I'll be a PhD student@ HHMI/Jan Farm, VA- Asian wife to Howard U. a possibility?

[shnjb]

Hello.

I will be a neuroscience PhD student beginning in next fall and I am currently invited to Harvard and HHMI/Janelia Farm.
Jan. Farm is currently my top choice, but because it is in Ashburn, VA, the only dental school nearby, as far as I could tell, was Howard University.
Since Howard University is traditionally known as a "African American" school, (immediately apparent when one checks out their website) I question whether this will be a good idea.

My wife is currently enrolled in the UCSF pre-dental post-bac program and she thinks that she has a good chance to get into a lot of dental schools.
She has been previously rejected but since going to the UCSF post-bac program, she has maintained a 3.9+ GPA (undergrad GPA was really low at around 3.2? I believe) and her DAT score is either 22 or 21.

So my questions to you dental school experts are:

1. What are her chances to get into dental schools in general?

2. Would it be possible to go to Howard given that she is an Asian if she gives the reason that she really needs to go because her husband is at Janelia Farm?

3. Would any of you choose Howard over a school with more typical demographics if you were in her shoes?

4. Other cities I am thinking of for PhD include: LA area (caltech), bay area (UCSF, stanford, UC berkeley), NYC (rockefeller, columbia), boston (harvard, MIT) and NJ (princeton). Which area does NOT have a lot of dental school options she has reasonable chance to get into? Which schools have a dental school very close?

Any input will be greatly appreciated as this is a very important decision for both of us.
Since there are four questions, feel free to answer any!

Thank you.

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[Bluemain]

According to a person I talked to who is on the admissions committee at Howard, they do not discriminate in favor of African Amerians. Its just that more of them apply and it turns out to be that way every year. I have some trouble believing that because it really is 90% African Americans.

However, there are always other ethnic groups in the classes. I've seen pictures of the classes posted on the walls in that school and each class in the past has had non-black people so your wife does have a chance.

By the way, taking a tour would be a nice idea. The actual dental school looks like its in a 3rd world country and didn't even have AC the summer I went there. It's also in a pretty bad/unsafe part of town.

 

[AlwaysImproving]

My sister is not African-American. She applied and got full scholarship offer to Howard Dental School. So they might be trying to diversify their school. If that is true, your wife has a higher chance of getting in than an African-American student.

 

[shnjb]

According to a person I talked to who is on the admissions committee at Howard, they do not discriminate in favor of African Amerians. Its just that more of them apply and it turns out to be that way every year. I have some trouble believing that because it really is 90% African Americans.

However, there are always other ethnic groups in the classes. I've seen pictures of the classes posted on the walls in that school and each class in the past has had non-black people so your wife does have a chance.

By the way, taking a tour would be a nice idea. The actual dental school looks like its in a 3rd world country and didn't even have AC the summer I went there. It's also in a pretty bad/unsafe part of town.

Eek. That's terrible.
I guess it's not looking good in that case.

 

[Flipper405]

As far as your fourth question... UCSF, Columbia, and Harvard all have dental schools, so that would be a way to stay very close if possible... they are all pretty competitive programs to get into.

 

[DROCKINDAHOUSE]

You should look on the ADA website if you're trying to determine which areas have dental schools. Here is the link:

http://www.ada.org/prof/ed/programs/search_ddsdmd_us.asp

 

[shnjb]

As far as your fourth question... UCSF, Columbia, and Harvard all have dental schools, so that would be a way to stay very close if possible... they are all pretty competitive programs to get into.

I see.
Would she have a shot at those programs?

 

[Flipper405]

I see.
Would she have a shot at those programs?

From what you said, I think she would probably have a shot... it's hard to say for sure though with how competitive it's getting everywhere. I would take a look at that link above. There are dental schools in all the areas you mentioned - I just don't know how close they are to the schools you mentioned.

 

[shnjb]

From what you said, I think she would probablyhave a shot... it's hard to say for sure though with how competitive it's getting everywhere. I would take a look at that link above. There are dental schools in all the areas you mentioned - I just don't know how close they are to the schools you mentioned.

