Am I officially screwed??

[Murka]

I know everyone here is probably tired of this sort of posts but I cannot help but wonder if I should officially start freaking out.... Perhaps, there is someone here who is in a similar situation and could share her/his thoughts with me. Here it is.
So far I have no interviews scheduled. I applied to 8 schools in the mid-end August and took my DAT in early Sept. I am Microbiology senior with 3.67 GPA (cul and sci). My DAT scores are 20/20/19. I have extensive shadowing experience, not so much volunteering, and want to believe my LOR's were good/great?? I sent all of the secondaries within a couple of days of receiving them and ever since I have been a mail box Nazi. I have recieved one rejection.
I called schools last week. Most of them said my application’s still under review. What in the hell is taking so long? I know people here with similar stats have gotten interviews. It is getting very difficult to stay calm. We have a Dec. 1st countdown here for crying out loud!! So, could someone, please, tell me what's going on? I realize I am not the greatest of candidates but, heck, an interview or two?????
Ah...and I forgot to mention that I am a foreigner?? Legal but not a citizen...could this be a problem?
I appreciate your input.

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[headsup]

I know everyone here is probably tired of this sort of posts but I cannot help but wonder if I should officially start freaking out.... Perhaps, there is someone here who is in a similar situation and could share her/his thoughts with me. Here it is.
So far I have no interviews scheduled. I applied to 8 schools in the mid-end August and took my DAT in early Sept. I am Microbiology senior with 3.67 GPA (cul and sci). My DAT scores are 20/20/19. I have extensive shadowing experience, not so much volunteering, and want to believe my LOR's were good/great?? I sent all of the secondaries within a couple of days of receiving them and ever since I have been a mail box Nazi. I have recieved one rejection.
I called schools last week. Most of them said my application’s still under review. What in the hell is taking so long? I know people here with similar stats have gotten interviews. It is getting very difficult to stay calm. We have a Dec. 1st countdown here for crying out loud!! So, could someone, please, tell me what's going on? I realize I am not the greatest of candidates but, heck, an interview or two?????
Ah...and I forgot to mention that I am a foreigner?? Legal but not a citizen...could this be a problem?
I appreciate your input.

may I ask when your application was sent out?

 

[food4thots]

i think you're just panicking too soon.. i know it's hard not to.. but im sure u'll get some interviews. ur stats are great. u applied relatively early. so u'll be fine. just need some patience.

 

[Murka]

may I ask when your application was sent out?

Applied in mid-end Aug. If I knew this was "late", for sure I would have done it earlier...i just thought "hey, the deadline is in Dec., this is early enough!" Go figure....

 

[headsup]

Applied in mid-end Aug. If I knew this was "late", for sure I would have done it earlier...i just thought "hey, the deadline is in Dec., this is early enough!" Go figure....

I applied relatively late also... and recieved 2 interviews just recently, and I am not a citizen either...
so I think it's a bit early to panic like crazy, but I am with you with a little bit of stress... don't worry

 

[Murka]

does it sound like i am panicking? well, i am more shocked than anything...
thanks for your replies.

 

[wuyide]

if i was you, i'd be thinking... this is messed up. but you never do know when those invites are gonna come. i got invited to interview at all my top choices and am yet to hear from where i thought i'd be getting interview for sure. your stats sound great and i'm sure you are way more qualified than tons of people who have already been to interviews. i'm sure you'll get some invites. especially after the first pool of people who have 10 interviews but can only go to one school decide on that one school and open up 9 other spots for everybody else.

good luck!

 

[phremius]

there is no december countdown, it's rolling admissions for crying out loud, acceptances START to get mailed after 12/1. calm down

 

[deebog01]

If this is your first time dealing with AADSAS, call the schools and make sure they got all of your letters of rec. Christina at Arizona told me that a "substantial" number of applications were coming in with duplicate letters, missing letters and or no letters when they should have been complete apps. Good luck.

-D

 

[packbacker]

Not all schools admit or even interview on a rolling basis. Some schools have set adcom meeting dates in which they admit xx% of their class. UNC for instance only has 2 adcom meetings (one on Dec 7 and one on Feb 1(?)).

there is no december countdown, it's rolling admissions for crying out loud, acceptances START to get mailed after 12/1. calm down

 

[E. coli]

I know everyone here is probably tired of this sort of posts but I cannot help but wonder if I should officially start freaking out.... Perhaps, there is someone here who is in a similar situation and could share her/his thoughts with me. Here it is.
So far I have no interviews scheduled. I applied to 8 schools in the mid-end August and took my DAT in early Sept. I am Microbiology senior with 3.67 GPA (cul and sci). My DAT scores are 20/20/19. I have extensive shadowing experience, not so much volunteering, and want to believe my LOR's were good/great?? I sent all of the secondaries within a couple of days of receiving them and ever since I have been a mail box Nazi. I have recieved one rejection.
I called schools last week. Most of them said my application’s still under review. What in the hell is taking so long? I know people here with similar stats have gotten interviews. It is getting very difficult to stay calm. We have a Dec. 1st countdown here for crying out loud!! So, could someone, please, tell me what's going on? I realize I am not the greatest of candidates but, heck, an interview or two?????
Ah...and I forgot to mention that I am a foreigner?? Legal but not a citizen...could this be a problem?
I appreciate your input.

I know how u feel, I only got 2 interview invites last month and I applied a lot earlier than you. I submitted mine at June and it was mailed at beginning of August. I waited nearly 4 months for my first interview invite.

I simply don't know what's going on either at some schools such as UPENN, Columbia, NYU, Tufts and BU. My background is very similar to yours. I am Canadian (considered international pool) and I am also a Microbiology major, and I have a lot of research, volunteering and dental shadowing/volunteering experience. In addition, I have really similar stats as yours (3.5 cul and sci gpa, DAT: 23/23/20).

