Applying to one school

[ms.mollymay]

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Hey everyone!

First I just wanna say congrats to everyone who has put their heart into this application cycle! It takes so much preparation and courage to move forward, so for that, great job!

This cycle I decided to apply to one school and I felt like I got a TON of beef from SDNers, friends, and even dental students at the school I applied to during my interview lol! Everyone said it was a bad idea and that I most likely would not get accepted....

Well on December first I was accepted to the only school I applied to!! I feel so grateful!!!

My point in this post is to encourage everyone to do your own thing despite what others say! You know yourself and your journey the best... so follow your heart!!! You don't have to follow the norm of getting that perfect gpa or dat. Don't volunteer at the hospital if you hate it. Don't apply to fifteen schools if you know in your heart which one is best for you!

Do you and be confident about it🙂

Good luck to everyone in this cycle I truly wish you all the best!!!

 

[Likkriue]

Doesn't make it smart to do. Lets say I jump off a skyscraper and lived. That doesn't mean everyone else jumping off it will live. For example I have not been accepted to either of my state schools. If I had done what you did and only applied to those I would be gearing up to be an re-applicant.

Congrats and hope you do well in dental school. However I would 10/10 give someone beef if they apply to only one school.

 

[DentistHopeful123]

You should go to Las Vegas to celebrate 😛

 

[asdf99]

Congrats haha!

The whole one school thing is kind of what it's like in Canada (if you don't have a 4.0/fire DAT)

 

[pete6277]

Doesn't make it smart to do. Lets say I jump off a skyscraper and lived. That doesn't mean everyone else jumping off it will live. For example I have not been accepted to either of my state schools. If I had done what you did and only applied to those I would be gearing up to be an re-applicant.

Congrats and hope you do well in dental school. However I would 10/10 give someone beef if they apply to only one school.

100% agree with you. This application process is not something you can play around with and gamble by applying to just one school.

 

[toothdoctor123]

I can think of one (and only one) legitimate reason to apply to only a single school: love. You're a smart college graduate married or engaged to someone who is tied down to particular city with a single dental school. You decide your family comes first, and you have a backup career option in case you're not accepted.

Otherwise, don't do what OP did.

But on the other hand, don't apply to too many schools. That's a waste of time and money, and if you lack the self-confidence to narrow your list to a dozen or so schools, you need to reflect on whether you're truly qualified to go to dental school. Also, when it is multiplied to a national scale, applying to too many schools clogs up the application system, delaying the interview and acceptance cycles. That's not fair to your future colleagues.

 

[Incis0r]

Everyone said it was a bad idea and that I most likely would not get accepted....

Well on December first I was accepted to the only school I applied to!! I feel so grateful!!!

They weren't wrong though. They said you "most likely" would not get accepted. The words "most likely" still left a chance, however small, that you would get in.

And you got in. Congratulations!!

But it is still a small chance that you'd get in. I'm not sure if I commented on your original thread or not, but if someone came to me and said they're only applying to 1 school, I'd say "Apply to more to have a better chance of getting in."

 

[ms.mollymay]

Super apprecitate everyone's opinions! I'm not recommending my dental path to anyone else... and by no means am I saying applying to one school is the way to go. I am just saying that I knew in my heart what was best for me! I let others opinions on my decision to apply to one school really affect me. I questioned myself TONS. I'm just saying trust what you think is best for you!

 

[Incis0r]

Super apprecitate everyone's opinions! I'm not recommending my dental path to anyone else... and by no means am I saying applying to one school is the way to go. I am just saying that I knew in my heart what was best for me! I let others opinions on my decision to apply to one school really affect me. I questioned myself TONS. I'm just saying trust what you think is best for you!

But seriously, congratulations 🙂 You're going to be a dentist!!!!!

 

[Toothout]

Congrats!! I feel somehow related to what happened to you, even though I applied to 14. The thing is that I said somewhere in July that I only needed one interview cuz everyone (professors, faculty, dentists...) seem to love me and get a great impression of me when they meet me.
So I knew that one interview would do the job.
I only got one interview, and I was accepted
Congrats again!

 

[ms.mollymay]

member: 692560"]Congrats!! I feel somehow related to what happened to you, even though I applied to 14. The thing is that I said somewhere in July that I only needed one interview cuz everyone (professors, faculty, dentists...) seem to love me and get a great impression of me when they meet me.
So I knew that one interview would do the job.
I only got one interview, and I was accepted
Congrats again![/QUOTE]
thats awesome HUGE congrats 🙂 where are you going?

 

[Toothout]

member: 692560"]Congrats!! I feel somehow related to what happened to you, even though I applied to 14. The thing is that I said somewhere in July that I only needed one interview cuz everyone (professors, faculty, dentists...) seem to love me and get a great impression of me when they meet me.
So I knew that one interview would do the job.
I only got one interview, and I was accepted
Congrats again!

thats awesome HUGE congrats 🙂 where are you going?[/QUOTE]
UMKC and you?

