Asdoh rejection...

[350JEEPAZ]

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Near the beginning of the cycle I was quickly rejected from asdoh... super bummed at first but I eventually got over it.

brief background..Asdoh was my number one school...I have well over 1300 hours community service, (500 of which were with a organization that works closely with asdoh) 3.4 overall/science GPA and a DAT of 19 (no section lower than 19). letter of recommendation from ashoh alumni and several other connections to the school, many ECs and no red flags on my applicaiton (Ive already been to 4 interviews).
Having lived within 10 mins from the school my entire life, you could say I was super excited to have the chance to go there.

so heres my question..during 2 other interviews, I have come across three other people that are were all rejected similarly to me. interestingly enough, we are all white mormon males/ returned missionaries, all with solid applications.

I am not bashing Asdoh, in fact I still like the school...I'm just curious if anybody else had a similar experience?

 

[ajj70]

Is there some way they would know you were Mormon? Your application was fine, your stats are pretty average, slightly below even. Have you contacted them and asked why you got rejected?

 

[350JEEPAZ]

Yes i called...they said they weren't allowed to disclose that information over the phone and that I could email the admissions committee and that they might get back to me at the end of the cycle...months down the road.
I believe on their secondary they ask to explain any period break in education. I served a mission in the middle of college...so they knew about that. Also that a served a mission for the LDS church was also mentioned (not emphasized) in my PS...so im sure they could connect the dots.
The fact that I have 4 other interviews and that Asdoh has been known to put less emphasis on DAT and GPA...makes me believe it wasn't my stats that caused me to be rejected. and trust me when i say i have PLENTY of extra curricular and giving back to the community experiences.
I really just wanted to throw this on here to see if others were in the same boat.

 

[hellofuturedentists]

I'm sure others are in the same boat. I haven't really looked into ASDOH since I didn't apply there, but my guess would be that they're looking for a diverse student body and had a lot of white male Mormon applicants so they couldn't interview them all. Sorry this happened to you though. I'm sure you'll get in somewhere you love 🙂

 

[Streax1]

I'm white male LDS, lower than average stats, and got an interview....

 

[350JEEPAZ]

well there you go! haha

 

[Streax1]

Yeah that's a bummer that you weren't able to get an interview. You seem like a stellar applicant and I'm sure any school will be lucky to have you. Good luck!

 

[ajj70]

Maybe their issue was that you lived 10 minutes away and they wanted a more diverse student population? Don't make this into something it is not. There are a million reasons you could have been rejected..heck, Ferilis was just rejected from a school which is SHOCKING. Just let it go.

 

[350JEEPAZ]

Maybe their issue was that you lived 10 minutes away and they wanted a more diverse student population? Don't make this into something it is not. There are a million reasons you could have been rejected..heck, Ferilis was just rejected from a school which is SHOCKING. Just let it go.

Oh for sure...I know it could be one of a thousand different things that could have caused a rejection. Each school is looking for their specific candidate. I'm not that narrow minded... I just thought it was curious that i met 3 others like me and wondering if there were others out there. no harm in asking....just trying to keep my sanity until Dec 1!!

 

[shulk]

Unless there is a major red flag in your application, there is no way to know why they rejected you. Everything is just up to the whims of the admissions office. ASDOH in particular is probably especially capricious with their decisions because of the 'holistic' review process. But, this is why you apply to lots of schools, to mitigate this randomness. I received many many more rejections than acceptances in this process.

 

[PerioDont]

I felt like I needed to comment on this one. I had almost the exact same situation happen to me last year. I have more than their recommended amount of volunteer hours, high DAT score, decent GPA, great extracurriculars, and just about some of the best connections to the school that I could have possibly had. I like you lived about 5 minutes from the school, although it was not my first choice school by any means. I am a white mormon male. They had my application on the first day possible, and never said a word to me before Dec 1. I ended up calling a few days after that to get some sort of feedback. It was probably the worst and most unprofessional exchange I have had with anyone at any dental school. They couldn't even find my app. They searched for 3 days and finally found it, but I only figured that out after multiple calls to them. When they finally found my app, and I called them on the phone again the person I talked to made it sound like no one had never actually even reviewed my application. He (a secretary) basically told me that since my application hadn't been looked at yet, I was rejected. I never even had a fair chance at an interview/acceptance. Gave me a horrible view of this school. They just stole my money, and never gave me a chance. Not to mention my brother-in-law graduated from there a few years back, and said that they actually do not look highly on white mormon males, due to the fact that historically they have had a very high percentage of them and some of the new faculty did not like that. He also said they are extremely biased towards navajos and certain middle eastern ethnicities. This fact was confirmed by another alumni who has close ties to the school, as well as by someone I know who is on the admissions committee. Sorry to rant, but I would say according to my own story, and some of my friends from AZ and current classmates, that ASDOH is very biased against the local white mormon male population. In retrospect I'm really glad I didn't get accepted, because the school I'm at is amazing, and actually actively seeks to recruit the white mormon male population.

Did you do a secondary?

