Recs on schools/#of schools

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dentaldam5

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my stats

3.1 gpa/sgpa undergrad towson university 2004 b.s. in bio
3.9 gpa m.s. biology, currently finishing

2006 DAT (re-taking in LATE aug)
aa-19
ts-19
pa-18

I've done my hw on schools but stats dont provide human input from great people such as yourselves, I have 12 schools currently and would love to hear any feedback prior to submitting my app in the next day or so

BU
Buff
Uconn
Maryland
Nova
NYU
PITT
Stony
Temple
UMD NJ
UNLV
OHSU

I am a resident of NY

Thank you
 
Are you able to use the old DAT for now? Your late August DAT is getting pretty late. I dont know the breakdown of your old DAT scores but based on what you have provided, it seems like you would be in pretty good shape. Especially considering you've done so well in a grad program in biology. You should be looking really good for your New York schools. What was the breakdown of your old DAT scores and do you have some good supporting stuff? Decent resume?
 
*some schools, i believe, will still look at that old DAT and I'm resending them as an advantage? over others who have yet to take the DAT at all.

This is based on the whole "some schools will or will not look at your app until your DAT is in". I don't think it can hurt showing those *just above average scores.

2006 DAT
pa-18
qr-19
rc-20
bio-20
gc-19
oc-18
ts-19
aa-19

as for supporting stuff, the 3 yrs out of school were dedicated to helping the struggling family business, i was a TA for both grad and undergrad courses, have about 500 shadowing hours from 2-3 dentists and supposedly a great composite letter. I'd say the weakest part of my app appears to be the lack of comm service/volunteering/ec that took place since being an undergrad, I'm hoping that won't kill me.

do you think my school count is ok? should it be more, as in 3-5 more schools?

thanks again
 
my stats

3.1 gpa/sgpa undergrad towson university 2004 b.s. in bio
3.9 gpa m.s. biology, currently finishing

2006 DAT (re-taking in LATE aug)
aa-19
ts-19
pa-18

I've done my hw on schools but stats dont provide human input from great people such as yourselves, I have 12 schools currently and would love to hear any feedback prior to submitting my app in the next day or so

BU
Buff
Uconn
Maryland
Nova
NYU
PITT
Stony
Temple
UMD NJ
UNLV...Essentially, if you have a late application (which you will, since your DAT scores won't get there till mid Sep) and you're not a Nevada resident you have a slim chance of getting in. Last year I applied with AA:19 TS:20 PA:19 and GPA:3.84 and they rejected me. I called the school and they told me the main reasons were that I took my DAT somewhat late and I wasn't a Nevada resident!
OHSU...Go to their website; they've specifically mentioned that they take very few out of state applicants. So, again, your chances will be very slim.

I am a resident of NY

Thank you
Good Luck👍
 
Interesting. Do you think there are some out-of-state friendly-schools I should add to my list?

ps I have dreams of living in portland one day, figured i'd give it a shot for ds.

thanks again for the input
 
Interesting. Do you think there are some out-of-state friendly-schools I should add to my list?

ps I have dreams of living in portland one day, figured i'd give it a shot for ds.

thanks again for the input

To give you a general answer, most private schools don't have any rules/restrictions regarding out of state applicants. Around here (West Coast) some of the private schools I know of include USC, UoP, Loma Linda, and Western University of Health Sciences. Here's what I know about each one of these:

-USC (Extremely expensive. We're talking 350K+ for four years. Also, they have a problem-based approach to dentistry. So, you should look into that and figure out whether or not that's what you want to do).

-UoP (Still expensive, but not as bad as USC. They really emphasize a high PAT score. So, in order to have a shot at UoP you wanna do 20+ on your PAT. Your RC score is also very important to them. What makes UoP and ideal school is that they have a 3 year program).

-Loma Linda (It's more like going to church than dental school. So, if you're super religious, Loma Linda is the school for you).

-Western University of Health Science (Brand new dental school. Their college of dental medicine was opened last year. I haven't personally visited the school, but from what I hear they have great facilities. On the other hand, since they're pretty new, no one knows how their students will perform on the board exams. In other words, no one can evaluate the performance of the school yet).
 
Thank you, I will look into Western, but I get the general feeling that it is very difficult to get into a west coast school. I also thought it was interesting that you eliminated schools from my list (it makes sense) but then there are all these people that plan to apply to far more schools than I have on my list.

So it gets me thinking/confused.

As for location I could include Columbia but feel I'm not competitive enough for some private/ivy schools

So in my case, is less better?
 
Thank you, I will look into Western, but I get the general feeling that it is very difficult to get into a west coast school. I also thought it was interesting that you eliminated schools from my list (it makes sense) but then there are all these people that plan to apply to far more schools than I have on my list.

So it gets me thinking/confused.

As for location I could include Columbia but feel I'm not competitive enough for some private/ivy schools

So in my case, is less better?
I'm not trying to eliminate anything from your list. Feel free to apply to any of these schools. I just commented based on my personal experience and my knowledge of each school (which is why I didn't mention anything about any of the schools I didn't know much about). Nevertheless, don't let me stop you from applying to any of these.
Generally, yes! West Coast schools, specially the ones in California tend to be very competitive.
Overall, I think applicants have a greater chance, when they apply to their own state schools. For example, majority of my schools are Californian schools, because I'm a resident of CA. Let me give you an example. Last year, UCSF and UCLA both granted me interviews, while UNLV (which is not nearly as competitive as either one of these schools didn't even bother interviewing me). They simply sent me a rejection letter. So, you'll have a better chance applying to your own state schools, even if they're somewhat more competitive than out of state schools.
I think the average # of schools each applicant chooses is somewhere between 11-12. However, it's not really about the number of schools you choose. It's more about finding schools that match your stats (DAT/GPA). You can apply to as many as top schools that you want, but unless you have the required stats, you won't have a chance.

Anyways, I hope you make the right decision and manage to get into dental school during this cycle.👍
 
I had a 3.49 gpa,19 DAT, applied to 15 schools, had all of my information sent out by june 1st, and here are the schools I got interview invites from as a FL resident: UF, Midwestern(attending!), Indiana, NYU, ASDOH, Tufts. I would consider looking at some of these schools and get your application in ASAP! Good luck!
 
Thanks, my app is in and some schools told me today they will take a look at my july 2006 DAT, I put in for 11 schools.
 
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