No acceptance, No upcoming interviews..

[blueonblue]

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Hey guys,

First of all, congratulations to all of you who received the acceptances!

As you can read from the title, I did not get any acceptance today, which is sad 🙁
Anyone else in the same situation as me?

I know some schools will be sending out post-dec interviews.. but I'm losing hope and trying to see what went wrong..

I've applied to 10 schools (Boston, LECOM, Maryland, Temple, UDM, NYU, Pitts, Buffalo, UMich, Case) and only received one pre-dec interview from UDM, rejected from Pitts, waitlisted at Case.

Application complete date: Aug 31st. (DAT was in July )
My stats are..
Bio major from a state school
3.96 gpa (both overall/science)
21 AA 23 TS 23 PAT (27 in bio, 16 in RC)
1 year of Research experience in the field of neuroendocrinology.
120 hours of shadowing (General dentist)
Volunteers (serving lunch to homeless, mission trip, Sunday school teacher, translator volunteer)


1. I know I do not have a great EC... no leadership experience, dental-related volunteer. I had to work due to financial issues..

2. My RC is significantly lower than my other scores.. idk what happened during the RC section..

3. During my interview with UDM, the interviewer mentioned that one of the recommendation letters had a typo with Mr. and Ms.. and he wondered how the professor didn't know if I was a male or female.

I just could not believe that my professor did this because he knows me well and was very excited to submit a letter for me. He submitted the letter on June 2nd, immediately after the portal was open..
I just don't know how one could make this mistake. He's from Russia and English is not his first language, but still.. how can this happen????

I am thinking about retaking DAT in December to get a higher score on RC. Is it too late?
What can I do to get post-dec interview at this point.. 🙁 Should I just wait..
I honestly don't have a back-up plan and dentistry is all I want to do.. and just thinking about reapplying makes me want to kill myself 🙁


Any advice and comments are appreciated..!

 

[baronen26]

I'm in the exact same boat as you. First things first, let's hope from a call from UDM tomorrow

 

[DrToothDriller]

First of all, it is not over till class starts in July or August (depending on the school that you applied to). I don't think you need to retake the DAT unless the schools that you applied to look very high into RC. I've also heard that you don't necessarily need to have volunteer hours in dentistry and have actually heard that it's best if you help in different areas to show that you really care about your community. On the other hand, I think that your orgo chem professor had a typo in your letter. BUT, that could've been what has been pulling you back. I've always been told to be very careful who I ask to write a letter for me. I've heard of people with perfect GPAs and perfect DAT scores who weren't even interviewed cause of the letters of recommendation. If I were a professor and didn't have anything positive to say about the student, I think I'd prefer to say no and apologize, but I wouldn't write a letter that can potentially ruin that person't future. But, from what I've heard, it happens...
If I were you, I would just wait... I'd try to be patient and wait... Is this your first time applying? 🙁

 

[blueonblue]

I'm in the exact same boat as you. First things first, let's hope from a call from UDM tomorrow

Are you from the west coast?
I feel like tomorrow's calls will be mostly given to the west coast people..

 

[blueonblue]

First of all, it is not over till class starts in July or August (depending on the school that you applied to). I don't think you need to retake the DAT unless the schools that you applied to look very high into RC. I've also heard that you don't necessarily need to have volunteer hours in dentistry and have actually heard that it's best if you help in different areas to show that you really care about your community. On the other hand, I think that your orgo chem professor had a typo in your letter. BUT, that could've been what has been pulling you back. I've always been told to be very careful who I ask to write a letter for me. I've heard of people with perfect GPAs and perfect DAT scores who weren't even interviewed cause of the letters of recommendation. If I were a professor and didn't have anything positive to say about the student, I think I'd prefer to say no and apologize, but I wouldn't write a letter that can potentially ruin that person't future. But, from what I've heard, it happens...
If I were you, I would just wait... I'd try to be patient and wait... Is this your first time applying? 🙁

Thank you for the reply..!
Yes, it's my first time applying. It's really hard to tell my parents and friends that I didn't get any acceptances and to see everyone getting multiple invites...

