Urgent Advice Needed

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AlecGaro

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So it is almost the end of November and I have only been offered an interview at UNLV and that is in early January. I am excited about that interview, but naturally I am worried since I am mostly likely not getting any pre-December interviews and I don't really know what to do at this point. I have 2 questions for all of you which I would like to know the answer to:

1) Are there weak sections of my application which I should somehow improve on? (For ex: should I retake the DAT, or postpone my graduation next semester to take even more classes to boost my GPA even more than it would already increase from this semester and next semester?)
2) Should I somehow send letters of updates to the schools I applied to and tell them about the things I have continued doing to improve my application, outside of just my grades (which will be inputted during the academic update). For example shadowing, volunteering, manual dexterity, and other learning opportunities which I have been participating in (see below for details).

I am a bit lost. Thank you for reading, I appreciate any replies.


Some background info:
-Took the DAT on July 21st, completed AADSAS app on July 29th, AADSAS app mailed out on August 12th
-Secondaries sent out a few days after received from each school, ranging from early to mid-September.
-Schools applied to UCLA, WesternU, UNLV, UOP, USC, UCSF
-Residency: CA
- Major: Kinesiology (basically all major courses count under the "Other Sciences" category in AADSAS)

-GPA: 3.69 oGPA, 3.72 sGPA, 3.70 BCP GPA with all units coming from a California State University (CSU). Along with this, there is a very strong upward trend in the last 2 years of my grades. (Additionally, I am still taking classes for this semester and next semester to finish my degree and improve my cumulative GPA/science GPA.)
-DAT: 21 AA, 20 TS, 21 PAT, 21 QR, 22 RC, 19 BIO, 22 GC, 20 OC. (Only took the DAT once.)
-Shadowing: 550 hrs from 3 General Dentists, 1 Oral & Maxillofacial Surgeon, and 1 Orthodontist. (Since turning in my AADSAS app I have also completed 120 more hours working as an unpaid intern in the back office of the same Oral Surgeon, doing things like shadowing, setting up trays, sterilizing, aiding in consults and pre-op/post-op patient checks.)
-Volunteering: 400 hrs: 90 hrs coming from dental events in underserved communities, 80 hrs coming from within UCLA School of Dentistry, and 225 hrs from a children’s Saturday School. (Since turning in my AADSAS app I will be completing more hours of volunteering within the next few months).
-Research: 7 months (180 hrs) in a microbiology lab at my university. (Since turning in my AADSAS app I have continued research for an additional 3 months and will continue to participate for this semester and next semester, which is when I graduate.)
-LORs: 7 strong letters (1 from each of these: Health Professions Committee, Dentist, Chemistry Professor, Math Professor, Research Lab P.I., UCLA School of Dentistry [from a volunteer program I did there], and a priest)
-Club/Honor Society Memberships: Student Health Professions Associate member for 4 years and currently serving as the Dental Chair of that club, Pre-Dental Society member for 3 years, Kappa Omicron Nu Honor Society for the Health Sciences member for 7 months, Pre-Dental ASDA member for 1 year
-Manual Dexterity: Extensive proof of proficient manual dexterity, including playing guitar for 10+ years, actively doing playing card magic tricks for 10+ years, and taking a tooth waxing and denture setup (manual dexterity) course at UCLA. (Since turning in my AADSAS app, I will be participating in the semester-long "Basic Dental Principles" laboratory course in the UCLA School of Dentistry.)
-Work: Dental Office Receptionist/Front Desk Clerk, Car Dealership Customer Relations Manager, Hollister Sales Associate

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I applied to UCLA, UCSF, and UoP with a 3.95 GPA and 22 AA with no interview invite as well to these schools. It looks like you and I both applied to very tough schools to get into, let alone a foot in the door.
 
I applied to UCLA, UCSF, and UoP with a 3.95 GPA and 22 AA with no interview invite as well to these schools. It looks like you and I both applied to very tough schools to get into, let alone a foot in the door.
This is absolutely true. But also having no updates to USC and WesternU other than "application complete/under review" is pretty surprising, considering their average acceptance stats are significantly lower than the stats we have.. So thats why I am nervous.
 
