several waiting-lists and zero acceptance so far......

[joeeeey3]

applied on July 2013 for 2013-2014 cycle

applied to 14 schools
3 interviews
3 waiting lists
0 acceptance

for those of you in similar situation, are you thinking of re-taking DAT, re-writing PS , etc to improve your application and reapply in 2 months?

I know the waiting list continues to move up till the end of August, but I don't know if I should just wait and hope I'll get accepted somewhere, or if I should not expect any good news from this cycle and re-take DAT and apply again in a couple months

feeling very stressed.......

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[ichoai]

Always anticipate the worst, and hope for the best. I would only consider re-taking the DAT if you scored below a 19 on more than one section. You should always be editing your PS as a "just in case" insurance policy, unless you think it's truly phenomenal. It's tough to say whether you'll make it on these waiting lists but it's also not impossible. Have you considered writing a letter of intent to any of the schools?

 

[Mediumrare]

I am in the same situation as you and I agree with the above post. Prep for the worst but hope for the best. GL

 

[joeeeey3]

Always anticipate the worst, and hope for the best. I would only consider re-taking the DAT if you scored below a 19 on more than one section. You should always be editing your PS as a "just in case" insurance policy, unless you think it's truly phenomenal. It's tough to say whether you'll make it on these waiting lists but it's also not impossible. Have you considered writing a letter of intent to any of the schools?

in terms of DAT I have AA21 with only RC17. other sections are all 19 or above
but I figured since you can't really improve RC much in only months, I wasn't sure if it was worth re-taking
Then again.... DAT is the only thing I can improve compared to my application from July 2013.
I have alrdy graduated so I can't improve my GPA unless I take post-bacc.
Since July 2013, I have gotten more job experience (non-dental related) and some volunteerings for helping the homeless but nothing outstanding

nonetheless, thanks a bunch for your advice

 

[Member 6236]

What was your gpa like? That could be the problem.

 

[joeeeey3]

What was your gpa like? That could be the problem.

3.5 gpa with huge upward trend (4.0 junior year, 3.7 senior year)
but i am an international student

 

[Gaucho4Life]

3.5 gpa with huge upward trend (4.0 junior year, 3.7 senior year)
but i am an international student

The 17 in RC combined with being international might be what's hurting you. From my understanding, RC is the single most important section of the DAT. I've heard that it's directly coordinated with dental school success.

 

[sjv]

3.5 gpa with huge upward trend (4.0 junior year, 3.7 senior year)
but i am an international student

What schools did you apply to?

The 17 in RC combined with being international might be what's hurting you. From my understanding, RC is the single most important section of the DAT. I've heard that it's directly coordinated with dental school success.

I can agree with this.

 

[joeeeey3]

What schools did you apply to?

I applied broadly
mainly Canadian friendly ones (private schools)

 

[sjv]

I applied broadly
mainly Canadian friendly ones (private schools)

Seems like you're on top of things, not much else you can do other than what you stated above. Edit PS if needed, add your new activities, retake DAT if you have the time/will and reapply.

 

[remowilson]

being an int. student, how did you do your interviews? Excellent interview might cover your low RC.

 

[ILLchief]

The 17 in RC combined with being international might be what's hurting you. From my understanding, RC is the single most important section of the DAT. I've heard that it's directly coordinated with dental school success.

is this really true? thats awesome if it is. i always thought RC was the least significant!

but yeah OP, being an int. student you might consider retaking the DAT with the sole purpose of boosting that RC score. but then again, the stats you have got you 3 interviews. that's a good amount of attempts at landing an acceptance. the hardest thing is to land an interview, its then up to you to nail the acceptance... hate to break it to you, but you prolly didn't do as well as you think on your interviews. work on your interviewing skills/gain more experience for next cycle

 

[aqz]

Prep to retake the DAT to get more interviews, but coming from someone with a 25 DAT who got 6 interviews and 1 acceptance/3 rejections/2 waitlists, your stats don't carry you anymore past the interview. Many applicants with lower stats than mine got into the schools I was rejected by.

So you'll need to figure out how to interview better as well. Unfortunately, sometimes it's not in your control to impress your interviewers.

 

[Glimmer1991]

If you have to apply again, be sure to practice before your interviews. The questions that people post on SDN are immensely helpful. Had I not talked over a whole slew of them with my parents beforehand, I don't think I'd have interviewed nearly as well. It's hard to come up with good, concise answers during a stressful interview, so it's good to have at least considered some important points to hit on.

