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Started by DentistaCubano
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It's highly risky. Unless you have a really good GPA and DAT score, stellar personal and secondary apps, and extra curricular activities, you might not get in.

But, if you are highly confident in yourself and your stats, go for it. I had a student who had two kids and only wanted to apply to two schools in a specific state. I advised her against it; but she had family limitations and only applied to those two schools. She ended up having to reapply to multiple schools.
 
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TheDentalSchoolCoach said:
It's highly risky. Unless you have a really good GPA and DAT score, stellar personal and secondary apps, and extra curricular activities, you might not get in.

But, if you are highly confident in yourself and your stats, go for it. I had a student who had two kids and only wanted to apply to two schools in a specific state. I advised her against it; but she had family limitations and only applied to those two schools. She ended up having to reapply to multiple schools.
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What are a good GPA and DAT score? I am new to this forum and I would like to know what my chances are. Also, what do my personal and secondary apps need to stand out?
 
Yeah, you should know up front that the chances of getting into a single school really aren't good. Even superstar applicants apply to ~10 schools a lot of times and don't get accepted to every school. You'd probably want like, at least a 3.7 and a 23 DAT to have a decent chance of getting into just one school, even then you couldn't be 100% confident.
 
So, a good GPA and DAT score is very much depended on that particular school. The ADEA guide to dental schools lays out all the schools' GPA and DAT score. In addition, they also tell you what the 5% to 95% range for GPA. You want to be close to the 95% percentile in terms of GPA and DAT score.

For example, if the median DAT is 21 and their 95% DAT is 23; you need to close to 23-24. The same goes with the GPA. If the median is 3.5 and 95 percentile is 3.78; you need to be closer to the 3.78 number.

Does that make sense?
 
It’s not ok. Apply to ~10 schools. You can take your problems with you to the school that accept you. Or just leave your problems behind and deal with it when you become a dentist..
My two cents
 
Even if you only want to attend one school, apply to another two schools with equivalent stats to the one you want to go to so you have an answer to "What other schools have you applied to?" during interviews.
 
It is a bit of a crap shoot, but I only applied to 3 schools, and I got into 2/3. I also know several people who only applied to 1 and got in. Do I recommend it? No. Is it possible? Absolutely. As you’ve said, you have personal reasons for doing so. Just be prepared in the case that you don’t get in.
 
There's a lot of cherry-picking by the adcoms when it comes to dental school. Like others have said, even if you have a great GPA, DAT, shadowing/dental experiences, etc... the adcoms pick and choose who they want based on many other factors (some of which you can't control, like race, ethnicity, gender, personality and happenstance life experiences).

For this reason, you want to apply broadly so that you can increase you odds of getting into a dental school.
 
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