But I take it that a lot of dental schools look for more well rounded applicants with some special characteristics, and it's no longer enough just to be good acadmically. I knew I should have spent more effort on my personal statements! This would explain why the process of admission and interview invites is so random. Also, numbers can be deceiving because someone can go to a top undergrad school, and their actual gpa will be considered higher and vice versa. Bottom line is you need to have good grades and extracurricular activities in order to be considered competitive.

I think if you are not getting interviews, it is definitely not because of your stats because they are definitely good enough for interviews. Also, some schools interview later and don't fill their class that fast, because they want to give later applicants equal opportunity to compete.

Hopefully things will be better after Dec 1st. I have seen a lot of SDN people get a lot of interviews prior to Dec 1st, hopefully they will just accept their admission offers and move on with their lives. Just be patient and hopefully you will get some interview invites.

BTW, may I ask which schools you apply to?

 

[Murka]

I know how u feel, I only got 2 interview invites last month and I applied a lot earlier than you. I submitted mine at June and it was mailed at beginning of August. I waited nearly 4 months for my first interview invite.

I simply don't know what's going on either at some schools such as UPENN, Columbia, NYU, Tufts and BU. My background is very similar to yours. I am Canadian (considered international pool) and I am also a Microbiology major, and I have a lot of research, volunteering and dental shadowing/volunteering experience. In addition, I have really similar stats as yours (3.5 cul and sci gpa, DAT: 23/23/20).

But I take it that a lot of dental schools look for more well rounded applicants with some special characteristics, and it's no longer enough just to be good acadmically. I knew I should have spent more effort on my personal statements! This would explain why the process of admission and interview invites is so random. Also, numbers can be deceiving because someone can go to a top undergrad school, and their actual gpa will be considered higher and vice versa. Bottom line is you need to have good grades and extracurricular activities in order to be considered competitive.

I think if you are not getting interviews, it is definitely not because of your stats because they are definitely good enough for interviews. Also, some schools interview later and don't fill their class that fast, because they want to give later applicants equal opportunity to compete.

Hopefully things will be better after Dec 1st. I have seen a lot of SDN people get a lot of interviews prior to Dec 1st, hopefully they will just accept their admission offers and move on with their lives. Just be patient and hopefully you will get some interview invites.

BTW, may I ask which schools you apply to?

I applied to Arizona, UNLV, UT San Antonio, UoP, Oregon, OSU, Tufts, UCSF. Ohio State has sent me a rejection letter a couple of weeks ago..."non-resident grounds", which is understandable. It just so weird because I've seen people here with similar, more or less, stats that have 4-5 interviews. I just don't know. I guess I am not freaking out I am just freaking confused...that's all

 

[howui3]

I feel your pain.

I have a good GPA and great DAT scores and I applied to 14 schools in August. So far I have only heard back from BU (got an interview there but nut until the end of January). Many of the schools have my file complete but it's still under review.

Also, Creighton does not even do interviews, so after December 1 I should know, and NYU said this year they are taking more kids without interview (fingers crossed).

I guess all we can do is wait.

 

[groundhog]

I applied to Arizona, UNLV, UT San Antonio, UoP, Oregon, OSU, Tufts, UCSF. Ohio State has sent me a rejection letter a couple of weeks ago..."non-resident grounds", which is understandable. It just so weird because I've seen people here with similar, more or less, stats that have 4-5 interviews. I just don't know. I guess I am not freaking out I am just freaking confused...that's all

In my opinion, you limited your chances too much. 5 of your eight choices are state schools. You can only be a resident of one state. That places 4 of your choices in a low chance category right from the get go. Arizona apparently looks for strong indicators of a propensity towards community involvement/leadership which you admit is one of your weaker points. That makes 5 of your 8 choices high risk. So that leaves Tufts, UOP, and one possible state school. I think you should have cast a broader net. Some state schools to which you did not apply tend to be more open to non-residents (UMICH, UCONN, UMARYLAND come to mind). Finally, there are a slug more privates you could have considered (Case, Loma-Linda, Detroit-Mercy, Marquette ,UPENN, Temple, Columbia, NOVA, Creighton, BU, NYU, USC, Harvard, Howard, Meharry).

 

[E. coli]

In my opinion, you limited your chances too much. 5 of your eight choices are state schools. You can only be a resident of one state. That places 4 of your choices in a low chance category right from the get go. Arizona apparently looks for strong indicators of a propensity towards community involvement/leadership which you admit is one of your weaker points. That makes 5 of your 8 choices high risk. So that leaves Tufts, UOP, and one possible state school. I think you should have cast a broader net. Some state schools to which you did not apply tend to be more open to non-residents (UMICH, UCONN, UMARYLAND come to mind). Finally, there are a slug more privates you could have considered (Case, Loma-Linda, Detroit-Mercy, Marquette ,UPENN, Temple, Columbia, NOVA, Creighton, BU, NYU, USC, Harvard, Howard, Meharry).

Don't forget UOP is very competitive to get an interview this year and they usually value high DAT scores (everything above 20). A lot of SDN people with good stats are still waiting for them.

So that leaves Tufts and one state school. Definitely you should consider the private school options. I don't know if it's still too late to add a school, but it's worth a shot.

 

[grmaster1]

I applied to Arizona, UNLV, UT San Antonio, UoP, Oregon, OSU, Tufts, UCSF. I guess I am not freaking out I am just freaking confused...that's all

That's a strange spread of schools... I guess, you don't want to move too far from home, but why Tufts?

You needed to apply to some Russian-friendly schools like Columbia, Boston U, and NYU...

Vot adres, pochitay kakie shkoly kogo prinimayut; esli ne postupish' v etot raz, v sleduyuschiy budet legche...