Do these look like the right schools to target?

[white fang]

---

Members do not see this ad.

Hi all - joined today after reading SDN for a long time and I thought I might as well jump all the way in. I wrote a brief breakdown in the DAT forum and now its time for my annoying what schools am I competitive for thread. For those of you who take the time to help me out, I really appreciate it!

I have a committee letter in progress
1 additional LOR from a dentist
600+ hours mentoring and running financials at a non-profit
Several years of work experience unrelated to dentistry
80 Hours of Shadowing
23AA DAT, no section below 20
3.4 GPA, 3.6 sGPA
My last 4 semesters of school are 3.96 gpa

I am looking at schools in groups

5 I know I will absolutely be applying to because I really like what I know about them and I think I am at least in the ball park of being competitive for:
My state school - Colorado
Creighton
Iowa
Michigan
Minnesota

5 Schools I think I am going to apply to because I believe I am competitive numbers wise for them and I like some/lots of things about them:
Roseman
Midwestern AZ
ASDOH
Marquette
Louisville

4 Schools I might apply to because they are 'dream' schools but are a reach:
Columbia
UCLA
Maryland
U of Pacific

How do you think my list is looking and do you think I should adjust these schools at all?

Any ideas to make myself a better applicant? I was thinking I need to get hands on experience somehow but I wasn't sure how to go about doing that as of right now.

 

[wizi]

With dat DAT, you surely have a chance at these 4
Columbia
UCLA
Maryland
U of Pacific


If you want to make your application even stronger, get some research experiences and keep shadowing or volunteer.
You app is pretty competitive. I am sure you will get interviews next cycle.

Apply to all of them in June, you are set.

 

[wired202808]

Your scores are awesome and the GPA is pretty good too. Just be mindful of the cost of attendance at most schools. Dont go to Columbia just because you think its fancy and "elite" save the $$$ for private practice, a wedding, or a house. You're best shot is at your local school, which is still a damn good school. I would apply there and elsewhere, but ultimately attend the cheapest one since loans will be a big indicator of how you can live your life over the next 10 to 30 yrs.

 

[white fang]

Thank you for the advice. So you guys are basically saying go with these 14 schools and they give me a good shot? Are there any I should add or subtract in anyone's opinion?

 

[wizi]

Thank you for the advice. So you guys are basically saying go with these 14 schools and they give me a good shot? Are there any I should add or subtract in anyone's opinion?

You will have a good shoot at any school you apply to.

Add VCU in there since they accept 40% OOS.
I heard Nova has the best looking female dental students 😀
Michigan tends to interview students with research (there are exceptions).
Roseman love early applications.
NYU has a good clinic, accept alot of OOS but its in NY --> expensive.

 

[Ullr]

Your scores are awesome and the GPA is pretty good too. Just be mindful of the cost of attendance at most schools. Dont go to Columbia just because you think its fancy and "elite" save the $$$ for private practice, a wedding, or a house. You're best shot is at your local school, which is still a damn good school. I would apply there and elsewhere, but ultimately attend the cheapest one since loans will be a big indicator of how you can live your life over the next 10 to 30 yrs.

Great point, I wish I researched the price of dental schools rather than just the admission statistics.

apply to out of state schools that allow you to switch your residency after one year.

 

[bhagan01]

But the ADA guide to dental schools, schools like Marquette get crap tons if pos applicants which allows them to he much more picky about admitting them. They also only have about 180ish interviews spots for their abnormally large oos applicant pool. It is a great school, just take that into account. Also they tend to only give out interviews once during the cycle (i think it was the second week if Sept) and if you don't get your app in by then you will most likely nit hear from them. Someone wake said vcu as well...this us a great school, but they also have an abnormally large app pool to chose from(this is why I suggest looking at the guidebook to see app numbers and other good info)

 

[white fang]

Your scores are awesome and the GPA is pretty good too. Just be mindful of the cost of attendance at most schools. Dont go to Columbia just because you think its fancy and "elite" save the $$$ for private practice, a wedding, or a house. You're best shot is at your local school, which is still a damn good school. I would apply there and elsewhere, but ultimately attend the cheapest one since loans will be a big indicator of how you can live your life over the next 10 to 30 yrs.

Yeah if I get into my state school I will go there, just being prepared to not get in there. I had quite a few friends that have not been accepted there yet this year that had really good GPAs and 20+ DATs. Of course I have 2 friends that did get accepted there with 3.6 and 18 and 19 DAT so it seems like a bit of a crap shoot. They don't seem to look for #'s first and foremost at CO.