Strong Dental Applicant 2018?

[SwimmerDentist95]

Hey everyone, I just took my DAT today and was looking for some insight on applying this coming June. I want to know if I am a strong enough applicant this coming cycle. I am finishing up my senior year and will be taking a gap year to gain some more shadowing and volunteer hours, as well as work in two offices throughout the year. I am a Michigan resident, so I would like to apply broadly to schools throughout the Midwest.

College: Hope College (Liberal Arts School in Michigan)

Major: Biomedical-Biomechanical Engineering
Minor: Chemistry

Overall GPA: 3.50 (below average from all the upper level engineering courses)
Science GPA: 3.25 (a little low because of all the upper level MATH and PHYSICS I had to take for engineering)

DAT Scores:
BIO: 18
GC: 20
OC: 21
TS: 19
RC: 24
QR: 23
AA: 21
PAT: 23

Extracurriculars:

- 4 year student-athlete: Swimming

• ALL Conference Team (3 of 4 years)
• Captain Senior Year

- Co-President of Pre-Dental Club
- Student-Athlete Panelist on College Visit Days
- 30 hours volunteering at free health clinic
- 40 hours shadowing

Thanks in advance everyone

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[I-hate-alginate]

Looks good to me, make sure to apply June 1st for better chances. That's what I learned this cycle, the sooner you apply, the higher the chances.

 

[predent2151]

Definitely apply early and broadly

 

[predent2151]

The difficulty of your major will help you though since your gpa is going to be naturally deflated

 

[MendiT13]

I would add some more volunteer and shadowing hours before June, and I think you’ll be set! Good luck!!!

 

[WaveRace]

Hey everyone, I just took my DAT today and was looking for some insight on applying this coming June. I want to know if I am a strong enough applicant this coming cycle. I am finishing up my senior year and will be taking a gap year to gain some more shadowing and volunteer hours, as well as work in two offices throughout the year. I am a Michigan resident, so I would like to apply broadly to schools throughout the Midwest.

College: Hope College (Liberal Arts School in Michigan)

Major: Biomedical-Biomechanical Engineering
Minor: Chemistry

Overall GPA: 3.50 (below average from all the upper level engineering courses)
Science GPA: 3.25 (a little low because of all the upper level MATH and PHYSICS I had to take for engineering)

DAT Scores:
BIO: 18
GC: 20
OC: 21
TS: 19
RC: 24
QR: 23
AA: 21
PAT: 23

Extracurriculars:

- 4 year student-athlete: Swimming

• ALL Conference Team (3 of 4 years)
• Captain Senior Year

- Co-President of Pre-Dental Club
- Student-Athlete Panelist on College Visit Days
- 30 hours volunteering at free health clinic
- 40 hours shadowing

Thanks in advance everyone

When one section of the app is weak, you want to make up for it in other parts. Your volunteering and shadowing hours are very low. For instance, Michigan (your state school) requires a minimum of 100 hours of shadowing. The student-athlete thing is certainly impressive, but it doesn't remove the requirements that every other pre-dent has to complete. Make sure you get those numbers as high as you can before you apply. After you submit your app, you can submit updates with what you have been doing. You only get one academic update (November), but you can add EC's as you do them. If you apply this cycle and don't get in, you should be much stronger next cycle (based on your gap year plans).

Apply early, broadly, and intelligently. You should get some interviews! Be sure to buy the ADEA guide so you know what schools you have a good chance at. Look at average GPA/DAT and the ranges that are accepted. Look at number of OOS seats and percent of OOS applicants interviewed/accepted. I did undergrad at Umich, so I'm also in-state in Michigan. If you have questions about where I applied, need an extra set of eyes for your PS, or have any questions you think I could help you with, PM me. Happy to help! Several of my friends went to Hope for undergrad. Holland is a beautiful city. Particularly love the hiking trails and Lake Michigan!

 

[knewstance]

Highly recommend adding a lot more shadow and volunteer hours.

GPA and DAT aren't bad but they won't help you stand out too much either. If you do not add shadowing and volunteer hours, you will be passed on quickly.