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This is true but having no updates to USC and WesternU other "application complete/under review" is pretty surprising, considering their average acceptance is significantly lower than the stats we have.. So thats why I am nervous.
It could be because you were mailed out in early August that you haven't gotten interviews from CA schools, I'm not too sure. Dental school is competitive, that's for sure. For UCSF, people have been rejected with 24 or 25 AA and 3.8 GPA. So you and I are both still fortunate to be in the running there.
 
So it is almost the end of November and I have only been offered an interview at UNLV and that is in early January. I am excited about that interview, but naturally I am worried since I am mostly likely not getting any pre-December interviews and I don't really know what to do at this point. What I want to know is 2 things:
1) Are there places that my application is weak, which I should somehow improve on? (Should I retake the DAT, or postpone my graduation next semester to take even more classes to boost my GPA even more than it would from this semester and next?)
2) Should I somehow send letters of updates to the schools I applied to and tell them about the things I have continued doing to improve my application in addition to the academic update (like shadowing, volunteering, manual dexterity.. see below)?

I am a bit lost. Thank you for reading, I appreciate any replies.


Some background info:
-Took the DAT on July 21st, completed AADSAS app on July 29th, AADSAS app mailed out on August 12th
-Secondaries sent out a few days after received from each school (ranging from beginning of Sept to the end of that same month).
-Schools applied to UCLA, WesternU, UNLV, UOP, USC, UCSF
-Residency: CA
- Major: Kinesiology (basically all major courses count under the "Other Sciences" category in AADSAS)

-GPA: ~3.69 oGPA, 3.72 sGPA, 3.70 BCP GPA with all units coming from a California State University (CSU). There is a very strong upward trend in the last 2 years of my grades. (Additionally, I am still taking classes for this semester and next semester to finish my degree and improve my cumulative GPA/science GPA.)
-DAT: 21 AA, 20 TS, 21 PAT, 21 QR, 22 RC, 19 BIO, 22 GC, 20 OC. (Only took the DAT 1 time.)
-Shadowing: 550 hrs from 3 General Dentists, 1 Oral & Maxillofacial Surgeon, and 1 Orthodontist. (Since turning in my AADSAS app I have also completed 120 more hours working as an unpaid intern in the back office of the same Oral Surgeon, doing things like shadowing, setting up trays, sterilizing, aiding in consults and pre-op/post-op patient checks.)
-Volunteering: 400 hrs: 90 hrs coming from dental events in underserved communities, 80 hrs coming from within UCLA School of Dentistry, and 225 hrs from a children’s Saturday School. (Since turning in my AADSAS app I will be completing more hours of volunteering within the next few months).
-Research: 7 months (180 hrs) in a microbiology lab at my university. (Since turning in my AADSAS app I have continued research for an additional 3 months and will continue to participate for this semester and next semester, which is when I graduate.)
-LORs: 7 strong letters (1 from each of these: Health Professions Committee, Dentist, Chemistry Professor, Math Professor, Research Lab P.I., UCLA School of Dentistry [from a volunteer program I did there], and a priest)
-Club/Honor Society Memberships: Student Health Professions Associate member for 4 years and currently serving as the Dental Chair of that club, Pre-Dental Society member for 3 years, Kappa Omicron Nu Honor Society for the Health Sciences member for 7 months, Pre-Dental ASDA member for 1 year
-Manual Dexterity: Extensive proof of proficient manual dexterity, including playing guitar for 10+ years, actively doing playing card magic tricks for 10+ years, and taking a tooth waxing and denture setup (manual dexterity) course at UCLA. (Since turning in my AADSAS app, I will be participating in the semester-long "Basic Dental Principles" laboratory course in the UCLA School of Dentistry.)
-Work: Dental Office Receptionist/Front Desk Clerk, Car Dealership Customer Relations Manager, Hollister Sales Associate

You may still hear back from some schools of course. Based on the stats given you should be very competitive. I am wondering what you put in your personal statement or if you have any red flags on your AADSAS.
 
It could be because you were mailed out in early August that you haven't gotten interviews from CA schools, I'm not too sure. Dental school is competitive, that's for sure. For UCSF, people have been rejected with 24 or 25 AA and 3.8 GPA. So you and I are both still fortunate to be in the running there.
It could be, but do you think that is something severe? I have heard on SDN that anything before September is considered relatively early, and from talking to people at Dental Schools I heard a lot of schools don't really even look at apps until mid-July or in some cases August. Also, most schools which I applied to didn't send out secondaries to any applicants until around mid-August. So considering my secondaries were received and sent back out from early/mid-September, I don't think it was that bad.
 
