How do I determine which dental schools to apply to?

[joker937]

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Hello! I have started a spreadsheet where I list schools and then their respective information - price, average GPA and DAT scores, letters required, etc. However, I still find it difficult to narrow down what schools I should be adding to the list. How on earth am I supposed to sift through a list of 65 or so schools and decide where to apply to? :/

I am posting to get some advice. How many upper-tier, mid-tier, and low-tier schools should I apply to? How many total? I currently live in and go to school in California - I plan on applying in June! 🙂

If you would like to know my "stats," my AA was 23, TS was 21, PAT was 23; my cGPA and sGPA are roughly similar at 3.35.

Thanks!!

 

[helprosie]

I'm surprised you waited this late to start looking for schools. Its important to check a good bit before to make sure you have all the pre-reqs. Anyway, heres how you can narrow down your school list. From reading on sdn, I'd say a list of 10 is solid.
1. Location: where are you willing to live/ move to? Is the price of living reasonable?
2. Tuition costs: What is your max that your willing to pay?
3. Pre-Reqs: Do you have all or most the pre-reqs done?
4. Compare your stats to the schools class profile from the previous year and see how you scale up to them.
5. How many students are in the class? What are the school clinic reviews? I think this gives you a good insight on how prepared the students are.
6. Visit the schools
I hope this is a start on narrowing down your school list.

 

[joker937]

I'm surprised you waited this late to start looking for schools. Its important to check a good bit before to make sure you have all the pre-reqs. Anyway, heres how you can narrow down your school list. From reading on sdn, I'd say a list of 10 is solid.
1. Location: where are you willing to live/ move to? Is the price of living reasonable?
2. Tuition costs: What is your max that your willing to pay?
3. Pre-Reqs: Do you have all or most the pre-reqs done?
4. Compare your stats to the schools class profile from the previous year and see how you scale up to them.
5. How many students are in the class? What are the school clinic reviews? I think this gives you a good insight on how prepared the students are.
6. Visit the schools
I hope this is a start on narrowing down your school list.

Thank you so much! I mean, most of what you have written here is stuff I have already taken into consideration.. I have been looking for quite some time, it's not like I just started research today! 🙂 With my stats, I don't know how many of each school I should be applying to. How do I take a bite out of that list of 65 schools and grab only roughly 15 to 20?

 

[PeachDMD]

Thank you so much! I mean, most of what you have written here is stuff I have already taken into consideration.. I have been looking for quite some time, it's not like I just started research today! 🙂 With my stats, I don't know how many of each school I should be applying to. How do I take a bite out of that list of 65 schools and grab only roughly 15 to 20?

Best $40 ever spent as I was going through the application process.

 

[fogorvostan]

You'll eliminate a lot just based on IS/OOS.

 

[omed-hospdent]

You'll eliminate a lot just based on IS/OOS.

THIS. Apply to your in-state school (will probably be the cheapest).
Then to the ones that are OOS friendly.
If your "dream dental school" doesn't fall within those categories, probably that school too.

I think the average applicant applies to ~10 schools. I applied to 11.