Is my school list reasonable? What are my chances?

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mcuban00

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I am applying this upcoming cycle in June. I am a resident of New York and I really want to go to school outside of New York. I strongly prefer Florida. Then comes California. If it really comes down to it, I guess I'll be happy at a big name school with a nice college town that is not FL or CA, but outside of NY. Below are my stats and college list.

GPA: 3.45 (by the time I apply)
25AA, 26TS, 25PAT
-300 hours shadowing oral surgeon
-100 hours shadowing GP
-600 hours dental assisting
-250 hours volunteering outside of dentistry
-1 year of dental research
-Went on a dental outreach trip to a 3rd world country to volunteer in dental clinics
-VP of dental outreach club

Current School List (in decreasing priority):
-University of Florida
-UCLA
-UCSF
-UoP
-LECOM
-Maryland
-Case Western
-Pitt

What are my chances at the first 4 schools as an OOS? What other schools should I add on the list? Any comments, opinions, thoughts are greatly appreciated

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Your best chances are Pittsburgh and Case Western (in my opinion)
 
California schools are incredibly competitive, especially since you're OOS, @artist2022 can tell you much more about UCLA than I could however. Your DAT will certainly help make up for your GPA, as it's slightly below the averages of your top 4 schools (Ranges from 3.5 to 3.7ish for your top 4). You have great ECs, so you will definitely be competitive and gain admission to a program if you apply broadly. I suggest you get the ADEA DS explorer and find schools that are OOS-friendly since you don't really want to stay in NY. I have heard a lot of great things about Stony Brook and Buffalo on here though, so don't completely rule out New York, at the end of the day it's all about getting into a school and becoming a dentist. I assume money won't really be a problem, bc you're gonna be looking at 300-350K+ for each of your top schools, even UoP which is only a 3 year program.
 
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Thank you for your insight! For sure Stony Brook and Buffalo are amazing schools. However, I just know I will be so much happier at a FL/CA school which is why I'm looking into them. I went through the ADEA DS multiple times and its interesting how all the schools I'm interested in are not OOS friendly. LECOM seems like my best bet. Would I be crazy to choose say LECOM over Buffalo, Maryland or Case?
If money isn't an issue and you really fall in love with the program sure, seems like you're really set on Florida and Cali so. LECOM has PBL integrated into its curriculum though, so make sure you're okay with that type of learning. I agree that your best bet is probably LECOM as far as FL/Cali schools, but you really never know, your DAT score will carry weight so you could very well end up gaining admission to one of your top 4 (UCSF in particular).
 
I don't know what these pre-dents are telling you but you have a very good shot at every single school on that list with that DAT (i'd kill for that DAT when I was applying four years ago. GPA is average but nothing to worry about with the stellar extracurriculars. Take out LECOM, you can do better (unless it's your safety school). So just relax and don't mess up during the interviews.
 
Yeah I will definitely keep the cost of LECOM and PBL factor in mind, although none of those really concern me too much as of now. And definitely if I get into UCSF, I'd choose that for sure over LECOM. Do you have any other good OOS friendly schools in mind that are not in FL/CA?
Hmm off the top Marquette, Tufts, and Louisville maybe? Also UMich has a good IS/OOS split and with your DAT I think you def have a shot!
 
I don't know what these pre-dents are telling you but you have a very good shot at every single school on that list with that DAT (i'd kill for that DAT when I was applying four years ago. GPA is average but nothing to worry about with the stellar extracurriculars. Take out LECOM, you can do better (unless it's your safety school). So just relax and don't mess up during the interviews.
Don’t think anyone really said he didn’t have a shot at them lol
 
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Go to the cheapest school. I know, NY blows. Suck it up for 4 years and go to the cheapest. Add any school to your application which has a shot at being relatively cheap. Stony Brook, Buffalo, UConn, Cali state schools, Rutgers.
 
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