Chance me, school list, advice

[dentite24]

Personal info: 21, white male, 1st gen college student
Undergrad: Bio major, chem minor, attended state school in Ohio (no CC credits)
Residence: Appalachian Ohio
GPA: 4.00/4.00 (elementary, high school, undergrad)
DAT: 21 AA, 20 TS, 20 PA, 18 RC, 18 BIO, 25 OC, 22 GC, 20 QR
Shadowing: 120 hours spread out (5 offices, 10 dentists)
Volunteering: 140 hours spread out (recently strictly volunteering at mental health hospital every other week)
Leadership: gen chem review session leader (taught like a pass/fail recitation/review class),otherwise not much else
ECs: Pre-dental club for 2 years, running club, scholar member, intramural bball
Work: golf course, tutor (during semester and summer), research, gen chem review session leader
Research: Half of a summer at my school's med school in the diabetes institute, co-author of a methods paper
Hand skills: good at video games, great hand-eye coordination in sports, fast/efficient typer... don't really do many things with my hands besides that
LORs: 2 science (average to strongish), one adviser (average)
Professional goal: practice as a general dentist, provide care in an area in the Midwest similar to a place where I grew up (a place where there is a need for care due to lack of dentists). I plan on hopefully doing a GPR to expand my qualifications. I want to be able to do a wide variety of procedures to provide my patients with the best possible care and treatment. Potentially starting a practice with my brother (a recent grad (3rd in class) at OSU, and attendee of a very nice GPR program).
Applying to: Ohio State, Pittsburgh, Marquette, Iowa (most likely), Temple (maybe)
*Will be applying as early as one can (app, LORs, transcript sent June 1)*

- What are my chances to each of these schools?
- Any advice in the interview process to these?
- Does Temple give scholarships to incoming students?
- Is anyone familiar with the interview dates for these schools (I know Ohio State's, I'm seeing that Pitt's are like weekdays in October, Iowa is weekdays in September, and Marquette's are generally random October days)?
- Is this a good school list? I chose these OOS schools because they were the best based on quality, tuition, and if they gave good scholarships to many incoming students. I don't think that there are really any other schools out there that would be worth it financially for me. I think I have a pretty good chance of getting an interview (and good interview date) for all of these since I am going to be one of the first to apply, and I think I have a really good chance of getting into OSU hopefully.

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[dentite24]

Any thoughts or advice??

 

[StudentDentistsRock]

Chance me/where should I apply thread 2017: tyjacobs and feralis
Chance me/where should I apply thread 2017: tyjacobs and feralis

 

[dentite24]

I just saw many other people post their own separate threads and get a lot of thoughtful responses. I was just hoping for more personal advice/tips than that thread provides, as they did.

 

[I-hate-alginate]

Stats are great and match most schools expectations. I would be worried about the LOR from a dentist. You shadowed 10 dentists for 120 hours, that's 12 hours a dentist... I'm not sure if that's enough time to know you well and write a solid LOR for you.

 

[dentite24]

Stats are great and match most schools expectations. I would be worried about the LOR from a dentist. You shadowed 10 dentists for 120 hours, that's 12 hours a dentist... I'm not sure if that's enough time to know you well and write a solid LOR for you.

Thank you for the response! None of the schools that I am applying to require a dentist LOR. I didn't think I could get an outstanding LOR from one, for the reason you mention, so I did not get one from a dentist.

 

[I-hate-alginate]

Thank you for the response! None of the schools that I am applying to require a dentist LOR. I didn't think I could get an outstanding LOR from one, for the reason you mention, so I did not get one from a dentist.

Oh okay! And add more schools to the list just incase you don't receive invitations from all schools.

