Dental School: 2018 Application Cycle

[kmillz]

Hi everyone!

I've been looking for a thread like this for the upcoming application cycle specifically, and haven't found it anywhere. So I figured I'd start one myself I'm relatively new to SDN besides the occasional stalking for other pre-dents who are starting to freak out about this coming application cycle and looking for advice/answers to application questions, etc.

I'm a "non-traditional" post-bacc student at University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). I graduated from Syracuse University in 2012 with a business degree (3.3 GPA) and was a D1 scholarship athlete. Now I'm about finish up my pre-reqs and take my DAT (May 2017). Besides UAB, I've taken some classes at a CC (anatomy/phys I and II, medical terminology, Genchem I, all A's) to get a science GPA in the first place so I could apply to some certificate post-bacc programs. It worked, and I got into Georgetown's. I was there for 2 summer sessions when my husband (fiancé at the time) was transferred to Birmingham for his work. I had to move back home in the midst of all that and ended up with C's in my 2 lectures, but A's in the labs. Not smart on my part because I had been out of school for a whiiiiile and jumped right into Physics I and Genchem II.

So when I found out about UAB's awesome pre-health program/dental school, I seized the opportunity to move down with my husband and restart my pre-req's at UAB. I didn't think it was a good idea to just try and do GenChem II again without having taken GenChem I in a couple of years (plus it was at a CC). So since my time at UAB (I started in Spring 2016) I've made straight A's in Genchem I/II, Bio I/II, Physics I, Orgo I, and Genetics. I am not sure how this semester will go because I'm taking Orgo II and am not feeling super confident about an A. But just in terms of grades, I would think my chances of getting in are good as long as I kick butt on the DAT, fingers crossed!

Enough about me! I am hoping there are many others out there who are super nervous about applying, and are potentially feeling as overwhelmed as I am? If there are questions or egos that need to be picked up, feel free to post here! I know all those knowledgeable SDN people out there would be willing to help us out!

I'll start out with 2 questions:
1) Since I'm a post-bacc student, do I put UAB and Georgetown under "Academic Enrichment" on the AADSAS application??? I'm not doing it to boost my GPA, but to take classes/get grades in the first place...
2) I have barely 4 weeks to study for and take the DAT between spring semester ending and summer session (I'm taking biochemistry) beginning. If I diligently study every day leading up to the DAT, will this be sufficient time? I like to think that since I've taken all my sciences very recently, that should help a little.


Thanks for any advice!!!

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[eldmd_32]

With the DAT, don't take the exam if you're not ready. Upon approaching the exam date (like a week before) if you find that you're not hitting goal scores on practice exams or you feel sufficiently unprepared, then push the date into June. You can submit the app before your exam date as long as you've indicated when you plan to take the exam in the given section of the app. Good luck

 

[LuckBloodandSweat]

Seems like you've got a lot on your plate you can take the DAT in june/july and still be ok for this cycle. I'm um.... idk what I'm going to do. My 4 WL make me cry by not telling me anything :C.

 

[jmcunnin]

With the DAT, don't take the exam if you're not ready. Upon approaching the exam date (like a week before) if you find that you're not hitting goal scores on practice exams or you feel sufficiently unprepared, then push the date into June. You can submit the app before your exam date as long as you've indicated when you plan to take the exam in the given section of the app. Good luck

I may have to push my test date to June, and was wondering if there would be an advantage to submitting the app and indicating test date versus just waiting to submit app when I actually finish the test? Thanks!

 

[TLV-TUS]

I may have to push my test date to June, and was wondering if there would be an advantage to submitting the app and indicating test date versus just waiting to submit app when I actually finish the test? Thanks!

Could be useful since some schools will process your application and will wait for your DAT. Once they get the score things can move pretty quick...

 

[eldmd_32]

I may have to push my test date to June, and was wondering if there would be an advantage to submitting the app and indicating test date versus just waiting to submit app when I actually finish the test? Thanks!

