High Stats/Few Interviews

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Definitely post your school list if you’re comfortable sharing.

Based on what you posted though, I’d guess the 17 PAT is a red flag to schools. Maybe retake if you have the time/money.
 
It could potentially be your school list. Lots of applicants screw themselves over by not including schools with matriculation averages below their own. Are your interviews post-December?
 
We can't tell you for sure. I would call schools and ask them why.
Only thing based off what you said would be the 17 PAT, pre-reqs at a community college (unless you substituted them with upper electives at a 4-year institution). Only one aspect of your application stands out, like you mentioned, DAT AA and TS.
 
Your school list is/was fairly competitive schools. Things I'm thinking about in this case would be if any one of your DAT scores were exceptionally low and your AA/TS were inflated by another score? If your LORs were the proper kind for schools and if they were strong? If you came across as wanting to specialize in any of your essays? Or maybe your PS just wasn't as strong and/or unique as you thought it was.... There's a variety of factors that go into admissions, but one thing I'd for sure do is ask the 3 schools why they rejected you, and then keep sending in updates to the schools you haven't heard back from. Good luck
 
Is the C a C or a C-? I know WesternU does not allow a C- for a pre-req

Application Requirements | Doctor of Dental Medicine

#post_contentWesternU College of Dental Medicine: information on the application process, prerequisite courses, prerequisite database and application requirements.
prospective.westernu.edu prospective.westernu.edu

Did you happen to apply/get the app complete with secondaries/etc a bit later in the cycle?
 
thetwilightzone said:
School List:

-Rutgers
-Maryland
-NYU
-Touro
-Columbia
-UPenn
-Harvard
-UOP
-WesternU Pomona
-USC
-UCLA
-UCSF
-Temple
-LECOM
-University of Michigan

**Before applying, I made sure that my stats/pre-reqs, shadowing hours were reasonable for these schools. Based on SDN and facebook, applicants with similar or lower stats than me have received interviews and acceptances from all of these schools.**
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seven of your schools on the list are easily among the top 10 most difficult to get into
but you do have lots of in-range and lower than your averages schools too
so 2 may be low for a list of 15 applying in mid-june

i am thinking it may be that your PS or LOR are not as good as you think they are
 
macsak said:
17 PAT is not a red flag
do not retake, please
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In 2016 (most current data I could find) 78.7% of matriculating students had PAT of 19+. Many of the schools OP applied to have PAT averages of 20+. Maybe it’s not a red flag, but comparatively, the odds seem to be against them with a 17 PAT.
 
This is very unfortunate. It seems like you did everything right. Competitive stats, good EC's, applied early, applied broadly. I've heard from the pre-med forums that a bad LOR can tank an otherwise strong application. Is there a possibility one of your professors might have written a negative LOR?

Can you please follow up with the schools and let us know? It would be helpful for future applicants as well.
 
hersh_98 said:
In 2016 (most current data I could find) 78.7% of matriculating students had PAT of 19+. Many of the schools OP applied to have PAT averages of 20+. Maybe it’s not a red flag, but comparatively, the odds seem to be against them with a 17 PAT.
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Thanks for the input! I did consider retaking the DAT after I took it due to the 17 PAT, but feared that I would maybe score lower TS or AA and did not want to take that risk, though I maybe should have taken that risk.
 
thetwilightzone said:
Congrats to everyone on their acceptances and sending patience to those still waiting!!!

I applied to 15 schools in late June with a 23AA, 25TS, 17PAT, 3.52sGPA, 3.62oGPA, and 3.55 BCP GPA from a good school with an upward trend, 500 hours of shadowing/volunteering, more hours in other dental-related activities, and a well-written personal statement (based on feedback I have received). Yet, I have received only 2 interview invitations, 3 rejections without interview, and nothing from the rest of the schools. I sent a letter of intent to my top choice back in November (was rejected), and sent letters of interest to my other top choices after the new year. I am trying to understand where I "went wrong" with my application this cycle and what about my application is putting schools off. Is it the 17 on the PAT, my one "C" in a pre-req class, or that I took some pre-reqs at a community college? Is my personal statement maybe not as well-written as I thought? I don't have any special talents or skills that make me stand out, is that maybe it? I know schools undergo a holistic review and that I can't expect loads of interviews just because I did well on the DAT, but I do feel that each component of my app is decently strong, so seeing applicants with lower stats than me with all these interviews is super discouraging. Hoping that one of the schools I did interview at recently works out, but in case it doesn't, would love some clarity before I reapply.

Sorry that this is a bit long. ^^ I just wanted to provide enough context to anyone willing to offer some insight. Thank you!!!
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As someone who had several community college pre-reqs and faced a challenging application process, I’ve come to the conclusion that that was my biggest weakness. This despite me calling schools and asking — before I took the CC pre-reqs — if I should instead take the university courses. I was working full time, paying out of pocket and needed evening options, which made the CC classes a much better choice but would have absolutely done the university courses if I got that feedback. They all said the community college courses would be viewed holistically with context. I ultimately was encouraged to complete a masters, which I completed and matriculated in the summer. Despite what they may have told you, my personal opinion is that CC courses are not viewed as favorably, despite what schools may tell you. But, remember, it only takes one!! Cheers and good luck!!
 
