PLEASE HELP! OOS applicant, need HELP choosing schools/are the schools I've chosen good with my stats

[deleted936472]

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Hello,
I am not trying to do a "chance me post", I am hoping to apply to dental school this cycle, but I need help. I currently have around 50 hours of shadowing with a few different dentists (I was premed for almost 4 years, until around 8-9 months ago when I discovered dentistry and decided I preferred it to medicine), many schools require or recommend around 100 hours of shadowing, so this has limited the number of schools I can apply to, but I am hoping to have around 75 by the time I apply. Will my shadowing hours be sufficient to make me a competitive applicant? I read about some people with hundreds of shadowing hours, which makes me feel like I am behind and not as competitive!

Stats:
GPA: I attended a satellite campus for a pretty big state school, where I obtained a 4.00 GPA. Before that I went to a community college for 2 years and obtained a 3.93 GPA (I didn't do very well my first quarter). Since I attended a community college there are a few schools I cannot apply to like Tufts, University of Pittsburgh (I have too many CC credits), etc.

So I guess my overall GPA is close to 3.95, my science GPA is also around a 3.95 (my university didn't include my CC credits in their calculation of GPA, so I don't know the real values).

Also, will the schools care that I attended a satellite campus rather than the main campus?

DAT scores:
PAT: 28
QR: 24
RC: 22
BIO: 25
GC: 24
OC: 30
TS: 26
AA: 25

Volunteer hours: 400 hours (I will have around 550 hours if I am able to contact the head of a lab that I volunteered at and get his OK to put his info down).

Shadowing hours: 50 hours (but hoping to get around 75 by the time I apply).

LOR: I will be getting 4 LOR. 1 from a dentist I shadowed, 1 from my ochem professor who I also worked for as a grader, 1 from my inorganic chem professor (not gen chem, but the upper division inorganic chem, if that makes a difference), and 1 from my biochem professor who I also did research with.


Schools I am deciding between:
(The schools are in no particular order)

Touro - New York Medical College
University of Tennessee - I have 5 quarter hours (QH) of microbio, but they require 4 semester hours (SH), which I think is 6 QH, I will call them tomorrow to see if I can apply with 5 QH or if I need more
The University of Iowa
University of Utah - I haven't taken A&P, but I will take it in the fall at a CC.
University of New England
Case Western Reserve - I havent been able to find much about this schools, anyone heard good things?
Rutgers
University of Connecticut
Midwestern University (AZ)

You can dream schools: Which I will be applying to.
University of Pennsylvania
Columbia University

Maybe schools:
University of Kentucky - They require 2 quarters or 1 semester of microbio, whereas I only have 1 quarter. They also require 3 quarters or 2 semester of English classes. but I took 2 quarters of English classes and 1 quarter of a writing intensive philosophy class that counted as a writing credit. Does this philosophy class count as an English class? I will call the school tomorrow to ask about this?
University of Nebraska
University of Colorado
Medical University of South Carolina
University of Louisville
University of Washington

I would have also put VCU and University of Michigan on here, but VCU wants 100-150 shadowing hours and UoM wants 100 shadowing hours.

Are there any schools that you would put on here or take off? Are there any schools that you would move from my "maybe list" to the main list of schools? Are the schools I've chosen good schools for an OOS applicant to apply to?

Thank you in advance to anyone that took the time to read all of this and reply, you are my hero.

 

[AppalachianDentalBoy]

With your stats you're applying to too many schools. Wash, Mich, MWUAZ, VCU, UNE, Touro, Colorado, MUSC, and lousiville are expensive AF for an out of stater and won't give IS tuition. With your stats I would apply to the schools that give in-state tuition after one year (stony brooke, osu, buffalo, maryland, ucla, ucsf, uconn, ...?

Schools won't care that you attended a satellite school. If you're willing to waste half a million on penn and columbia why aren't you applying to harvard too?

 

[wwdentist]

You should do some more digging on these schools. For example, Utah says “We accept legal residents of Utah and surrounding states that do not have dental schools, with emphasis on Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, New Mexico, Alaska, and Hawaii.” Do you fit that description?

Iowa is a great school, and I think you’d be a good fit. Give decent scholarships too.

Avoid Midwestern, you don’t want to pay their tuition.

I believe Nebraska is very OOS unfriendly, especially if you’re not from a neighboring state.

 

[deleted936472]

With your stats you're applying to too many schools. Wash, Mich, MWUAZ, VCU, UNE, Touro, Colorado, MUSC, and lousiville are expensive AF for an out of stater and won't give IS tuition. With your stats I would apply to the schools that give in-state tuition after one year (stony brooke, osu, buffalo, maryland, ucla, ucsf, uconn, ...?

Schools won't care that you attended a satellite school. If you're willing to waste half a million on penn and columbia why aren't you applying to harvard too?

