Dec 1st Acceptance-ology

[A6project]

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not relevant. deleted

 

[NguyenDDS]

What you say all make sense 🙂

 

[wired202808]

so today I got lucky but it wasn't exactly what I expected tho.
so I decided to get to the bottom of this.

Let's say that a dental school has 100 spots for each class.
It takes 70 of them for pre-December.
Le'ts say that 350 pre-December interviewees.
Only 70 of them get accepted on December. So 1 out of 5.

At the interivew, you wow the schools and interviewers.
But does the school still look at the overall application? They take everything into a consideration before notifying u on Dec 1st.

->
If this is the case, no matter how charming and baller you are, your lower stats can be holding you back. (let's disregard getting accepted in Jan, Feb, or March, This will complicate stuffs)


OR
if you're invited to an interview, your GPA and DAT is good/okay enough for the school. So the school wouldn't care much about GPA &DAT when they make a final decision.

->
if this is the case, some of us reeeeeallllly suck at interviews, either too nervous, too random or not normal.
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I wanna assume that the first one is the case. I was up last night. Seeing people getting accepted left and right, they seem to have above average DAT and GPA.

If the first case is true, whether you had an interview at August or November, it doesn't really matter.
Applying early will get you interviewed early, yet the final decision comes down to the overall package.

Then, a pre-Dec Interviewee is competing against all the other pre-Decs from August to November??

If this is true, then applying early does not mean much then. Think about student A rushed to take DAT and got 18 and was in 3rd batch (i asume July 15thish?) and had interviews in September

versus
Student B who took DAT on August got 21 and had interviews in November.

hmmmm.....
i guess food for thought today 👍

PS there are soo manyyy other factors determining your acceptance such as EC, PS, LOR, connection, etc
Let's just forget about all that and focuse on 3 things; GPA, DAT, and Interview

i pushed my DAT back 3 times. I took it late August and got tons of interviews and 2 acceptances. Its not worth it to rush but I must say if you can score well either June or early July. you will be in better shape for east coast schools. I didnt get much love from them (dunno if its because I applied late or because my DAT scores and GPA were relatively average.)

 

[little Buddy]

What you say all make sense 🙂
I rushed the DAT (only studied 2 sections) to get my application in early. Ended up with a 18AA, 17BS, 15QR, 21GC, 20GC
I believe my stats are what held me back from getting acceptances today (Dec.1)

January will be my NEW Dec.1 🙂

I'm right there with you. I wish my gpa wasn't so terrible 🙁 However, I feel if I had to retake the DAT I would do much better. I just sucked it up under the pressure that I knew I had to do well to even have a slight chance.

 

[nateguy40]

Two kids applied to a school.

1. 3.28 gpa, 18,18 on dat/pat
2. 4.0 gpa, 24,22 on dat/pat

Number 1 got into dental school today and number 2 didn't.
Explain that one

And its a true story

 

[devz4lf]

one word...admissions

 

[LaFleur]

Two kids applied to a school.

1. 3.28 gpa, 18,18 on dat/pat
2. 4.0 gpa, 24,22 on dat/pat

Number 1 got into dental school today and number 2 didn't.
Explain that one

And its a true story

#1 had better EC's, LOR's, PS, and interview?

There are so many factors in each application, it's really hard to say, but that's encouraging for people with lower stats.

 

[Toothshucker]

Two kids applied to a school.

1. 3.28 gpa, 18,18 on dat/pat
2. 4.0 gpa, 24,22 on dat/pat

Number 1 got into dental school today and number 2 didn't.
Explain that one

And its a true story

#2 had a section that was below 16? and #1 had all 18s.
#2 Took pre reqs at a CC and applied to a school that doesn't accept those. Bad LOR, EC, interview, or didn't meet some other requirement. Lots of potential reasons.

 

[little Buddy]

Two kids applied to a school.

1. 3.28 gpa, 18,18 on dat/pat
2. 4.0 gpa, 24,22 on dat/pat

Number 1 got into dental school today and number 2 didn't.
Explain that one

And its a true story

Maybe #2 had the personality that of a ball of lint? I doubt that is it but hey who thought a situation like this could actually happen.

 

[MuskieMan33]

Student #1
-personable
-got along with anyone and everyone
-could talk to anyone because of the various EC's throught his/her life
-knows that doing good in school as well as being involved contributes to being more well rounded
-firm handshake
-acknowledging your appreciation for the interview
Student #2
-nervous
-couldn't talk to interviewers while looking them in the eye
-no sense of humor
-minimal EC's
-boring to talk to (emotionless)
-loose handshake

I don't know exactly. These are just some of the factors that I could see being realistic. Surely everyone has ran across that 4.0 student who is super awkward to talk to. I don't know if that is the case here, but LOR's could have been negative also. I've heard of getting terrible LOR's, so be sure to ask someone who has nothing negative to say. Example, if its a professor, I wouldn't ask the professor whos class I was constantly late/absent, scored poor on exams, or slept in class in to do the letter. While I think a lot of this stuff is common sense, many people overlook what kinds of little things can help and hurt them. In reality, it could be anything. Student #2 might have had a drug charge or academic dishonesty in the past. Even if they are a completely different person now, little things make a big difference. Something I forgot to mention, is how far a simply handshake can go. Have you ever had the loose grip? It's really awkward.

 

[RemiLunaDDS]

Two kids applied to a school.

1. 3.28 gpa, 18,18 on dat/pat
2. 4.0 gpa, 24,22 on dat/pat

Number 1 got into dental school today and number 2 didn't.
Explain that one

And its a true story

Hopefully you were No. 1?

 

[Lane138]

I think that most people in focusing so much on GPA and DAT scores completely overlook the importance of extracurricular activities. As long as you roughly the school's average scores/grades, the biggest thing that matters then is personality/fit. And schools tell this through interview, essay, and extracurricular activities! At one of my interviews, the faculty person totally told me that from looking at my activities list he could extrapolate certain qualities that he thinks the school is looking for. The fact that adcoms thinks this way clearly means that only have decent grades can only get you so far.

 

[A6project]

i think that you guys are missing the point.
of course, an applicant has to be well-rounded. various ECs, good relationship with peers and faculty (thus good LOR), community involvement. .. to be accepted..

Let's face it though. Anyone who are interviewed at dental schools has done at least a decent amount of ECs whether it is work, research, tutor, student body members so on.....

otherwise, he or she wouldn't be invited to be interviewed.
Like I mentioned earlier. out of 350 interviewees, all of them have done a decent amount of ECs.
Not to mention, they have to be able to present themselves and interact with others.


The real question is,
"Does The Schools Still Look At Stats Even After They Interviewed Applicants?"

I say, "Yes".

 

[hail2pitt]

i think that you guys are missing the point.
Of course, an applicant has to be well-rounded. Various ecs, good relationship with peers and faculty (thus good lor), community involvement. .. To be accepted..

Let's face it though. Anyone who are interviewed at dental schools has done at least a decent amount of ecs whether it is work, research, tutor, student body members so on.....

Otherwise, he or she wouldn't be invited to be interviewed.
Like i mentioned earlier. Out of 350 interviewees, all of them have done a decent amount of ecs.
Not to mention, they have to be able to present themselves and interact with others.


The real question is,
"does the schools still look at stats even after they interviewed applicants?"

i say, "yes".

+1

 

[SupDanLOL]

Total package for sure man. Adcoms take the Gestalt approach to reviewing your app.