It's better to go ahead and submit your app. If you wait, not only will additional time have passed due to scores taking 2-4 weeks for AADSAS to "process," but you'll have to wait even longer for your gpa to be verified and for schools to receive your app. I went ahead and submitted the app and rewrote the DAT in September. Before that though, I'd received correspondence from a number of schools about my application and was able to establish somewhat of a rapport with some of the adcoms. One in particular I could tell was waiting on anticipation of my scores and barely two weeks out from taking the exam I received an interview invite. So yes, it's definitely advantageous to go ahead and submit
the app early. But know that you should not (really cannot) push the DAT date later like I did (September) unless you already have a set of scores for them to view that will hold them over for awhile lol

 

[jmcunnin]

Thank you for the advice. The latest I'd probably have to push it back will be June, but we'll see how it plays out. How long did you guys study for the DAT?

 

[TLV-TUS]

Thank you for the advice. The latest I'd probably have to push it back will be June, but we'll see how it plays out. How long did you guys study for the DAT?

I applied to schools around end of June, took the DAT the last week of August and the official scores were sent to schools mid September. I studied for about six-seven weeks, couldn't afford more time, but it worked out just fine for me. It really depends how efficient you are studying and hoe much you need to learn material Vs. practice questions.

 

[kmillz]

Can someone please explain the transcript process for AADSAS? Do they now accept electronic official transcripts? If so, how do I also ensure they have the matching form or is it better to just get my schools to send a paper transcript along with the matching form? And does that mean I need to mail the matching form to each institution so they can then send it with the transcript? I have four schools I need to do this for, so I want to organize it all ahead of time in order to make the process go faster...

 

[BK165]

Can someone please explain the transcript process for AADSAS? Do they now accept electronic official transcripts? If so, how do I also ensure they have the matching form or is it better to just get my schools to send a paper transcript along with the matching form? And does that mean I need to mail the matching form to each institution so they can then send it with the transcript? I have four schools I need to do this for, so I want to organize it all ahead of time in order to make the process go faster...

If your school has automatic transcripts sent electronically, you fill the form out online usually and there's a space to put in the matching form information. You can also do this by emailing/faxing your matching form as an attachment. If one of your schools sends the form by mail, you would also send the attachment to your school's registrar. First you fill out that part of the application and the matching form becomes available to you.

 

[LuckBloodandSweat]

No longer gonna think about reapplying! Im gonna take my acceptance (NYU) and run with it!!

 

[kmillz]

If your school has automatic transcripts sent electronically, you fill the form out online usually and there's a space to put in the matching form information. You can also do this by emailing/faxing your matching form as an attachment. If one of your schools sends the form by mail, you would also send the attachment to your school's registrar. First you fill out that part of the application and the matching form becomes available to you.

Thank you so much! I was getting different information from different people, so I'm glad it's that simple

 

[wengerout]

Seems like you've got a lot on your plate you can take the DAT in june/july and still be ok for this cycle. I'm um.... idk what I'm going to do. My 4 WL make me cry by not telling me anything :C.

Oh how the times have changed.


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile

 

[LuckBloodandSweat]

lol

 

[Incis0r]

Push your DAT back to June, study hard, and knock it out of the park. June is absolutely fine and still early.

No longer gonna think about reapplying! Im gonna take my acceptance (NYU) and run with it!!

CONGRATS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[kmillz]

So I'm sitting here doing the TFE visualizer on BC, and for a bunch of questions the answer choices seem to look the EXACT same (no dimension differences or anything). For instance, choices A, B, and D look identical to me. And I'm usually pretty decent at TFE. I know it's kind of hard to tell, but can anyone help me out here???

 

[78t87]

Hey guys, I submitted my AADSAS app last week. Do we just wait until schools send us supplementals or are we supposed to start filling out the forms somewhere and paying the supplemental fees?

 

[kmillz]

Hey guys, I submitted my AADSAS app last week. Do we just wait until schools send us supplementals or are we supposed to start filling out the forms somewhere and paying the supplemental fees?

Sorry this response is so late, but I just had my courses/GPA verified and got automated emails about different school's supplemental.

 

[Zippojake]

I just took my DAT and getting ready to apply to schools. I've noticed that a lot of schools don't take many OOS, anyone know of schools that do. Just graduated with 3.8GPA , DAT scores PAT 22 TS 22 AA 21. I'm currently working in a dental office doing everything including DA. I volunteer at the dental free clinic and at a hospital. What do you think my chances are, I'm looking everywhere, but can't afford to apply to all of them . I'm in Fl, and will be applying to UF . Any help is appreciated.