 

[NavyDDS1990]

UMKC and you?

Looks like Colorado

 

[deleted696582]

I can think of one (and only one) legitimate reason to apply to only a single school: love. You're a smart college graduate married or engaged to someone who is tied down to particular city with a single dental school. You decide your family comes first, and you have a backup career option in case you're not accepted.

I shed a tear.

 

[WheatLom]

It is risky, but it works out sometimes. Congrats!

 

[fogorvostan]

I seriously gasped out loud when I saw your Facebook status about getting in. I'm so happy things worked out so perfectly for you and I can't wait to hear about things go the next four years.

 

[Universitygeek]

I wouldn't have the nerves to do it, but I guess it worked out for you. I just think why would I do all this work just to put all of it on one horse? Don't put all your eggs in one basket. Sometimes it works out, but when it doesn't you've put yourself between a rock and a hard place.

 

[TLV-TUS]

If we get somewhat philosophical about it...just for fun... A lot of people get accepted to their #1 school,right? so the fact they applied to 1,2,3,...10 ...20 others schools helped in anyway or was it just a waste of money and time? after all you can't know you gonna get accepted, but for the school you do get accepted to, the fact you applied to more schools didn't make any difference...

 

[rhemsley]

While I would generally agree that applying to only 1 school is risky, I heard numerous times from people who are very involved with dental admissions at my state school that when highly competitive applicants apply to a lot of schools, it can discourage in-state schools or schools with lower average admitted statistics to accept you. Obviously this is highly variable depending on home state and school, but it makes sense. If you have the statistics to get accepted at higher caliber schools, it would make sense for schools to not want to potentially waste a first round acceptance on you, when you likely would choose a better school. This happens ALL the time at my state school for both dental and medical schools. I have seen MANY times people with 99% MCAT scores and 4.0 GPAs be flat out rejected from the medical school, and the same for the dental school.

Not saying that this is what happened, or that I necessarily would feel comfortable applying to one school, but I did go into an interview and had the interviewer tell me that it was foolish on my part to apply to so many schools (I applied to 7), with the stats that I have (which pale in comparison to most SDNers).

 

[toothdoctor123]

If we get somewhat philosophical about it...just for fun... A lot of people get accepted to their #1 school,right? so the fact they applied to 1,2,3,...10 ...20 others schools helped in anyway or was it just a waste of money and time? after all you can't know you gonna get accepted, but for the school you do get accepted to, the fact you applied to more schools didn't make any difference...

Well, most people don't get accepted to their #1 school! And I think about half of applicants don't get into any school...or something like that.

One good thing about applying to multiple schools is that it gives you perspective on the qualities of your #1 school once you do attend. It helps you identify pros and cons and determine what you truly value in your education. Also, you are going to learn a lot about the schools by visiting them for interviews, and that may change your original opinion. For example, Harvard and UConn were my top choices until I interviewed at Columbia. I hadn't thought much about Columbia beforehand, but after visiting all of the schools it became my #1 choice.

 

[TLV-TUS]

Well, most people don't get accepted to their #1 school! And I think about half of applicants don't get into any school...or something like that.

One good thing about applying to multiple schools is that it gives you perspective on the qualities of your #1 school once you do attend. It helps you identify pros and cons and determine what you truly value in your education. Also, you are going to learn a lot about the schools by visiting them for interviews, and that may change your original opinion. For example, Harvard and UConn were my top choices until I interviewed at Columbia. I hadn't thought much about Columbia beforehand, but after visiting all of the schools it became my #1 choice.

You're absolutely right, seeing is believing ... that's why I said philosophically 🙂
it's like having 1% into getting accepted into a specific school, but once you are accepted it's 100% not 1%...
In theory at least.

 

[Faefly]

If we get somewhat philosophical about it...just for fun... A lot of people get accepted to their #1 school,right? so the fact they applied to 1,2,3,...10 ...20 others schools helped in anyway or was it just a waste of money and time? after all you can't know you gonna get accepted, but for the school you do get accepted to, the fact you applied to more schools didn't make any difference...

Who are these people?
The ones with +3.9 gpa, 25+ Dat , and +300 shadowing hours! and not even then!
I mean many schools get more than 5000 applications and they accept only 90 out of 5000 or less!So who are these lucky ....... who get accepted at their first choice. I want to meet them.

 

[Universitygeek]

If we get somewhat philosophical about it...just for fun... A lot of people get accepted to their #1 school,right? so the fact they applied to 1,2,3,...10 ...20 others schools helped in anyway or was it just a waste of money and time? after all you can't know you gonna get accepted, but for the school you do get accepted to, the fact you applied to more schools didn't make any difference...

I don't think that it's necessarily a waste of money if it helps you to sleep better at night. It's like insurance. Even if you're the best driver and have never needed to use your car insurance, I think most people appreciate that it's there and would rather pay it than wind up in a situation where they need it and it's not there.