- Joined
- Aug 19, 2007
- Messages
- 539
- Reaction score
- 7
hey guys, sorry this might be a long one but whoever has enough time to read this and give me an advice i'd really appreciate it.
as some of you already know, i've been on SDN for few years now and i am at the time to make a right decision and i need your help.
i applied for the first time last year, appled to 3 Texas schools (resident) and applied to 4 out-of-state dental schools including Temple, UoP, NYU, Howard.
i had 2 interviews from texas schools (SA and Baylor) but no words from any of out-of-state dental schools and houston.
after not getting in, i made an appointment with deans of admissions at SA and Houston (Baylor's dean was on some kind of trip) and the advice i got from them is little different from each others. SA dean recommended me to take graduate level courses and ace through them to prove them that i can handle graduate level science courses whereas houston recommended me to keep taking undergraduate upper division science courses to raise up my undergraudate level gpa to increase my chances.
okay, here is my dilemma. i just graduated from my undergrad yesterday and now i need to make the rigth decision. As for my graduating gift, i asked my parents to pay for all of my application fees for out-of-state upto 12 schools (i know it's a lot of money but i'll def pay them back once i become a dentist) and i'll continue to apply to 3 texas dental schools, so total of 15 schools.
other than numbers, i have learned that my interview was weak (they told me to be more confident during the meeting with the dean at SA) so i'll work on that and i have 1 new letter of recommendations but keeping others the say (they told me that my LOR is good), and i have definitely matured throughout the application cycle and hopefully i can reflect that on my personal statement.
Since last cycle, my gpa went from 3.36 to 3.40 and sgpa (my weakest point) went from 3.09 to 3.19 and finished the last semester with 3.75 and was placed on University Honors List. My DAT is still the same one from last year, which is AA21/TS20/PAT21 (with 24 on BIO which will hopefully make up for the C i have in undergraduate bio and genetics). I do not know if this increase in my gpa is significant enough for me to get in this year's cycle (it's only 0.1 increase) and I am debating whether I should continue school for next year or find a job and make some money to pay of debt and pay for myself.
I know keeping school is a good thing for admission but the only thing is that this courses will be Fall 2009 courses which mean that their grades will not be released until after Dec 1st and I don't know just putting the fact that I am continuing with school is significant enough to help me with my chances (or should I rather just work and make money). I worked as a dental assistant for 3 years and still have the certificate to work in texas as a dental assistant. so pretty much if i am taking courses in the fall, it would be for if i get waitlisted in this year's cycle or if i need to apply for the 3rd time..
So here are my questions:
1) Do you think applying to 12 out-of-state schools instead of 4 will definitely increase my chances for this year?
(i was very disappointed at the fact that i did not hear back from any of the out-of-state last year and am personally still debating whether I should even apply out-of-state at all)
2) If yes, what schools would you recommend me to apply? (i'm not going apply to howard again) - once again, i have low gpa and especially low sgpa with better dat score
3) Would you recommend me to take graduate level courses, undergraduate upper division science courses, or should i just work?
i wish everyone good luck on their application cycle and thank you for reading!
as some of you already know, i've been on SDN for few years now and i am at the time to make a right decision and i need your help.
i applied for the first time last year, appled to 3 Texas schools (resident) and applied to 4 out-of-state dental schools including Temple, UoP, NYU, Howard.
i had 2 interviews from texas schools (SA and Baylor) but no words from any of out-of-state dental schools and houston.
after not getting in, i made an appointment with deans of admissions at SA and Houston (Baylor's dean was on some kind of trip) and the advice i got from them is little different from each others. SA dean recommended me to take graduate level courses and ace through them to prove them that i can handle graduate level science courses whereas houston recommended me to keep taking undergraduate upper division science courses to raise up my undergraudate level gpa to increase my chances.
okay, here is my dilemma. i just graduated from my undergrad yesterday and now i need to make the rigth decision. As for my graduating gift, i asked my parents to pay for all of my application fees for out-of-state upto 12 schools (i know it's a lot of money but i'll def pay them back once i become a dentist) and i'll continue to apply to 3 texas dental schools, so total of 15 schools.
other than numbers, i have learned that my interview was weak (they told me to be more confident during the meeting with the dean at SA) so i'll work on that and i have 1 new letter of recommendations but keeping others the say (they told me that my LOR is good), and i have definitely matured throughout the application cycle and hopefully i can reflect that on my personal statement.
Since last cycle, my gpa went from 3.36 to 3.40 and sgpa (my weakest point) went from 3.09 to 3.19 and finished the last semester with 3.75 and was placed on University Honors List. My DAT is still the same one from last year, which is AA21/TS20/PAT21 (with 24 on BIO which will hopefully make up for the C i have in undergraduate bio and genetics). I do not know if this increase in my gpa is significant enough for me to get in this year's cycle (it's only 0.1 increase) and I am debating whether I should continue school for next year or find a job and make some money to pay of debt and pay for myself.
I know keeping school is a good thing for admission but the only thing is that this courses will be Fall 2009 courses which mean that their grades will not be released until after Dec 1st and I don't know just putting the fact that I am continuing with school is significant enough to help me with my chances (or should I rather just work and make money). I worked as a dental assistant for 3 years and still have the certificate to work in texas as a dental assistant. so pretty much if i am taking courses in the fall, it would be for if i get waitlisted in this year's cycle or if i need to apply for the 3rd time..
So here are my questions:
1) Do you think applying to 12 out-of-state schools instead of 4 will definitely increase my chances for this year?
(i was very disappointed at the fact that i did not hear back from any of the out-of-state last year and am personally still debating whether I should even apply out-of-state at all)
2) If yes, what schools would you recommend me to apply? (i'm not going apply to howard again) - once again, i have low gpa and especially low sgpa with better dat score
3) Would you recommend me to take graduate level courses, undergraduate upper division science courses, or should i just work?
i wish everyone good luck on their application cycle and thank you for reading!
