Taking Advice From The Wrong People

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jbarnett2020

jbarnett2020

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If your car broke down would you call a mechanic or someone that is interested in being a mechanic that has no actual experience?

If you were to hire a personal trainer, would you hire someone that was obese?

Obviously not.

But, even crazier, most of you trust advice about getting into dental school from someone that has not successfully applied and earned a seat in dental school. How backwards is that? All of you here obviously are passionate about getting in or you would spend your time doing something else rather than being on here. You are all brilliant and that is why you can manage a full course-load, that is science heavy, have a million extracurriculars, and still have a strong GPA+DAT.

I understand what you are going through as I literally just did it less than a year ago. This application is so important and all you want is some peace of mind and small pieces of advice to hopefully help your chances. You look at your stats and say, "Chance me on ____, _____, etc."

Unfortunately "your friend" or literally anyone in the cycle is not a credible source.

Call the schools or when someone gives you information, ask them "Did you get into school?"

I think that all of you are making a great choice picking dentistry and if you are very passionate about pursuing it, YOU WILL GET IN! Maybe not under the terms that you hoped, but it CAN and WILL happen. I cannot stand to see all of the misinformation on here and I truly hope that all of you achieve what you are hoping for.

Please feel free to PM me if you have any questions, comments, or concerns. I would love to work with you!
 
You're right - when it comes to the "Chance me" type stuff, we really don't know what we're talking about (and I would argue only ADCOMS know the answer to those types of questions). However, thousands of questions get asked on these forums that are properly answered by people who have yet to be accepted into dental school yet. I would argue that those applying right now can be even more helpful than individuals who are already in dental school because a lot of them don't even remember the specifics regarding the application process. I think it's easy to say that people on these forums don't know what they're talking about, but I've seen plenty of very helpful information being disseminated amongst pre-dental individuals 🙂
 
jbarnett2020 said:
If your car broke down would you call a mechanic or someone that is interested in being a mechanic that has no actual experience?

If you were to hire a personal trainer, would you hire someone that was obese?

Obviously not.

But, even crazier, most of you trust advice about getting into dental school from someone that has not successfully applied and earned a seat in dental school. How backwards is that? All of you here obviously are passionate about getting in or you would spend your time doing something else rather than being on here. You are all brilliant and that is why you can manage a full course-load, that is science heavy, have a million extracurriculars, and still have a strong GPA+DAT.

I understand what you are going through as I literally just did it less than a year ago. This application is so important and all you want is some peace of mind and small pieces of advice to hopefully help your chances. You look at your stats and say, "Chance me on ____, _____, etc."

Unfortunately "your friend" or literally anyone in the cycle is not a credible source.

Call the schools or when someone gives you information, ask them "Did you get into school?"

I think that all of you are making a great choice picking dentistry and if you are very passionate about pursuing it, YOU WILL GET IN! Maybe not under the terms that you hoped, but it CAN and WILL happen. I cannot stand to see all of the misinformation on here and I truly hope that all of you achieve what you are hoping for.

Please feel free to PM me if you have any questions, comments, or concerns. I would love to work with you!
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I like this. Agree with you. Then got confused when you said the words "work with you."
 
DMDDDSHopeful said:
I like this. Agree with you. Then got confused when you said the words "work with you."
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I think he is the mechanic in his analogy. What he's arguing is that if you haven't been accepted into dental school, you don't really know what you're talking about (based on the whole mechanic analogy).

Question to the OP: Come december 1st, if I get accepted into dental school, do I all the sudden go form an uninformed pre-dent student to an expert? No because the only real experts are the adcoms themselves 🙂
 
Life of Pablo said:
I think he is the mechanic in his analogy. What he's arguing is that if you haven't been accepted into dental school, you don't really know what you're talking about (based on the whole mechanic analogy).

Question to the OP: Come december 1st, if I get accepted into dental school, do I all the sudden go form an uninformed pre-dent student to an expert? No because the only real experts are the adcoms themselves 🙂
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He's not saying anything about the analogy, he's worried about this guy selling his services to pre-dents. In other words, he doesn't want this to be an advertisement.

If OP is offering free help, great. If he's offering to have people pay him, shame on him.
 
