Should I even apply?

[TimeTraveler]

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Hey everyone,

I know this is a very cliché topic to start, but I'm in need of advice and my advisors at school aren't doing me any good.

I'm currently a junior looking to apply for dental school with a low sGPA. By the end of this year, if I do seriously well in all my classes , the most my sGPA can be is a 3.15. I can't place blame on anyone but myself or give an excuse on why my low sGPA exists, but if I could, it would probably manifest in a long rant on Orgo. My overall is a 3.3 and I'm not too worried about that. A gap year in applying (applying after senior year) would help me raise that sGPA to ~3.25 and the overall even higher. It would also allow me to increase my voluntary work (which I lack in) as well as show my research I'm doing throughout my senior year. In this case, I need a gap year to even have a chance at dental school. Thus, should I even bother applying this cycle?

My ECs aren't TOO hot (in my eyes, atleast); I'm an RA and hold 2 major e-board positions in clubs. I'm also quite active in a bunch of other clubs but I don't think that matters as much. I have over 300 hours of shadowing and over 400 hours working at a dental clinic, but I have a lack of serious voluntary work. The only thing I've done in that area is at my local library for the past few summers to total maybe around 100 hours.

Should I even bother applying this cycle? The application would be due by June 20th for me (for my commitee letter), so I'd have to get everything in order. I'd be taking my DAT next summer as well (July, most likely) so that's a huge factor to take into the equation. I've started studying already and am taking a low amount of credits next semester to emphasize on that. I'd be doing some serious voluntary work throughout the following summer to get that on my resume as well, but idk if it will be counted for on my application.

What are your thoughts?

 

[Weakfart]

I'd say wait until your DAT score to make that decision. If you do bumo your gpa a good amount by the end of this year and kill the DAT (22+, maybe 23+) then you have a good chance applying broadly. Right now, there are two unknowns on your app for next cycle, GPA and DAT. IMO it would be worth applying with a 3.2 and 22DAT with your extracurriculars. Basically just work on everything with your app from now until next summer and I don't see a reason for you not to have a fighting chance.

 

[nonociceptors]

My sGPA 3.2 and my overall is 3.4. Our ECs are different, but roughly comparable. I have 4 pre-December interviews (USC, UNLV, UoP, UCLA) probably mostly due to my high DAT (26AA). So if you can really buckle down, study hard, and nail the DAT you shouldn't have a problem getting interviews. But I also think my case shows the importance of applying broadly. It's weird that I have interviews at two highly selective schools UoP/UCLA but I haven't heard anything from privates like Roseman, NYU, Western, etc.

 

[TimeTraveler]

I'd say wait until your DAT score to make that decision. If you do bumo your gpa a good amount by the end of this year and kill the DAT (22+, maybe 23+) then you have a good chance applying broadly. Right now, there are two unknowns on your app for next cycle, GPA and DAT. IMO it would be worth applying with a 3.2 and 22DAT with your extracurriculars. Basically just work on everything with your app from now until next summer and I don't see a reason for you not to have a fighting chance.

Should I take my DAT earlier then? My commitee letter and "deadline" for applications to be sent out is June 20th; I know it's rolling, but I guess the commitee gives the letter only if you get all your things in before that date. If I take my DAT early June I should be able to get everything in. Thanks for replying, that really helps! I have to kick it into overgear I guess.

My sGPA 3.2 and my overall is 3.4. Our ECs are different, but roughly comparable. I have 4 pre-December interviews (USC, UNLV, UoP, UCLA) probably mostly due to my high DAT (26AA). So if you can really buckle down, study hard, and nail the DAT you shouldn't have a problem getting interviews. But I also think my case shows the importance of applying broadly. It's weird that I have interviews at two highly selective schools UoP/UCLA but I haven't heard anything from privates like Roseman, NYU, Western, etc.

That's amazing to hear! Good luck with those, I'm sure they'll go great :3 I think that's sound advice, thanks; I'll be looking at the forums and tinkering with my own schedule for a solid study plan over the course of these 7 months to make sure I do as well as I can on the DAT.

 

[Weakfart]

Should I take my DAT earlier then? My commitee letter and "deadline" for applications to be sent out is June 20th; I know it's rolling, but I guess the commitee gives the letter only if you get all your things in before that date. If I take my DAT early June I should be able to get everything in. Thanks for replying, that really helps! I have to kick it into overgear I guess.



That's amazing to hear! Good luck with those, I'm sure they'll go great :3 I think that's sound advice, thanks; I'll be looking at the forums and tinkering with my own schedule for a solid study plan over the course of these 7 months to make sure I do as well as I can on the DAT.

Yeesh, might be hard with that committee deadline. If you have time to study next semester I'd say go for it, push it back if you feel under prepared and see how it goes from there.

