WAMC: 26-27 Cycle, CA Resident

[karaokegenie]

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I'm trying to submit as early as possible and would love to go in-state. I worry my experiences have too much of a public health focus or may even match a pre-med background. Advice on narrowing down my school list would be great, but all feedback would be appreciated.

Overall GPA: 3.96
Science GPA: 3.97
Bio-Chem-Physics GPA: 3.95
DAT score (include AA and all sections): 490 AA, 480 TS, 460 PAT, 460 BIO, 480 GC, 510 OC, 550 RC, 470 QR
State of Residence: CA (attending a UC)
Major: Public Health
Minority? No
Reapplicant? No
Nontrad? No

Shadowing Experience: projected 150 hours at the same general dentist
Volunteering Experience: 1000+ at various organizations over 4 years
Employment: paid undergrad research assistant
Research: at least 150 hours in homelessness research, first authorship on a report, lots of interaction with homeless population
Other Extracurriculars: leadership in club sport and on-campus pre-health student organization, membership in service club and pre-dental club; continued volunteer work at the same orgs for over 4 years
Have you volunteered/shadowed/attended events at any dental schools? toured UCLA and WesternU dental schools, attended UCLA's pre-dental day
Relevant Honors or Awards: number of service awards and scholarships for community service
LOR type and strength: two science profs (medium strength), one strong LOR from pub health prof, one dentist
Misc Info/Things not stated elsewhere/Red Flags: trying to start work as a dental assistant
School list:
UCLA
UCSF
Rutgers
Maryland
Michigan
Minnesota
UNLV
Utah
VCU
Ohio State
Buffalo

USC
UOP
WesternU
Loma Linda
ASDOH
CWRU
Midwestern (AZ)
Roseman
Temple
Tufts
UPenn
Columbia

 

[macsak]

I'm trying to submit as early as possible and would love to go in-state. I worry my experiences have too much of a public health focus or may even match a pre-med background. Advice on narrowing down my school list would be great, but all feedback would be appreciated.

Overall GPA: 3.96
Science GPA: 3.97
Bio-Chem-Physics GPA: 3.95
DAT score (include AA and all sections): 490 AA, 480 TS, 460 PAT, 460 BIO, 480 GC, 510 OC, 550 RC, 470 QR
State of Residence: CA (attending a UC)
Major: Public Health
Minority? No
Reapplicant? No
Nontrad? No

Shadowing Experience: projected 150 hours at the same general dentist
Volunteering Experience: 1000+ at various organizations over 4 years
Employment: paid undergrad research assistant
Research: at least 150 hours in homelessness research, first authorship on a report, lots of interaction with homeless population
Other Extracurriculars: leadership in club sport and on-campus pre-health student organization, membership in service club and pre-dental club; continued volunteer work at the same orgs for over 4 years
Have you volunteered/shadowed/attended events at any dental schools? toured UCLA and WesternU dental schools, attended UCLA's pre-dental day
Relevant Honors or Awards: number of service awards and scholarships for community service
LOR type and strength: two science profs (medium strength), one strong LOR from pub health prof, one dentist
Misc Info/Things not stated elsewhere/Red Flags: trying to start work as a dental assistant
School list:
UCLA
UCSF
Rutgers
Maryland
Michigan
Minnesota
UNLV
Utah
VCU
Ohio State
Buffalo

USC
UOP
WesternU
Loma Linda
ASDOH
CWRU
Midwestern (AZ)
Roseman
Temple
Tufts
UPenn
Columbia

how did you come up with this list???

 

[Mr.Smile12]

What is the difference between these lists?

 

[karaokegenie]

how did you come up with this list???

I included all of my in-state schools except for California Northstate. For schools out of state, I'm looking at schools that offer in-state tuition after the first year and are friendly to OOS applicants, which is why I added Rutgers, Buffalo, OSU, Maryland, UNLV. I think schools like ASDOH, Midwestern (AZ), Roseman, Temple are good target schools to have.

If I were to cut any from the list, I would remove VCU, OSU, Buffalo, CWRU, Temple. I'm on the fence about Utah/Roseman.

 

[karaokegenie]

What is the difference between these lists?

The first half are public schools and the second are private.

 

[macsak]

What is the difference between these lists?

my guess is the top list are the targets and the bottom list are the safeties and reaches...

