WAMC 2023-2024, School List Suggestions also appreciated

[juyo]

Hi everyone, making the switch from premed to predent:
GPA: 3.61 (regular and sGPA are same, upward trend from freshman year, finished last 3 semesters with 3.99)

DAT: TBA (got a 515 on my mcat tho, idk how transferrable that is but i assume ill do reasonably well after adequate prep)

Background: ORM Male, MD resident. Attended big public school in state. Neuroscience major. 3 gap yrs. no red flags

Clinical experience:

- 90 hrs volunteering at covid clinic

- 150 hrs volunteering at local hospital

- 360 hrs with pop-up clinic organization in rural parts of the US providing impromptu dental and medical care

- 1200 hrs as a paid employed ophthalmic technician (responsibilities include clinical testing, eyedropping, front desk, surgical coordination, etc.) - not sure how relevant this is for dental

Nonclinical volunteering:

- 50 hrs of tutoring

- 300 hrs non-profit volunteering

Shadowing:

- 150 hours shadowing general dentist

- 300 hrs of shadowing PCP

- 20 hrs shadowing Ortho

Research:

- 700 hrs in lab #1 (resulted in 1 publication)

- 500 hrs in lab #2 (a lot of it was remote due to advent of covid)

Paid employment:

- 150 hrs as General Chemistry Lab TA for 1 semester

Leadership:

-1200 hrs founding and running service club (by far most impactful activity done in undergrad, wrote extensively about it in my PS), awarded funding from university and included in published article online

Hobbies:

- 2000 hrs submission grappling + bodybuilding

Letters:

- school offers committee letter

- 2 science letters (one was probably weak/generic, confident in other letter)

- 1 nonscience (have continued to correspond with english prof after class ended, pretty confident in strength)

- 1 dentist letter (should this be from a general practitioner or is it okay to have one from a specialist)

- 1 research letter from PI

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[macsak]

Hi everyone, making the switch from premed to predent:
GPA: 3.61 (regular and sGPA are same, upward trend from freshman year, finished last 3 semesters with 3.99)

DAT: TBA (got a 515 on my mcat tho, idk how transferrable that is but i assume ill do reasonably well after adequate prep)

Background: ORM Male, MD resident. Attended big public school in state. Neuroscience major. 3 gap yrs. no red flags

Clinical experience:

- 90 hrs volunteering at covid clinic

- 150 hrs volunteering at local hospital

- 360 hrs with pop-up clinic organization in rural parts of the US providing impromptu dental and medical care

- 1200 hrs as a paid employed ophthalmic technician (responsibilities include clinical testing, eyedropping, front desk, surgical coordination, etc.) - not sure how relevant this is for dental

Nonclinical volunteering:

- 50 hrs of tutoring

- 300 hrs non-profit volunteering

Shadowing:

- 150 hours shadowing general dentist

- 300 hrs of shadowing PCP

- 20 hrs shadowing Ortho

Research:

- 700 hrs in lab #1 (resulted in 1 publication)

- 500 hrs in lab #2 (a lot of it was remote due to advent of covid)

Paid employment:

- 150 hrs as General Chemistry Lab TA for 1 semester

Leadership:

-1200 hrs founding and running service club (by far most impactful activity done in undergrad, wrote extensively about it in my PS), awarded funding from university and included in published article online

Hobbies:

- 2000 hrs submission grappling + bodybuilding

Letters:

- school offers committee letter

- 2 science letters (one was probably weak/generic, confident in other letter)

- 1 nonscience (have continued to correspond with english prof after class ended, pretty confident in strength)

- 1 dentist letter (should this be from a general practitioner or is it okay to have one from a specialist)

- 1 research letter from PI

why the switch?
what did you do during gap years?
have you volunteered/shadowed/attended events at UMD dental school?

 

[juyo]

why the switch?
what did you do during gap years?
have you volunteered/shadowed/attended events at UMD dental school?

