I am getting nervous :(

[amille24]

---

Members do not see this ad.

Hey all!

So it is getting down to the wire and I am getting nervous because I haven't gotten 1 interview yet and I applied to 9 schools 🙁

GPA 3.42
sGPA 3.14
(school is in top 25 in the nation)
DAT- AA/TS/PAT/RC 19/20/16/21

Lots of extracurricular work including president of pre-dental society, president of a volunteer group, dental shadowing, dental trip to nicaragua/costa rica, and research.

I am worried that my low pat is going to hold me back! On my app i put down all of the things I can do with my hands (knitting, flute (8 years), piccolo, sax, braiding, and ceramics)

What do you guys think? Any feedback is helpful and appreciated! 🙂

 

[hellopeople]

Did you apply early? If you made the mistake, like me, of applying late, it wouldn't be surprising that you haven't heard back from schools yet.

Great ECs btw.

 

[MrAvicii]

Hey all!

So it is getting down to the wire and I am getting nervous because I haven't gotten 1 interview yet and I applied to 9 schools 🙁

GPA 3.42
sGPA 3.14
(school is in top 25 in the nation)
DAT- AA/TS/PAT/RC 19/20/16/21

Lots of extracurricular work including president of pre-dental society, president of a volunteer group, dental shadowing, dental trip to nicaragua/costa rica, and research.

I am worried that my low pat is going to hold me back! On my app i put down all of the things I can do with my hands (knitting, flute (8 years), piccolo, sax, braiding, and ceramics)

What do you guys think? Any feedback is helpful and appreciated! 🙂

when did you submit? the sGPA is quite low and the PAT is below the cutoff for some schools. Hope you applied to Roseman, LECOM and MWU-IL those would probably be the best bets. but wait to hear back and see what the other schools say.

 

[amille24]

My application was sent out 6/27 but my DAT's weren't sent out until 7/29

I applied to Boston University, Creighton, Indiana, Midwestern-chicago, NYU, Temple, Tufts, University Illinois Chicago, and University of Louisville. Anyway interviews could still happen?

Should I resend to those schools you mentioned?

Thanks again for all of your help!

 

[MrAvicii]

My application was sent out 6/27 but my DAT's weren't sent out until 7/29

I applied to Boston University, Creighton, Indiana, Midwestern-chicago, NYU, Temple, Tufts, University Illinois Chicago, and University of Louisville. Anyway interviews could still happen?

Should I resend to those schools you mentioned?

Thanks again for all of your help!

so basically u werent not complete until early august, the schools i mentioned are filing up quickly. i would check the websites and see if you are above the cut offs due to your PAT score. otherwise its your call whether you want to apply to other places. its kind of late now to do that and im not sure if its 100% worth it. but thats a choice you have to make with your gut.

 

[amalgamgrillz]

Hey all!

So it is getting down to the wire and I am getting nervous because I haven't gotten 1 interview yet and I applied to 9 schools 🙁

GPA 3.42
sGPA 3.14
(school is in top 25 in the nation)
DAT- AA/TS/PAT/RC 19/20/16/21

Lots of extracurricular work including president of pre-dental society, president of a volunteer group, dental shadowing, dental trip to nicaragua/costa rica, and research.

I am worried that my low pat is going to hold me back! On my app i put down all of the things I can do with my hands (knitting, flute (8 years), piccolo, sax, braiding, and ceramics)

What do you guys think? Any feedback is helpful and appreciated! 🙂

Three huge red flags on your application:
1) 16 PAT
2) 3.14 sGPA
3) very late date of completion

You also only applied to 9 schools..so that's definitely another reason why you're not hearing back from many schools..

 

[John Durian]

Downfall is sGPA and PAT. I suggest a retake.

 

[hellopeople]

Three huge red flags on your application:
1) 16 PAT
2) 3.14 sGPA
3) very late date of completion

You also only applied to 9 schools..so that's definitely another reason why you're not hearing back from many schools..

Is early august really that late? I guess I'm in trouble then.

Anyway, luckily I think the PAT is one of those sections you can easily improve upon if you need to retake the DAT for next cycle (not that I'm saying you won't get in, just a nice thing to have in you back pocket). As for the science GPA, are you taking classes for the academic update? That might help. Your sGPA is much easier to budge than the cGPA.

 

[Vigilante]

Hey all!

