WAMC: 26-27 Cycle Reapplicant

Started by areillenez
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A

areillenez

Full Member
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Date of submission: Early June (Will be reapplying)
Overall GPA: 3.62
Science GPA: 3.35
Bio-Chem-Physics GPA: 3.38
DAT score (include AA and all sections): 19AA, 20TS (19BIO, 20OC, 21GC), 20PAT, 19QR, 18RC
State of Residence: IN
Major: Biology
Minor: Chemistry and Psychology
Minority? Yes? (but didn’t apply as one because I was confused)
Reapplicant? Yes (Upcoming)
Nontrad? No
Shadowing Experience: 350+ hours (most are from general, less than 100 for endo+ortho)
Volunteering Experience: 800+ hours (2 different mentorship programs working with kids, one academically, one with sports along with a few others)
Employment: 600+ hours (Biology TA, 2 summer jobs)
Research: 400+ hours (biology and psychology (separate), 1 publication, 3 poster presentations, 1 talk)
Other Extracurriculars: 850+ hours (leadership + executive positions for 2 different clubs throughout the years)
Have you volunteered/shadowed/attended events at any dental schools? No
Relevant Honors or Awards: None
LOR type and strength: 2 BCP Professors, 1 Advisor (club), 1 dentist, all really strong
Misc Info/Things not stated elsewhere/Red Flags:
-Tried providing as much detail as possible here while still trying to conceal my identity.
-Applied to 10 schools and didn’t receive any interviews, all post december rejections
-GPA and SGPA above are different than what I applied with (were slightly higher)
-Forgot to put the job + hours I had the summer of my sophomore year when I applied, included above now

School list (I want to apply to NOT FINALIZED/FINISHED):
IU (In-State) - reapplying
UTennessee
UKentucky
ULouisville
Iowa
Nova
LECOM

School list is not finalized! I am not sure where it all went wrong, any advice is very much appreciated. Any school suggestions are appreciated, I could have chosen the wrong schools this cycle. I wonder if there was a red flag in my application, but I am not sure at all. I am thinking of retaking the DAT the beginning of June, but also not sure. Thank you!
 
Previously
A

Thread '.'

-

Please break down your hours as it looks like you are inflating your involvement. I am not a fan of your community service being just tutoring, mentoring, or coaching; this tells me you don't know about the needs of your community.
 
areillenez said:
Date of submission: Early June (Will be reapplying)
Overall GPA: 3.62
Science GPA: 3.35
Bio-Chem-Physics GPA: 3.38
DAT score (include AA and all sections): 19AA, 20TS (19BIO, 20OC, 21GC), 20PAT, 19QR, 18RC
State of Residence: IN
Major: Biology
Minor: Chemistry and Psychology
Minority? Yes? (but didn’t apply as one because I was confused)
Reapplicant? Yes (Upcoming)
Nontrad? No
Shadowing Experience: 350+ hours (most are from general, less than 100 for endo+ortho)
Volunteering Experience: 800+ hours (2 different mentorship programs working with kids, one academically, one with sports along with a few others)
Employment: 600+ hours (Biology TA, 2 summer jobs)
Research: 400+ hours (biology and psychology (separate), 1 publication, 3 poster presentations, 1 talk)
Other Extracurriculars: 850+ hours (leadership + executive positions for 2 different clubs throughout the years)
Have you volunteered/shadowed/attended events at any dental schools? No
Relevant Honors or Awards: None
LOR type and strength: 2 BCP Professors, 1 Advisor (club), 1 dentist, all really strong
Misc Info/Things not stated elsewhere/Red Flags:
-Tried providing as much detail as possible here while still trying to conceal my identity.
-Applied to 10 schools and didn’t receive any interviews, all post december rejections
-GPA and SGPA above are different than what I applied with (were slightly higher)
-Forgot to put the job + hours I had the summer of my sophomore year when I applied, included above now

School list (I want to apply to NOT FINALIZED/FINISHED):
IU (In-State) - reapplying
UTennessee
UKentucky
ULouisville
Iowa
Nova
LECOM

School list is not finalized! I am not sure where it all went wrong, any advice is very much appreciated. Any school suggestions are appreciated, I could have chosen the wrong schools this cycle. I wonder if there was a red flag in my application, but I am not sure at all. I am thinking of retaking the DAT the beginning of June, but also not sure. Thank you!
Click to expand...
what was your final list last cycle?
 