Getting accepted isn't rocket science. Keep your GPA as high as you can and score as high as possible on the DAT. Research will help. Community service is a big plus. Work to develop solid professional relationships so you can then get solid LORs. Agree that these chance me threads are asanine. Just look at the schools average GPA and DAT. If you're above those, you likely have an above average shot, and vice versa. And just realize if you're OOS for a school, you'll likely need to be solidly above their averages. Oh, and you should go to the cheapest school you get into. Loans are no joke and no fun. What more do you seriously need to know?

Big Hoss
 
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Big Time Hoosier said:
Getting accepted isn't rocket science. Keep your GPA as high as you can and score as high as possible on the DAT. Research will help. Community service is a big plus. Work to develop solid professional relationships so you can then get solid LORs. Agree that these chance me threads are asanine. Just look at the schools average GPA and DAT. If you're above those, you likely have an above average shot, and vica versa. And just realize if you're OOS for a school, you'll likely need to be solidly above their averages. Oh, and you should go to the cheapest school you get into. Loans are no joke and no fun. What more do you seriously need to know?

Big Hoss
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well said.... i think people just need a confidence booster reassuring that their stats are good enough..
 
dshen92129 said:
well said.... i think people just need a confidence booster reassuring that their stats are good enough..
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"Need" is an interesting word. Admittedly, I have participated in my fair share of 'chance me' threads but I don't think I NEEDED to know. Nor does anyone. I think we WANT to be reassured and maybe there is value in feeling better about it (even if it is misguided).
Better yet, I think we NEED to hear back from schools, not strangers on SDN
 
The "process" of applying is challenging, and those in it currently will have lots of real info on the do's and don'ts. The actual admission is another story, and no one other than an adcom member could give valid info on chances. It is also important to realize that schools have fluid agendas, and what worked last year may not work this year. For instance, if a school has recently gone through re-accreditation, there may be some CODA issues that will be addressed via tweaking the demographic of the next incoming class.
 
BioTic said:
That's irrelevant because this thread isn't about dental school but applying to dental school.
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No, it's completely relevant because it goes back to what was said earlier. Does someone automatically become qualified to give advice as soon as they get an acceptance on December 1st? Do they become significantly more qualified 7 months after that acceptance?

No. They don't.

The point I am making is that this is the internet. No one will have all the answers, so take ALL the advice given here with a grain of salt.
 
caffeine jitters said:
No, it's completely relevant because it goes back to what was said earlier. Does someone automatically become qualified to give advice as soon as they get an acceptance on December 1st? Do they become significantly more qualified 7 months after that acceptance?

No. They don't.

The point I am making is that this is the internet. No one will have all the answers, so take ALL the advice given here with a grain of salt.
Click to expand...


The answer you're looking for: Yes, we have started school.

By definition someone is unqualified to give advice about being accepted to dental school given the fact that they have not been accepted to dental school. You don't know if what you've been doing/were told even worked until Dec 1st. Should/Can you (not you specifically) reiterate advice given to you from successful applicants? Sure. But until you've been apart of the process, and had success in doing so, your word doesn't hold as much weight, nor should any novel advice have as much weight.

It's up to the individual pre-dent to determine what advice they should or shouldn't take. But I would echo the caution in taking advice from those who may not have been as successful as they had hoped, or you would hope to be.



Your friend got a D in biochemistry, are you going to take advice from him on how to study?
 
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Rand627 said:
He's not saying anything about the analogy, he's worried about this guy selling his services to pre-dents. In other words, he doesn't want this to be an advertisement.

If OP is offering free help, great. If he's offering to have people pay him, shame on him.
Click to expand...

His words were carefully chosen.
 
DMikes said:
The answer you're looking for: Yes, we have started school.

By definition someone is unqualified to give advice about being accepted to dental school given the fact that they have not been accepted to dental school. You don't know if what you've been doing/were told even worked until Dec 1st. Should/Can you (not you specifically) reiterate advice given to you from successful applicants? Sure. But until you've been apart of the process, and had success in doing so, your word doesn't hold as much weight, nor should any novel advice have as much weight.

It's up to the individual pre-dent to determine what advice they should or shouldn't take. But I would echo the caution in taking advice from those who may not have been as successful as they had hoped, or you would hope to be.