 

[dentite24]

I was thinking about adding Temple since they are OOS friendly and I heard they give some scholarships.. but I don't know too much about this school. Would I have a chance there? What kind of scholarships do they give? It seems kind of too pricey to be worth it at face value

 

[I-hate-alginate]

You have a chance at most schools. When looking at schools, make sure you pick the one that will benefit you the most or get you to where you want to be. Every school out there is insanely expensive. I heard temple produces good GD (clinically).

 

[dentite24]

I have been liking what I am hearing about osu, marquette, iowa, and pitt. My brother just finished at osu and said it was said up perfectly, and that you get a lot of clinic experience (more than most schools) because of amount of externships at medicaid offices you get to do there. I am going to have to look into temple more, that is good to hear, though. I really do think saving the extra ~100k by applying to cheaper quality schools can make a big difference. Hopefully I find more info on temple's scholarship habits

 

[Brother Gob]

A 4.0 is way too high. You don't want to intimidate the adcoms with your intelligence.

 

[deleted696582]

Hope you get an Ohio State interview. I'm assuming it's less expensive in-state.

I'd add a couple more schools that have reasonable tuition just in case. Your stats are great - I knew someone in my pre-dental club with almost exactly similar stats who applied to 7 schools. Maybe you could add Michigan or Missouri? I know Michigan isn't too crazy for OOS tuition. Not sure about the two Missouri schools.

As far as your question about interview dates for schools, check out the school specific discussions forum. You can look at the timeline of people receiving interviews on there.

School Specific Discussions

 

[StudentDentistsRock]

You have really good stats op. Good luck.

Btw, good with video games? I don't think that's something you want to put on an application?

 

[jbarnett2020]

Under LOR's you put 2 science and 1 advisor. Is your advisor a dentist or will you be getting a letter from a dentist specifically?

 

[dentite24]

You have really good stats op. Good luck.

Btw, good with video games? I don't think that's something you want to put on an application?

I was not sure about this... there's a lot of hand-eye coordination that goes into playing video games, but I don't know if it's something that people typically feel is okay to be putting on an application or not. I would think that it couldn't hurt?

 

[dentite24]

Under LOR's you put 2 science and 1 advisor. Is your advisor a dentist or will you be getting a letter from a dentist specifically?

All of the schools I am considering don't require a dentist letter. Most want, '2 science, 1 other.' I did not feel like I could get a super strong letter from a dentist because I spread my shadowing out with many different dentists, so I just chose my advisor instead because she could write a strong letter.

 

[jbarnett2020]

That's confusing. In your original post you said that your LOR from your advisor was (average).

I understand your situation though. I was in the same boat. With any LOR it is all about how present yourself and ask for the letter. I had dentist that I did not have much experience with write me one and it was extremely strong. Remember that AADSAS will allow you to have 4 LORs even if the school only requires 3.

PM me and I'll go into the specifics of what I did.

 

[dentite24]

That's confusing. In your original post you said that your LOR from your advisor was (average).

I understand your situation though. I was in the same boat. With any LOR it is all about how present yourself and ask for the letter. I had dentist that I did not have much experience with write me one and it was extremely strong. Remember that AADSAS will allow you to have 4 LORs even if the school only requires 3.

PM me and I'll go into the specifics of what I did.

Well, it was stronger than what I thought I think I could have gotten from my dentists who don't really know me that well. I wasn't planning on submitting a 4th LOR since I don't think I could get a strong one (and I would rather not have a weak LOR for no reason) and it's not required.

 

[dentite24]

I looked on Temple's site and they actually lay everything out very nicely... You can find everything on there that you would want to know. I found their total cost and all of their scholarships they have to offer, and I think I am going to apply there just in case (but it really is on the edge of being financially worth it).

And, thank you, everyone; I am surprised I have received this much help and advice!

 

[jbarnett2020]

True. If you think that the letter will be weak, then it will. To give you an example, 2/4 of the letters that I had on my personal statement were from people that I have literally talked to 5< times for under 10 minutes. Strong is subjective. It does not take an extensive history with an individual for them to write you a golden LOR.