 

[blcopp]

He said in his post he is adding more volunteer and shadowing hours.

I think you look good, though. Apply broadly, put a lot of effort into your personal statement, and make sure you have strong interviewing skills.

 

[Auntymarkovnikov]

Lookin solid fam. I don’t think you should have any problems getting in

 

[887194]

If you can get to around 100 shadowing hours, really bump those volunteer hours up, apply broadly & early, I think you should be able to secure a spot. GL

 

[SwimmerDentist95]

Thank you everyone for your responses. I know that I need A LOT more shadowing and volunteer hours. A typical swim week takes up to 25 hours, and with a full credit class load I haven't had a lot of time to fit in shadowing/volunteering. I will at least obtain the minimum hours needed to apply, but is there a section on the application to let schools know what my future plans are during my gap year? I don't want to give a poor first impression because I planned on working in dental environments during my gap year.

 

[nrfnrf]

not bad

 

[hmmmidk]

This is irrelevant but what’s interesting is that I have the exact same science scores basically ( flip gc and oc scores), and yet my avg was 20. I assume gc is weighted more than oc?

 

[artist2022]

This is irrelevant but what’s interesting is that I have the exact same science scores basically ( flip gc and oc scores), and yet my avg was 20. I assume gc is weighted more than oc?

AA is a true average of 5 sections: Bio, GC, OC, RC, and QR. TS, on the other hand, is not a true average and is calculated differently (based on how many you got correct out of 100 total science sections). When you say avg, if you mean AA and you do have the same scores for all 5 sections with OC/GC swapped around, you would have the same AA as OP. If you just have the sciences the same with OC/GC swapped around but lower RC & QR, your AA will be lower, and if you are only talking about TS, then it's calculated differently, with the same weight going to OC and GC (I would assume) since they have the same amount of questions (30). Their weights, however, would be higher than Bio since Bio has 40 questions. Hope this makes sense!

 

[hmmmidk]

AA is a true average of 5 sections: Bio, GC, OC, RC, and QR. TS, on the other hand, is not a true average and is calculated differently (based on how many you got correct out of 100 total science sections). When you say avg, if you mean AA and you do have the same scores for all 5 sections with OC/GC swapped around, you would have the same AA as OP. If you just have the sciences the same with OC/GC swapped around but lower RC & QR, your AA will be lower, and if you are only talking about TS, then it's calculated differently, with the same weight going to OC and GC (I would assume) since they have the same amount of questions (30). Their weights, however, would be higher than Bio since Bio has 40 questions. Hope this makes sense!

I was talking about ts since I had 18 bio 21 gc and 20 oc with 20 ts. I was just wondering why there’s a difference in our ts score but then I realized from your statement that it’s standardized based on how many correct problems and not avg.

 

[Lacko2411]

Hey everyone, I just took my DAT today and was looking for some insight on applying this coming June. I want to know if I am a strong enough applicant this coming cycle. I am finishing up my senior year and will be taking a gap year to gain some more shadowing and volunteer hours, as well as work in two offices throughout the year. I am a Michigan resident, so I would like to apply broadly to schools throughout the Midwest.

College: Hope College (Liberal Arts School in Michigan)

Major: Biomedical-Biomechanical Engineering
Minor: Chemistry

Overall GPA: 3.50 (below average from all the upper level engineering courses)
Science GPA: 3.25 (a little low because of all the upper level MATH and PHYSICS I had to take for engineering)

DAT Scores:
BIO: 18
GC: 20
OC: 21
TS: 19
RC: 24
QR: 23
AA: 21
PAT: 23

Extracurriculars:

- 4 year student-athlete: Swimming

• ALL Conference Team (3 of 4 years)
• Captain Senior Year

- Co-President of Pre-Dental Club
- Student-Athlete Panelist on College Visit Days
- 30 hours volunteering at free health clinic
- 40 hours shadowing

Thanks in advance everyone

Everything looks good except for shadowing and volunteer hours. Get some more and you should be good to go.