Advice on Making My Application List?

[dieslink]

Hi everybody,

I am a graduate school with Michigan residence trying to decide if my list of schools to apply to is enough, too little, or too much, and with the submission date approaching I am stressed!

Date of submission: June 16th, 2020
Overall GPA (undergrad): 3.807
Overall GPA (grad): 3.925
Science GPA: Not sure how to do this with engineering classes
Bio-Chem-Physics GPA: 3.833
DAT AA: 24
QR: 24
RC: 25
B: 23
GC: 21
OC: 26
PAT: 23

Undergrad and Grad Attended: University of Michigan
Major: Biomedical Engineering (Graduated Winter 2020)
Minor: Electrical Engineering, Physics, and Music
Masters Degree: Biomedical Engineering (Will graduate Fall 2020)
Minority? No
Reapplicant? No
Nontrad? No

Shadowing Experience: 105 General Dentistry Hours
Volunteering Experience: None
Employment: 700 Hours as an endodontic dental assistant. Also was an IA for BME 417 Electrical Biophysics and tutored math for the university.
Research: None
Other Extracurriculars: Founder and team lead of a project team working to reduce risk of fall injury among older adults; this included conducting a research study with UM Geriatrics to understand opinions of older adults regarding current assistive devices (1400 hours). Board member of a project team org where I direct the Incubator program where students are given the opportunity to learn socially engaged design and make their own project teams (560 hours). I'm a third degree black belt and teach karate (768 hours). I have other extracurriculars if requested.
Relevant Honors or Awards: University Honors and Dean's List.
LOR type and strength: 2 science professor letters, 1 letter from the professor that employed me as an IA, 1 letter from the general dentist that I shadowed. All strong letters.

School list:
1. Boson U
2. Columbia
3. Harvard
4. UBuffalo
5. UCDenver
6. UDM
7. UMich
8. Pitt
9. UoP
10. StonyBrook
11. UPenn



Thanks for any and all advice!!!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Let's make things easier for you: what's your BCP GPA? I presume it should be high, but how many credit hours is it?

Have you made any outreach to ASDA chapters at the schools on your list? In-state options (you don't mention residency) will be your best chance and your cheapest options over the long haul. If you are from Michigan, I see UDM on your list, and I am guessing you're playing it as a safety because your stats would above their pay grade, so do you really have a connection to Detroit?

 

[dieslink]

Let's make things easier for you: what's your BCP GPA? I presume it should be high, but how many credit hours is it?

Have you made any outreach to ASDA chapters at the schools on your list? In-state options (you don't mention residency) will be your best chance and your cheapest options over the long haul. If you are from Michigan, I see UDM on your list, and I am guessing you're playing it as a safety because your stats would above their pay grade, so do you really have a connection to Detroit?

My BCP GPA is 3.833 with 55 credits. I have not made any outreach to ASDA chapters, I've been quite bad about that sort of thing. Definitely UMich is my top choice because it has such a great program for in-state. UDM is on the list because I grew up near Detroit and think it makes a good safety school. So that puts me in a position where I don't really know what other schools to add as "safety schools" especially since I see so many forums saying there's no such thing as a dental safety school.

 

[dieslink]

My BCP GPA is 3.833 with 55 credits. I have not made any outreach to ASDA chapters, I've been quite bad about that sort of thing. Definitely UMich is my top choice because it has such a great program for in-state. UDM is on the list because I grew up near Detroit and think it makes a good safety school. So that puts me in a position where I don't really know what other schools to add as "safety schools" especially since I see so many forums saying there's no such thing as a dental safety school.

Also I added that I'm from Michigan to my post! Didn't realize I missed that.

 

[Gustavo dos Santos]

Let's make things easier for you: what's your BCP GPA? I presume it should be high, but how many credit hours is it?

Have you made any outreach to ASDA chapters at the schools on your list? In-state options (you don't mention residency) will be your best chance and your cheapest options over the long haul. If you are from Michigan, I see UDM on your list, and I am guessing you're playing it as a safety because your stats would above their pay grade, so do you really have a connection to Detroit?

Does the number of credit hours in your BCP GPA heavily affect your application? For example, would a non-trad who only took the prereqs but had a high BCP GPA be at a disadvantage?

