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toothyboi1996 said:
Overall GPA: 3.36
Science GPA: 3.17
Bio-Chem-Physics GPA: 3.11
DAT score (include AA and all sections): 23 AA/21 TS
State of Residence: California
Major: Neuroscience (from a top 5 public national university)
Minority? No, but immigrated here at a young age and grew up in a poor neighborhood

Volunteering/Shadowing: ~100 hours at a general dentist clinic + ~50 hours at another dental clinic + volunteering at an elderly home + cat rescue center + mentored middle school students with ADHD + went on a week-long dental volunteer mission at an indigenous under-served community in Central America where I assisted a dentist during clinic

Employment: worked at a large hospital for 5 years from mid-high school to mid-college + retail job + photographer for the university's career center + photographer for the university's art department + lead photographer and photo editor of local newspaper + I have my own photography business + currently a dentist assistant (probably will work here for over a year until the school year begins)

Research: ~300 hours as a research assistant in a neuroscience lab, of which I was the lead assistant for ~100 hours

Other Extracurriculars: VP of the university's photography club during sophomore year + pre-dental club + specific ethnic club + mental health hotline peer supporter
Relevant Honors or Awards: Dean's Honors for a few quarters (this doesn't count as anything tho right?)

LORs: 2 science professors + 1 research PI + 2 dentists, all of which I expect are decently strong (I know I need to drop one, haven't decided yet)

Misc Info/Things not stated elsewhere:
I finished freshman year with a 2.74 oGPA/2.62 sGPA, and sophomore year with 2.92 oGPA/2.43 sGPA. Towards the end of sophomore year I decided to see a psychiatrist because things weren't going well (to keep it short), and was diagnosed with major depression and ADHD. I went on medication for both and went to therapy for my entire junior year to fix my situation (a currently ongoing process). I finished junior year (59 quarter hours) with a 3.59 oGPA/3.42 sGPA, senior year (62 quarter hours) with 3.77 oGPA/3.67 sGPA, and a DIY-post-bacc (32 quarter hours) with 3.82 oGPA/3.80 sGPA. I strongly believe that my poor start in undergrad was due to my unaddressed depression and ADHD.

I'm aiming for Western as my number 1, as well as Tufts, U of New England, Boston U, Touro, UCSF, and Rutgers. What are my chances at getting into these schools next cycle? Should I plan on applying to more schools? I would really prefer to not do a masters/formal post-bacc because that would mean I'd be 25 by the time I start dental school (though I'm aware I may have to).

Thanks in advance.
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you have a fair chance at the privates because your DAT is good and you have an upward trend (did you have any sections below 17?), less so at UCSF, but it's not impossible there if they like your story
I would recommend applying broadly and wisely...
 
no sections below 17. I called the UCSF admissions office and they said that they do a holistic analysis of applicants, so GPA/DAT aren't the only thing they look at. I honestly just wanna get into Western as it's closest to home and cheaper than the others (except for Touro but idk how oos friendly they are). Do you think I should still apply? I'm worried about not getting in anywhere and missing the deadlines for masters/post bacc programs and then ending up wasting a year doing nothing.
macsak said:
you have a fair chance at the privates because your DAT is good and you have an upward trend (did you have any sections below 17?), less so at UCSF, but it's not impossible there if they like your story
I would recommend applying broadly and wisely...
Click to expand...

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Apply to more schools ! I got an interview at UNE with around the same stats as yours. I also got interviews at Buffalo and NYU. For me I just applied to a bunch of schools and didn't really rank schools on which ones i wanted to go to because knowing my GPA I knew it was a chance to get any interviews. I think you should definitely apply broadly and to a bunch of schools.

If you don't want to do a masters then definitely use the time to bring up your volunteer and shadowing hours. I been shadowing the same dentist for 4 years now and have around 500 shadowing hours. During my interview UNE and Buffalo definitely said they place heavy emphasize on volunteer and shadowing because their program has built in outreach programs.

Apply next cycle because you never know ! I applied this cycle knowing my GPA wasn't great and my DAT was average but I didn't want to give up without at least trying and it kinda paid off because I have 3 interviews and hopefully an acceptance sometime soon.
 
thanks for responding! I definitely will be applying as I recently have gained a few important extracurriculars, I don't have much time to volunteer though as I work full time at a dental clinic (assistant), but I'll see what I can do. & congrats on the interviews!
Alaskan _Polarbear said:
Apply to more schools ! I got an interview at UNE with around the same stats as yours. I also got interviews at Buffalo and NYU. For me I just applied to a bunch of schools and didn't really rank schools on which ones i wanted to go to because knowing my GPA I knew it was a chance to get any interviews. I think you should definitely apply broadly and to a bunch of schools.

If you don't want to do a masters then definitely use the time to bring up your volunteer and shadowing hours. I been shadowing the same dentist for 4 years now and have around 500 shadowing hours. During my interview UNE and Buffalo definitely said they place heavy emphasize on volunteer and shadowing because their program has built in outreach programs.

Apply next cycle because you never know ! I applied this cycle knowing my GPA wasn't great and my DAT was average but I didn't want to give up without at least trying and it kinda paid off because I have 3 interviews and hopefully an acceptance sometime soon.
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