Your friend got a D in biochemistry, are you going to take advice from him on how to study?
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Well, no, your analogy doesn't work. It would be like if your friend has a 95% average in Biochem and is on track to get an A in the class but the semester isn't over yet so his grade isn't final. Would you listen to that person about how to study? Yeah why not. If they're already doing well, there's nothing wrong with taking advice from them.
 
Life of Pablo said:
Well, no, your analogy doesn't work. It would be like if your friend has a 95% average in Biochem and is on track to get an A in the class but the semester isn't over yet so his grade isn't final. Would you listen to that person about how to study? Yeah why not. If they're already doing well, there's nothing wrong with taking advice from them.
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Do you get a midterm grade on your application while you're applying to dental school?


Taking advice on how to study for the DAT? Sure, that's different. If they did well it's completely acceptable and reasonable to take their advice.
 
DMikes said:
Do you get a midterm grade on your application while you're applying to dental school?
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In a way, yes. It's called "We're pleased to offer you an interview" - meaning that they like what they see so far. That, to me, is like a midterm grade. You've made it half way at that point.

Edit: this is also your analogy so if you don't agree with my whole grade thing then it was a poor analogy to begin with.
 
Life of Pablo said:
In a way, yes. It's called "We're pleased to offer you an interview" - meaning that they like what they see so far. That, to me, is like a midterm grade. You've made it half way at that point.
Click to expand...


You can't simply makeup a timeline. Who said I was talking about post interview, preinterview, pre DAT, post DAT, etc? This is a general statement.

Finals are harder than midterms 😉


Edit: My analogy didn't have a specified, midpoint timeline, so yes, I can attack it. I stated if they weren't successful, you're not going to take their advice. Nothing beyond that.
 
DMikes said:
You can't simply makeup a timeline. Who said I was talking about post interview, preinterview, pre DAT, post DAT, etc? This is a general statement.

Finals are harder than midterms 😉


Edit: My analogy didn't have a specified, midpoint, timeline, so yes, I can attack it. I stated if they weren't successful, you're not going to take their advice. Nothing beyond that.
Click to expand...

But many of the people giving advice are going to be successful and have already been successful (receiving interviews) so far. They aren't equivalent to your failing biochem student analogy.

See, this whole thing isn't black and white. You're not simply an expert or simply uninformed. There are many uninformed pre-dents, Yes. But, there are also many informed ones, too.
 
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Life of Pablo said:
All I'm saying is you're comparing someone who is failing Biochem with pre-dents who have interviews already and are helping othe


But many of the people giving advice are going to be successful and have already been successful (receiving interviews) so far. They aren't equivalent to your failing biochem student analogy.
Click to expand...


I understand what you're saying.

Not all pre-dents have interviews so far. They do not know how their interviews will go. They do not know if they will be accepted. They do not know if their application, in entirety was successful. And the sad part is: a non-trivial amount will not be successful. All in all, the advice is to be very careful who you take advice from
 
caffeine jitters said:
No, it's completely relevant because it goes back to what was said earlier. Does someone automatically become qualified to give advice as soon as they get an acceptance on December 1st? Do they become significantly more qualified 7 months after that acceptance?

No. They don't.

The point I am making is that this is the internet. No one will have all the answers, so take ALL the advice given here with a. grain of salt.
Click to expand...
I'm just saying this is someone who has experienced it already and has been successful. Him starting dental school is irrelevant because he was successful with getting in, and from a pre-dental perspective who wants advice on an application they care if you got into dental school (they don't care what you're doing in dental school). I would argue someone who has been successful getting an acceptance is of more value than some pre-dental student who's commenting on chance me threads without a shadow of a doubt. I agree take it with a grain of salt, but there is a spectrum and so it's not black and white who is qualified.
 
BioTic said:
I'm just saying this is someone who has experienced it already and has been successful. Him starting dental school is irrelevant because he was successful with getting in, and from a pre-dental perspective who wants advice on an application they care if you got into dental school (they don't care what you're doing in dental school). I would argue someone who has been successful getting an acceptance is of more value than some pre-dental student who's commenting on chance me threads without a shadow of a doubt. I agree take it with a grain of salt, but there is a spectrum and so it's not black and white who is qualified.
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Very well stated.
 
