On the right track to apply this cycle?

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Claydees

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Hi SDN,

Considering the ADEA has still yet to release a 2015 application guide, I just wanted to make sure I'm on the right track to apply for dental schools this cycle. I'm targeting having my application in by mid-July at the latest since I would like to get into the first batch of applications. Please let me know if I am missing something here.
  • DAT - taken (last year August)
  • Final year of undergraduate schooling - completed (3 days ago)
  • Shadowing - In progress with 2 general dentists. Will have 40 hours by the end of next week (will try for more afterwards but may be difficult)
  • Undergraduate pre-reqs - completed except for 6 units of English (which I will be taking during the summer)
  • Personal statement - writing now
  • DAT score report - will be paying to send scores to schools either today or a few days from now (I hear it takes 4 weeks to get there)
  • Official transcripts - will send after I receive an updated copy containing my final semester courses (which should come out mid-late may...nothing I can do about that)
  • References - I figure I will have 4: 2 from professors I conducted a final year research project under and 2 from dentists (the one's I am shadowing)
  • EC's - 4 clubs/commitments, 2 spanning the majority of my university career
  • Wallet - Preparing itself to be empty
Any glaring oversights? Thank you.
 
You look prepared. If you get that application in by early July, your prospects should be good (assuming your stats are average or higher). The only critique I'd have is the amount of shadowing. I would strive for 75-100 if at all possible.

Hi SDN,

Considering the ADEA has still yet to release a 2015 application guide, I just wanted to make sure I'm on the right track to apply for dental schools this cycle. I'm targeting having my application in by mid-July at the latest since I would like to get into the first batch of applications. Please let me know if I am missing something here.
  • DAT - taken (last year August)
  • Final year of undergraduate schooling - completed (3 days ago)
  • Shadowing - In progress with 2 general dentists. Will have 40 hours by the end of next week (will try for more afterwards but may be difficult)
  • Undergraduate pre-reqs - completed except for 6 units of English (which I will be taking during the summer)
  • Personal statement - writing now
  • DAT score report - will be paying to send scores to schools either today or a few days from now (I hear it takes 4 weeks to get there)
  • Official transcripts - will send after I receive an updated copy containing my final semester courses (which should come out mid-late may...nothing I can do about that)
  • References - I figure I will have 4: 2 from professors I conducted a final year research project under and 2 from dentists (the one's I am shadowing)
  • EC's - 4 clubs/commitments, 2 spanning the majority of my university career
  • Wallet - Preparing itself to be empty
Any glaring oversights? Thank you.
 
Don't pay to send your DAT score everywhere, as long as you send it to one school all schools you applied to will get it
 
You look prepared. If you get that application in by early July, your prospects should be good (assuming your stats are average or higher). The only critique I'd have is the amount of shadowing. I would strive for 75-100 if at all possible.
My stats are pretty average thanks to my first year of university. My GPA will be around 3.45-3.5 when I finish. However I finished with a 3.7, 3.8, and am on track to finish with a 4.2 (4.3 scale [where over 90 = 4.3, 83-89 = 4.0, 80-83 = 3.7, etc.]) in my 2nd, 3rd, and final year respectively. You can probably piece together the extent of damage my first year caused to my GPA from that statement alone :dead:.

DAT score was 20AA, 20TS, 20PAT, 21RC (probably the most boring looking stat sheet you'll ever see).

Regarding the shadowing hours. I will be doing a 4-month program offered for graduates at my school (basically a miniature mba degree for non-business majors who performed well in their last 2 years and would like to gain business skills for their future career). Running a practice as a dentist definitely requires business skills and considering I qualified for the program, I figured it would be a good idea to complete something like this to gain those life skills. However the program starts on May 4th and goes until the last week of August and it is an intensive 8 course program; and considering I will be taking english at the same time, this is why I stated it may be hard to get more shadowing hours following next week. However if I can find time during the week based on the class schedule of the program, I will definitely try to find time to shadow some new dentists (I'll be in a different city for this program).

Thank you for your comment.

Don't pay to send your DAT score everywhere, as long as you send it to one school all schools you applied to will get it
Thank you. So say I order to send my score tomorrow to Boston (the school that took the most Canadians last year), when I get around to submitting my app at a later day (i.e. in June/July) to other schools, I won't have to wonder if those other schools have received my scores? Thanks.
 
I think you'll be fine too. Pretty average all around.

Shadowing is a bit on the low side, would try for at least 75 before applying.

And what @krdeuce is not completely accurate. When you took the DAT, you couldve sent your scores to every single school for no additional charge or you could've checked one and it would have sent to all of the schools. However, if you didnt check any school when you took the DAT. Then you would have pay for each of them individually.
 
Wow...so I must pay 35 for every single school? 😵
 
Oh so if I only checked the California schools at the time of registering for the DAT, but now want to apply to other schools, I don't have to pay to have my score sent to those schools?
 
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