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Overall GPA: 3.61
Science GPA: 3.50
Bio-Chem-Physics GPA: 3.49

how did your science GPA and BCP go down so much in less than one year?
 
Mr.Smile12 said:
Previously
A

Thread '.'

-

Please break down your hours as it looks like you are inflating your involvement. I am not a fan of your community service being just tutoring, mentoring, or coaching; this tells me you don't know about the needs of your community.
Click to expand...
I apologize, I left out many details in order to conceal my identity as I understand that this is a public forum and anyone can access it, whether from my undergraduate institution or dental admissions offices. I have them fully divided and described in my application. For that specific part of my hours that you've highlighted, most of my hours from the volunteering side have to do with me working with children in 2 separate programs. In one of the programs, I mentored children from underprivileged backgrounds from different schools to showcase the importance of school, learning, and education. In the other program, I worked with children with special needs to play adaptive sports with them in order to cultivate a feeling of belonging for them and to support inclusiveness within my community. This is just a brief description I hope this helps with some clarity.
 
macsak said:
Overall GPA: 3.61
Science GPA: 3.50
Bio-Chem-Physics GPA: 3.49

how did your science GPA and BCP go down so much in less than one year?
Click to expand...
I had a rough previous semester due to medical reasons, sucks because I didn't know how to explain myself after the academic update
 
macsak said:
ouch, hope you are doing better
how have the next one or two semesters gone?
Click to expand...
I appreciate it! I definitely believe that I will finish this semester off really strong, it'll be a good bounce back

edit: this is my final semester, the previous semester was the bad one
 
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areillenez said:
No, I did not
Click to expand...
your list last cycle was not horrible, except for MUSC, they take almost all south carolina residents
and colorado, which made no sense geographically
you had a bunch of privates, did you check your mission fit with the programs?
 
areillenez said:
I appreciate it! I definitely believe that I will finish this semester off really strong, it'll be a good bounce back

edit: this is my final semester, the previous semester was the bad one
Click to expand...
are you URM?
how did you not know if you were a minority or not?
 
areillenez said:
areillenez said:
Date of submission: Early June (Will be reapplying)
Overall GPA: 3.62
Science GPA: 3.35
Bio-Chem-Physics GPA: 3.38
DAT score (include AA and all sections): 19AA, 20TS (19BIO, 20OC, 21GC), 20PAT, 19QR, 18RC
State of Residence: IN
Major: Biology
Minor: Chemistry and Psychology
Minority? Yes? (but didn’t apply as one because I was confused)
Reapplicant? Yes (Upcoming)
Nontrad? No
Shadowing Experience: 350+ hours (most are from general, less than 100 for endo+ortho)
Volunteering Experience: 800+ hours (2 different mentorship programs working with kids, one academically, one with sports along with a few others)
Employment: 600+ hours (Biology TA, 2 summer jobs)
Research: 400+ hours (biology and psychology (separate), 1 publication, 3 poster presentations, 1 talk)
Other Extracurriculars: 850+ hours (leadership + executive positions for 2 different clubs throughout the years)
Have you volunteered/shadowed/attended events at any dental schools? No
Relevant Honors or Awards: None
LOR type and strength: 2 BCP Professors, 1 Advisor (club), 1 dentist, all really strong
Misc Info/Things not stated elsewhere/Red Flags:
-Tried providing as much detail as possible here while still trying to conceal my identity.
-Applied to 10 schools and didn’t receive any interviews, all post december rejections
-GPA and SGPA above are different than what I applied with (were slightly higher)
-Forgot to put the job + hours I had the summer of my sophomore year when I applied, included above now