 

[350JEEPAZ]

I felt like I needed to comment on this one. I had almost the exact same situation happen to me last year. I have more than their recommended amount of volunteer hours, high DAT score, decent GPA, great extracurriculars, and just about some of the best connections to the school that I could have possibly had. I like you lived about 5 minutes from the school, although it was not my first choice school by any means. I am a white mormon male. They had my application on the first day possible, and never said a word to me before Dec 1. I ended up calling a few days after that to get some sort of feedback. It was probably the worst and most unprofessional exchange I have had with anyone at any dental school. They couldn't even find my app. They searched for 3 days and finally found it, but I only figured that out after multiple calls to them. When they finally found my app, and I called them on the phone again the person I talked to made it sound like no one had never actually even reviewed my application. He (a secretary) basically told me that since my application hadn't been looked at yet, I was rejected. I never even had a fair chance at an interview/acceptance. Gave me a horrible view of this school. They just stole my money, and never gave me a chance. Not to mention my brother-in-law graduated from there a few years back, and said that they actually do not look highly on white mormon males, due to the fact that historically they have had a very high percentage of them and some of the new faculty did not like that. He also said they are extremely biased towards navajos and certain middle eastern ethnicities. This fact was confirmed by another alumni who has close ties to the school, as well as by someone I know who is on the admissions committee. Sorry to rant, but I would say according to my own story, and some of my friends from AZ and current classmates, that ASDOH is very biased against the local white mormon male population. In retrospect I'm really glad I didn't get accepted, because the school I'm at is amazing, and actually actively seeks to recruit the white mormon male population.

 

[melm22]

View attachment 197779

I had a very similar experience as this person. It has only been confirmed anecdotally but I believe that for the white male mormon contingent they literally remove everything in your application that has to do with you being mormon. In addition, if they see that you didn't do what typical mormons do they use that against you, ie. mission, eagle scout, etc. Considering that a good amount of dentists in the surrounding area are mormon, I don't think it is a great move to alienate that population. With all that being said, I still respect them as a professional school, however, I am so glad that I was rejected by them because the school I ended up attending has opened up so many more doors and I have had a wonderful experience with. I ended up where I was supposed to be.

 

[Cello]

On the flip side, I was given one of the secret LDS temple handshakes (Sure Sign of the Nail / Second Token of the Melchizedek Priesthood for those who know) by one of my interviewers at the University of Utah...

Sorry to hear about ASDOH, I was disappointed that I did not get accepted there either. Try not to assume too much about being LDS. During my interview day there were 5 or 6 Caucasian Mormon males (only 2 of us guys where non-LDS). They reject a lot of them because they interview a lot of them.

Ask yourself this: Why would they interview so many LDS applicants if they have no intention of accepting them?

 

[Rambunctious]

Near the beginning of the cycle I was quickly rejected from asdoh... super bummed at first but I eventually got over it.

brief background..Asdoh was my number one school...I have well over 1300 hours community service, (500 of which were with a organization that works closely with asdoh) 3.4 overall/science GPA and a DAT of 19 (no section lower than 19). letter of recommendation from ashoh alumni and several other connections to the school, many ECs and no red flags on my applicaiton (Ive already been to 4 interviews).
Having lived within 10 mins from the school my entire life, you could say I was super excited to have the chance to go there.

so heres my question..during 2 other interviews, I have come across three other people that are were all rejected similarly to me. interestingly enough, we are all white mormon males/ returned missionaries, all with solid applications.

I am not bashing Asdoh, in fact I still like the school...I'm just curious if anybody else had a similar experience?

Your theory could honestly be true or false, you will never know. The reason is because it's illegal to discriminate based on religion and a plethora of other things. So asking this question is pointless and doesn't justify the reason you were rejected. In the real world though, people get rejected for all reasons, even if its unethical reasons. The thing is you will never know so it's better not to put too much thought into it.

 

[DentistJoon]

people who get rejected from ASDOH right away is usually because they did not fulfill class requirements. ASDOH requires anatomy and physiology

 

[PerioDont]

Near the beginning of the cycle I was quickly rejected from asdoh... super bummed at first but I eventually got over it.

brief background..Asdoh was my number one school...I have well over 1300 hours community service, (500 of which were with a organization that works closely with asdoh) 3.4 overall/science GPA and a DAT of 19 (no section lower than 19). letter of recommendation from ashoh alumni and several other connections to the school, many ECs and no red flags on my applicaiton (Ive already been to 4 interviews).
Having lived within 10 mins from the school my entire life, you could say I was super excited to have the chance to go there.

so heres my question..during 2 other interviews, I have come across three other people that are were all rejected similarly to me. interestingly enough, we are all white mormon males/ returned missionaries, all with solid applications.

I am not bashing Asdoh, in fact I still like the school...I'm just curious if anybody else had a similar experience?

I am about 20 minutes away from ASDOH, rec letter from alumni, know 2 professors there, 3.8 GPA, 19AA around 2000 hrs shadowing. Non-white, non-LDS, didn't even get an interview. When I call them they don't respond. not sure whats up with them, they are not even on my portal still on AADSAS.