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Hey guys/gals, I wanted to share my journey on how I got accepted to dental school after applying 4 times and finally getting in. My journey consisted of doing an informal post-bac, doing a specialized master’s program and taking the DAT twice. My hope is that anyone reading this should never lose faith and hope if dentistry is truly your passion.
Unlike most students, I did not know I wanted to become a dentist until I was 21 years old. I was pre-nursing before setting my eyes on dentistry. I am a first generation college student and lost my father at the age of 15 and growing up I did not have a strong science background and as a result, studying biology in college was a struggle for me. Nobody in my family was a dentist and I had to work while in school to help take care of my mother and younger sister.
First Cycle
My first time applying was during my junior year at UCI, I applied to 25+ dental schools. You can say I was naive at the time because I believed that there had to be one school that would accept me and boy was I wrong and as a result, I was $4,000 short because of it. I never read SDN or knew about "THE ADEA OFFICIAL GUIDE TO DENTAL SCHOOLS" book and one piece of advice, USE THIS! I would have saved so much money if I applied to schools that were within my GPA range and out of state friendly. I applied with a 2.6 sGPA, 2.8 oGPA, 18AA and 18TS. Prior to my first time applying, I had 150 hours of actual shadowing experience. On my application, I had volunteering hours at the hospital, homeless shelter, research hours and included that I worked as a caretaker. I didn't have any kind of crazy extracurricular hours that "stood" out or compensated for my low GPA. My LOR's were mediocore/good at best. So after applying I did not get any interviews. I was pretty distraught after applying to all these schools and paying all of that money. I graduated from UCI with a science GPA around the ~ 2.7 range and had an overall GPA of ~ 3.0. I didn't apply after my senior year because after talking with an academic counselor, she recommended I do some sort of post-bac program to compensate for my low GPA.
Second Cycle
After graduating, I took science courses for a year at local cal-state schools in hopes to improve my science GPA and apply to get into a specialized master's program. You can call this an "informal post-bac" program because I was not getting awarded any degree or certificate. I got a science GPA in the 3.5 range and this bumped my science GPA to the ~ 2.8/2.9 range. I got accepted to Boston University and got my MS in Oral Health Sciences. This program was unique, in that it was a Specialized Master's Program and it allowed me to take dental school level coursework with the D1 students in order for dental schools to gauge if I could handle the coursework. It was also during this time, that I applied to dental schools for the second time, but to 9-10 schools that were more "realistic" to my numbers. I figured I had my senior year's coursework and one year of coursework done during my "informal post-bac." I also got better LOR's, but I didn't get any extra hours in dentistry because I wanted to focus more on my GPA. Another cycle with no interviews.
Third Cycle
The following year, in the MS program I maintained a 3.5 GPA and when the application cycle opened, I applied for a 3rd time to the same 9-10 schools more or less from the previous year. After the 1 year MS program, I moved back home, wrote a capstone paper for the MS program and restudied to take the DAT for a second time. I retook it and got a 20 TS and 19 AA. I honestly felt that the master's program really helped me learn how to study correctly and it was really during this time that I knew how I learned best. I only got 1 interview that year and it was from the school that I did the master's program at. For my first dental school interview, I was a nervous wreck. I prepared for the questions by using SDN and looking back, I could have answered a few questions differently if I had immersed myself more in the dental field with more “hands on” exposure. During the year, I worked as a dental assistant to get more exposure to dentistry, while waiting to hear back from BU. I did not get off the waitlist that year and this was a huge blow for me because I had such high hopes of finally getting in and if I was to apply again, I wouldn’t know if it would make a difference applying because my numbers would be the same. This was probably the toughest time for me in my dental journey to be so close to an acceptance, yet feel so far from it.
Fourth Cycle
I applied for the fourth time and I figured at this point, I had done all I could academically and so I decided to continue working full time. I had been working as a caretaker for a patient with Alzheimer's disease on and off for a couple years, but also I had continued my job as a dental assistant. I tried to get as much exposure to the dental field as I could. I worked in corporate dentistry to get exposure to many different specialties and I also worked in many different private practices. I got 3 interviews and I really emphasized my experiences working in the dental field, especially with low income patients and I explained to them what I took away from those experiences and this resulted in 1 acceptance and 2 waitlist invitations.
What Made the Difference
I always believed that in life, it’s a matter of finding your passion. During the difficult times for me, it was my passion for dentistry that kept me going. If dentistry is not your passion, it is so easy to quit when times get tough. This is why I personally believe it is important to take a step back and think about why you are going into the field of dentistry in the first place. If your intentions are good, your passion will keep you going. I honestly believe what stood out about my application to dental schools was that every year I kept myself busy to improve my application. I took science courses every year, retook the DAT, obtained better LOR’s, re-drafted my personal statements and obtained valuable experiences as a dental assistant working with low-income patients. It was definitely disheartening each year to get rejected from dental schools, but in my mind, I could not see myself doing anything other than dentistry and this is where my passion for the field came in. I believed that all it takes is one school to see something special in your application and accept you. What is one, two, three or in my case four years of rejections compared to doing what you love the rest of your life?
