I'm a second time applicant and am still waiting to hear back from three interviews (USC, MWU, UNLV). If I don't get in my plan is to do a one year masters/SMP and reapply for next fall. These are my stats:
3.44o/3.4s from University of California, Irvine
19 AA, 20 TS, 19 PAT, 18 BIO, 22 GC, 19 OC, 22 RC, 15 QR
ECs: 2 yrs Research, 250+ hrs shadowing, volunteer work, etc
My question is if I do a masters should I still retake the DAT? (i've already taken it twice). I would think I'd probably be fine with just the masters itself right? Please advise!
If I was in your shoes, I wouldn't do SMP. I would just enroll myself in an informal post-bacc and just apply again this cycle. If they ask "what have you been doing" tell them post-bacc.
SMP is a HUGE commitment, your going to be taking dental/medical level courses, if you don't do well, its going to REALLY hurt your chances of getting in. You have nice overall stats, you just need to apply to 10-15 schools this cycle and choose your schools wisely
this cycle i submitted my app right away in June! and yes i applied to 12 schools.. all the california schools and the rest midwest and east coast. which schools would you recommend are easier to get into?
I'd think you would be ok provided you applied to enough schools, but... QR is a bit low. It doesn't matter as much to certain schools, but many don't like to see under an 18 in any category and below 16 sometimes is a cutoff from what I understand. That said, I don't remember what I received in QR anymore, but I remember it not being too impressive.
I did an MS program and I think it helped. It all depends on the school.
