Need honest honest opinion

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polarnut

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Ok I just need some input from people who has good knowledge of what it takes to get into dental school.

These are my numbers:

Graduated from UCLA with BS in Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics major:
Overall GPA: 3.40
Science GPA: 3.43


AA: 20
PAT: 19

QR: 19
RC: 23
Bio: 21
GC: 17
OC: 18
TS: 19



Experience/Extracurricular:
- Volunteered over 800 hours at Vermont Dental Office.
- FinishedRegistered Dental Assistant program at American Career College which included over 720 hours of education and laboratory work; perfect grades.
- UCLA Denture Lab Technique Course: High honors with letter of rec.
- Currently working full-time as dental assistant at UNI Dental Group.



Seriously, what would be my chance of getting in anywhere? I havent gotten any interview requests yet like many other people and its worrying me. These are the schools that I've applied to:

University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) CA
University of the Pacific (UOP) CA
University of Southern California (USC) CA
University of Connecticut (CONN) CT
Nova Southeastern University (NSU) FL
Boston University School of Medicine (BU) MA
Harvard School of Dental Medicine (HVD) MA
Tufts University (TUF) MA
Creighton University (CRE) NE
University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) NV
Columbia University (CUL) NY
New York University (NYU) NY
State University of New York at Buffalo (BUF) NY
State University of New York Stony Brook (SUSB) NY
Case Western Reserve University (CWR) OH
University of Pennsylvania (PENN) PA
University of Pittsburgh (PITT) PA
Temple University (TEMP) PA
University of Washington (WASH) WA

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i don't see any reason as to why you wouldn't get accepted anywhere, you seem well rounded, and committed.
 
How old are you polarnut? How long did it take to complete those 800 hours and the 720 hours for dental assistant? I agree with the above poster. Your gpa and scores are within the competitive range and you seem to have all your bases covered. good luck with those interviews. I think those invites will come soon enough. Don't stress.
 
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Copacetic52 said:
How old are you polarnut? How long did it take to complete those 800 hours and the 720 hours for dental assistant? I agree with the above poster. Your gpa and scores are within the competitive range and you seem to have all your bases covered. good luck with those interviews. I think those invites will come soon enough. Don't stress.


I'm 22 soon to be 23. Yeah, my 3rd and 4th year in college were pretty hectic...and thats an understatement....heh :p

I don't know. I've been looking around other people's numbers and they are waaaaaaay more impressive than mine. :eek:

I'm especially worried about my Gen Chem and OChem scores on my DAT. They are reaaally low..... :(
 
No worries. Those interview letters will start coming soon enough. Your scores are right in the ballpark to get you multiple acceptances.
 
Dr.SpongeBobDDS said:
No worries. Those interview letters will start coming soon enough. Your scores are right in the ballpark to get you multiple acceptances.


From the words of Tuff Gong

Just can't live that negative way...make way for the positive day!

HD
 
thanks, i just hate this waiting game. bleh :cool:
 
As long as you know that the schools have received your complete application, all you can do is wait. If you haven't checked yet, it is very common to courteously call the school and double check that they have a complete application for you. If you are missing something, they won't necessarily contact you.

But, if everythings done... be patient. It's not even October yet. I turned my application in pretty close to the deadline and didn't get my first interview until February.
 
How long did it take you to finish the dental assistant program? How did you find time to do that while doing your undergrad?
 
What state are you a resident of? Some of those state schools will be a real reach out of state.
 
You're application is golden: great numbers, experience, etc., and schools will be very interested in you. As others have noted, some of the schools on your list might be a reach as they are state and rather xenophobic towards out-of-staters, namely Washington. Buffalo and Stony Brook might give you some grief, but I don't know for sure. You do stand a very good chance at all of the other ones on your list.

I think you applied to too many schools, though. I'm sure you won't have any problems getting interviews. With that said, don't be afraid to rank your schools and decline some interviews if you find yourself attending several of them. I applied to too many myself and ended up canceling some late interviews as I already interviewed at my top schools and walked away with a good feeling (Penn, obviously, being one of them). This process can be very costly in terms of time and money. Nonetheless I'm confident you'll do well. Best of luck!
 
polarnut-
i just graduated from ucla last june and literally had almost the exact same numbers (i had a 21 aa, but a 18 pat) with the same gpa, graduated in MCDB. I also logged a ton of hours at a dentist office. If you're worried about not getting in at all you really shouldn't be unless you have some skeletons in your closet. You're scores are good and you should get in somewhere.

I'm assuming that you are a CA resident, hopefully, you turned in your application very early, this will give you a much better chance at the CA schools. If you don't get in anywhere in CA don't worry, CA schools are really competitive but there are many other good options.