I couldn't believe that he made a mistake on the letter and it is affecting my chances.. He was the first person that came to my mind when considering whom to ask for the recommendation letters.. I thought his letter would be the strongest one because I was the top student in both orgo 1 & 2 and I didn't even have to take final for that class.

You're right.. I've seen people with similar or lower stats than me having no problem getting acceptances here on SDN and in real life..
I guess all I can do at this point is waiting.. hoping to hear from schools.. Thank you!

 

[baronen26]

Are you from the west coast?
I feel like tomorrow's calls will be mostly given to the west coast people..

I'm In-state... You never know. Compare this year's acceptance thread to last year's. There seems to be a lot more activity last year, plus west coast people have already been called. Maybe this year he just divided the list in two? Just being optimistic

 

[DrToothDriller]

Thank you for the reply..!
Yes, it's my first time applying. It's really hard to tell my parents and friends that I didn't get any acceptances and to see everyone getting multiple invites...

I couldn't believe that he made a mistake on the letter and it is affecting my chances.. He was the first person that came to my mind when considering whom to ask for the recommendation letters.. I thought his letter would be the strongest one because I was the top student in both orgo 1 & 2 and I didn't even have to take final for that class.

You're right.. I've seen people with similar or lower stats than me having no problem getting acceptances here on SDN and in real life..
I guess all I can do at this point is waiting.. hoping to hear from schools.. Thank you!

🙁I know... But cheer up! Like I said, this isn't game over yet. In the meantime, try to focus on other stuff (I know it's easier said than done cause I, myself, haven't been able to focus on school these past 2-3 days).
I'm just thinking that the typo could be the problem cause adcoms don't know how much you know your professor and how much he know you, you know what I mean? Sometimes adcoms are so used to reading applications, PSs, LORs that maybe they are just generalizing and thinking of that typo as a bad thing... I mean, you never know. With these things you never know unless you contact the school and they flat out and honestly tell you the reasons why they are doing what they are doing.
I've read of people that applied x+1 times and nothing. I've heard of people applying for the first time and only one school and gotten an acceptance. I mean, this is a game where the rules are out there but anything can happen. So, my advice: STAY STRONG. DON'T GIVE UP. NEVER GIVE UP.
Good luck!!!!!! (keep us posted)...

 

[Typical Average Student]

I'm not sure I'm understanding what you're saying when you say "my organic chem professor wrote, he didn't know if I was male or female.."
Did he literally write "I don't know if this person is a male or female"? or did he only do a small typo with Mr. and Ms.? If the former, then that would really suck... I was actually shocked to see you have no acceptances or more interviews with those stats!

The 16 in RC shouldn't hurt you that much but some schools have a cut off on minimum DAT scores. If anything, I think it's the letter... if not, maybe personal statement or extracurriculars?

 

[blueonblue]

I'm not sure I'm understanding what you're saying when you say "my organic chem professor wrote, he didn't know if I was male or female.."
Did he literally write "I don't know if this person is a male or female"? or did he only do a small typo with Mr. and Ms.? If the former, then that would really suck... I was actually shocked to see you have no acceptances or more interviews with those stats!

The 16 in RC shouldn't hurt you that much but some schools have a cut off on minimum DAT scores. If anything, I think it's the letter... if not, maybe personal statement or extracurriculars?

Sorry for the confusion. I didn't make that clear. I was almost crying when I wrote this...
There was a typo with Mr. and Ms..
My personal statement is nothing extraordinary.. I think it's just average.. Idk I lost all my of confidence! The letter..... Sigh

 

[Typical Average Student]

Sorry for the confusion. I didn't make that clear. I was almost crying when I wrote this...
There was a typo with Mr. and Ms..
My personal statement is nothing extraordinary.. I think it's just average.. Idk I lost all my of confidence! The letter..... Sigh

If that's the case, I wouldn't worry about it. I would just keep waiting.

