Nova Secondary: "List all dental schools that you are applying to"

[axe-e-dental]

Hey people, so I was just going through the NOVA secondary application and one of the questions asks to list all the dental schools that I am applying to.

My question is, should I list all? I am applying to >20 schools and that is way above average. Does the school already know how many I am applying to and is this some sort of integrity check? Or do they genuinely not know how many schools an applicant applies to?

If I do list all, will this be looked upon in a bad light? I have good enough stats (23AA, 3.39sGPA, 3.51oGPA) so there is no justification for applying to more than 12-15 schools. I just applied elsewhere because I had some expendable money and just wanted to make sure I broadened my ranges of acceptance due to my lower GPA.

Or do you think it is better to list maybe around 15 and show some sort of pattern based on location, research, clinical exposure, etc..?

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[CanadianGurl]

Put everything down, don't lie!

It would look really bad if they found out. If its any consolation, I have worse stats and applied to more schools and listed every single one!

 

[axe-e-dental]

Put everything down, don't lie!

It would look really bad if they found out. If its any consolation, I have worse stats and applied to more schools and listed every single one!

If you don't mind sharing stats and number of schools you applied to? Have you heard anything back from them ever since you submitted their secondary?

 

[pma96]

I listed all of them. I don't think it matters that much, tbh.

 

[Tommyjj]

I listed my 20+ schools as well. LOL

 

[Life of Pablo]

They don’t know which schools you’re applying to unless you tell them. Listing all 20+ schools is pretty much shooting yourself in the foot. If you decide to tell them all the schools you’re applying to, have a good reason why you’re applying to each and every one. I interviewed there, and they don’t like applicants that randomly apply to a whole bunch of schools (unless there’s a valid reason for it).

 

[IdleKoala]

Is this the secondary they send out after you submit?

 

[predent2151]

My pre health advisor in undergrad discouraged applying to 15+. She said one of her students went into an interview and when he said he applied to 16 schools the interviewer closed his app, said “your clogging the system” and he was rejected. There’s really no reason to apply to >15. If your competitive you’ll get in if you apply to 14 if you’re not competitive you won’t get in if you apply to 20 simple as that. There’s no way you thoroughly researched every school you applied to. The schools will know that and it will be looked at negatively.

 

[axe-e-dental]

Is this the secondary they send out after you submit?

yes

 

[axe-e-dental]

My pre health advisor in undergrad discouraged applying to 15+. She said one of her students went into an interview and when he said he applied to 16 schools the interviewer closed his app, said “your clogging the system” and he was rejected. There’s really no reason to apply to >15. If your competitive you’ll get in if you apply to 14 if you’re not competitive you won’t get in if you apply to 20 simple as that. There’s no way you thoroughly researched every school you applied to. The schools will know that and it will be looked at negatively.

yeah you're right. I only throughly researched about 14-15 schools that I was most interested in applying to. The rest, I just added on due to location of family and maybe "prestige" factor of the schools. Do you think I should list all or no? I don't know if they know all the schools I would've applied to which is bothering me a bit.

 

[axe-e-dental]

They don’t know which schools you’re applying to unless you tell them. Listing all 20+ schools is pretty much shooting yourself in the foot. If you decide to tell them all the schools you’re applying to, have a good reason why you’re applying to each and every one. I interviewed there, and they don’t like applicants that randomly apply to a whole bunch of schools (unless there’s a valid reason for it).

My reason is location basically. My criteria were: 1) Location 2) Cost and 3) Curriculum. I have a lot of family in the South even though I live in the Northern East coast. 15 of my schools are based on the East Coast where they would be close to home. A few more I selected are in the South and their main attractiveness is closeness to relatives and cost. I'm pretty sure cost is not a valid reason I could explain in interviews, but is family a good reason?

 

[predent2151]

yeah you're right. I only throughly researched about 14-15 schools that I was most interested in applying to. The rest, I just added on due to location of family and maybe "prestige" factor of the schools. Do you think I should list all or no? I don't know if they know all the schools I would've applied to which is bothering me a bit.

Pretty sure they can’t see, but they do eventually see where you have deposits down. Just a hypothetical situation, say you get into your number 2 school and waitlisted at your number 1. You obviously put down the deposit for number 2. But say you lied to number 1 about applying to number 2 and when they’re able to see deposits they remember you lied to them, well there goes your shot at your number 1 school. This is obviously hypothetical but the decision is up to you. I wouldn’t recommend lying.

 

[Let me out!]

My pre health advisor in undergrad discouraged applying to 15+. She said one of her students went into an interview and when he said he applied to 16 schools the interviewer closed his app, said “your clogging the system” and he was rejected. There’s really no reason to apply to >15. If your competitive you’ll get in if you apply to 14 if you’re not competitive you won’t get in if you apply to 20 simple as that. There’s no way you thoroughly researched every school you applied to. The schools will know that and it will be looked at negatively.

I don't think that's a fair assessment for the student's ability to attend a dental school.

They should not be asking such questions. It doesn't matter. Denying an application simply for applying to too many schools is just silly.

Out of 16 schools, the student could have been accepted at one of them. He could have also been accepted to a school that he did not apply to, had he applied. You never know. Was the interviewer going to accept the student had he applied to less number of schools...? Clogging the system my a**. If a student is desperate to get into a school, I can understand applying to that many schools, especially if the students' credentials are average or below.

If that was their true intention and is one of determining factors in accepting students, then I truly regret applying there.