Don't be alarmed if you don't even get an interview at USC because I didn't either, I think they try and profile too much. Of the other schools I will tell you my experience with them:

BU gives out a lot of interviews, you should get one, hopefully you'll get it out of the way early and get accepted and have a nice back up

Harvard will probably be hit or miss whether or not you get an interview, but probably not, they are really competitive

Tufts-you should probably get an interview, i didn't from them, but i know other people from ucla with worse scores than me who got in there

UNLV-new school, great facilities, surprisingly competitive, but not too tough, you should get an interview there (make sure you sent them 3 academic letters of rec). I was really impressed by there school and it is a great out of state option for someone from cali (really the only drawback is how new the school is)

Buffalo-this is the school that i am currently attending. you should get an interview from them since it is on the same competitive scale as unlv or so. i have nothing but great things to say about the school so far, good academically, preclinic needs some work, but their actual clinics make up for it because they are beautiful and they are about to put a ton of money into them for new chairs, new equipment, etc. another great out of state option (except that its a little far from ca and the weather here is a lot different)

stony brook-don't be surprised if you don't get an interview, they have a huge bias for new york residents

case-i didn't get an interview there

upenn-didn't get an interview there either

temple-they interview everybody who scored 18's or higher on the dat and got above a 3.0 gpa my year, nothing really impressed me at their school other than their patient volume. another good back up, make sure if you havn't gotten accepted that you kiss ass to them and make sure you show interest. they know their school isn't as competitive and therefore, they want to see you showing an interest

washington-they also mainly take people from washington, i didn't get accepted nor rejected according to their letter, the letter i got mainly just said that i was a good applicant but i was out of state. but i have heard great things about this school from various faculty at various schools

So anyways, don't be alarmed if you don't even get an interview from the CA schools, it can be really frustrating being a CA resident cuz the ca schools are so competitive and then you are out-of-state everywhere else. anyways, good luck, i'm sure you'll get in somewhere, it just depends on where you get in, hope this helps

p.s. this is just my experience and if anyone disagrees with me i don't really want to hear it because i'm not saying i'm right, just my experience

polarnut said:
University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) CA
University of the Pacific (UOP) CA
University of Southern California (USC) CA
University of Connecticut (CONN) CT
Nova Southeastern University (NSU) FL
Boston University School of Medicine (BU) MA

Harvard School of Dental Medicine (HVD) MA
Tufts University (TUF) MA
Creighton University (CRE) NE
University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) NV
Columbia University (CUL) NY
New York University (NYU) NY
State University of New York at Buffalo (BUF) NY
State University of New York Stony Brook (SUSB) NY
Case Western Reserve University (CWR) OH
University of Pennsylvania (PENN) PA
University of Pittsburgh (PITT) PA
Temple University (TEMP) PA
University of Washington (WASH) WA
 
coolslugs said:
How long did it take you to finish the dental assistant program? How did you find time to do that while doing your undergrad?

The program takes about 9 months. For me, I had like classes from 9am to 2pm, then go straight to dental office for volunteering from 3 to 6, and then from 6:30 to 11:30 it was the dental assisting program at American Career College. Monday thru Friday! It was freaking ridiculously ridiculous, I'm telling you :eek:
 
Dukie said:
What state are you a resident of? Some of those state schools will be a real reach out of state.

I'm from California. I found out about Washington that it's a in-state only thing after I applied. It was a bit of carelessness in my part. Do you know which schools are like that? Some schools are part of the program, I forget the name, where they accept only in-staters and people from adjacent states. I hope I don't have too many of those in my list of schools.
 
Thanks, superchris! How did you get into Buffalo? Isn't that one of those in-staters only school?
 
polarnut said:
Thanks, superchris! How did you get into Buffalo? Isn't that one of those in-staters only school?


I'm not totally sure. I also had about 3 years research experience too and one of the people who interviewed me was a Ph.D. so she really liked that. I would say that my class is about 15% out of state (estimate) so I wouldn't call it a complete in-state school. My advice would be to kiss as much ass as possible (aka show a ton of interest in the school, flat out say "I would love to go here and its my top choice", etc) during your interview because schools are really hesitant to accept out of state students. I regret not doing more of that, but once again my personal experience. Let me know if you have any other questions about buffalo
 
polarnut,
why did you go to american career college? isn't bryman college closer to ucla than american career college is? Your schedule is crazy. How much sleep did you actually get each day with all that homework and stuff? what year did you take dental assisting? how is the work load? do you have homework everyday?
 
Copacetic52 said:
polarnut,
why did you go to american career college? isn't bryman college closer to ucla than american career college is? Your schedule is crazy. How much sleep did you actually get each day with all that homework and stuff? what year did you take dental assisting? how is the work load? do you have homework everyday?

American Career College had better equipments and faculty. And a whopping $900 cheaper. The whole DA program costs $9900.

I averaged around 5 hours....less when I had midterms and finals and stuff.

I took dental assisting my 3rd year. Workload isn't all that bad, but it is a 20 hour or so per week commitment. But I definitely learned alot so I dont regret a bit.
 
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