Need help with dental school list

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njfuturedds

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Hi everyone,

I've been having trouble choosing which schools I want to apply to. What factors should I be looking for? The biggest thing that comes to mind for me is location, as I've always wanted to be in or at least near a city. I'm very partial to the east coast because it's near home, especially New York and Philadelphia. I'm also interested in specializing.

State of residency: NJ
cGPA and sGPA: 3.5, could be as high as 3.6 after this semester, at a small state school in NJ
DAT (AA/TS/PAT): 26/25/25, no scores below 21
Shadowing: 100+ hours with a general dentist and have been working for them as an assistant since September 2019.
Volunteering: 100 hours total doing ESL/math tutoring and in a food pantry. I'd like to get more but coronavirus has my whole state and surrounding states on lockdown
Research: ~200 hours in an ecology lab
Extracurriculars: 2 years on executive board for a cultural organization at my school, 1 year on executive board for a cultural organization outside of my school

Schools I definitely want to apply to:
1. Rutgers
2. UPenn
3. Columbia
4. NYU
5. UConn

Here are schools I'm strongly considering but am not completely sure of:
6. Stony Brook
7. UMaryland
8. UPitt
9. UMichigan
10. UChicago (my girlfriend lives in Chicago, but I know they don't take many OOS)
11. Temple

I'm also considering some California schools like UoP, UCLA, UCSF, and Western because of location but I'm not sure on those.

Are there any schools on my list that I should reconsider or absolutely not apply to? Or are there any schools I'm missing that I should consider? Thanks

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Hi everyone,

I've been having trouble choosing which schools I want to apply to. What factors should I be looking for? The biggest thing that comes to mind for me is location, as I've always wanted to be in or at least near a city. I'm very partial to the east coast because it's near home, especially New York and Philadelphia. I'm also interested in specializing.

State of residency: NJ
cGPA and sGPA: 3.5, could be as high as 3.6 after this semester, at a small state school in NJ
DAT (AA/TS/PAT): 26/25/25, no scores below 21
Shadowing: 100+ hours with a general dentist and have been working for them as an assistant since September 2019.
Volunteering: 100 hours total doing ESL/math tutoring and in a food pantry. I'd like to get more but coronavirus has my whole state and surrounding states on lockdown
Research: ~200 hours in an ecology lab
Extracurriculars: 2 years on executive board for a cultural organization at my school, 1 year on executive board for a cultural organization outside of my school

Schools I definitely want to apply to:
1. Rutgers
2. UPenn
3. Columbia
4. NYU
5. UConn

Here are schools I'm strongly considering but am not completely sure of:
6. Stony Brook
7. UMaryland
8. UPitt
9. UMichigan
10. UChicago (my girlfriend lives in Chicago, but I know they don't take many OOS)
11. Temple

I'm also considering some California schools like UoP, UCLA, UCSF, and Western because of location but I'm not sure on those.

Are there any schools on my list that I should reconsider or absolutely not apply to? Or are there any schools I'm missing that I should consider? Thanks

I would take UIC off. They only accept 2 OOS.


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You're a little bit on the low-GPA side for the Ivies. It doesn't mean you shouldn't apply, but you might be a little below their applicant pool average with the GPA's. Temple ought to be higher, and Marquette in Milwaukee isn't that far away from Chicago if you really want to be closer to your other. UConn... don't they take a very small number of OOS?
 
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I would take UIC off. They only accept 2 OOS.


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Thanks, I decided to take it off and more highly consider UMich.

You're a little bit on the low-GPA side for the Ivies. It doesn't mean you shouldn't apply, but you might be a little below their applicant pool average with the GPA's. Temple ought to be higher, and Marquette in Milwaukee isn't that far away from Chicago if you really want to be closer to your other. UConn... don't they take a very small number of OOS?

Yeah I see that. I'm hoping my GPA will get a nice boost after this semester and will definitely get me closer to their average :). I'll look into Marquette and also discuss with my SO more. According to the ADEA Guide and Dental Explorer, UConn's entering class of 2018 was about 50% OOS. What are your thoughts on applying to California schools? I was thinking of UoP, UCSF, and UCLA, with the last two being high reach schools just to see if I have a shot of getting in. Additionally are there any "safeties" I should consider?

Thanks for the help, I really appreciate it!

My updated list is now:
Rutgers
UPitt
Temple
Penn
Columbia
NYU
Stony Brook
UConn
UMich
UoP
UCSF
UCLA
 
Yeah I see that. I'm hoping my GPA will get a nice boost after this semester and will definitely get me closer to their average :). I'll look into Marquette and also discuss with my SO more. According to the ADEA Guide and Dental Explorer, UConn's entering class of 2018 was about 50% OOS. What are your thoughts on applying to California schools? I was thinking of UoP, UCSF, and UCLA, with the last two being high reach schools just to see if I have a shot of getting in. Additionally are there any "safeties" I should consider?
NJ resident applying to CA schools. It can happen. You have to be sure you know those schools very well and understand you'll be very far from home. As for safeties, there are only 60-so dental schools... at least 10 is average.
 
I would suggest Iowa, Ohio State, and Louisville, Your GPA is around their average but you have a high DAT score, so applying to some state schools might lower your tuition. I think Ohio usually offers residency after a year, but not entirely sure about the other two
 
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