I'm struck by how competitive dental admission is.
Harvard statistics according to predents.com gives DAT score of 24.4 and average GPA of ~3.9.
Those are pretty amazing numbers and my wife would not even have a chance at Harvard.

I wonder if my going to Harvard would improve her chances with Harvard?

 

[Flipper405]

I'm struck by how competitive dental admission is.
Harvard statistics according to predents.com gives DAT score of 24.4 and average GPA of ~3.9.
Those are pretty amazing numbers and my wife would not even have a chance at Harvard.

I wonder if my going to Harvard would improve her chances with Harvard?

I wouldn't count on that helping too much. It seems that Harvard is probably the most competitive in terms of needing hard stats to get in. I'm not too familiar with the west coast schools, but I hear UCLA is very competitive as well. I think if you want the best chance to "predict" where you will be able to be close together, it would probably be in Cal just because there are so many schools there (although you would have to reapply?) The other option seems to be to hope for something in the northeast and stay with Harvard. Good luck with whatever you end up doing.

 

[shnjb]

I wouldn't count on that helping too much. It seems that Harvard is probably the most competitive in terms of needing hard stats to get in. I'm not too familiar with the west coast schools, but I hear UCLA is very competitive as well. I think if you want the best chance to "predict" where you will be able to be close together, it would probably be in Cal just because there are so many schools there (although you would have to reapply?) The other option seems to be to hope for something in the northeast and stay with Harvard. Good luck with whatever you end up doing.

West coast schools will get back to me soon and I'll probably get interviews at all of the above so hopefully I'll have all the choices in the world.
It's truly a bummer that Howard is in such crummy conditions though, since I wanted to go to Virginia the most.

Thanks for the advice!

 

[rewJW]

As an FYI, Princeton University and New Jersey Dental School are pretty far from one another. They are connected by a train but it's not generally a good idea to commute too far to/from dental school. I'm just south of Princeton ... my estimate is by car it'd be about an hour between Princeton and Newark.

 

[Badgerfaithful]

Like Flipper said, UCSF has a dental school, and UoP is also in San Francisco.
There's 4 dental schools in the LA area if I'm not mistaken: UCLA, USC, Loma Linda, and Western.

 

[shnjb]

As an FYI, Princeton University and New Jersey Dental School are pretty far from one another. They are connected by a train but it's not generally a good idea to commute too far to/from dental school. I'm just south of Princeton ... my estimate is by car it'd be about an hour between Princeton and Newark.

I see. That doesn't sound appealing.
Princeton was not really a school I wanted to go to anyway so I guess that's fine.

 

[DROCKINDAHOUSE]

Leave the woman, go wherever you want, and later marry a trophy wife. Just saying its an option...

 

[somethinpositiv]

Well, you could:

Go to Harvard.
She'll apply to: Harvard (0 min), Boston University (~30 min), Tufts (~30 min), UConn (2 hrs)

or

Go to Ashburn, VA
She'll apply to: Howard (45 min), Maryland (1.5 hrs), Virginia Commonwealth (2 hrs)

She'll probably have a much MUCH better chance getting into BU or Tufts, than Howard. Thus, in my opinion, you should go to Harvard. If she doesn't get in the first year, she can apply again, and BU and Tufts have huge class sizes. Good luck.

Hello.

I will be a neuroscience PhD student beginning in next fall and I am currently invited to Harvard and HHMI/Janelia Farm.
Jan. Farm is currently my top choice, but because it is in Ashburn, VA, the only dental school nearby, as far as I could tell, was Howard University.
Since Howard University is traditionally known as a "African American" school, (immediately apparent when one checks out their website) I question whether this will be a good idea.

My wife is currently enrolled in the UCSF pre-dental post-bac program and she thinks that she has a good chance to get into a lot of dental schools.
She has been previously rejected but since going to the UCSF post-bac program, she has maintained a 3.9+ GPA (undergrad GPA was really low at around 3.2? I believe) and her DAT score is either 22 or 21.

So my questions to you dental school experts are:

1. What are her chances to get into dental schools in general?

2. Would it be possible to go to Howard given that she is an Asian if she gives the reason that she really needs to go because her husband is at Janelia Farm?