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You may still hear back from some schools of course. Based on the stats given you should be very competitive. I am wondering what you put in your personal statement or if you have any red flags on your AADSAS.
I gave a good story on my personal state and also gave reasoning into my journey of dentistry. From the health professions counselors and current dental students that read it and helped me revise it, I was told it was pretty good, so I am not that worried about that. I really can't think of anything that would give a red flag on my application. I never had any failed classes or weird/bad incidents. The only thing I can think of is that I also mentioned that my father and uncle are dentists and that I shadowed them for 220 hours (out of my 550 total hours that I listed as shadowing experience on my AADSAS app). But they were only 2 of the 5 dentists that I shadowed and listed on my app. Also, considering that I also added on 120 extra hours since I sent in my app, with my updated shadowing stats, they would only be 220 of the 670 total hours of shadowing that I have.

I did not want to lie to the schools.. but I didn't think that would be something very bad. If anything it could have some positive effects to my experiences as a pre-dental student. Do you think that would be the problem with my app?
 
I dont see anything wrong. I think its that its THAT competitive. I havent gotten some interviews to some schools I thought I would absolutely get. Just be patient, I'm sure you'll get a couple more post-decs.
 
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I dont see anything wrong. I think its that its THAT competitive. I havent gotten some interviews to some schools I thought I would absolutely get. Just be patient, I'm sure you'll get a couple more post-decs.
Sounds good, thank you for the reply but do you think I should do anything regarding my second question which I noted at the top of this post?
 
Sounds good, thank you for the reply but do you think I should do anything regarding my second question which I noted at the top of this post?

Shadowing a couple of family members? It definitely is not detrimental since thats not the ONLY shadowing you did.
 
Shadowing a couple of family members? It definitely is not detrimental since thats not the ONLY shadowing you did.

Oh sorry, haha actually not that question. But thank you for responding to that.

I was referring to this:
Should I somehow send letters of updates to the schools I applied to and tell them about the things I have continued doing to improve my application, outside of just my grades (which will be inputted during the academic update). For example shadowing, volunteering, manual dexterity, and other learning opportunities which I have been participating in.
 
Oh sorry, haha actually not that question. But thank you for responding to that.

I was referring to this:

Yeah emailing them updates is good idea. I've done it myself. It can't hurt you and it shows that you are interested enough to take your time to email them.
 
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Yeah emailing them updates is good idea. I've done it myself. It can't hurt you and it shows that you are interested enough to take your time to email them.
I've heard sending a physical letter looks great as well, either to the admissions office or to an admission officer. Have you ever heard of anything regarding that?
 
I've heard sending a physical letter looks great as well, either to the admissions office or to an admission officer. Have you ever heard of anything regarding that?

Never considered it so Im clueless in that regard.
 
Thank you for all of your help @Likkriue

Does anyone else have any opinions on my original post/questions?
 
Thank you for all of your help @Likkriue

Does anyone else have any opinions on my original post/questions?
I wouldn't worry too much about it, your app as a whole looks very solid. Just be patient, I'm sure you'll get those invites soon.

And yeah, as @californiway21 mentioned, some people with crazy stats have already been rejected from schools like UCLA and UCSF. The fact that you haven't heard back yet is good news.
 
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I wouldn't worry too much about it, your app as a whole looks very solid. Just be patient, I'm sure you'll get those invites soon.

And yeah, as @californiway21 mentioned, some people with crazy stats have already been rejected from schools like UCLA and UCSF. The fact that you haven't heard back yet is good news.

Each school looks for certain things in the students that they want to matriculate. UNLV, for example, looks favorably upon applicants with good stats, because the first-year curriculum is fairly heavy. A lot of your application at this point is beyond your control, as anxiety-inducing as that may sound to you right now. Worst case scenario is you'll apply again next cycle, but dental school will always be there.
Send me a message with any questions closer to your interview date with UNLV.

Thanks to both of you! I'm always a curious guy, that's why I ask all of these things. But you've helped me make some aspects of it clearer.
 
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