Please Help an Applicant Seeking Advice

[Dental407]

---

Members do not see this ad.

Hello everyone,

I was hoping I can get some application advice from anyone who is willing to help. I am applying to dental school for this upcoming 2008-2009 cycle. I know the number one advice people continually say when applying for dental school is to apply early, but I have a question about this. I am a re-applicant for this upcoming cycle because I was personally ill when I took my DAT exam so I need to re-take the DAT exam which I plan to take in July or early August at the latest. I have taken additional courses since applying last year for dental school and as a re-applicant, I believe it's important to show ways my application has improved. I am currently taking science classes at two colleges right now, one of which ends in mid-May and grades will be available for transcript release by May 28th at the latest and the other which ends June 12th and the transcript for this class will also be available right after because this college has their professors enter grades immediately after finals in their computer system.

I plan to create an account on AADSAS on May 15th and fill out all the information but since I am a re-applicant, I have to at least wait for final grades to be released by my professors to submit my AADSAS application (my finals at this college end on May 15th). However, I have to wait until the May 28th grade release at the latest for my grades from this college for a transcript release (this college is different from my undergraduate college where I received my BS degree so I plan to have transcript released for my undergraduate college released on May 15th). I plan on rush delivering the transcripts to AADSAS for the college that releases grades on May 28th.

My major dilemma is since I have to wait anyway until May 28th for my updated grades, should I wait until mid-June to submit my AADSAS application or do you think would be too late? The class that ends in June is Microbiology and I have an A+ in the course. I have 7 weeks left in the course where I feel very confident that I will still have an A+ in the course which technically counts for more AADSAS GPA points. The course is also worth 5 semester units. My dilemma is I possibly might take the final for the course early, on June 5th rather than June 12th and since at this college, the professor manually enters grades into the college and transcripts are ready for release right after and I can rush deliver transcripts to AADSAS, should I wait this additional time? Below I have indicated the difference in my cumulative, science and BCP GPA between waiting or not and my biggest concern is the difference it makes in the science and BCP GPA sections. I am not sure what to do since the earliest I can submit my application is around May 28th for the other college grades, should I wait the additional time for the other college grades too since the time difference is not too much or should I apply earlier. If I apply early and I want to send transcripts to each college of the additional Microbiology course I took, that is an additional cost, but I am willing to pay if you think it is necessary. Oh one last thing, all my LOR are ready for dental school except this Microbiology professor is writing a LOR for me so that is another thing I was thinking about, should I wait to include the Microbiology course since I am planning on using this instructor as a LOR or just send in transcripts to each school individually. By the way, I have a strong leadership and extracurricular dental and non-dental community service experience as well as research experience (no publications though) if that might help you in offering me advice. Thanks in advance for any help and sorry this message was so long.

Cumulative GPA:
1. Apply earlier: 3.39
2. Apply first or second week of June: 3.42

Science GPA:
1. Apply earlier: 3.26
2. Apply first or second week of June: 3.32

BCP GPA:
1. Apply earlier: 3.32
2. Apply first or second week of June: 3.38

Please help!

 

[ummjoey]

you can submit your application early and just send in your transcripts later?

i think sending you transcripts in on june 12th should be better. there is a pretty big difference in the gpa.

 

[artanis]

I am in the same dilemma. I talked to many people applying to American Schools. This is what I was told. Apply early as possible, send transcripts, PS, LOR if available, and transcripts. On your application, it ask you for courses IN progress or what not. If they are important, like in my case biochemistry, phys chem 2, organic chem 2, and physics 2 are all gonna be in progress this summer. They will most likely wait for those grades to come in before rejecting you automatically. Once completed those courses, resend your transcript and then there is a time you can submit your official transcripts to the schools at which point you should let them know explicitly about the update in the courses.

 

[Dental407]

umjoey, I have a quick question for you. You mentioned the GPA difference is pretty big which is what I am concerned about but when you mentioned to send in transcript June 12th, did you meant to AADSAS so apply later or did you mean to each dental school? Do you think sending them to dental school would be a better option even though the schools will not probably re-calculate my GPA and would probably see the new numbers during the academic update period in November-Dec. of 2008? Thanks for your help.

Anyone else, any advice?

 

[ummjoey]

umjoey, I have a quick question for you. You mentioned the GPA difference is pretty big which is what I am concerned about but when you mentioned to send in transcript June 12th, did you meant to AADSAS so apply later or did you mean to each dental school? Do you think sending them to dental school would be a better option even though the schools will not probably re-calculate my GPA and would probably see the new numbers during the academic update period in November-Dec. of 2008? Thanks for your help.

Anyone else, any advice?

i meant to AADSAS. i dont remember sending the schools my transcripts for the primary application. i know UCLA wants official transcripts for their secondary.

when you apply to AADSAS, you have to fill out all your information and submit the application. you can submit your application as early as possible after you filled out all the information. you also have to send in your lors and transcripts. ideally you want to send these in as early as possible too. however, if you want to wait for your grades, then you will have to send you transcripts in a little bit late.

again, i am not sure if you are suppose to send your transcripts to each school. i didnt do this.

i said sending your transcripts in on june 12 should be better. i did not say it is better. i am not part of any admissions commitee, so i cannot say exactly what will be better. i was just giving you my opinion.

in the end, i dont think it will make a big difference. i would think dat and ECs are more important than sending your application early with a 3.39 or june 12 with a 3.42.

i still consider sending in your transcripts on june 12 is considered pretty early. that is only if everything in your application is done and ready to go.