Mom died, application is in shambles.

[mrdeez]

My mom died unexpectedly during finals week of last semester (fall 2016).



The original plan was to study for the DAT all of Christmas break and take the test the second week of spring semester. Obviously, dealing with this, not to mention the crazy nature of her death (murder conspiracies, family members suing each other, detectives, etc.) has thrown everything completely off track.



As of now, two main things are working against me if I want to apply this cycle:

1. I have incompletes on my transcript for all of my classes last semester. I have one year to take the finals to get a grade.

2. I somehow have to take the DAT before summer, and figure out how to study for it with my current (insane) school/work/shadow/volunteer/research schedule. Not to mention personal statements, rec letters, etc. that come with the application process.





Here is my current question:

I just calculated my GPA including the grades I would have made last semester if I took the final. This GPA would be 3.57. If I get the grades I expect THIS semester while KEEPING the incompletes from last semester, I would have a 3.61. None of my friends have any experience with incompletes and I need to know if they are a big deal on an application. If they aren't, will I have an opportunity to explain myself? Is it a good idea to keep them and have a higher GPA?



If I can put off taking last semesters finals, that is one less thing on my already infinite to-do list for my application in June. If not, things are looking dim for me this cycle. Let me know what you think.

The obvious alternative is to take a gap year. In this scenario, I will have all summer to study for the DAT, a publication in my name by next cycle, an extra year of grades to (hopefully) bring my GPA up, enough shadowing hours, volunteering, etc. but I'm already old and don't want to wait. Help.

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[DC206R]

I would personally get everything sorted and proceed with the "alternative" you mentioned in the last part of your post. Get all your ducks in a row and have a strong application later.

 

[Domonu]

Well first off, I'm sorry for your loss.

In all honesty, you might need that gap year. It will let you coordinate everything and hopefully less stuff would fall through the cracks as a result.

However if I were in your shoes I wouldn't want to deal with the gap year, so this would be my strategy. I'm far from an expert but this is definitely what I would do.

First is the DAT. I took mine in mid-May right before I started the AADSAS and that worked really well. I was able to study during spring semester and then had a few weeks to dedicate to 8 hour study days in preparation. At this point in February, you would probably be considered behind so you could try and take it a few months later, let's say in late-June or early July. Not exactly ideal but possible. This isn't something you want to do poorly on so it should be your big determinant factor. Do you think you can do well on the DAT? The semi-nice thing about your situation is that if those finals are at all relevant to the DAT, studying for them will allow you to double dip and learn material for the DAT.

Now, if you cannot take those finals before you submit your transcripts to ADEA (you want to do this as soon after June 1 as you can) you're in a bit of a different boat. In your personal statement you should tell your story and explain the incompletes. You might benefit from the Academic Update so you can submit your transcripts with incompletes, tell the schools you're applying to that you will have those done by November-ish and then show them the academic update with your incompletes replaced with As. Your personal statement will be big on this, there might even be ways to contact the schools.

If you need to scale back on something, scale back on shadowing (as long as you have somewhat sufficient hours) and scale back on research. Use that time to study for the DAT. Take some of your personal time and spend it shadowing. Be as efficient as possible.

Go ask for your letters now if you have a good relationship with your writers. Then you'll just need to send them a reminder email in June and tell them to watch out for the link to submit it.

Write your personal statement now. Submit it to your University writing center, adapt it, resubmit it, have people read it, send it to an SDN member, anything. You only need to put in ~1 hour per week and you'll be able to spread it out and get a really good one.

It isn't ideal, but it is something. You need to decide if you would be confident to take the DAT in ~4 months. If not, you have to do the gap year. If you think you can manage it, then you'll need to work hard but I would think it is possible.

 

[luisfigo]

I had 3 incompletes 3 F's a D several C's, and imo got into the best program in the country, and I'm old. Kill the DAT and you're fine

 

[C_BryantDDS]

I may be wrong but I thought if you didn't finish an Incomplete within the allotted time period that it would be changed to an F...

 

[mrdeez]

I may be wrong but I thought if you didn't finish an Incomplete within the allotted time period that it would be changed to an F...

This may be the case at your university. At my school, you have one year from the day you got the incomplete to finish the coursework that is still left. If you don't finish within one year, it defaults to a calculated default grade. Either way, this isn't an issue I'm concerned about, I will take the finals regardless. The main purpose of the post was to come up with a course of action to be able to apply this cycle, and find out if I should prioritize getting rid of the incompletes by the time I apply. If it isn't a big deal, that would be a huge time saver.