So it is getting down to the wire and I am getting nervous because I haven't gotten 1 interview yet and I applied to 9 schools 🙁

GPA 3.42
sGPA 3.14
(school is in top 25 in the nation)
DAT- AA/TS/PAT/RC 19/20/16/21

Lots of extracurricular work including president of pre-dental society, president of a volunteer group, dental shadowing, dental trip to nicaragua/costa rica, and research.

I am worried that my low pat is going to hold me back! On my app i put down all of the things I can do with my hands (knitting, flute (8 years), piccolo, sax, braiding, and ceramics)

What do you guys think? Any feedback is helpful and appreciated! 🙂

I've heard from people in admissions at Tufts that they are one of the few schools that put a lot of weight on attending a competitive undergrad and so will look the other way on a lower than avg GPA especially if you score above avg on your DATs. I'm with the other SDNers...prove you've been up against the best of the best for the past 4 years and rock that DAT. Plus, it's a lot easier to bring up one test score than your GPA. As far as this year goes, you still never know...

 

[RSD2014]

Hey all!

So it is getting down to the wire and I am getting nervous because I haven't gotten 1 interview yet and I applied to 9 schools 🙁

GPA 3.42
sGPA 3.14
(school is in top 25 in the nation)
DAT- AA/TS/PAT/RC 19/20/16/21

Lots of extracurricular work including president of pre-dental society, president of a volunteer group, dental shadowing, dental trip to nicaragua/costa rica, and research.

I am worried that my low pat is going to hold me back! On my app i put down all of the things I can do with my hands (knitting, flute (8 years), piccolo, sax, braiding, and ceramics)

What do you guys think? Any feedback is helpful and appreciated! 🙂

Why did you only apply to 9 schools? Were you overconfident?

 

[amille24]

I talked to Indiana back in June because I was planning on retaking the dat at the end of the month and they told me there not to retake...well I guess there's always next year? Do schools send out rejections at the same time as interview invites? I still haven't heard either or yet.

 

[amille24]

And I only applied to 9 because I have limited funds. I am the furthest from being overconfident...

 

[MrAvicii]

And I only applied to 9 because I have limited funds. I am the furthest from being overconfident...

borrow money from family and apply to more schools, it costs more to retake the dat than to apply to schools, so choose wisely.

 

[amille24]

I think it is a little late to apply to more schools. Any chance I could still get an interview for this cycle?

 

[vicsin]

Some of these opinions are way too exteme...
First of all your application complete date is not late at all. I sent mine out at the same exact time and I have gotten interviews from 4 of the 5 schools I applied to already. And my stats are not stellar or anything (by SDN standards).

Another thing, applying to 9 schools is by no mean overconfident. I applied to 5 but chose them wisely. Some people think getting into dental school is a crap shoot and you need to apply to 15+ to have a chance. Are we at a disadvantage for applying to less than that? I don't think so...at least not for that reason.

Your DAT score is great other than the 16 PAT, which is the looked at the least after QR. Your GPA is probably the thing that is holding you back from hearing back from schools at the moment. Don't give up hope though, you haven't received any rejections yet either. Your overall application is not bad. I wouldn't be surprised if you had a few interviews but give it time because I assume they interview the highest stats/overall best apps first out of each consecutive pile that they receive. You will have to be extremely patient and keep your fingers crossed.

Worst comes to worst if you don't get in, you could take a year to work on your GPA...post bac/masters...and possibly a retake of the DAT but not completely necessary although you would have time if you had another year. Re-applicants have a better chance and this way you could make sure you're in the app pool as soon as it opens in June. But, for now, all you can do it wait and hope for the best!!!

 

[jackalo34]

Some of these opinions are way too exteme...
First of all your application complete date is not late at all. I sent mine out at the same exact time and I have gotten interviews from 4 of the 5 schools I applied to already. And my stats are not stellar or anything (by SDN standards).

Another thing, applying to 9 schools is by no mean overconfident. I applied to 5 but chose them wisely. Some people think getting into dental school is a crap shoot and you need to apply to 15+ to have a chance. Are we at a disadvantage for applying to less than that? I don't think so...at least not for that reason.

Your DAT score is great other than the 16 PAT, which is the looked at the least after QR. Your GPA is probably the thing that is holding you back from hearing back from schools at the moment. Don't give up hope though, you haven't received any rejections yet either. Your overall application is not bad. I wouldn't be surprised if you had a few interviews but give it time because I assume they interview the highest stats/overall best apps first out of each consecutive pile that they receive. You will have to be extremely patient and keep your fingers crossed.

