Help Finalizing Schools Please! (CA Resident)

[hellobruin]

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Hello everyone,

I realize this is a typical topic, but I'm having a really difficult time narrowing down my schools and I wanted to see if SDN could have any helpful advice. I've been lurking through SDN forums and have a variety of Ranking Lists, but still feeling pretty clueless.

CA resident, first time applicant. I think I'm pretty average: 3.5 oGPA, 3.2 sGPA, and DAT 22AA. Solid extracurriculars and shadowing hours. I categorize myself as being in the low GPA/higher DAT, so I'm pretty nervous about what schools to choose. I'm really blessed to not worry about money, but I have a hard limit of 25 schools (currently at 32... which is equal to nearly 3k... yikes!)

If any of you can help a fella out, I would really appreciate it!

Arizona School of Dentistry and Oral Health (AZ)
Midwestern University College of Dental Medicine-Arizona (MWU)
University of Southern California Herman Ostrow School of Dentistry (USC)
University of the Pacific Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry (UOP)
Loma Linda University School of Dentistry (LLU)
Western University of Health Sciences College of Dental Medicine (WESTU)
University of California, San Francisco School of Dentistry (UCSF)
University of California, Los Angeles School of Dentistry (UCLA)
University of Connecticut School of Dental Medicine (CONN)
Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine School of Dental Medicine (LECOM-FL)
Midwestern University College of Dental Medicine-Illinois (MWU-IL) IL
University of Louisville School of Dentistry (UL)
University of Kentucky College of Dentistry (UK)
Tufts University School of Dental Medicine (TUF)
Boston University Henry M Goldman School of Dental Medicine (BU)
University of Maryland School of Dentistry (MYD)
University of Michigan School of Dentistry (MICH)
University of Detroit Mercy School of Dentistry (UDM)
Creighton University School of Dentistry (CRE)
University of Nevada, Las Vegas School of Dental Medicine (UNLV)
New York University College of Dentistry (NYU)
Columbia University College of Dental Medicine (CUL)
Case Western Reserve University School of Dental Medicine (CASE)
Oregon Health & Science University School of Dentistry (OHSU)
University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine (PENN)
The Maurice H. Kornberg School of Dentistry, Temple University (TEMP)
University of Pittsburgh School of Dental Medicine (PITT)
University of Tennessee Health Science Center College of Dentistry (UTHSC)
Roseman University of Health Sciences College of Dental Medicine (USN)
Virginia Commonwealth University School of Dentistry (VCU)
Marquette University School of Dentistry (MQT)

 

[Muggs]

Not sure if you know already, but that's 3k in AADSAS fees. That's not including supplemental fees, which will probably get you closer to 5.5k total.

 

[hellobruin]

Haha... exactly. I'm definitely planning to cut down to a maximum of 25 schools, just not sure where to start :/

 

[periopocket]

I would cut LLU, Tennessee and Kentucky to start

 

[periopocket]

I would also cut CRE and MQT

 

[hellobruin]

Thanks perio! Are you suggesting to cut these schools bc of stats or OOS reasons?

 

[calid]

I would also cut CRE and MQT

probably also cut oregon

agree with cutting UTHSC, LLU, UK, and CRE (it's WICHE, which is why it appears oos friendly, but isn't for a CA resident)

aren't pitt and maryland really tough oos too??

i'd keep marquette

 

[hellobruin]

probably also cut oregon

agree with cutting UTHSC, LLU, UK, and CRE (it's WICHE, which is why it appears oos friendly, but isn't for a CA resident)

aren't pitt and maryland really tough oos too??

i'd keep marquette

Does WICHE mean these schools? http://www.wiche.edu/psep/dent

If I'm a CA applicant, shouldn't I keep LLU? I'm Catholic if that helps.

And yes, I was considering taking out Pitt and Maryland, as their stats are high and they don't accept as many OOS.

 

[periopocket]

A little of both = school preferences

 

[experiment626]

Does WICHE mean these schools? http://www.wiche.edu/psep/dent

If I'm a CA applicant, shouldn't I keep LLU? I'm Catholic if that helps.

And yes, I was considering taking out Pitt and Maryland, as their stats are high and they don't accept as many OOS.

You can keep LLU. It has a great dental school and yes being Catholic should help. Be sure to get a letter from a pastor or another leader in the church.

 

[JAWSSS]

I'm a CA resident and interviewed at Creighton on their first interview day. If you are catholic, I would really think about it.

 

[hellobruin]

Thanks for the input, everyone. I really appreciate it!

Are there any other schools I should just cut solely due to OOS-unfriendly reasons? Pitt and Maryland were mentioned, but I'm not sure.

 

[shiftparadigm]

Does WICHE mean these schools? http://www.wiche.edu/psep/dent

If I'm a CA applicant, shouldn't I keep LLU? I'm Catholic if that helps.

And yes, I was considering taking out Pitt and Maryland, as their stats are high and they don't accept as many OOS.

Just my opinion, but I don't think being Catholic will help you greatly in being accepted to LLU. I was looking at their Class of 2016 profile and unless you're Seventh Day Adventist, you don't have much of an advantage. I mean, the same number of Catholic and nondenominational students were enrolled that year (which was 4, by the way) versus 60 SDA students. Could be worth a shot though if you have a lot of other schools to cut out of your list already.