 

[super frank]

I would suggest a gap year. Take some time to yourself.

 

[mrdeez]

Well first off, I'm sorry for your loss.

In all honesty, you might need that gap year. It will let you coordinate everything and hopefully less stuff would fall through the cracks as a result.

However if I were in your shoes I wouldn't want to deal with the gap year, so this would be my strategy. I'm far from an expert but this is definitely what I would do.

First is the DAT. I took mine in mid-May right before I started the AADSAS and that worked really well. I was able to study during spring semester and then had a few weeks to dedicate to 8 hour study days in preparation. At this point in February, you would probably be considered behind so you could try and take it a few months later, let's say in late-June or early July. Not exactly ideal but possible. This isn't something you want to do poorly on so it should be your big determinant factor. Do you think you can do well on the DAT? The semi-nice thing about your situation is that if those finals are at all relevant to the DAT, studying for them will allow you to double dip and learn material for the DAT.

Now, if you cannot take those finals before you submit your transcripts to ADEA (you want to do this as soon after June 1 as you can) you're in a bit of a different boat. In your personal statement you should tell your story and explain the incompletes. You might benefit from the Academic Update so you can submit your transcripts with incompletes, tell the schools you're applying to that you will have those done by November-ish and then show them the academic update with your incompletes replaced with As. Your personal statement will be big on this, there might even be ways to contact the schools.

If you need to scale back on something, scale back on shadowing (as long as you have somewhat sufficient hours) and scale back on research. Use that time to study for the DAT. Take some of your personal time and spend it shadowing. Be as efficient as possible.

Go ask for your letters now if you have a good relationship with your writers. Then you'll just need to send them a reminder email in June and tell them to watch out for the link to submit it.

Write your personal statement now. Submit it to your University writing center, adapt it, resubmit it, have people read it, send it to an SDN member, anything. You only need to put in ~1 hour per week and you'll be able to spread it out and get a really good one.

It isn't ideal, but it is something. You need to decide if you would be confident to take the DAT in ~4 months. If not, you have to do the gap year. If you think you can manage it, then you'll need to work hard but I would think it is possible.

I feel I can be ready to take the DAT in late June/early July like you said, but I would have to cut out a lot of things I'm doing right now. For example, I don't have enough hours shadowing/volunteering. I was planning on getting that and a rec letter taken care at the same time. The plan was to develop a currently good, but stagnant relationship with an awesome dentist I met through volunteering last year. I would shadow at his practice and eventually ask for a rec letter, which takes a good bit of time.

The two classes are biochem and molecular/cellular biology. After my DAT studying attempt this holiday break, there was very little that I saw from these classes on the prep material I had (destroyer, CHADS, cliffs, etc.) so I won't have much bang for my buck there.

I hope it doesn't sound like I'm making excuses, there are just a lot of moving parts. What you said helped a ton, I just have some thinking to do. Thanks for such a detailed response!

 

[MickeyMouse45]

i would recommend taking a gap year and apply early next year with solid gpa and dat score.

 

[tlovaj]

Lots of W's, F's, C's, D's, and I's in my transcript. Still got accepted into dental school. I also just turned 30 btw.

Don't worry too much about getting in to dental school sooner than later. Take the gap year. Relax. Get back in to the swing of things.

 

[DOC YANKEM]

TL ; DR

1. Take a gap year with better preparation rather ending up reapplying multiple times and wasting more time

2. Destroy the DAT *cough* dat destroyer *cough*

3. Apply broadly to private schools, stay clear from ivy and some state schools.

 

[mrdeez]

TL ; DR

1. Take a gap year with better preparation rather ending up reapplying multiple times and wasting more time

2. Destroy the DAT *cough* dat destroyer *cough*

3. Apply broadly to private schools, stay clear from ivy and some state schools.

Thanks for this. Can you elaborate on number 3 a bit? I wasn't planning on applying to the ivy schools but whats up with state schools?

 

[deleted678432]

Thanks for this. Can you elaborate on number 3 a bit? I wasn't planning on applying to the ivy schools but whats up with state schools?

State schools tend to accept mainly in-state applicants


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile

 

[DOC YANKEM]

Apply to dental schools that favor older and out of state applicants. I haven't seen many older applicants in my in-state public schools. Private schools due to their higher cost of attendance accept a broader range of applicants.