However, as Pablo said, you should have good reasons for applying to specific schools that you applied to.

 

[predent2151]

I don't think that's a fair assessment for the student's ability to attend a dental school.

They should not be asking such questions. It doesn't matter. Denying an application simply for applying to too many schools is just silly.

Out of 16 schools, the student could have been accepted at one of them. He could have also been accepted to a school that he did not apply to, had he applied. You never know. Was the interviewer going to accept the student had he applied to less number of schools...? Clogging the system my a**. If a student is desperate to get into a school, I can understand applying to that many schools, especially if the students' credentials are average or below.

If that was their true intention and is one of determining factors in accepting students, then I truly regret applying there.

However, as Pablo said, you should have good reasons for applying to specific schools that you applied to.

I disagree. Every school has applicants that really want to go to that individual school. If you have someone who is just spamming out applications because they think they’re increasing their chances you don’t want that applicant if you have another one with the same stats who really took their time to get to know the school. Taking the time to apply to 20 schools is less efficient then picking 12 and really taking the time to learn about the programs. If your stats are bad enough to where you think you need to apply to that many schools you need to make up for that by showing a passion for the field and the schools you’re applying to, not just sending applications to whomever. That’s just my opinion based off of what professionals have told.

 

[Let me out!]

I disagree. Every school has applicants that really want to go to that individual school. If you have someone who is just spamming out applications because they think they’re increasing their chances you don’t want that applicant if you have another one with the same stats who really took their time to get to know the school. Taking the time to apply to 20 schools is less efficient then picking 12 and really taking the time to learn about the programs. If your stats are bad enough to where you think you need to apply to that many schools you need to make up for that by showing a passion for the field and the schools you’re applying to, not just sending applications to whomever. That’s just my opinion based off of what professionals have told.

I understand. Picking out the right applicant who really wanted to go to that particular school is what the interviews are for. However, at the end of the day, a student that preferred another school will refuse the acceptance and the turn will go to another student. This will happen until their roster is filled.

The stats are not always categorized as simply bad, OK, and good. If your stats are really bad, fine, your point is right on. What if the credentials are slightly below average? Some schools will deny the application and some will ask for interviews which may lead to acceptance. Applying to more schools may increase this chance of happening.

Moreso, what gives them the right to the assumption that the student who applied to 10 schools has more knowledge on each school than a student who applied to 20 schools? It's irrelevant. You can certainly have a student that knows very well about all of those 20 schools while the other student knows nothing about his 10 schools. Denying an application simply because a student applied to 15+ schools as the determining factor is, in my opinion, inappropriate. They might as well then notify not to apply to the students who apply to 15+ schools. That saves students time and money.

If the student applies to 15+ schools and was denied for all of them, fine, that was his choice and there might be a problem with the application/credentials. But his decision to apply to more schools should not be a factor in acceptances or denials to schools.

 

[predent2151]

I understand. Picking out the right applicant who really wanted to go to that particular school is what the interviews are for. However, at the end of the day, a student that preferred another school will refuse the acceptance and the turn will go to another student. This will happen until their roster is filled.

The stats are not always categorized as simply bad, OK, and good. If your stats are really bad, fine, your point is right on. What if the credentials are slightly below average? Some schools will deny the application and some will ask for interviews which may lead to acceptance. Applying to more schools may increase this chance of happening.

Moreso, what gives them the right to the assumption that the student who applied to 10 schools has more knowledge on each school than a student who applied to 20 schools? It's irrelevant. You can certainly have a student that knows very well about all of those 20 schools while the other student knows nothing about his 10 schools. Denying an application simply because a student applied to 15+ schools as the determining factor is, in my opinion, inappropriate. They might as well then notify not to apply to the students who apply to 15+ schools. That saves students time and money.

If the student applies to 15+ schools and was denied for all of them, fine, that was his choice and there might be a problem with the application/credentials. But his decision to apply to more schools should not be a factor in acceptances or denials to schools.

I see what you’re saying. I do agree with this to an extent. Taking into account everything I’ve heard that’s just not how adcoms view it. They want to prevent wasting there time with applicants who aren’t serious about there school. Whether it’s right or not it’s irrelvant. If everyone applied to 20 schools then the admissions process would be much more complicated and time consuming for adcoms. This kind of runs parallel to why schools reject competitive applicants because they think there school is just a safety net for said applicant. This happened last cycle to me at MUSC and Kentucky. It’s not necessarily right but it’s the way it is.

 

[mariobrosdoctor]

I put down all 24 I applied to last cycle and was accepted.

 

[axe-e-dental]

I put down all 24 I applied to last cycle and was accepted.

That's awesome! Did they ask you about your reasoning for applying to so many during the interview?

 

[DentalNucleicAcid]

Don’t worry it doesn’t affect you. It’s probbaly just for statistics. Applied to 25 schools last cycle, listed them all, got in.

 

[helloboys]

I have a good idea. How about you just apply to a few schools first and fill out the NOVA application. Then after you fill out the NOVA application, then submit your other schools. Therefore, your technically not lying!

 

[Firik]

I actually misunderstood the question and I listed my previous cycle schools which were 9 in total whereas now its 19.
Would I get in trouble...

 

[axe-e-dental]

I actually misunderstood the question and I listed my previous cycle schools which were 9 in total whereas now its 19.
Would I get in trouble...

I think the actual question asked for all schools you're applying to as well as all previous schools you've applied to if you're a reapplicant. So, I think you're good. No worries!