Very good points, I guess I'll add Harvard onto my list 😉 Just kidding, you're 100% correct. I took Penn and Columbia off my list. I'm starting to understand that the prestige of the school really doesn't mean that much...Although I am actually thinking about applying to Harvard, some friends and family think I might have a chance.

Ohio and UNLV both require A & P which I haven't taken and really don't want to take.

@AppalachianDentalBoy I really hope you don't mind, but could you take a look at my new list at the bottom of the post and tell me what you think? 😉

Oh and I was reading the SDN "How to get into dental school guide" and it listed stony brooke as a school that didn't give IS tuition after 1 year. Where did you hear that they do this (because I would really like to apply there and I hope you're right)?

You should do some more digging on these schools. For example, Utah says “We accept legal residents of Utah and surrounding states that do not have dental schools, with emphasis on Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, New Mexico, Alaska, and Hawaii.” Do you fit that description?

Iowa is a great school, and I think you’d be a good fit. Give decent scholarships too.

Avoid Midwestern, you don’t want to pay their tuition.

I believe Nebraska is very OOS unfriendly, especially if you’re not from a neighboring state.

I read that about Utah but assumed that they would accept other WICHE residents, but you might be right, I'll give them a call on Monday.
I took MWU-AZ and Nebraska off my list, you're right Nebraska does not look OOS friendly.

@wwdentist would you mind looking at the new list I have below and giving your thoughts? I would really appreciate it. And Iowa is one of my top schools (which is why I'm applying there 😛), I've heard some really great things!


New list of OOS schools:
The University of Iowa
UCLA
UCSF
University of Connecticut
Rutgers
Case Western Reserve University
University of Colorado
Marquette University
University of Michigan
(MAYBE) University of Maryland - I will call them tomorrow to ask about their LOR requirement (they ask that you submit a LOR from a dentist that you have shadowed for 100hr. I got a LOR from a dentist I shadowed for around 40 hours).


I know the Texas schools are a reach but I feel like I need to apply to them, which I would do through TMDSAS. If there is a chance that I can get in then I need to go for it (that tuition is too good to pass up and of course the schools are really good).

University of Texas (San Antonio)
Texas A&M University
University of Texas Houston

 

[AppalachianDentalBoy]

Better list this time. Still Michigan and Colorado though? Do the math on their website and make the choice.

It is well known that both UB and Stony give in state tuition after one year.


Applying to TX is worth it in your case. If you want a better shot apply through TMDSAS instead of aadsas and write the two extra essays.

 

[TheDentalSchoolCoach]

I wasn't sure what state you are from. Texas schools are notorious for not taking out of state candidates. So, I am not sure if it will be worthwhile to pursue TMDSAS. I know those schools are cheap and state tuition kicks in, but for oos candidates, they can be super difficult.

 

[AppalachianDentalBoy]

I wasn't sure what state you are from. Texas schools are notorious for not taking out of state candidates. So, I am not sure if it will be worthwhile to pursue TMDSAS. I know those schools are cheap and state tuition kicks in, but for oos candidates, they can be super difficult.

3.9+ and 25AA. he's the OOSer that gets in.

 

[ab117]

If you're legitimately interested in attending an Ivy, you shouldn't necessarily take them off your list because of their high sticker price. With your DAT and GPA you have a good chance of being accepted and being offered significant scholarships at those schools. I'm not saying you should attend an Ivy over your state school just cause it's an Ivy, but if you dig around you'll find people whose cheapest option was Columbia or Penn, even cheaper than their state schools. If I could go to a P/F school and it was cheap, I would in a heartbeat.

 

[TheDentalSchoolCoach]

If you're legitimately interested in attending an Ivy, you shouldn't necessarily take them off your list because of their high sticker price. With your DAT and GPA you have a good chance of being accepted and being offered significant scholarships at those schools. I'm not saying you should attend an Ivy over your state school just cause it's an Ivy, but if you dig around you'll find people whose cheapest option was Columbia or Penn, even cheaper than their state schools. If I could go to a P/F school and it was cheap, I would in a heartbeat.

I agree with you. You should apply to Columbia, Penn and Harvard. Don't take them off your lists cuz they are expensive.

 

[deleted936472]

I have one final question for everyone that posted (and any other newcomers), would it be bad if I took another year off before applying (I got my bachelors degree in December so I am out of school and would just like to live life for a little bit before I enter dental school and have my nose in the books for another 4 years)? I've also only been wanting to become a dentist for less than a year now, and I'm afraid that interviewers will think I'm rushing into it.

 

[AppalachianDentalBoy]

No

 

[TheDentalSchoolCoach]

I have one final question for everyone that posted (and any other newcomers), would it be bad if I took another year off before applying (I got my bachelors degree in December so I am out of school and would just like to live life for a little bit before I enter dental school and have my nose in the books for another 4 years)? I've also only been wanting to become a dentist for less than a year now, and I'm afraid that interviewers will think I'm rushing into it.

Should be fine but make sure you do something productive in that timeframe like travel around the world, volunteer or work at something related to dentistry so that you have a compelling story when you apply