School list (I want to apply to NOT FINALIZED/FINISHED):
IU (In-State) - reapplying
UTennessee
UKentucky
ULouisville
Iowa
Nova
LECOM

School list is not finalized! I am not sure where it all went wrong, any advice is very much appreciated. Any school suggestions are appreciated, I could have chosen the wrong schools this cycle. I wonder if there was a red flag in my application, but I am not sure at all. I am thinking of retaking the DAT the beginning of June, but also not sure. Thank you!
Click to expand...

I apologize, I left out many details in order to conceal my identity as I understand that this is a public forum and anyone can access it, whether from my undergraduate institution or dental admissions offices. I have them fully divided and described in my application. For that specific part of my hours that you've highlighted, most of my hours from the volunteering side have to do with me working with children in 2 separate programs. In one of the programs, I mentored children from underprivileged backgrounds from different schools to showcase the importance of school, learning, and education. In the other program, I worked with children with special needs to play adaptive sports with them in order to cultivate a feeling of belonging for them and to support inclusiveness within my community. This is just a brief description I hope this helps with some clarity.
Click to expand...
We don't have your AADSAS application, so we can't advise you whether you have the right balance of activities that show your readiness for dental school. It's like saying you have the ingredients for a recipe without actually making the cake. You can ask us for advice, but you limit its our help by redacting your details. Dental schools care about what you did and how you describe your activities, and not sharing insights about this tells me you just want us to butter you up.

Your description doesn't change my comment that your community service is subpar. It's a lot of work with children, even if they are from underresourced backgrounds. Do you know that in dental school, most of the patients you'll have chairside are adults? Where is your evidence that you work with similar adults? What does this summer job involve? Did you work while in school? What clubs are you involved with as an executive, and how many peers were in the club (just a dozen, a few hundred??) Is one a predental club?

Furthermore, are you shadowing/working in dental offices with children, especially those with neurodiversity or special needs backgrounds? How do dentists adapt? Do you write about this in your application? Is this where you feel you will thrive as a dentist?

Did I miss any comment that you are preparing to retake your DAT? For in-state Indiana, you should have gotten at least a call from them. Did you ever meet their admissions team or attend recruitment events? If your sGPA is lower than reported, are you thinking postbac now?

It sounds like your decisions are anchored by financial constraints. Did you apply for FAP?

When you said you were confused about being a minority, that undermines any confidence I have about your service to underresourced children. How are you confused?

How bad was the last semester? Is it too early to reapply if if you have broken the arc of your upward trend?

There is a prehealth advisor at IU, and it sounds like you haven't maximized this resource. Or many other resources available to you on preparing for dental school?
 
macsak said:
your list last cycle was not horrible, except for MUSC, they take almost all south carolina residents
and colorado, which made no sense geographically
you had a bunch of privates, did you check your mission fit with the programs?
Click to expand...
I did, I was moreso interested in their research which is why I was drawn to a majority of the schools, other schools were recommendations by my advisor
 
Mr.Smile12 said:
We don't have your AADSAS application, so we can't advise you whether you have the right balance of activities that show your readiness for dental school. It's like saying you have the ingredients for a recipe without actually making the cake. You can ask us for advice, but you limit its our help by redacting your details. Dental schools care about what you did and how you describe your activities, and not sharing insights about this tells me you just want us to butter you up.

Your description doesn't change my comment that your community service is subpar. It's a lot of work with children, even if they are from underresourced backgrounds. Do you know that in dental school, most of the patients you'll have chairside are adults? Where is your evidence that you work with similar adults? What does this summer job involve? Did you work while in school? What clubs are you involved with as an executive, and how many peers were in the club (just a dozen, a few hundred??) Is one a predental club?