 

[nonociceptors]

Should I take my DAT earlier then? My commitee letter and "deadline" for applications to be sent out is June 20th; I know it's rolling, but I guess the commitee gives the letter only if you get all your things in before that date. If I take my DAT early June I should be able to get everything in. Thanks for replying, that really helps! I have to kick it into overgear I guess.



That's amazing to hear! Good luck with those, I'm sure they'll go great :3 I think that's sound advice, thanks; I'll be looking at the forums and tinkering with my own schedule for a solid study plan over the course of these 7 months to make sure I do as well as I can on the DAT.

Just to make sure I'm understanding correctly, your committee needs you to show them your DAT scores before they'll even write your letter? And in that case you need to have the DAT done by June?

I guess I was in a similar situation in that I could have rushed and crammed a lot in during my junior year if I wanted to apply, but I wouldn't have had time to study for the DAT and my ECs would have been weaker. That, coupled with the fact that I definitely was open to the idea of having a gap year, made me wait until the next cycle. That allowed me to focus on my classes, get good letters of rec, improve my ECs, and then have a dedicated month to study just for the DAT. If you really don't want a gap year your plan is still feasible, just a lot harder. Be careful studying that far in advance for the test because when you get busy with classes, and you studied X topic 7 months ago, you're going to forget it before your test. Use Chad's videos for chem, Destroyer, Feralis, and DAT Bootcamp. If you want to be extra safe, go over each of those many, many times lol.

 

[TimeTraveler]

Yeesh, might be hard with that committee deadline. If you have time to study next semester I'd say go for it, push it back if you feel under prepared and see how it goes from there.

I'm not exactly sure how the deadline works; I assumed the school sends out the application June 20th, so I couldn't technically DECIDE whether I want to apply AFTER my DAT, since my application already went out? I have a meeting next week with my stupid advisor and I guess I'll ask her what she thinks.

Just to make sure I'm understanding correctly, your committee needs you to show them your DAT scores before they'll even write your letter? And in that case you need to have the DAT done by June?

I'd imagine the DAT score would be irrelevant to the commitee, but getting the commitee letter means I'm DEFINITELY going to be applying. The deadline for that, being June 20, I assume, would also be the date I sent my application out (personal statement and other documents). Taking my DAT after would be included in the application process but at that point (if i take it july/august), my application is already in. Am I wrong here? I wouldn't be surprised if I was.

 

[nonociceptors]

I'm not exactly sure how the deadline works; I assumed the school sends out the application June 20th, so I couldn't technically DECIDE whether I want to apply AFTER my DAT, since my application already went out? I have a meeting next week with my stupid advisor and I guess I'll ask her what she thinks.



I'd imagine the DAT score would be irrelevant to the commitee, but getting the commitee letter means I'm DEFINITELY going to be applying. The deadline for that, being June 20, I assume, would also be the date I sent my application out (personal statement and other documents). Taking my DAT after would be included in the application process but at that point (if i take it july/august), my application is already in. Am I wrong here? I wouldn't be surprised if I was.

Oh that makes sense. If you submit your app June 20, it'll go out first batch but obviously like you said you'll still need the DAT score. If you take it in July though, even say July 31st, schools should be updated with your score by mid-August, which is totally fine. Obviously in a situation like yours the earlier the better, but my app wasn't mailed out until August 20ish so you'd be fine. If you were to take the test even a few weeks earlier in early July, your app should be complete the beginning of August.


edit - just to specifically answer your question: yeah your app would already be in, but I'm 99% sure it will get mailed out without your DAT score. Once you take the DAT though you just have it sent out to schools and they get it really fast! At that point your app is totally complete.

 

[TimeTraveler]

I guess I was in a similar situation in that I could have rushed and crammed a lot in during my junior year if I wanted to apply, but I wouldn't have had time to study for the DAT and my ECs would have been weaker. That, coupled with the fact that I definitely was open to the idea of having a gap year, made me wait until the next cycle. That allowed me to focus on my classes, get good letters of rec, improve my ECs, and then have a dedicated month to study just for the DAT. If you really don't want a gap year your plan is still feasible, just a lot harder. Be careful studying that far in advance for the test because when you get busy with classes, and you studied X topic 7 months ago, you're going to forget it before your test. Use Chad's videos for chem, Destroyer, Feralis, and DAT Bootcamp. If you want to be extra safe, go over each of those many, many times lol.

Oh that makes sense. If you submit your app June 20, it'll go out first batch but obviously like you said you'll still need the DAT score. If you take it in July though, even say July 31st, schools should be updated with your score by mid-August, which is totally fine. Obviously in a situation like yours the earlier the better, but my app wasn't mailed out until August 20ish so you'd be fine. If you were to take the test even a few weeks earlier in early July, your app should be complete the beginning of August..