thetwilightzone said:
Thanks for the input! I did consider retaking the DAT after I took it due to the 17 PAT, but feared that I would maybe score lower TS or AA and did not want to take that risk, though I maybe should have taken that risk.
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I would talk to as many schools as you can before retaking for a 17 PAT
 
thetwilightzone said:
Thanks so much for your input and sharing your story! & congrats on matriculating! I can definitely understand that community college courses aren't viewed as favorably, but viewing them in context/holistically, I did even better in my upper division science courses at my 4-year school than I did taking my pre-reqs at a cc. I finished my degree a year early by starting some of these classes when I was a senior in high school. For example, I took gen chem I as a senior in high school...maybe there's a rule about pre-reqs being completed after high school? Not sure what to think about it all. It does only take one, so praying for it every second I get!
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so you graduated early?
some schools prefer their students to be older (more mature?) but I doubt there is a ton of correlation between maturity and being 20 vs 21 vs 22
 
thetwilightzone said:
Thanks so much for your input and sharing your story! & congrats on matriculating! I can definitely understand that community college courses aren't viewed as favorably, but viewing them in context/holistically, I did even better in my upper division science courses at my 4-year school than I did taking my pre-reqs at a cc. I finished my degree a year early by starting some of these classes when I was a senior in high school. For example, I took gen chem I as a senior in high school...maybe there's a rule about pre-reqs being completed after high school? Not sure what to think about it all. It does only take one, so praying for it every second I get!
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Same situation! In general, my coursework at a top ten state school was overall higher and I had a masters from that same school (unrelated field but with some 6000 and 7000 level science classes — and I was valedictorian in the program ‍♀️). I think there are simple things that just get you placed in the “other” pile and unfortunately I think CC courses are one of them for some schools. Not to say I think that’s right — my CC science classes were more challenging than my state university — but admissions committees are humans too, with biases and a need to quickly sort a large volume of applicants. With that said, I believe that if a school didn’t honor my path to dentistry, it probably wasn’t the best fit for me anyways. I’m extremely pleased with where I am now, so I have faith it will work out that way for you too!
 
Your list is mostly up there so I suggest you apply to more schools that accept lower stats this upcoming cycle. hope for the best prepare for the worst.
 
omg what if you inputted your DENTPIN wrong :arghh:
One of my friends was telling me this had happened to someone she knew!
 
rectangle said:
I remember on AADSAS you had to put in your DENTPIN somewhere so they could match your DAT test to your app
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I was just trying to be funny because I thought “inputted” wasn’t the correct way of using that word but google proved me wrong
 
Honestly I think you aimed too high with your schools. If you do apply again I would try more mid/lower range private schools.
 
There is an erroneous presumption that high stats is a guarantee to ds acceptance. The statistical evidence does not support this assumption. For 2018, out of 11928 applicants, 22 % of the applicants with a sci gpa of 3.75+ did not gain acceptance; similarly, ~26% of applicants with an AA DAT score of 21+ were also denied admission. These figures are much higher than previously seen in these 2 subgroups.
 
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doc toothache said:
There is an erroneous presumption that high stats is a guarantee to ds acceptance. The statistical evidence does not support this assumption. For 2018, out of 11928 applicants, 22 % of the applicants with a sci gpa of 3.75+ did not gain acceptance; similarly, ~26% of applicants with an AA DAT score of 21+ were also denied admission. These figures are much higher than previously seen in these 2 subgroups.
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I think you may be interpreting the chart wrong. It's saying that out of all the applicants in 2018, 16% of them had a science GPA of 3.75+. Out of those that were enrolled to dental school 24.1% had a GPA of 3.75+. This shows that those being accepted had a higher GPA and it was a factor in admissions.

Maybe I'm reading your post wrong, please correct me if that's the case.

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using SDN mobile
 
Estonax said:
I think you may be interpreting the chart wrong. It's saying that out of all the applicants in 2018, 16% of them had a science GPA of 3.75+. Out of those that were enrolled to dental school 24.1% had a GPA of 3.75+. This shows that those being accepted had a higher GPA and it was a factor in admissions.

Maybe I'm reading your post wrong, please correct me if that's the case.

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using SDN mobile
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Doc is interpreting the chart correctly. What he did was take 16% of applicants out of 11928 total applicants. Then he took 24.1% of enrollees from 6163 enrollees. That gives you 1908 applicants with a 3.75+ sGPA, and 1485 enrollees with 3.75+ sGPA. That means 78% of applicants with 3.75+ sGPA enrolled into dental school, or 22% got rejected.
 
ToothJockey said:
Doc is interpreting the chart correctly. What he did was take 16% of applicants out of 11928 total applicants. Then he took 24.1% of enrollees from 6163 enrollees. That gives you 1908 applicants with a 3.75+ sGPA, and 1485 enrollees with 3.75+ sGPA. That means 78% of applicants with 3.75+ sGPA enrolled into dental school, or 22% got rejected.
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Ah I totally see it now. Definitely missed those steps. Thanks for clarifying.

Perhaps those with a high gpa and DAT do in fact apply to more selective schools.

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using SDN mobile
 
ToothJockey said:
Sooo did you find out what was wrong OP?


Sent from my iPhone using SDN
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A couple schools I called said they don't provide feedback at all, 2 said they provide "general feedback" via email only but that I shouldn't expect a response until March, and one one didn't pick up. I will update once more rejections come in and the schools I email get back to me.
 
No Dean with his/her unimpaired faculties would commit to disclose reason(s) for rejecting an applicant.
 
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