 

[2thDoc11]

Looking at your stats I'm unsure as to why you would apply to Columbia among some of the other programs you've listed. Your stats are great and some of the schools are so overpriced that you'll have so much debt. I've talked to some dentists about those programs and if they would be worth it. As far as money goes they have said no way. If you have the option of improving your app and waiting a year to be more competitive for cheaper programs then you should. I don't see you having much of an issue as far as your scores go. Another aspect is how well those schools prepare you. Some of those schools that tend to have a high reputation uses that as a reason to not improve their weak areas. Where as some of the smaller private or state schools are looking to improve where they can. This was their opinions but I'm sure there is some truth to it. My thoughts are, is it worth it to start a year sooner if it costs you an extra 1-300k? Idk.. I'd look around and see if there are other cheaper programs that youd be competitive for.

 

[artist2022]

Looking at your stats I'm unsure as to why you would apply to Columbia among some of the other programs you've listed. Your stats are great and some of the schools are so overpriced that you'll have so much debt. I've talked to some dentists about those programs and if they would be worth it. As far as money goes they have said no way. If you have the option of improving your app and waiting a year to be more competitive for cheaper programs then you should. I don't see you having much of an issue as far as your scores go. Another aspect is how well those schools prepare you. Some of those schools that tend to have a high reputation uses that as a reason to not improve their weak areas. Where as some of the smaller private or state schools are looking to improve where they can. This was their opinions but I'm sure there is some truth to it. My thoughts are, is it worth it to start a year sooner if it costs you an extra 1-300k? Idk.. I'd look around and see if there are other cheaper programs that youd be competitive for.

I'm surprised you singled Columbia out when Harvard and Penn are also on OP's list - it's the lure of the Ivys. I don't know if anyone would suggest OP apply next year... their stats are plenty competitive for most of the schools on their list.

OP, I would look at how OOS friendly Stony Brook is and make sure you have all your pre-reqs done at the time of application - they require this. Otherwise, I would add some other schools that are relatively OOS friendly and at which you could get IS tuition after a year, but I think you'd have a solid shot at your IS since you've been there for undergrad (and grad I'd assume) and they'd be your cheapest option.

Good luck!

 

[dieslink]

I'm surprised you singled Columbia out when Harvard and Penn are also on OP's list - it's the lure of the Ivys. I don't know if anyone would suggest OP apply next year... their stats are plenty competitive for most of the schools on their list.

OP, I would look at how OOS friendly Stony Brook is and make sure you have all your pre-reqs done at the time of application - they require this. Otherwise, I would add some other schools that are relatively OOS friendly and at which you could get IS tuition after a year, but I think you'd have a solid shot at your IS since you've been there for undergrad (and grad I'd assume) and they'd be your cheapest option.

Good luck!

I definitely am lured by the Ivys and school rankings as seen by the reach schools on my list. Are there any schools you can suggest that aren't on the list that I should apply to? I had a couple schools like UIC and UNC that I wanted to apply to but they wouldn't accept my biology prereqs. All the other schools on the list I've checked with to make sure I'm good with their prereqs. Thanks!

 

[artist2022]

I definitely am lured by the Ivys and school rankings as seen by the reach schools on my list. Are there any schools you can suggest that aren't on the list that I should apply to? I had a couple schools like UIC and UNC that I wanted to apply to but they wouldn't accept my biology prereqs. All the other schools on the list I've checked with to make sure I'm good with their prereqs. Thanks!

Yeah I'd probably not have UNC for sure since they're extremely OOS unfriendly. I think UIC is relatively unfriendly as well.

You could add the UCs! You can get residency in CA after D1 so that'd help with the cost, and I think they're on par with the Ivys if I do say so myself I'm not sure about the thing with your biology pre-reqs though, as they do require the year of general bio + lab (but accept AP credit for it if your school gave you credit).

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Does the number of credit hours in your BCP GPA heavily affect your application? For example, would a non-trad who only took the prereqs but had a high BCP GPA be at a disadvantage?

I'm pretending to be a screener because I don't have your application, but I want to give you an insight on how one screener would approach your application. Given that you have an engineering curriculum to contend with, I need to determine a common comparison to my regular biomed-heavy applicants. So I would check out what your BCP GPA is and what classes contributed to the calculation. The OP provided responses so I'll continue to think with that information.

What other private schools does the OP consider worth applying to?

 

[dieslink]

Yeah I'd probably not have UNC for sure since they're extremely OOS unfriendly. I think UIC is relatively unfriendly as well.

