Canadian applicant... what are my chances at these schools

[wmwm7]

.Hey guys,

I was hoping for some input. I am currently completing my Master's in Science, in the Faculty of Dentistry at my respective school and looking to apply to US Dental schools. My GPA is poor, sGPA 3.1, oGPA: 3.2. I scored 20AA, 21TS, 21PAT on the American DAT.
I have done over 200hrs of community volunteering (hospital and senior center). Only 20 hours of shadowing of a dentist. I have two faculty of science Professors and one post-doc as my Referees.

Here is the list of schools i have chosen. The list below was compiled according to being Canadian friendly and overall DAT/GPA:
-Midwestern AZ
-Midwestern ILL
-Boston University
-NYU (do they require 100 hours shadowing? according to the ADEA book it says it's required, but priors I dont remember them mentioning of it being required)
-Columbia (is my DAT high enough?)
-Nova
-Case
-USC
-Creighton
-Marquette
-Temple

I wanted to add Mercy, but I don't fulfill the shadowing requirements. Are they pretty strict on applicants requiring to fulfill the respective shadowing hours? Is there any that I can add on or should scratch off of my list? Any Graduate student friendly schools?

I hope to submit for GPA approval this week.

Thank you in advance!


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[wmwm7]

I should add that I got a 4.0 GPA post-bacc through my Master's course work... however, Im sure everyone does..

 

[toothbugger]

Hey guys,

Does anyone have any feedback ? I'm also a Canadian applicant in a simiilar situation. Research Master's with thesis. Have first-author publications. Undergrad GPA on the low side (oGPA 3.36, sGPA 3.2). Shadowed about 30 hours. Haven't written the DAT yet (writing on June 29). Master's GPA 3.85.

Any feedback would be helpful for us! Thanks in advance.

 

[euphaire]

OP, why don't u just shadow a bit more? There's no black and white print on whether those schools require > X hours of shadowing, but why risk it? 8 hours a day x 3 days is already 24 hours. Do this for a week and you have another 40. It should be a breeze getting 100 hours.
Your DAT is too low for Columbia.
Add Minnesota, Buffalo, and maybe Pitt.

 

[miss chievous]

I would say to apply to only private schools. Public schools won't be very kind to international students but the private schools won't care either way. When I interviewed at USC, I was pretty surprised to find that just about half of the other candidates being interviewed were Canadian. So I'm betting your chances are pretty good there. (Although your GPA looks pretty weak. Maybe try to bump that up a bit more next semester.) I don't believe Marquette or Temple are private schools, but you might want to check up on that. The others (except maybe Columbia) look to be pretty good choices though. Lots of luck!

 

[wesleym7]

I thought Marquette and Temple were private...

 

[wmwm7]

Thanks for the encouraging feedback! Yes, I agree my chances are higher at private schools. However, perhaps I'll add Pittsburgh and scratch Columbia. I will try to do more shadowing, but it's difficult to find time, as I am wrapping up my Thesis paper at the moment and its difficult to even find a Dentist, who is receptive on allowing someone to tag along.

I don't want to wait too long to submit my application for GPA approval... I guess perhaps once I complete additional shadowing, I can submit a letter of evaluation directly to the schools.

 

[BobLoblawDDS]

Wait, are those GPA figures you gave including your Master's courses? I'm not sure how AADSAS treats post-bacc stuff; if it just lumps it all together or if it's separate.

Either way, IMO 3.1-3.2 is quite low overall, never mind you being a Canadian applicant. You should submit ASAP, I think, and hope for interviews from NYU, USC and BU. NYU doesn't have a hard-and-fast shadowing rule. I was accepted with only 30 shadowing hours.

I'd say your chances are weak at schools that like to see higher GPAs like Case and Minny, and you have an outside chance at other large schools like Temple. AFAIK Pitt doesn't accept/interview too many Canadians (Euphaire is the exception) but maybe you should add Tufts to your list.

I'd say submit as soon as you have around 40 hours of shadowing (hopefully by next week) and cross your fingers.

Best of luck.

 

[toothexplore]

Wait, are those GPA figures you gave including your Master's courses? I'm not sure how AADSAS treats post-bacc stuff; if it just lumps it all together or if it's separate.

AADSAS will show an overall cumulative GPA including Master's but also displays a column of post-grad GPA only; however, it also includes hours of coursework and a thesis-based master's is obviously very low in semester hours

I'm not sure if Tufts interviewed many (if any) international applicants in the last few years.

I would bring up shadowing hours if you are still currently shadowing, if not, I would place emphasis of what you learned during observation into your PS

I am a post-grad student and interviewed at BU, USC and Mercy. Even though UDM is a stand-alone non-research based institution i think it helped me atleast in interviewing

 

[wmwm7]

Cool! Thanks!
Ya, I heard Tufts haven't been giving interviews to many Canadian's too...