Unlike most students, I did not know I wanted to become a dentist until I was 21 years old. I was pre-nursing before setting my eyes on dentistry. I am a first generation college student and lost my father at the age of 15 and growing up I did not have a strong science background and as a result, studying biology in college was a struggle for me. Nobody in my family was a dentist and I had to work while in school to help take care of my mother and younger sister.
First Cycle
My first time applying was during my junior year at UCI, I applied to 25+ dental schools. You can say I was naive at the time because I believed that there had to be one school that would accept me and boy was I wrong and as a result, I was $4,000 short because of it. I never read SDN or knew about "THE ADEA OFFICIAL GUIDE TO DENTAL SCHOOLS" book and one piece of advice, USE THIS! I would have saved so much money if I applied to schools that were within my GPA range and out of state friendly. I applied with a 2.6 sGPA, 2.8 oGPA, 18AA and 18TS. Prior to my first time applying, I had 150 hours of actual shadowing experience. On my application, I had volunteering hours at the hospital, homeless shelter, research hours and included that I worked as a caretaker. I didn't have any kind of crazy extracurricular hours that "stood" out or compensated for my low GPA. My LOR's were mediocore/good at best. So after applying I did not get any interviews. I was pretty distraught after applying to all these schools and paying all of that money. I graduated from UCI with a science GPA around the ~ 2.7 range and had an overall GPA of ~ 3.0. I didn't apply after my senior year because after talking with an academic counselor, she recommended I do some sort of post-bac program to compensate for my low GPA.
Second Cycle
After graduating, I took science courses for a year at local cal-state schools in hopes to improve my science GPA and apply to get into a specialized master's program. You can call this an "informal post-bac" program because I was not getting awarded any degree or certificate. I got a science GPA in the 3.5 range and this bumped my science GPA to the ~ 2.8/2.9 range. I got accepted to Boston University and got my MS in Oral Health Sciences. This program was unique, in that it was a Specialized Master's Program and it allowed me to take dental school level coursework with the D1 students in order for dental schools to gauge if I could handle the coursework. It was also during this time, that I applied to dental schools for the second time, but to 9-10 schools that were more "realistic" to my numbers. I figured I had my senior year's coursework and one year of coursework done during my "informal post-bac." I also got better LOR's, but I didn't get any extra hours in dentistry because I wanted to focus more on my GPA. Another cycle with no interviews.
Third Cycle
The following year, in the MS program I maintained a 3.5 GPA and when the application cycle opened, I applied for a 3rd time to the same 9-10 schools more or less from the previous year. After the 1 year MS program, I moved back home, wrote a capstone paper for the MS program and restudied to take the DAT for a second time. I retook it and got a 20 TS and 19 AA. I honestly felt that the master's program really helped me learn how to study correctly and it was really during this time that I knew how I learned best. I only got 1 interview that year and it was from the school that I did the master's program at. For my first dental school interview, I was a nervous wreck. I prepared for the questions by using SDN and looking back, I could have answered a few questions differently if I had immersed myself more in the dental field with more “hands on” exposure. During the year, I worked as a dental assistant to get more exposure to dentistry, while waiting to hear back from BU. I did not get off the waitlist that year and this was a huge blow for me because I had such high hopes of finally getting in and if I was to apply again, I wouldn’t know if it would make a difference applying because my numbers would be the same. This was probably the toughest time for me in my dental journey to be so close to an acceptance, yet feel so far from it.
Fourth Cycle
I applied for the fourth time and I figured at this point, I had done all I could academically and so I decided to continue working full time. I had been working as a caretaker for a patient with Alzheimer's disease on and off for a couple years, but also I had continued my job as a dental assistant. I tried to get as much exposure to the dental field as I could. I worked in corporate dentistry to get exposure to many different specialties and I also worked in many different private practices. I got 3 interviews and I really emphasized my experiences working in the dental field, especially with low income patients and I explained to them what I took away from those experiences and this resulted in 1 acceptance and 2 waitlist invitations.
What Made the Difference
I always believed that in life, it’s a matter of finding your passion. During the difficult times for me, it was my passion for dentistry that kept me going. If dentistry is not your passion, it is so easy to quit when times get tough. This is why I personally believe it is important to take a step back and think about why you are going into the field of dentistry in the first place. If your intentions are good, your passion will keep you going. I honestly believe what stood out about my application to dental schools was that every year I kept myself busy to improve my application. I took science courses every year, retook the DAT, obtained better LOR’s, re-drafted my personal statements and obtained valuable experiences as a dental assistant working with low-income patients. It was definitely disheartening each year to get rejected from dental schools, but in my mind, I could not see myself doing anything other than dentistry and this is where my passion for the field came in. I believed that all it takes is one school to see something special in your application and accept you. What is one, two, three or in my case four years of rejections compared to doing what you love the rest of your life?
