how many schools to apply

Started by tracy
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tracy

Junior Member
15+ Year Member
20+ Year Member
Hi, all
I am just curious how many schools one should apply on average. I scored a mid 20's on both academic and overall science. But I had a poor score on reading comprehension (18),😡
English is not my native language and I got freaked out during the reading comprehension section. Anyway, I don't look forward to retaking the test.
In addition, I have very competitive GPA.

Please give me some suggestions.
Thanks in advance!
 
You have NOTHING to worry about. If you have a competitive GPA, and with those DAT scores, you have the choice to attend which ever school you want. In my opinion you hsould apply to those schools that have programs that interest you. If i were you i wouldnt apply to any more than 5 or 6 schools. What kind of programs are you interested in? location etc? take all that and apply. You don't need to worry.
 
I appreciate your repply. Hopefully, things will turn out just like what you said.

But I do know that many schools put emphasis on reading comprehension score, which really weakens my application.

I have one more question. if I apply 8-9 schools, would the long lists make things worse?

Thank you so much for your encouragement.
 
tracy--

your R.C score isnt terrible by any means!!

if you want to apply to 8 or 9 schools you can. They really wouldnt hold it against you at all. (So long they are all dental schools!). I applied to 8 schools too, but didn't see the sense in going to all of them. Really you can tell from the posts which schools are worth your time (Esp for an applicant like yourself) and which arent.

If you want a list of schools you should consider PM me
 
Tracy,

I applied to dental school last year with science at 20s, but with PAT of 17 and reading of 18 (I am ESL too). I have a pretty decent GPA, and I have no problem receiving interviews from Ivy League schools and CA schools. So you definitely should be fine. I will recommend you to apply for about 8-10 schools. (if you want to apply to many competitive to get in schools like Harvard, Columbia, PENN, UCSF, UCLA, etc) Good luck!. But your score is competitive to get into most schools. You can apply to 5 to 6 schools and you should be fine. As for me, I just want to be sure I will get into somewhere, that is why I applied to 9.
 
18 is still around the average, its not that low.

Make sure that you have a few native speakers help you by proofreading your essay and secondaries. Errors there would jump out at me much faster than a RC score.
 
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