 

[blueonblue]

🙁I know... But cheer up! Like I said, this isn't game over yet. In the meantime, try to focus on other stuff (I know it's easier said than done cause I, myself, haven't been able to focus on school these past 2-3 days).
I'm just thinking that the typo could be the problem cause adcoms don't know how much you know your professor and how much he know you, you know what I mean? Sometimes adcoms are so used to reading applications, PSs, LORs that maybe they are just generalizing and thinking of that typo as a bad thing... I mean, you never know. With these things you never know unless you contact the school and they flat out and honestly tell you the reasons why they are doing what they are doing.
I've read of people that applied x+1 times and nothing. I've heard of people applying for the first time and only one school and gotten an acceptance. I mean, this is a game where the rules are out there but anything can happen. So, my advice: STAY STRONG. DON'T GIVE UP. NEVER GIVE UP.
Good luck!!!!!! (keep us posted)...

Thank you! It means so much.. I was so depressed all day 🙁
I hope they don't view it as a huge flaw in my application..

 

[jsptr986]

retake the DAT, your RC score is less than 50%. dental school is like taking ~25 semester hrs each semester for the first two years , the schools really do take this score into consideration. if you do have to reapply make sure you submit your app in june.

 

[fogorvostan]

I'm willing to bet that the low RC score is harming more than the typo in your LOR. I was accepted into LECOM with a lower GPA and lower AA/TS than you, but I also had a 23 on my RC section.

 

[blueonblue]

retake the DAT, your RC score is less than 50%. dental school is like taking ~25 semester hrs each semester for the first two years , the schools really do take this score into consideration. if you do have to reapply make sure you submit your app in june.

I'm willing to bet that the low RC score is harming more than the typo in your LOR. I was accepted into LECOM with a lower GPA and lower AA/TS than you, but I also had a 23 on my RC section.

Thanks guys.
Yes, I can't help but think that I didn't even get through the RC minimum score screen for most schools.. At least for temple and maryland.

I esubmitted prior to taking DAT and that stupid 16 RC was unexpected.. 🙁

I've seen a person here on SDN got accepted to LECOM with 16RC but her application was complete in June. So i guess applying in August definitely affected too.

Idk at this point... Nothing I can do I guess.. Sigh..

 

[Dent_2016!]

Thanks guys.
Yes, I can't help but think that I didn't even get through the RC minimum score screen for most schools.. At least for temple and maryland.

I esubmitted prior to taking DAT and that stupid 16 RC was unexpected.. 🙁

I've seen a person here on SDN got accepted to LECOM with 16RC but her application was complete in June. So i guess applying in August definitely affected too.

Idk at this point... Nothing I can do I guess.. Sigh..

Yeah I would retake the DAT as much as that sucks since your other sections are great. All the research that's been done on outcomes of DAT scores shows that the bio section and the RC section have strongest positive correlation with performance in dental school and boards.

 

[willwash]

Guys, I got into UF and cancelled my 11 December interview at Nova. Hope that helps at least a little. I'm sure I'm not the only one.

 

[blueonblue]

Yeah I would retake the DAT as much as that sucks since your other sections are great. All the research that's been done on outcomes of DAT scores shows that the bio section and the RC section have strongest positive correlation with performance in dental school and boards.

How odd is that I have 27 in bio and 16 in RC.... Thought my high bio score might compensate for the RC score...

 

[fogorvostan]

Thanks guys.
Yes, I can't help but think that I didn't even get through the RC minimum score screen for most schools.. At least for temple and maryland.

I esubmitted prior to taking DAT and that stupid 16 RC was unexpected.. 🙁

I've seen a person here on SDN got accepted to LECOM with 16RC but her application was complete in June. So i guess applying in August definitely affected too.

Idk at this point... Nothing I can do I guess.. Sigh..

I have a feeling that if I had submitted everything in June, that I would be looking at other interviews and/or acceptances. It's definitely a learning experience. I would suggest mentally preparing that you may have to reapply next year and consider retaking the DAT. You already scored highly in the other sections so I'm sure you remember a lot of it. A higher RC score + your GPA and submitting on time would be more than enough in my opinion.

It is also only December 2nd. So it's possible that you may receive post-December interview requests.

 

[Sweet Toother]

I think it's a little bit late to retake the DAT now because it may take up to 2-4 weeks to update the new score.
Just patiently wait. I know a lot of people got in last minutes (like 3 days before matriculation)...so don't give up yet 😉