Do I have a chance?

[gobblergiant]

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I have not received any interview invites or rejections from any of my schools. It's almost the end of December and I'm worried that I will have to reapply again. Do I have a chance to get in dental school?

My stats are:

Science GPA: ~3.75; Overall: ~3.81
DAT: 22+

 

[wildzodiac]

Based on stats alone, I would say yes.

But we all know that it much more than just stats. Care to tell us about your ECs? Shadowing? LOR?

 

[Blake1e]

I have not received any interview invites or rejections from any of my schools. It's almost the end of December and I'm worried that I will have to reapply again. Do I have a chance to get in dental school?

My stats are:

Science GPA: ~3.75; Overall: ~3.81
DAT: 22+

You probably have some red flag. Are you missing too many pre-reqs? Not enough shadowing? Bad or missing LoRs? Applied way too late?

Could be anything, you gotta give us more info so we could better help you.

 

[shaidester]

Schools should be knocking on your door asking you for interviews. I agree with Blake1e, you must have a red flag in your application somewhere unless you applied in October or something. It is probably something not academic-related, that's for sure.

 

[gobblergiant]

As far as I know, I cannot think of a red flag on my application except for the fact that all the LORs got received by each school maybe 2nd week of October.

I have 1000+ hrs of volunteer, 500+ hrs of research, and 50+ hrs of official shadowing. If you count in unofficial shadowing, I have over 200+ hrs probably. I'm Vice President of an honors society and help with Japanese foreign exchange students at my university. I've received awards and fellowship for research and am going to be doing an oral presentation in March at IADR.

The only pre-req that I have not completed is for UAB which is 1 credit of biology. All other schools require only 8 hrs which I have already done.

 

[Faux]

So you applied late. Thats a big deal.

what schools did you apply to?

 

[gobblergiant]

Harvard
U Penn
Columbia
U Michigan
UNC
UAB
UCSF
UCLA
U Pacific
NYU
Rutgers
U Washington

 

[Faux]

Harvard
U Penn
Columbia
U Michigan
UNC
UAB
UCSF
UCLA
U Pacific
NYU
Rutgers
U Washington

I'm assuming you're a cali resident.

You're application was completed in mid oct. You applied to 5 state schools with pretty bad OOS interview rates, especially with UNC. You also applied to 3 incredibly competitive ivy schools. Try sending an email to each school, expressing your interest in the program, and giving them an update on your current activities over the last six months. Even our interview thread is starting to gain some momentum after people are starting to decline acceptances, do don't lose help just yet. Do show interest though!

 

[gobblergiant]

I am actually an Alabama resident.

 

[yeslek88]

Gotta agree with FAUX. Do you mind if I ask how you came up with this school list? To the casual observer it looks as if you just decided to apply to the schools with the most prestigious undergrad reputations with no regard to admissions statistics. What is the exact timeline for your application (E-submit, transcripts received, DAT received)? Without every last detail it will be difficult to give any advice. I would definitely contact NYU, they're your best shot at this point.

 

[gobblergiant]

All my application materials were completed by August 19th. The committee letter took about 2 months to complete..! That's the reason why my application was completed so late. I initially started applying as a DMD or DDS/PhD candidate and was looking at schools that were prestigious in the academic and research areas. That's the reason why you will see so many schools that are related to academia. I decided to drop the PhD and apply to regular dental school so most of my schools have become schools that are not of interest. At this point, I am interested in U Penn, UAB, UNC, U Michigan, U Pacific, and U Washington but anyone who accepts me, I will be grateful at this point. I called UNC today and they indicated their class was already filled.

 

[Faux]

All my application materials were completed by August 19th. The committee letter took about 2 months to complete..! That's the reason why my application was completed so late. I initially started applying as a DMD or DDS/PhD candidate and was looking at schools that were prestigious in the academic and research areas. That's the reason why you will see so many schools that are related to academia. I decided to drop the PhD and apply to regular dental school so most of my schools have become schools that are not of interest. At this point, I am interested in U Penn, UAB, UNC, U Michigan, U Pacific, and U Washington but anyone who accepts me, I will be grateful at this point. I called UNC today and they indicated their class was already filled.

Email each school besides UNC to express interest!

 

[DentalDoge]

As far as I know, I cannot think of a red flag on my application except for the fact that all the LORs got received by each school maybe 2nd week of October.

I have 1000+ hrs of volunteer, 500+ hrs of research, and 50+ hrs of official shadowing. If you count in unofficial shadowing, I have over 200+ hrs probably. I'm Vice President of an honors society and help with Japanese foreign exchange students at my university. I've received awards and fellowship for research and am going to be doing an oral presentation in March at IADR.

The only pre-req that I have not completed is for UAB which is 1 credit of biology. All other schools require only 8 hrs which I have already done.

Unofficial shadowing?

 

[SXCoronado]

.

 

[gobblergiant]

Unofficial shadowing?

What I mean by unofficial shadowing is observing people at their jobs while you are either volunteering, attending, or helping out. Official shadowing is when you ask a person if you can shadow them a certain day and time.