It is noteworthy to mention that the date of your acceptance is a key factor. I.e. asking your dentist that you shadowed that went to dental school 25 years ago is nowhere near as relevant as people accepted last cycle. There is an inverse relationship between time and relevance.

To give everyone an idea, AADSAS has changed the application process this year from last year. So certain aspects like how you uploaded transcripts+LORs and how you are doing secondaries now, has changed for this cycle.

ALWAYS take everything with a grain of salt. The purpose of this post was to challenge you all to be more scientific in how you interpret information that you gather. You should ALWAYS be speculative of advice that is given. I would love to go into the details of my application but you need to understand that the evidence is still anecdotal and not factual or repeatable.

But, certain people are more credible. People that have been accepted are much more credible than people that have not. The most credible people are the people on the admissions committee for the specific school of interest. Be smart about it.

Feel free to PM me if you have any questions.
 
BioTic said:
I'm just saying this is someone who has experienced it already and has been successful. Him starting dental school is irrelevant because he was successful with getting in, and from a pre-dental perspective who wants advice on an application they care if you got into dental school (they don't care what you're doing in dental school). I would argue someone who has been successful getting an acceptance is of more value than some pre-dental student who's commenting on chance me threads without a shadow of a doubt. I agree take it with a grain of salt, but there is a spectrum and so it's not black and white who is qualified.
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Again, it is very relevant.

If everyone in this thread is in agreement that adcoms are the only ones who truly know what they want... wouldn't it make sense to seek out advice from someone in school... because they have had the opportunity to build a relationship with adcoms...? To pick their brains about admissions...?

Im not discrediting OPs advice at all. I am simply saying I don't see him as an all knowing stud just because he got accepted to a dental school and started classes a week ago (or however long it has been). I would take his advice, sure, but I would take it with a grain of salt - as I said.
 
caffeine jitters said:
Again, it is very relevant.

If everyone in this thread is in agreement that adcoms are the only ones who truly know what they want... wouldn't it make sense to seek out advice from someone in school... because they have had the opportunity to build a relationship with adcoms...? To pick their brains about admissions...?

Im not discrediting OPs advice at all. I am simply saying I don't see him as an all knowing stud just because he got accepted to a dental school and started classes a week ago (or however long it has been). I would take his advice, sure, but I would take it with a grain of salt - as I said.
Click to expand...

read the third paragraph of my last reply directly above this.
 
caffeine jitters said:
Again, it is very relevant.

If everyone in this thread is in agreement that adcoms are the only ones who truly know what they want... wouldn't it make sense to seek out advice from someone in school... because they have had the opportunity to build a relationship with adcoms...? To pick their brains about admissions...?

Im not discrediting OPs advice at all. I am simply saying I don't see him as an all knowing stud just because he got accepted to a dental school and started classes a week ago (or however long it has been). I would take his advice, sure, but I would take it with a grain of salt - as I said.
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lol I don't think he claimed to be omniscient. His advice was just ask the admissions committee and/or someone who is in dental school because they have experienced the application cycle more than a friend or another pre-dental student. He's certainly right. I think it was implied to take anyone's advice with a grain of salt who isn't on the admissions committee. They both have something unique to offer. SDN wouldn't be what it is today if not for all the dental students that help answer our questions about the application itself. Again, it should be common sense to take anyone's advice here on SDN with a grain of salt so I think we're on the same page here 😉.
 
So many of you are making this process harder than it needs to be! I've literally told you all you need to know and do in my previous post to give it your best shot at getting in. These are the exact same things that have been getting people accepted for decades, and they will continue to get people accepted for decades to come.

If you still want more advice, I've decided to open my own admissions consultancy firm. I'm just going to spout off common sense answers that you should have been able to come up with on your own, but charge you a small fortune for them. I want payment up front in the form of precious metals. I prefer gold, but will accept silver, platinum, and/or paladium. PM me and I will provide instructions on how, when, and where to make the dead drop. Be prepared to make a long drive. Only after receipt of payment will I answer your questions. Best of luck this admission cycle! I look forward to providing my services to you.

Big Hoss
 
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