- find dental cases more interesting, found my time shadowing more interesting + enjoyable than the medical stuff ive been around
- during my gap years, i worked and volunteered clinically and non clinically
- no, i do know several dental students there right now though. do you have suggestions on a school list?

 

[Ryxndek]

GPA and DAT (assuming you do well given a 515MCAT, but study well for the Perceptual Ability Test (PAT) section, which is not found anywhere on MCAT and gets applicants confused/tripped up as it is a very different type of question being asked. Your GPA is fine, a DAT of 21+ is most ideal

My only concern is that you have switched from medicine to dentistry, and given your app I think that would be fairly apparent given your extensive volunteering for hospitals and clinics which isn't typical for dentistry. I would recommend you volunteer with the homeless either at a food bank/soup kitchen or get yourself out of your comfort zone.

The research will certainly help if you apply to research-heavy schools, though most conduct some type of research. The 300 hours of shadowing a primary care provider really won't do much since that's a completely different field unless it's dental-related.

AADSAS only lets you submit 4 letters, so you'd have to decide whether your PI or Dentist would write you a stronger letter. Seeing as you've done more research it may help you. But given you're switching paths having a dentist recommend you on their behalf may sequester any thoughts the committees might have. You can certainly have the 5th LOR send it to each school personally. However most schools took my PI as a supervisor letter and I was able to have 3 science and PI, you may be able to remove your Nonscience LOR and exchange for PI and use that as the supervisor so you can have the PI and Dentist on your app. Food for thought. It would be better to have a GD write you a letter instead of a specialist since dental schools graduate general dentists, not specialists like medical schools.

My main concern is that your app makes me feel like you were planning on applying to medicine and switching to dental, for what reason isn't completely clear. But, you are really going to have to focus on your personal statement and other writing prompts on why dental is the right career choice for you and convince the ADCOMS the same. What have you done to display manual dexterity? (that's a writing prompt on the app).

If you do well on your DAT I think schools may overlook some things, but I would just be ready to explain to schools Why dentistry very well and make sure you are set on that. Dental school is not cheap.

 

[juyo]

GPA and DAT (assuming you do well given a 515MCAT, but study well for the Perceptual Ability Test (PAT) section, which is not found anywhere on MCAT and gets applicants confused/tripped up as it is a very different type of question being asked.

My only concern is that you have switched from medicine to dentistry, and given your app I think that would be fairly apparent given your extensive volunteering for hospitals and clinics which isn't typical for dentistry. I would recommend you volunteer with the homeless either at a food bank/soup kitchen or get yourself out of your comfort zone.

The research will certainly help if you apply to research-heavy schools, though most conduct some type of research. The 300 hours of shadowing a primary care provider really won't do much since that's a completely different field unless it's dental-related.

AADSAS only lets you submit 4 letters, so you'd have to decide whether your PI or Dentist would write you a stronger letter. Seeing as you've done more research it may help you. But given you're switching paths having a dentist recommend you on their behalf may sequester any thoughts the committees might have. You can certainly have the 5th LOR send it to each school personally. However most schools took my PI as a supervisor letter and I was able to have 3 science and PI, you may be able to remove your Nonscience LOR and exchange for PI and use that as the supervisor so you can have the PI and Dentist on your app. Food for thought. It would be better to have a GD write you a letter instead of a specialist since dental schools graduate general dentists, not specialists like medical schools.

My main concern is that your app makes me feel like you were planning on applying to medicine and switching to dental, for what reason isn't completely clear. But, you are really going to have to focus on your personal statement and other writing prompts on why dental is the right career choice for you and convince the ADCOMS the same. What have you done to display manual dexterity? (that's a writing prompt on the app).

If you do well on your DAT I think schools may overlook some things, but I would just be ready to explain to schools Why dentistry very well and make sure you are set on that. Dental school is not cheap.

Appreciate the thorough write up. I do have a couple of clarifications/thoughts and would love to see your response.