3. Would any of you choose Howard over a school with more typical demographics if you were in her shoes?

4. Other cities I am thinking of for PhD include: LA area (caltech), bay area (UCSF, stanford, UC berkeley), NYC (rockefeller, columbia), boston (harvard, MIT) and NJ (princeton). Which area does NOT have a lot of dental school options she has reasonable chance to get into? Which schools have a dental school very close?

Any input will be greatly appreciated as this is a very important decision for both of us.
Since there are four questions, feel free to answer any!

Thank you.

 

[xtractime]

as far as boston schools are concerned....your wife could attend either harvard, tufts, or BU and it would work out. they are all accessible by the subways/buses. lots of my classmates live away from school (30+ min travel time) with their significant others who attend school or work in different areas, so its definitely possible to work out. on top of that, these boston schools accept a large percentage of asians.

MIT(Kendall/MIT stop) and Harvard (Harvard square stop) are 2 stops away from each other on the red line. BU is located on the green line (probably the farthest away from everything else) while tufts is on the orange line in downtown chinatown (chinatown/tufts medical center stop). check this map to see what i'm talking about:
http://mbta.com/schedules_and_maps/subway/

goodluck making a decision!

 

[dr bojangles]

LA, SF, and NYC have 2 schools in the city, boston has 3. those are your better bets.
princeton is ~1.5 hours from newark (UMDNJ) accounting for average NJ rush hour traffic, assuming your full time job. if anything, live in between newark and princeton, depending on how much you want to commute (though most schools encourage students live <30 min. away).

 

[Flipper405]

Sounds like Harvard will be your best bet to me based on everyone's info

 

[DiNoZeRo2o9]

BY sheer numbers, Southern California is your best bet. She has four dental schools to choose from

Western
USC
UCLA
Loma Linda

And if she did a UCSF post-bac program, I can almost assure you that will bode will with her chances at UCSF, therefore NorCal would be good too with two schools. She probably also has a good shot at UoP. She is like me, low GPA, high DAT. That is what UoP is all about, and I got in.

 

[shnjb]

Wow that's a lot of responses!
Thank you for all your help.
Happy holidays.

 

[askadds]

Wow that's a lot of responses!
Thank you for all your help.
Happy holidays.

Im white from northern va and got accepted into howard...dont read into the negative hype about howard too much...

 

[somethinpositiv]

Im white from northern va and got accepted into howard...dont read into the negative hype about howard too much...

You're white and got into Howard? There's a name for that. That's called Affirmative Action.

J/K

 

[shnjb]

Im white from northern va and got accepted into howard...dont read into the negative hype about howard too much...

Interesting.
I hope my wife feels the same way when she checks out the school

 

[Act0fgod]

I'm struck by how competitive dental admission is.
Harvard statistics according to predents.com gives DAT score of 24.4 and average GPA of ~3.9.
Those are pretty amazing numbers and my wife would not even have a chance at Harvard.

I wonder if my going to Harvard would improve her chances with Harvard?

I'm in a similar position where my wife was selected by the military for a funded PhD and now has to apply to schools at the same time I'm looking to go to dental school. We currently live in Northern VA near DC so she's applying to schools in the DC area. Like others have said Boston and LA are have a number of schools other locations that we're looking into are NY and Philly.

As a separate side questions people really don't think that having a spouse attend the same school makes a difference in the admissions process? I would think that it may because it shows more commitment, also a greater chance that we will donate to the school after graduation because we will both feel a connection to the school. We had some family friends that went to Harvard together and they said that in the application process they made it clear they both were applying and they thought it really made a difference (one was applying for Med School and the other for an MBA).

 

[somethinpositiv]

I'm struck by how competitive dental admission is.
Harvard statistics according to predents.com gives DAT score of 24.4 and average GPA of ~3.9.
Those are pretty amazing numbers and my wife would not even have a chance at Harvard.

I wonder if my going to Harvard would improve her chances with Harvard?

If not, there's always Boston University and Tufts, both of which some would consider better schools than Howard.