Hi, just looking for some advice/insight. I understand I'm no way near the "picture perfect" applicant, so I was hoping to see what my next steps should be.
I applied to 8 schools this past application cycle and have been denied from most of them already, including my one in-state school. I submitted my application late-August then followed up with a grade update in December when I graduated with my Masters. Basically, I want to go ahead and start prepping for the next application cycle to improve my application. Here are a few details:
1. GPA: My undergrad sucked—my undergraduate science GPA (biomedical sciences major) was 2.76. Because of this, I decided to do a non-thesis Masters program at my school to show that I could handle the sciences. I took all biology courses and came out with a graduate science GPA (biological sciences major) of 3.57.
2. DAT: I took the DAT early in 2014 and made a 19 thinking I was being proactive. However, since I decided to delay my application until after undergrad and into my graduate courses, I had to retake the DAT since that 2014 score would expire by the time I applied. The second time I took the DAT in 2016 I made an 18, going down a point. This obviously wasn't okay so I studied harder and took it again in 2017 and made a 20.
3. Shadowing: 104 shadowing hours with various general dentists in my area along with volunteer work with a dentist who provided discount care to those in need.
4. Volunteering: 297 hours of volunteering included various leadership positions, food bank, reading with kids during after-school programs, etc.
5. Employment: I held a part-time office job all through undergrad working 15-20 hours a week (probably too much and why my grades sucked in retrospect) and then was a graduate assistant during my Masters program within that same office.
6. Research: I did one semester of research (150 hours total) during my undergrad in a sleep lab that worked to find the correlation between risk-taking behavior and sleep in teens.
7. Manual dexterity: Took a pottery class intended for pre-dental students one semester (36 hours).
8. Rec Letters: I feel like my rec letters were really good—I was very close with my undergraduate advisor who was the final one to compile a committee letter for me.
If there's any more information you might need to better understand my application and background feel free to ask. I'm just trying to get together some ideas for what I should do differently/improve on.
I applied to 8 schools this past application cycle and have been denied from most of them already, including my one in-state school. I submitted my application late-August then followed up with a grade update in December when I graduated with my Masters. Basically, I want to go ahead and start prepping for the next application cycle to improve my application. Here are a few details:
1. GPA: My undergrad sucked—my undergraduate science GPA (biomedical sciences major) was 2.76. Because of this, I decided to do a non-thesis Masters program at my school to show that I could handle the sciences. I took all biology courses and came out with a graduate science GPA (biological sciences major) of 3.57.
2. DAT: I took the DAT early in 2014 and made a 19 thinking I was being proactive. However, since I decided to delay my application until after undergrad and into my graduate courses, I had to retake the DAT since that 2014 score would expire by the time I applied. The second time I took the DAT in 2016 I made an 18, going down a point. This obviously wasn't okay so I studied harder and took it again in 2017 and made a 20.
3. Shadowing: 104 shadowing hours with various general dentists in my area along with volunteer work with a dentist who provided discount care to those in need.
4. Volunteering: 297 hours of volunteering included various leadership positions, food bank, reading with kids during after-school programs, etc.
5. Employment: I held a part-time office job all through undergrad working 15-20 hours a week (probably too much and why my grades sucked in retrospect) and then was a graduate assistant during my Masters program within that same office.
6. Research: I did one semester of research (150 hours total) during my undergrad in a sleep lab that worked to find the correlation between risk-taking behavior and sleep in teens.
7. Manual dexterity: Took a pottery class intended for pre-dental students one semester (36 hours).
8. Rec Letters: I feel like my rec letters were really good—I was very close with my undergraduate advisor who was the final one to compile a committee letter for me.
If there's any more information you might need to better understand my application and background feel free to ask. I'm just trying to get together some ideas for what I should do differently/improve on.