Furthermore, are you shadowing/working in dental offices with children, especially those with neurodiversity or special needs backgrounds? How do dentists adapt? Do you write about this in your application? Is this where you feel you will thrive as a dentist?

Did I miss any comment that you are preparing to retake your DAT? For in-state Indiana, you should have gotten at least a call from them. Did you ever meet their admissions team or attend recruitment events? If your sGPA is lower than reported, are you thinking postbac now?

It sounds like your decisions are anchored by financial constraints. Did you apply for FAP?

When you said you were confused about being a minority, that undermines any confidence I have about your service to underresourced children. How are you confused?

How bad was the last semester? Is it too early to reapply if if you have broken the arc of your upward trend?

There is a prehealth advisor at IU, and it sounds like you haven't maximized this resource. Or many other resources available to you on preparing for dental school?
Click to expand...
I really appreciate your insight, thank you very much! That makes total sense, I put my information in a more general sense in hopes of seeing if there was any other issues, but I understand how redacting some details can cause this idea.

My psychology research has to do with adults that I work with that have neurodegenerative disorders. I see the loss of connection between my experiences and that drive for becoming a dentist while applying those experiences. Is this something that I describe within those 600 character descriptions? Or the personal statement?

I am planning on retaking the DAT, yes. I met all of Indiana's requirements, and I even had emailed them last summer and before that regarding my stats (both GPAs and DAT). I did not meet Indiana's admission's team or recruitment events. I was initially thinking of a postbacc, and got into Temple's postbacc, but my advisor advised that it wasn't the right decision for my application.

I did not apply for FAP because I wanted to apply on the first day especially for Indiana and knowing that it comes in about 2 weeks after, I thought I was going to sacrifice time and impact my application.

I am confused whether or not I am a minority because I hear different answers about my ethnicity all the time, whether on google or from different professors, I genuinely don't know if I am able to apply as one.

Last semester was not good at all, but my advisor said that one bad semester shouldn't impact me especially since it shows that something definitely went wrong in one point of my life but not gradually throughout my undergrad. The semester I currently am in is really strong which I am proud of myself for.

I was told that after a certain day in April can I reach out to IU about my application, but I have sent emails a few days ago to the other schools in hopes of talking to advisors.

Again, I appreciate your insight. This is very helpful and is helping me view my application in a different way.
 
areillenez said:
I really appreciate your insight, thank you very much! That makes total sense, I put my information in a more general sense in hopes of seeing if there was any other issues, but I understand how redacting some details can cause this idea.

My psychology research has to do with adults that I work with that have neurodegenerative disorders. I see the loss of connection between my experiences and that drive for becoming a dentist while applying those experiences. Is this something that I describe within those 600 character descriptions? Or the personal statement?

I am planning on retaking the DAT, yes. I met all of Indiana's requirements, and I even had emailed them last summer and before that regarding my stats (both GPAs and DAT). I did not meet Indiana's admission's team or recruitment events. I was initially thinking of a postbacc, and got into Temple's postbacc, but my advisor advised that it wasn't the right decision for my application.

I did not apply for FAP because I wanted to apply on the first day especially for Indiana and knowing that it comes in about 2 weeks after, I thought I was going to sacrifice time and impact my application.

I am confused whether or not I am a minority because I hear different answers about my ethnicity all the time, whether on google or from different professors, I genuinely don't know if I am able to apply as one.

Last semester was not good at all, but my advisor said that one bad semester shouldn't impact me especially since it shows that something definitely went wrong in one point of my life but not gradually throughout my undergrad. The semester I currently am in is really strong which I am proud of myself for.

I was told that after a certain day in April can I reach out to IU about my application, but I have sent emails a few days ago to the other schools in hopes of talking to advisors.

