Hey everyone,
I have some good stats but some ugly stuff in my application. I'm a junior right now in studying biology. I'm not sure what to do and can't ask any dental schools. Not sure if I should just wait to apply, maybe I should ask some dental students as well to see their opinion?
The Good:
-cGPA: 3.90
-sGPA: 3.89
-DAT: AA/TS/PA
21/21/19
-Personal statement described as "very strong" and "sincere" by a couple editors
-100 hours of shadowing
-President of club, won awards, good ECs
The Bad:
-Big lack on dental focused volunteering. I volunteered as an EMT probably less than 30 hours in two years.
-Only decided to pursue dental as of ~3 months ago.
-****ty LORs. I have 1 OK, 1 generic, 1 from a dentist (no idea how it'll be), and 1 strong from my club faculty sponsor.
-Averaging 13.8 credits/semester
The Ugly:
*I should mention that I was charged by the university under their stuff, not the judicial law or real police.
My freshman year I was charged with possession of marijuana paraphernalia and it's on my conduct record (been clean since then!). If I apply this semester, all the dental schools will know about it, and I'll be competing against tons of people who have clean conduct records. I don't know how this will really effect me. If I wait, I'm eligible to expunge my record my final semester in college, so I don't ever have to mention it I think and I can apply with a clean record.
Do dental schools keep records on past applicants, would they know about my conduct record if I applied both cycles and expunge it the second time around? How negatively does this really effect me?
So the big question, do I apply this semester or take a year to build up my app and expunge my record to apply?
Thanks everyone, and good luck in preparing!
I have some good stats but some ugly stuff in my application. I'm a junior right now in studying biology. I'm not sure what to do and can't ask any dental schools. Not sure if I should just wait to apply, maybe I should ask some dental students as well to see their opinion?
The Good:
-cGPA: 3.90
-sGPA: 3.89
-DAT: AA/TS/PA
21/21/19
-Personal statement described as "very strong" and "sincere" by a couple editors
-100 hours of shadowing
-President of club, won awards, good ECs
The Bad:
-Big lack on dental focused volunteering. I volunteered as an EMT probably less than 30 hours in two years.
-Only decided to pursue dental as of ~3 months ago.
-****ty LORs. I have 1 OK, 1 generic, 1 from a dentist (no idea how it'll be), and 1 strong from my club faculty sponsor.
-Averaging 13.8 credits/semester
The Ugly:
*I should mention that I was charged by the university under their stuff, not the judicial law or real police.
My freshman year I was charged with possession of marijuana paraphernalia and it's on my conduct record (been clean since then!). If I apply this semester, all the dental schools will know about it, and I'll be competing against tons of people who have clean conduct records. I don't know how this will really effect me. If I wait, I'm eligible to expunge my record my final semester in college, so I don't ever have to mention it I think and I can apply with a clean record.
Do dental schools keep records on past applicants, would they know about my conduct record if I applied both cycles and expunge it the second time around? How negatively does this really effect me?
So the big question, do I apply this semester or take a year to build up my app and expunge my record to apply?
Thanks everyone, and good luck in preparing!
Last edited: