everyone has the same time and volunteering opportunities as others may do ie. jobs and other things like such.) Just some thought questions, but again, I'd like to hear your thoughts.

If you do have any questions regarding my statistics, feel free to comment and ask. My mind is a bit clouded from the overwhelming changes that my family and school had gone through in the last couple of days, so I apologize if I did leave anything important out in this post.

Looking forward to hearing from everyone. Thank you guys, and stay safe!

As a non-trad applicant, there's a lot of detail and chronology missing, but we'll go with what you have as questions. In my opinion as a non-trad applicant, decent but with the aforementioned DAT yellow flags. As a Nevada resident, you should be in good contact with the UNLV admissions staff and students who go to that school or residents who just graduated. But yes, other schools in the region should be in play like the Arizona and Utah schools. California may be a little challenging though not impossible if you find a school that is very non-trad-friendly.

As it stands, I have not heard of any changes to screening standards introduced by COVID-19 when it comes to pass/fail coursework for this semester's classes. I don't think there will be any changes to expectations for dental experience, manual dexterity, or volunteering/community service. The situation is highly fluid with a lot of questions that are being addressed now in private conversations and pending admissions committee meetings. In other words, keep working on improving your application and interview preparation, and we'll see what happens.