Worst comes to worst if you don't get in, you could take a year to work on your GPA...post bac/masters...and possibly a retake of the DAT but not completely necessary although you would have time if you had another year. Re-applicants have a better chance and this way you could make sure you're in the app pool as soon as it opens in June. But, for now, all you can do it wait and hope for the best!!!

I think your stats are pretty stellar/solid to me. 3.85 GPA 20/20/18 DAT and very nice ECs congratz on ur interviews and GL!

To the OP-play the waiting game like everyone else. At least you know what you can approve on if you don't get an interview.

 

[veggieheadgeek]

It's only mid-September. Schools sometimes interview into March. I know it's a slow and painful process, but keep in mind that it is still quite early on in the game. Get all A's in sciences this semester and then send an academic update in December. This might sound rude, but going to a "Top 25 School" doesn't necessarily excuse a lower GPA. There are plenty of Top 25 schools that aren't especially strong/challenging in the sciences, e.g. Brown. But for all I know you go to Caltech, so whatever.

Oh, and I really hope that when you listed your dental mission trips you said that you just observed/sterilized/suctioned. Saying that you pulled teeth is a big no-no.

 

[ra504]

Hey all!

So it is getting down to the wire and I am getting nervous because I haven't gotten 1 interview yet and I applied to 9 schools 🙁

GPA 3.42
sGPA 3.14
(school is in top 25 in the nation)
DAT- AA/TS/PAT/RC 19/20/16/21

Lots of extracurricular work including president of pre-dental society, president of a volunteer group, dental shadowing, dental trip to nicaragua/costa rica, and research.

I am worried that my low pat is going to hold me back! On my app i put down all of the things I can do with my hands (knitting, flute (8 years), piccolo, sax, braiding, and ceramics)

What do you guys think? Any feedback is helpful and appreciated! 🙂

Haven't heard anything either. Applied to 9 schools as well.

oGPA/sGPA: 2.95/3.57
post bach gpa: 3.66
AADSAS mail out date: 7/22
DAT AA/TS/PAT: 21/22/22

Red flag is overall gpa, but that was from 7 years ago.

 

[Jackson-Ave-Dental]

Some of these opinions are way too exteme...
First of all your application complete date is not late at all. I sent mine out at the same exact time and I have gotten interviews from 4 of the 5 schools I applied to already. And my stats are not stellar or anything (by SDN standards).

Another thing, applying to 9 schools is by no mean overconfident. I applied to 5 but chose them wisely. Some people think getting into dental school is a crap shoot and you need to apply to 15+ to have a chance. Are we at a disadvantage for applying to less than that? I don't think so...at least not for that reason.

Your DAT score is great other than the 16 PAT, which is the looked at the least after QR. Your GPA is probably the thing that is holding you back from hearing back from schools at the moment. Don't give up hope though, you haven't received any rejections yet either. Your overall application is not bad. I wouldn't be surprised if you had a few interviews but give it time because I assume they interview the highest stats/overall best apps first out of each consecutive pile that they receive. You will have to be extremely patient and keep your fingers crossed.

Worst comes to worst if you don't get in, you could take a year to work on your GPA...post bac/masters...and possibly a retake of the DAT but not completely necessary although you would have time if you had another year. Re-applicants have a better chance and this way you could make sure you're in the app pool as soon as it opens in June. But, for now, all you can do it wait and hope for the best!!!

You are a very strong applicant (I hope you realize that) and I applaud you for having the guts to apply to as many schools as you can fit on one hand.

 

[amille24]

yea, i don't know if schools look at where you went to undergrad, but when I called IU they made it sound like it helped a little bit. i will def keep working on my science gpa though. hopefully i have some good news coming my way. do they really interview august applicants in march? does anyone know when they send out rejections?

oh and on my mission trip i just observed and demonstrated the proper way to brush/floss teeth. great experience but nothing too hands on.

Thanks for all of your help and encouragements guys! 🙂

 

[vicsin]

I meant "stellar by sdn standards". SDNers do not seem to think a DAT below 21/22 is that great. That's all I meant ha. But, yea I think GPA is more important than DAT. High gpa + decent DAT (19+) = interviews!

 

[howafirestarted]

i don't know about you, but reading this forum always makes me really nervous and depressed. it's got good information, but the nervous energy is always buzzing, all the time. we just gotta keep our heads high and let stuff roll off our shoulders.