It's true that I have a pretty strong orientation towards clinical volunteering due to how highly it's prized for medical school admissions. The service organization i ran in undergrad was entirely focused on working with underrresourced areas, providing covid relief, food bank/clothing drive/dental missions, etc. it is probably the cornerstone of my application with regards to working with the underserved domestically and internationally

Appreciate the thoughts with regards to the LORS. Will certainly have to think about it.

And yes, I'll be sure to make it clear why dentisty specifically - totally acknowledge the hurdle that essays present with my previous background. With regards to manual dexterity, im not 100% - i suppose as a technician in my current job, much of the stuff i do is hands on - i.e applying eye drops, locating patients from wheelchair to chair, adjusting equipment to accomodate patients, etc. also as a combat sports athlete you need strong kinaesthetic awareness. these probably aren't 100% what you're looking for but i can do some research on what would be more appropriate

Do you have suggestions for a school list? Outside of UMD Dental

 

[Ryxndek]

Appreciate the thorough write up. I do have a couple of clarifications/thoughts and would love to see your response.

It's true that I have a pretty strong orientation towards clinical volunteering due to how highly it's prized for medical school admissions. The service organization i ran in undergrad was entirely focused on working with underrresourced areas, providing covid relief, food bank/clothing drive/dental missions, etc. it is probably the cornerstone of my application with regards to working with the underserved domestically and internationally

Appreciate the thoughts with regards to the LORS. Will certainly have to think about it.

And yes, I'll be sure to make it clear why dentisty specifically - totally acknowledge the hurdle that essays present with my previous background. With regards to manual dexterity, im not 100% - i suppose as a technician in my current job, much of the stuff i do is hands on - i.e applying eye drops, locating patients from wheelchair to chair, adjusting equipment to accomodate patients, etc. also as a combat sports athlete you need strong kinaesthetic awareness. these probably aren't 100% what you're looking for but i can do some research on what would be more appropriate

Do you have suggestions for a school list? Outside of UMD Dental

The volunteer work will certainly help stand out on your app, make sure to highlight that.

I'm not totally sold on your manual dexterity but the eye drops might help. Anything that helps you stand out, I had a standout characteristic for mine and it was brought up in each interview. You can PM me and we could discuss more, but something like painting, knitting, arts/crafts, sewing, anything that you can display fine motor dexterity will help. Keep doing research it should help figure out what to pick.

A few schools that come to mind which are regionally close to you are: UDM, Touro, UNE, Tufts, Rutgers, Case Western, UBuffalo, Upenn, BostonU, etc. There's more but those are some. It depends on your DAT score if you'll be applying to 7-8 schools or 10-12 and if they'll be more public or private schools. Having well-targeted schools that meet your application will make you more competitive than just applying to 15 schools that you don't fit their mission as well. There are plenty of good resources on this forum that could help you pick schools. Some schools are more lenient than others for prereqs too so make sure you meet all of them to apply.

Are you planning on applying this cycle? If yes, aim for a June 1 submission

 

[macsak]

- find dental cases more interesting, found my time shadowing more interesting + enjoyable than the medical stuff ive been around
- during my gap years, i worked and volunteered clinically and non clinically
- no, i do know several dental students there right now though. do you have suggestions on a school list?

School list:
Please include a list of schools you are interested in applying to! It is much easier for users to help you when you have taken the time to construct your own school list first!

 

[Mr.Smile12]

If your GP dentist is comfortable writing you a very strong letter based on observations of your potential, that should be fine. Check the LOR requirements of the schools on your wishlist (which we need).

What made the dental cases more interesting?

I'm a bit less convinced that applying eye drops is a great example of fine manual dexterity. I know your kinesthetic skills may be good for bodybuilding and athletic interests, but dentistry's demands are going to be more challenging. Dealing with a typodont for an hour is quite physically demanding and I'm sure employs a different set of muscle types. Maybe I'm missing what techniques you had to perform in your research.