 

[ramborhino]

If it comes to re-applying...try to improve your interviewing by focusing on HOW you are portraying yourself and not so much of what you are saying. You are not perfect and you will say things you didn't want to but you need to learn how to be adaptable and flexible in the conversation, and own it yourself instead of act like your on trial. People won't remember 99% of what you said (well, unless it's something bizarre), they will remember you by your demeanor and character (Applicant X was really collected, thoughtful, caring, professional, light-hearted vs. stressed, awkward, and selfish train-wreck). This is why reciting pre-made answers doesn't work.

 

[Dentalguy8621]

The 17 in RC combined with being international might be what's hurting you. From my understanding, RC is the single most important section of the DAT. I've heard that it's directly coordinated with dental school success.

Is this true? Correlation part

 

[Gaucho4Life]

is this really true? thats awesome if it is. i always thought RC was the least significant!

Is this true? Correlation part

Yeah. I read that bit of info a while back. But here's the source. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16522754

 

[joeeeey3]

being an int. student, how did you do your interviews? Excellent interview might cover your low RC.

is this really true? thats awesome if it is. i always thought RC was the least significant!

but yeah OP, being an int. student you might consider retaking the DAT with the sole purpose of boosting that RC score. but then again, the stats you have got you 3 interviews. that's a good amount of attempts at landing an acceptance. the hardest thing is to land an interview, its then up to you to nail the acceptance... hate to break it to you, but you prolly didn't do as well as you think on your interviews. work on your interviewing skills/gain more experience for next cycle

Prep to retake the DAT to get more interviews, but coming from someone with a 25 DAT who got 6 interviews and 1 acceptance/3 rejections/2 waitlists, your stats don't carry you anymore past the interview. Many applicants with lower stats than mine got into the schools I was rejected by.

So you'll need to figure out how to interview better as well. Unfortunately, sometimes it's not in your control to impress your interviewers.

If you have to apply again, be sure to practice before your interviews. The questions that people post on SDN are immensely helpful. Had I not talked over a whole slew of them with my parents beforehand, I don't think I'd have interviewed nearly as well. It's hard to come up with good, concise answers during a stressful interview, so it's good to have at least considered some important points to hit on.

If it comes to re-applying...try to improve your interviewing by focusing on HOW you are portraying yourself and not so much of what you are saying. You are not perfect and you will say things you didn't want to but you need to learn how to be adaptable and flexible in the conversation, and own it yourself instead of act like your on trial. People won't remember 99% of what you said (well, unless it's something bizarre), they will remember you by your demeanor and character (Applicant X was really collected, thoughtful, caring, professional, light-hearted vs. stressed, awkward, and selfish train-wreck). This is why reciting pre-made answers doesn't work.

thanks for all the input everybody
but in terms of interviews....
I thought I did really well.
for one of the schools that I went for interview, I was the first student to go-in and the last one to come out. The interview was 1.5 hours long ! The conversation was so casual that my interviewer even searched up good restaurants for me to visit while I'm in the city using his phone.

the other interivewer at this other school told me: "Make sure to pay me a visit if you decide to attend here."
I don't think he would have said that if he were to give me bad gradings on my interview skills?

These are some reasons why I thought my stats was not high enough that got me no acceptance but yeah... these are just my guesses.

 

[DogeDDS]

Yeah. I read that bit of info a while back. But here's the source. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16522754

Very interesting. Thanks

 

[aqz]

I was explicitly told that I gave the best interview response my interviewer had ever received. My performance landed a rejection.

It's hard to discern what goes on behind the scenes. All you can do is prepare as much as possible so you can accept the results without any regrets. Even though we are all going to keep guessing and thinking about what might've went wrong, it's ultimately a waste of time.

The real key is to not let your failures become disparaging.

 

[xoltarin]

I was in the exact same boat as you until last Friday when I got my first acceptance off waiting list.

-3 waiting list - GPA 3.19 19AA 17PAT
-I winged all my interviews which I feel put me on the waiting list to begin with, I found out about sdn interviews very late..

-How I got of the list? I literally called and emailed every week. I kept my emails up to date with events I hosted with my Pre-Dental Club, shadowing, and a letter from a current professor. I just gave the admission email to the professor and he sent it. I really think that helped show interest.

Now I was doing a ton of research of what to do as back up and if your gpa is above 3.3 a masters is not really helpful according to my adviser. Also an alternative to masters is to teach for a year in a public school since they tend to lack science teachers. ALso, perhaps retake DAT which was what I was going to do.

