- Joined
- Jan 10, 2010
- Messages
- 22
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I graduated from a top 20 university, competitive bio major (literally everyone was either premend or predent), 3.7 cummulative and 3.7 bcp , 23AA 22PAT , shadowed over 100 hours, worked as dental assistant after college, 3 years of research, graduated with honors, president of a large philanthropic club..you get the point...I worked VERY hard.
I applied to 12 schools knowing that dental admissions is very difficult and random. But here's the thing...I worked 8 hours a day, stuck in traffic for 2, then private tutored for an hour or two everyday. I was always completely drained after work and I didn't complete my app until end of Sept and was mailed out in October. Biggest mistake ever. I've worked so hard to build up a good resume and then kinda shot myself in the foot by applying late.
Lucky for me, I got 1 acceptance. Oh boy was I relieved. I got flat out rejected from 4 schools, and haven't heard from the rest for the past 4 months. I really have been taking what my peers have said witha grain of salt, mostly because I know how premeds/predents are...gunnerish and I also heard of people getting plenty of interviews when they applied in september. But now I am a true believer that you must apply early. At first, I thought I had a red flag somewhere, but at the interview, my interviewer told me cold that I had a great application and one of the strongest letters of rec, but I had applied too late. They told me that I was in the last interview cycle, and anyone who had applied after me (October) would "not be considered for an interview unless they have a 3.9".
I am so thankful I have this acceptance and really think that this is the plan of a higher being, but I will always wonder if I could have gotten into my state school (which would have been $80k cheaper) had I applied earlier. I never knew what the deadline was for being considered "early". From calling and talking to a couple schools a couple weeks ago, I think it is late-August. Anything after that, I think you are taking a big risk. I wish I had known what this "deadline" was. I thought, "boy I am submitting my app 3 months earlier than the absolute deadline. Not bad.." Wrong.
What are some of your biggest regrets during the application cycle?
I applied to 12 schools knowing that dental admissions is very difficult and random. But here's the thing...I worked 8 hours a day, stuck in traffic for 2, then private tutored for an hour or two everyday. I was always completely drained after work and I didn't complete my app until end of Sept and was mailed out in October. Biggest mistake ever. I've worked so hard to build up a good resume and then kinda shot myself in the foot by applying late.
Lucky for me, I got 1 acceptance. Oh boy was I relieved. I got flat out rejected from 4 schools, and haven't heard from the rest for the past 4 months. I really have been taking what my peers have said witha grain of salt, mostly because I know how premeds/predents are...gunnerish and I also heard of people getting plenty of interviews when they applied in september. But now I am a true believer that you must apply early. At first, I thought I had a red flag somewhere, but at the interview, my interviewer told me cold that I had a great application and one of the strongest letters of rec, but I had applied too late. They told me that I was in the last interview cycle, and anyone who had applied after me (October) would "not be considered for an interview unless they have a 3.9".
I am so thankful I have this acceptance and really think that this is the plan of a higher being, but I will always wonder if I could have gotten into my state school (which would have been $80k cheaper) had I applied earlier. I never knew what the deadline was for being considered "early". From calling and talking to a couple schools a couple weeks ago, I think it is late-August. Anything after that, I think you are taking a big risk. I wish I had known what this "deadline" was. I thought, "boy I am submitting my app 3 months earlier than the absolute deadline. Not bad.." Wrong.
What are some of your biggest regrets during the application cycle?
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