I would like you and an all other applicants to keep in mind that you are submitting an application that you can only hope to be as interesting and compelling as possible. The more information that you can provide them, the more interesting and compelling things that an admissions committee will have to evaluate you.

Either way, you have awesome stats and great extracurriculars that will pay off for you! You are in a good position!

 

[670206]

Do you have to submit 4 LORs or is 3 sufficient for the application? Thx!

 

[jbarnett2020]

Do you have to submit 4 LORs or is 3 sufficient for the application? Thx!

There is absolutely nothing wrong with only submitting 3 LORs. However, each school and their requirements is different. Make sure to go to each school's website to see exactly what they want out of your letters.

But like I said, having another letter is only another opportunity to impress the admissions committee.

 

[670206]

There is absolutely nothing wrong with only submitting 3 LORs. However, each school and their requirements is different. Make sure to go to each school's website to see exactly what they want out of your letters.

But like I said, having another letter is only another opportunity to impress the admissions committee.

Do they view all 4, or do they only select 3?

 

[jbarnett2020]

Do they view all 4, or do they only select 3?

When you submit your application, AADSAS will send a PDF of your entire application including your LORs. So whether they asked or wanted a 4th letter, it is there. If it is there, they will read it.

 

[dentite24]

Are there any personal statement readers out there?!

 

[jbarnett2020]

Are there any personal statement readers out there?!

Yes I am. PM me!

 

[StudentDentistsRock]

I was not sure about this... there's a lot of hand-eye coordination that goes into playing video games, but I don't know if it's something that people typically feel is okay to be putting on an application or not. I would think that it couldn't hurt?

I don't know. I play video games as well. I just never thought to put it down honestly. I personally think that it's not something interesting to put down and I'd personally leave it out.

Maybe someone else can chime in.

On second hand, Temple is great. I have shadowed at the dental school and personally loved it. I am from around that area. Faculty are great, lots of patients, tuition is reasonable compared to other schools as well.

 

[Faefly]

Your stats are great, but don't be overconfident and apply to only 5 schools, you never know what will go wrong during an interview
Apply to at least 8 schools.

 

[StudentDentistsRock]

Your stats are great, but don't be overconfident and apply to only 5 schools, you never know what will go wrong during an interview
Apply to at least 8 schools.

Meh

I'm applying only to roughly 4 (one being Harvard, so maybe you can say 3 schools then). I don't think it's hat big a deal. But it is good advice nonetheless. I don't have money to pay much for application costs and especially plane tickets.

 

[flyingmonkey18]

Meh

I'm applying only to roughly 4 (one being Harvard, so maybe you can say 3 schools then). I don't think it's hat big a deal. But it is good advice nonetheless. I don't have money to pay much for application costs and especially plane tickets.

Yeah but what are your stats? Still risky. You might save money now, but if you don't get in then those "pennies" that you saved now would be nothing compared the missed year of dental salary. Better to over apply and get in

 

[Faefly]

Meh

I'm applying only to roughly 4 (one being Harvard, so maybe you can say 3 schools then). I don't think it's hat big a deal. But it is good advice nonetheless. I don't have money to pay much for application costs and especially plane tickets.

Yeah, I understand not having money, I don't have money either, but the alternatives are way worse if I didn't get accepted. I will have to have yet another gap year.
So I don't want to risk it.
You don't have to apply to the school on the west coast if you live on the east coast. Apply nearby and drive to your interviews. or take a bus or amtrack
At least make your list composed of six schools since you haven't taken the dat yet. I hope you get good scores in any case.

 

[pedodoc16]

Ohio State has several seats that will only go to applicants from Appalachia . OSU honestly wants to do whatever it can to help with the distribution problem with dental providers. If you are truly from an underserved area, that will work in your favor with your excellent stats,(great job). Make sure that your Personal Statement reflects your desire to go home to practice,(even if you want to become an LA orthodontist)