 

[macsak]

The first half are public schools and the second are private.

oh
that makes sense

 

[macsak]

I included all of my in-state schools except for California Northstate. For schools out of state, I'm looking at schools that offer in-state tuition after the first year and are friendly to OOS applicants, which is why I added Rutgers, Buffalo, OSU, Maryland, UNLV. I think schools like ASDOH, Midwestern (AZ), Roseman, Temple are good target schools to have.

If I were to cut any from the list, I would remove VCU, OSU, Buffalo, CWRU, Temple. I'm on the fence about Utah/Roseman.

you get interview invites and acceptances from having mission fit with a school
schools that offer instate tuition and friendly to OOS are not mission fit

ASDOH, MW-AZ , Roseman, and Temple are not good target schools for you

also note that acceptances are mostly regional
schools further away from CA know you are a great UCLA/UCSF/UOP candidate and are going to be reluctant to give you interviews and acceptances (yield management)

 

[macsak]

I included all of my in-state schools except for California Northstate. For schools out of state, I'm looking at schools that offer in-state tuition after the first year and are friendly to OOS applicants, which is why I added Rutgers, Buffalo, OSU, Maryland, UNLV. I think schools like ASDOH, Midwestern (AZ), Roseman, Temple are good target schools to have.

If I were to cut any from the list, I would remove VCU, OSU, Buffalo, CWRU, Temple. I'm on the fence about Utah/Roseman.

how many schools can you afford to apply to and why is your list so long?

 

[macsak]

I included all of my in-state schools except for California Northstate. For schools out of state, I'm looking at schools that offer in-state tuition after the first year and are friendly to OOS applicants, which is why I added Rutgers, Buffalo, OSU, Maryland, UNLV. I think schools like ASDOH, Midwestern (AZ), Roseman, Temple are good target schools to have.

If I were to cut any from the list, I would remove VCU, OSU, Buffalo, CWRU, Temple. I'm on the fence about Utah/Roseman.

why are you on the fence about utah/roseman?

 

[karaokegenie]

you get interview invites and acceptances from having mission fit with a school
schools that offer instate tuition and friendly to OOS are not mission fit

ASDOH, MW-AZ , Roseman, and Temple are not good target schools for you

also note that acceptances are mostly regional
schools further away from CA know you are a great UCLA/UCSF/UOP candidate and are going to be reluctant to give you interviews and acceptances (yield management)

Thank you so much for your feedback. It's more fair to say I included ASDOH and MW-AZ as safeties, since my in-state schools are so competitive I can't guarantee an interview invite. I'm also looking at schools with early clinical exposure and that are community service oriented, which aligns with my experiences. Regarding Roseman/Utah, I like that Roseman has P/F curriculum, but I haven't and probably won't take microbiology which is required at Utah.

I will likely apply to 15 schools in the end. I'm now down to UCLA, UCSF, USC, UOP, WesternU, Rutgers, Tufts, Maryland, Minnesota, UNLV, UPenn, Columbia, Loma Linda (missing second quarter of biochem), Utah (missing microbiology).

 

[macsak]

Thank you so much for your feedback. It's more fair to say I included ASDOH and MW-AZ as safeties, since my in-state schools are so competitive I can't guarantee an interview invite. I'm also looking at schools with early clinical exposure and that are community service oriented, which aligns with my experiences. Regarding Roseman/Utah, I like that Roseman has P/F curriculum, but I haven't and probably won't take microbiology which is required at Utah.

I will likely apply to 15 schools in the end. I'm now down to UCLA, UCSF, USC, UOP, WesternU, Rutgers, Tufts, Maryland, Minnesota, UNLV, UPenn, Columbia, Loma Linda (missing second quarter of biochem), Utah (missing microbiology).

that's 14
and i don't like that list at all
ucla ucsf uop are not a guarantee even with your stats along with columbia and penn
rutgers tufts maryland minnesota you are going to run into yield management issues

are you aware that LLU is an SDA school?

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Have you attended any recruitment events? We just had the in-person ADEA GoDental Recruitment Fair (in Montreal), and there will be an online fair in May.

I agree that more Western schools would make sense (the Arizona schools, UNLV, Roseman, Colorado). Your metrics should get you attention. Sure, some private schools east of the Mississippi may also align with your interest in helping homeless populations, though you need to ask which ones have those opportunities. That said, most of your homeless outreach is based is Los Angeles, so staying near the West Coast would be appropriate. But adding a few privates would help you a bit (Boston U, Tufts, NYU) though you have to watch the sticker price and yield protection.

about — HNT — Homeless Not Toothless

www.homelessnottoothless.org

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