WAMC 23-24 Cycle, DAT (26 AA 28 TS 23 PAT), cGPA (3.83), need help on school list (clueless)

[dynamo72]

Date of submission: aiming June 1st 2023 / asap
Overall GPA: 3.83
Science GPA: 3.72
Bio-Chem-Physics GPA: 3.70
DAT score (include AA and all sections): 23 PAT, 24 RC, 27 BIO, 26 GC, 30 OC, 28 TS, 26 AA
State of Residence: California

Undergrad Attended: University of California, Davis
Major: Double major in Economics (BA) and Pharmaceutical Chemistry (BS)
Minority? No (am Indian, don't know if ORM)
Reapplicant? No
Nontrad? Kinda? Majors are not necessarily conventional I've been told

Shadowing Experience: around 600 hours over a year with 5 Pediatric dentists and 1 orthodontist, huge private practice (roughly 300 hours of Pediatric Dentistry, 200 hours of General, and 100 hours of Ortho)
Volunteering Experience: around 250 hours through multiple facets in my local area (American Red Cross, food bank shift lead at my university [majority of my time], preventative care fundraising, tree-planting)
Research: around 9 months (250ish) hours doing research in the Materials Science and Engineering department
Other Extracurriculars: 2 religious / ethnic clubs, 1 community club, 1 preventative care club, pre-dental society (only active member, currently hold no committee / officer roles). Also, currently in commitment to teach Physics as a Learning Assistant (roughly 70 hours over 20 weeks)
Relevant Honors or Awards: Dean's List 2 times
LOR type and strength: 2 Pediatric specialist dentists (strong), 1 Physics professor (strong), 1 Biochemistry professor (good / average)
Misc Info/Things not stated elsewhere/Red Flags: Currently a 3rd year (applying for straight through, no gap year), Don't know if its weird to get 2 pediatric specialists for both LORs from dentists -- looking for input on that
School list: I need help here, am a California resident, sort've lost deciding where to apply besides CA schools
-UCLA
-UCSF
-WesternU
-UOP
-USC
-Tufts
-Harvard
-Boston U*
-Michigan
-Washington
-UPenn
-Columbia
-Roseman
-Ohio State*
-Georgia*
* - iffy / I really love SEC football

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[macsak]

Date of submission: aiming June 1st 2023 / asap
Overall GPA: 3.83
Science GPA: 3.72
Bio-Chem-Physics GPA: 3.70
DAT score (include AA and all sections): 23 PAT, 24 RC, 27 BIO, 26 GC, 30 OC, 28 TS, 26 AA
State of Residence: California

Undergrad Attended: University of California, Davis
Major: Double major in Economics (BA) and Pharmaceutical Chemistry (BS)
Minority? No (am Indian, don't know if ORM)
Reapplicant? No
Nontrad? Kinda? Majors are not necessarily conventional I've been told

Shadowing Experience: around 600 hours over a year with 5 Pediatric dentists and 1 orthodontist, huge private practice (roughly 300 hours of Pediatric Dentistry, 200 hours of General, and 100 hours of Ortho)
Volunteering Experience: around 250 hours through multiple facets in my local area (American Red Cross, food bank shift lead at my university [majority of my time], preventative care fundraising, tree-planting)
Research: around 9 months (250ish) hours doing research in the Materials Science and Engineering department
Other Extracurriculars: 2 religious / ethnic clubs, 1 community club, 1 preventative care club, pre-dental society (only active member, currently hold no committee / officer roles). Also, currently in commitment to teach Physics as a Learning Assistant (roughly 70 hours over 20 weeks)
Relevant Honors or Awards: Dean's List 2 times
LOR type and strength: 2 Pediatric specialist dentists (strong), 1 Physics professor (strong), 1 Biochemistry professor (good / average)
Misc Info/Things not stated elsewhere/Red Flags: Currently a 3rd year (applying for straight through, no gap year), Don't know if its weird to get 2 pediatric specialists for both LORs from dentists -- looking for input on that
School list: I need help here, am a California resident, sort've lost deciding where to apply besides CA schools
-UCLA
-UCSF
-WesternU
-UOP
-USC
-Tufts
-Harvard
-Boston U*
-Michigan
-Washington
-UPenn
-Columbia
-Roseman
-Ohio State*
-Georgia*
* - iffy / I really love SEC football

take off U$C (but you won't becoz cali), tufts, boston, washington
look into the costs of the schools you are applying to, consider schools that offer IS after one year
your list is too long...

 

[Mr.Smile12]

First read: Building Your Best School List - SDN . There is a link for creating a spreadsheet for dental schools (posted on ADEA GoDental, if it is still available).

This leads into my question how you have been networking with schools or the local dental societies to help you distinguish differences among the schools. I also encourage you to think regionally and pay attention to the Dental School Explorer with OOS admissions. You'll probably have to look at a fair number of private schools in the Midwest which tend to take a lot of California/western applicants.

 

[Ryxndek]

You could easily reduce your list to 7-8 well targeted schools, most being Cali.

 

[macsak]

First read: Building Your Best School List - SDN . There is a link for creating a spreadsheet for dental schools (posted on ADEA GoDental, if it is still available).

This leads into my question how you have been networking with schools or the local dental societies to help you distinguish differences among the schools. I also encourage you to think regionally and pay attention to the Dental School Explorer with OOS admissions. You'll probably have to look at a fair number of private schools in the Midwest which tend to take a lot of California/western applicants.

curious as to why you say this considering OP has a 3.7/3.8 GPA and a high 90s percentile DAT?

 

[macsak]

First read: Building Your Best School List - SDN . There is a link for creating a spreadsheet for dental schools (posted on ADEA GoDental, if it is still available).

This leads into my question how you have been networking with schools or the local dental societies to help you distinguish differences among the schools. I also encourage you to think regionally and pay attention to the Dental School Explorer with OOS admissions. You'll probably have to look at a fair number of private schools in the Midwest which tend to take a lot of California/western applicants.

i forgot to ask the similar question- have you volunteered/shadowed/attended events at california d schools?

 

[dynamo72]

i forgot to ask the similar question- have you volunteered/shadowed/attended events at california d schools?

I’ve been to events for UOP, also toured the campus. Besides that, have had minimal interaction with some other schools via my university’s predental society.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

curious as to why you say this considering OP has a 3.7/3.8 GPA and a high 90s percentile DAT?

I think it's worth a look, but I don't have a DSE to know how well California applicants have been doing. Especially in some OOS friendly public programs. Just doing due diligence.

That said I do think the DAT will be interesting to many. The GPA is coming from an atypical set of majors so I would want to see the BCP GPA and coursework. The 3.7x isn't something that works against the applicant IMO.

Besides, the ADEA GoDental Recruitment Fair is coming up really soon in Portland.