Solidifying my school list

[Cookie606]

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Hey loves,

Could ya'll do me the kind favor of criticizing my school list? Anything I'm missing or anything I should avoid? Maybe chance me?

Female, Asian, from Oregon.
20 AA/24 PAT. 3.65 GPA, 3.68 overall GPA.

Shadowed several dentists + 60 hrs volunteering at a special needs pediatric dental clinic.
LOTS of volunteer work in schools, at a hospice, etc.
Public school English teacher in Korea currently (1 year).
Worked at a pre-school part time in school and piano accompanist, tennis club captain, took tons of arts courses in school.

Prefer cool/mild climates over hot/humid.
Clinical over research.. I think? Better with my hands than my brain... hahaha.
Thinking about going Pedo.
Would really like to save monay.

HERE WE GO:

OHSU
UCSF (just because I love SF...)
UoP
UMD
BU
Tufts
Michigan
Creighton
Case
Temple
UPenn
Pittsburgh
Roseman
VCU

Thanks everyone!~

 

[fogorvostan]

Even though you say you want to save money, you have a couple pretty expensive schools - UoP, BU, Tufts, etc. So I'm assuming you mean save money when it comes to applying and not save money in tuition?

Either way, if you are considering schools with higher tuition, I would look at MWU AZ because of your preference for strong clinical. If you're looking for east coast schools want some that are less expensive, I'd look like UNE, Nova, LECOM (your stats might be a little high for LECOM).

 

[Cookie606]

Ah, thank you for your feedback! I suppose I should have emphasized that climate is pretty important for my personal well-being, so I don't have a strong desire to go to AZ or FL. 🙁

And tuition expensive is important to me, of course, but Boston and SF are just such lovely places... it's hard to take them off my list. Agh.

 

[Cookie606]

Sigh... You're right.

I forgot to look at that. I have no research exp. Any of my other schools who might look down on that?

 

[pgex2t]

I have 3 friends with 0 research experience-2 currently 0<x<10 on the waitlist for UCSF and one accepted. I wouldn't consider research to be an absolute requirement for UCSF.

 

[pgex2t]

Are they California residents, and are their DAT scores higher than 20AA?

The 2 on the wait list X<10 are CA residents; the one accepted is not. All have GPAs<3.2. DATs are 20-22. I have other acquaintances on the wait list as well (both IS and OOS) with both research experience as well as no research experience (they are relatively higher on the wait list though). Regardless of residency and DAT scores, I don't think research is a large of a factor as rumored for UCSF.

From what I've observed, it seems that volunteering, a strong PS, and good secondary answers are more important than research experience for UCSF.

 

[Cookie606]

Interesting. Thanks for your comments, everyone! I'll probably apply anyway just for the chance to live in SF for a bit. What the heck.

I'm also not sure about OOS stats.. mine are pretty average. Is it worth it for me to apply to UMD, UoP, Michigan, VCU?