 

[Toadesque]

The conversation was so casual that my interviewer even searched up good restaurants for me to visit while I'm in the city using his phone.

the other interivewer at this other school told me: "Make sure to pay me a visit if you decide to attend here."
I don't think he would have said that if he were to give me bad gradings on my interview skills?

Just an FYI, having a nice relaxed casual conversation with your interviewer is not indicative of the interview going well. Sometimes people get that false sense of security when you and the interviewer start discussing non-school related stuff and forget that the whole point of the interview is to sell yourself and let the school know why you are going to succeed there and why they need you. If they can't remember anything during the committee meeting except what kind of food you liked or what sports you play then they can't vouch for you.

 

[Glimmer1991]

Just an FYI, having a nice relaxed casual conversation with your interviewer is not indicative of the interview going well. Sometimes people get that false sense of security when you and the interviewer start discussing non-school related stuff and forget that the whole point of the interview is to sell yourself and let the school know why you are going to succeed there and why they need you. If they can't remember anything during the committee meeting except what kind of food you liked or what sports you play then they can't vouch for you.

Yes, they can! If they genuinely liked you enough to start discussing other "random" things, they can vouch for your character and how likable of a person you are (if the conversation goes well). That holds a lot of weight. Dentists need to be personable. Also, in theory, you should have done the "selling" of yourself in your application... so maybe some interviewers just want to talk about other things.

I know one of my interviewers basically just dived into conversation with me because my application "spoke for itself." Of course, even in our random topics, I did try to paint myself in the best light possible.... but it wasn't a typical interview by any stretch. I was accepted.

 

[#kalel]

Just an FYI, having a nice relaxed casual conversation with your interviewer is not indicative of the interview going well. Sometimes people get that false sense of security when you and the interviewer start discussing non-school related stuff and forget that the whole point of the interview is to sell yourself and let the school know why you are going to succeed there and why they need you. If they can't remember anything during the committee meeting except what kind of food you liked or what sports you play then they can't vouch for you.

While I don't disagree with you, at one of my interviews, the man was helluva jock and I couldn't for the life of me switch the convo from talking about NFL ever since he read that I played football lol. To make matters worse, he was a Seahawks fan xD

 

[DogeDDS]

While I don't disagree with you, at one of my interviews, the man was helluva jock and I couldn't for the life of me switch the convo from talking about NFL ever since he read that I played football lol. To make matters worse, he was a Seahawks fan xD

Did you get into that school?

 

[Toadesque]

Yes, they can! If they genuinely liked you enough to start discussing other "random" things, they can vouch for your character and how likable of a person you are (if the conversation goes well). That holds a lot of weight. Dentists need to be personable. Also, in theory, you should have done the "selling" of yourself in your application... so maybe some interviewers just want to talk about other things.

I know one of my interviewers basically just dived into conversation with me because my application "spoke for itself." Of course, even in our random topics, I did try to paint myself in the best light possible.... but it wasn't a typical interview by any stretch. I was accepted.

Well in your case when you have stats far above the average for admittance it's more about seeing whether the person is capable of normal social interactions. For most people who have average stats they have to do a lot more convincing to show the school they're ready for dental school. In that case being merely personable with your interviewer is not going to help when the committee is making a decision and all your interviewer can tell the rest of the committee is that you were a really nice person.

 

[Glimmer1991]

Well in your case when you have stats far above the average for admittance it's more about seeing whether the person is capable of normal social interactions. For most people who have average stats they have to do a lot more convincing to show the school they're ready for dental school. In that case being merely personable with your interviewer is not going to help when the committee is making a decision and all your interviewer can tell the rest of the committee is that you were a really nice person.

True. However, if we are talking about the general SDN populace, there are a LOT of folks with really high stats on here.

 

[#kalel]

Did you get into that school?

I did.

 

[john616]

If I were you, I'd just try to work on interview skills in case you have to reapply next cycle. I'm international as well, 21AA with 18RC.
One of my interviewers did tell me that my RC was too low, but I still got accepted at all of my interviews.

 

[distressstudent]

So OP has good GPA (and good upward trend), nice DAT except for RC, good E.C, was able flex his interpersonal skills, and still wasn't able to get into a dental school. There's no particular thing that we can say, "hey look you didnt this wrong so you weren't admitted!" And quite honestly, as a checklist applicant, I am now worried about my own application lol.

edit: the correct term is cookie cutter

 

[joeeeey3]

FINALLYYYYYYYY got an acceptance yesterday from UDM !!!
thanks for all the help everyone

 

[DogeDDS]

FINALLYYYYYYYY got an acceptance yesterday from UDM !!!
thanks for all the help everyone