Yeah, I'm going to be looking into all the resources out there to help me with it. I'm taking an extremely low amount of credits next semester (13, 9 science - Microbio/Physics 2 + Lab), so I should be able to do really well on those as well as set aside time every day for DAT studying.

Every part of my body wants to take a gap year. It would mean I would have more time to take my DAT; I would take it in August and thus have literally every part of my application completed by June 2017, getting my app out on the first day. I would have all of senior year to develop my ECs, my personal statement, my science and overall GPAs, voluntary service and research. I could use the gap year for more work/shadowing as well as improving my health. It would be a huge boost to my resume and overall app-shine. However, it would eat me constantly thinking the "what-ifs" of the whole situation. If i had a fighting chance with my current situation and did well on the DAT, I might as well apply if I think I'm going to get rejected anyway. It would be give me insight on the whole process and keep me more prepared for re-applying. There's just so many factors and consequences to all these decisions 🙁 Can I haz high school back plz

 

[TimeTraveler]

I can't thank you guys enough for replying as well; in the time this post has been made I've already gotten more answers and advice than 3 meetings with my advisor.

 

[nonociceptors]

Yeah, I'm going to be looking into all the resources out there to help me with it. I'm taking an extremely low amount of credits next semester (13, 9 science - Microbio/Physics 2 + Lab), so I should be able to do really well on those as well as set aside time every day for DAT studying.

Every part of my body wants to take a gap year. It would mean I would have more time to take my DAT; I would take it in August and thus have literally every part of my application completed by June 2017, getting my app out on the first day. I would have all of senior year to develop my ECs, my personal statement, my science and overall GPAs, voluntary service and research. I could use the gap year for more work/shadowing as well as improving my health. It would be a huge boost to my resume and overall app-shine. However, it would eat me constantly thinking the "what-ifs" of the whole situation. If i had a fighting chance with my current situation and did well on the DAT, I might as well apply if I think I'm going to get rejected anyway. It would be give me insight on the whole process and keep me more prepared for re-applying. There's just so many factors and consequences to all these decisions 🙁 Can I haz high school back plz

You could always initially submit your app to only a small group of carefully selected schools and wait until you know your DAT score before you apply to more. So in that case if you don't do as well as you would have liked on the test you wouldn't have wasted a ton of money on the application, but if you are happy with your score you can add more schools right away. Then, even if you submitted to the handful of schools with a decent score, you have a chance to get some interviews and who knows, maybe even an acceptance. If not you'll be completely prepared for the next cycle as you'll have that gap year to retake the DAT, volunteer, etc. We'll still be around this time next year so let us know how it goes or feel free to PM me if you have more questions!

 

[TimeTraveler]

You could always initially submit your app to only a small group of carefully selected schools and wait until you know your DAT score before you apply to more. So in that case if you don't do as well as you would have liked on the test you wouldn't have wasted a ton of money on the application, but if you are happy with your score you can add more schools right away. Then, even if you submitted to the handful of schools with a decent score, you have a chance to get some interviews and who knows, maybe even an acceptance. If not you'll be completely prepared for the next cycle as you'll have that gap year to retake the DAT, volunteer, etc. We'll still be around this time next year so let us know how it goes or feel free to PM me if you have more questions!

Okay, so I think as of right now, it's a good idea to take the DAT in July and apply to 2 or 3 schools to test my luck. My voluntary work in May/June should show on my app too. Thanks for the offer, i'll most likely take it when the time arises!

 

[TimeTraveler]

So just for the sake of an update:

I did pretty swell this semester in my science courses and think it may be possible to raise my science GPA to a 3.2 before applying this cycle. My overall, however, would still be around 3.3 after next semester, since I'm taking a small amount of credits in order to give me enough time for my DAT prep schedule.

Any advice on what schools I would apply to if I happen to score above or atleast a 20 AA on the DAT? Meaning 3.2 sGPA, 3.3 oGPA and a 20 AA?

 

[fogorvostan]

Hi! My stats are in my sig, so you can see the similarities. I would suggest applying broadly, so your state schools + private + public schools that are open to OOS. Some of the schools that I applied to that you may be interested in are: LECOM, NYU, UNE, Nova, MWU AZ, BU, Tufts. I also highly recommend you use the official ADEA dental school guide to help pick your schools.

 

[TimeTraveler]

Hi! My stats are in my sig, so you can see the similarities. I would suggest applying broadly, so your state schools + private + public schools that are open to OOS. Some of the schools that I applied to that you may be interested in are: LECOM, NYU, UNE, Nova, MWU AZ, BU, Tufts. I also highly recommend you use the official ADEA dental school guide to help pick your schools.

Awesome! I just signed up for my DAT, so I put around 20~ schools to send my scores to, including the ones you stated. Thanks for the help!