GPA/refletters/autobio/DATscores vs Extracurrics

[CanadianDental]

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Hi guys I just had a general questions as to how to dental school weight different aspects of dental school applicants:

I am applying to canadian dental schools, and how it works over there (probably the same in the US) is that they crunch your DAT scores, GPA, references letters and autobiography letter into one score and then make the first cut. If you pass the first cut, you get offered an interview, in which they will assess your personality/extra curriculars/etc, then make the 2nd and final cut and send out acceptance letters.

Of all the school I applied for, I am hoping into getting McGill the most. Now, I know (and heard) that this is a very tough school to get into. Not only that, but I am a Ontario resident, and there are significantly less spots available for out of province students (6 or 7 out of 60 i think).

My greatest strenght are my extracurriculars: played just about every sport there was to play at a high level in elementary and high school, won many championships, been playing high competitive soccer for about 17 years now, went to provincials many times, etc. Continued to play many sports in university. Did 100-180 hours of volunteer work every school year. Managed and captained and soccer team for past 3 years. Had many academic/athletic awards in high school, etc. Took 6-7 classes in many university semesters. Held a part time job during university. Tutoring/mentoring in science. And the list goes on.

My other good advantage is the fact that one of my reference letters is from my uncle who is a Med school professor @ McGill University. He has a research chair there and apparently has a lot of influence. He thinks very highly of me and offered this reference letter without me even asking. While I know he is my uncle, I still think that this will give me an edge.

I feel that my autobiography letter is very strong, considering the time and reviewing it has gone through, and also for the fact that I have so many extracurriculars to show for.

Now I haven't received my DAT scores yet (I will repost on this thread once I do), because in Canada, you have to wait 6 long weeks before getting your scores (I wrote 3 weeks ago). I have a gpa of approx 3.7 on a 4.0 scale (8.4 on the U of Ottawa 10 point scale)(this is according to a GPA converting scale that I used, it may be wrong).

Assuming that my DAT scores are good (they probably are since I studied like crazy for about 3 months and finished every section with time left on the clock), my only real worry here is my GPA. It is not the highest, and many applicants will definetely have higher GPAs.

My question is, what will the dental schools look at more, and what are my chances???

Thanks! I will repost on this thread once I get my DAT scores so you guys can better assess my chances! 😎

 

[UofT09]

Hi, I am a UofT graduate, and a few of my friends are dental students at the University of Toronto. I also have about 3.3/4, that's why i am applying to US schools.

I don't think your chances are great at Canadian schools, and if you end up getting in to one, it'll probably be mcgill, because it's one of the less "stats" focused schools.

My friends told me that Canadian schools (UofT, UBC, UWO etc) focus a lot on gpa, they do an initial screening with GPA because there are so many applicants. So everyone with 3.5 or lower are eliminated first, then they start ranking people based on gpa, and start interviewing from the top of the list, while interviewing, they also start reviewing the apps, and this is when they pick up people who don't rank high enough with gpa, say someone with like 3.75, but still has decent extracurricular, then the school will extend an interview.

You are really at a disadvantage in Canadian dental school admissions, try applying to some private american schools 😀.
Good luck

 

[CanadianDental]

Thanks for the advice, good to know that McGill is less "stats focused" since its the one im hoping to get into. However, I think that my gpa is actually higher than I think it is, I am just having difficulty with conversion since Ottawa U seems to be the only school that uses a 10 GPA scale and everyone else uses 4 scale. I just looked at a GPA conversion table, and 8.4 on 10 scale actually converts to 3.7 on 4.0 scale. So its alot better than I thought! Furthermore, some schools, (like U of T - I read it on their admission document) drops your worse year from their GPA calculations (as long as thats not your most recent year). So then, dropping my worse year which would be my first, would bring me closer to a 8.6 out of 10 and that is somewhere between a 3.7 and 3.8.

So sorry for the confusion, my GPA is actually 3.7 and is between 3.7 and 3.8 (3.75? - this conversion scale is confusing) with worse year dropped. I guess that now I would have a better shot at canadian DS ? 😀