Stressed out

[MoThuggy]

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Hey guys, i have been a pre dent member on this forum for quite some time. I have seen a lot of helpful and encouraging advice on this forum. I am planning to apply this year and have been quite stressed out so I am looking for your guy's opinion. I would greatly appreciate it if you guys could help me out. I have a 3.25 GPA (overall) and a 3.05 GPA (science) and a 3.15 GPA (BCP). I have extra curriculars and have shown an upward trend in my academics (ever since my horrible first year in college). I am an IL resident and my top two choices are UIC and SIU. I am going to take my DATs in the end of July.Also, i have a good amount of extra curricular activities and i have shadowed a dentist for about 25 hours. I wanted to ask you guys a few questions. First of all, what are my chances at UIC and SIU. Also, what type of DAT scores should i shoot for? Any additional advice would be much appreciated. Thank you so much in advance and good luck to all the applicants.

mo

 

[KrebsPsycho]

Shoot for a 20 AA. Apply some more schools beside those two that you mentioned.

 

[dientesfuertes]

Mo,
I don't have any info on the Illinois schools, but I can tell you that my GPA stastics were similar to yours, and I am currently a 2nd year student. From what I understand, my dental school (UAB) can be somewhat difficult to get in to. So, I would think if you come out with a decent DAT score, you should be just fine. Good luck.

 

[LazrSpeed88]

I'll be starting dental school at UIC this Fall 04. My advice would be to get a pretty solid DAT score 20+ with a strong PAT, cuz schools look strongly on that. If you could get a few more hours in as a volunteer at the dental office, that would help out too. As for extracurriculars, I was an athlete at Saint Louis U playing tennis and I think that helped me out as well. I'm not saying you've gotta start playing a sport at your school, but the more outside activities you do the better your chances.

Good Luck

TK
UIC Class of '08

 

[Comet208]

MoThuggy,

Applying to Dental school is indeed a very stressful affaire and this is just the begining!! One day in undergrad my advisor gathered all of us pre-med/dent/opt/vets in one room for some advising. the first thing he said was this: you are about to beging the most stressful, challenging, and maybe complicated period of your lives. and boy, he was right.... even those with top scores do stress out and get nervous which is very common.

my suggestion to you is that you try to think rather than allowing yourself to be carried away. When you think better, you can study better for DAT and do well on the rest of the process.

also, i second all the above coments.

best of luck to you...

Comet

 

[MoThuggy]

thanks so much for your replies guys, but i still wana know what you all think abou my chances at siu and uic with my scores. also, i have been getting around 19AA/18 PAT on topscore, so yea... i would like to know what you guys think.

mo

 

[Awuah29]

that's great scores for topscore. When are you planning to take DAT? You should not wait to long! Just go for it if you think you are ready. Why wait? 🙂

 

[LazrSpeed88]

Mo Thuggy,

I can't give you any definate answer that you will be accepted with those scores, but I can tell you, if you don't already know, that UIC and SIU look heavily upon in-state residents since they're both state funded schools. A 19 AA is better than the average, so you're lookin good.

TK
UIC Class of '08

 

[shizzleDDS]

mo thuggy,

since your GPA isn't very competitive, your chances at both SIU and UIC will depend on your DAT scores. I can't say exactly what score you need to get, but its likely a 20AA or above to compensate for your GPA.

SIU usually doesn't interview, so your chances of getting accepted there are based only on what you look like on paper (GPA, DAT, LORs, etc...).

UIC will evalute your application the same way, mainly looking at GPA and DAT scores and if they're impressed they will invite you to interview. I think its fair to say that once you get an interview at UIC they will accept you or not based on how well your interview went, rather than just your numbers.
FYI: UIC gets about 1,000 applications (rough estimate, the exact # is around there somewhere though), interview about 120, and accept 60. Just to give you an idea of what you're up against.

Bottom line: In either case you need a strong DAT score to set you apart from other applicants, and to compensate for your GPA.

BTW, I'm going to UIC this August, class of '08. See you there LazrSpeed88.

 

[MoThuggy]

i appreciate all the great input you guys, thanks so much. so i guess it is safe for me to conclude from all your responses that with my GPA, and IL resident status, the only way i can get in is by posting at least a DAT AA of 20? cuz if that is the case, i mean i guess i am kind of depressed in the sense that i probaly wont be able to score such a nice score on the DAT and therefore probaly wont get into either SIU or UIC.

also...is it really true that SIU prefers to have student from southern IL? or is that jus a misconception?

once again, thanks for all the replies you guys.

mo