You could add the UCs! You can get residency in CA after D1 so that'd help with the cost, and I think they're on par with the Ivys if I do say so myself I'm not sure about the thing with your biology pre-reqs though, as they do require the year of general bio + lab (but accept AP credit for it if your school gave you credit).

I was going to apply to UCSF and UCLA but I heard that they were incredibly difficult to get into out of state. I was also going to apply to UWash but same thing, difficult to get into out of state.

 

[dieslink]

I'm pretending to be a screener because I don't have your application, but I want to give you an insight on how one screener would approach your application. Given that you have an engineering curriculum to contend with, I need to determine a common comparison to my regular biomed-heavy applicants. So I would check out what your BCP GPA is and what classes contributed to the calculation. The OP provided responses so I'll continue to think with that information.

What other private schools does the OP consider worth applying to?

I really am not sure what other private schools would be worth applying to compared to my existing list. I've looked at NYU and Tufts but I don't know if it would be worth it to apply to those schools based on my current list.

 

[dieslink]

I really am not sure what other private schools would be worth applying to compared to my existing list. I've looked at NYU and Tufts but I don't know if it would be worth it to apply to those schools based on my current list. I

Also, the classes that I counted towards my BCP GPA that I took at UMich are:

Intro Bio Lab, Orgo 1 and 2 plus labs, Physics 1 and 2 plus labs, Biophysical Chemistry, Electrical Biophysics, Quantitative Cell Biology, Quantitative Physiology, Biochem, Microbiology, Physics 3: Waves and Light, Physics 4: Intro Modern Phys plus Modern Phys Lab, and BME Undergrad Lab 1 which is accepted by the schools on my list as a biology lab should they require two biology labs.

 

[dieslink]

Yes for sure! I meant Ivy's in general but didn't wanna listen em all off.. I figured he'd get my point. Also yes, he should not wait a year to apply, he'll definitely get acceptances. I guess that statement wasn't really necessary in my og post as it was more so aimed at those with weaker applications who wanna apply to the more expensive, more "lenient" programs.. You make great points

I get you meant Ivys in general. I am applying to some of those schools because I thought I should have some reach schools in my list in addition to UMich that would give a unique dental experience. If I got into UMich, I don't think I would attend those other schools even if I got in unless I received a good financial package.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

The classes that I counted towards my BCP GPA that I took at UMich are:

Intro Bio Lab, Orgo 1 and 2 plus labs, Physics 1 and 2 plus labs, Biophysical Chemistry, Electrical Biophysics, Quantitative Cell Biology, Quantitative Physiology, Biochem, Microbiology, Physics 3: Waves and Light, Physics 4: Intro Modern Phys plus Modern Phys Lab, and BME Undergrad Lab 1 which is accepted by the schools on my list as a biology lab should they require two biology labs.

So you AP'ed out of general chemistry? Are you confident the schools you are applying to are good with AP credit to address the chemistry prereqs? (Or does Michigan treat the chemistry sequence differently nowadays?)

 

[dieslink]

So you AP'ed out of general chemistry? Are you confident the schools you are applying to are good with AP credit to address the chemistry prereqs? (Or does Michigan treat the chemistry sequence differently nowadays?)

I have checked that the schools I want to apply to are okay with AP credit. At Michigan, it counts for General Chemistry I and Gen Chem labs 1 and 2, and my class Biophysical Chemistry is the BME version of Physical Chemistry.

 

[dieslink]

Should I be applying to schools like UCSF, UCLA, and UWash in addition to the schools on my list? If I'm already applying to UDM as a safety school, are there schools on my list that really don't make sense to apply to or others that really should be on the list? Sorry for all the questions! I'm just paranoid that if I don't apply to enough schools or the right schools, I might become a reapplicant next cycle...

 

[Mr.Smile12]

I have checked that the schools I want to apply to are okay with AP credit. At Michigan, it counts for General Chemistry I and Gen Chem labs 1 and 2, and my class Biophysical Chemistry is the BME version of Physical Chemistry.

If you read the applicant instructions or the GoDental website, it should tell you how science GPA is calculated. You need to know so you can double check your calculations against AADSAS when verification is complete.

The applicant average is 10 schools. You don't need to apply to all 60+. If you become a reapplicant, it won't be because of metrics. But you need to get the right Yes, not just any Yes.

Sent from my SM-N960U using SDN mobile