Again, I appreciate your insight. This is very helpful and is helping me view my application in a different way.
Click to expand...
your OP says this "I am thinking of retaking the DAT the beginning of June, but also not sure."
which is different from what is bolded above

please understand that clarity in your posts affects our ability to give advice...
 
areillenez said:
Date of submission: Early June (Will be reapplying)
Overall GPA: 3.62
Science GPA: 3.35
Bio-Chem-Physics GPA: 3.38
DAT score (include AA and all sections): 19AA, 20TS (19BIO, 20OC, 21GC), 20PAT, 19QR, 18RC
State of Residence: IN
Major: Biology
Minor: Chemistry and Psychology
Minority? Yes? (but didn’t apply as one because I was confused)
Reapplicant? Yes (Upcoming)
Nontrad? No
Shadowing Experience: 350+ hours (most are from general, less than 100 for endo+ortho)
Volunteering Experience: 800+ hours (2 different mentorship programs working with kids, one academically, one with sports along with a few others)
Employment: 600+ hours (Biology TA, 2 summer jobs)
Research: 400+ hours (biology and psychology (separate), 1 publication, 3 poster presentations, 1 talk)
Other Extracurriculars: 850+ hours (leadership + executive positions for 2 different clubs throughout the years)
Have you volunteered/shadowed/attended events at any dental schools? No
Relevant Honors or Awards: None
LOR type and strength: 2 BCP Professors, 1 Advisor (club), 1 dentist, all really strong
Misc Info/Things not stated elsewhere/Red Flags:
-Tried providing as much detail as possible here while still trying to conceal my identity.
-Applied to 10 schools and didn’t receive any interviews, all post december rejections
-GPA and SGPA above are different than what I applied with (were slightly higher)
-Forgot to put the job + hours I had the summer of my sophomore year when I applied, included above now

School list (I want to apply to NOT FINALIZED/FINISHED):
IU (In-State) - reapplying
UTennessee
UKentucky
ULouisville
Iowa
Nova
LECOM

School list is not finalized! I am not sure where it all went wrong, any advice is very much appreciated. Any school suggestions are appreciated, I could have chosen the wrong schools this cycle. I wonder if there was a red flag in my application, but I am not sure at all. I am thinking of retaking the DAT the beginning of June, but also not sure. Thank you!
Click to expand...
how did you come up with this list?
 
areillenez said:
My psychology research has to do with adults that I work with that have neurodegenerative disorders. I see the loss of connection between my experiences and that drive for becoming a dentist while applying those experiences. Is this something that I describe within those 600 character descriptions? Or the personal statement?
Click to expand...

I expect that you would highlight research in your activities inventory, but you decide how to write your PS. What advice have you gotten about this?

areillenez said:
I am planning on retaking the DAT, yes. I met all of Indiana's requirements, and I even had emailed them last summer and before that regarding my stats (both GPAs and DAT). I did not meet Indiana's admission's team or recruitment events. I was initially thinking of a postbacc, and got into Temple's postbacc, but my advisor advised that it wasn't the right decision for my application.
Click to expand...

Which advisor: IU or Temple? Please clarify your advice: "what" wasn't the right decision? Why?

areillenez said:
I did not apply for FAP because I wanted to apply on the first day especially for Indiana and knowing that it comes in about 2 weeks after, I thought I was going to sacrifice time and impact my application.
Click to expand...

Maybe I need to know the timing for ADEA FAP applications, but when is the first day you can apply for it? You don't know if you would be eligible?
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areillenez said:
I am confused whether or not I am a minority because I hear different answers about my ethnicity all the time, whether on google or from different professors, I genuinely don't know if I am able to apply as one.
Click to expand...

I'm confused. Isn't that something you are curious about to read more into it?
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What are "overrepresented minorities," and how has the Supreme Court and the US government dealt with Asian/ORM discrimination historically?
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areillenez said:
Last semester was not good at all, but my advisor said that one bad semester shouldn't impact me especially since it shows that something definitely went wrong in one point of my life but not gradually throughout my undergrad. The semester I currently am in is really strong which I am proud of myself for.
Click to expand...

It shouldn't, but you compounded this problem by applying with a suboptimal DAT, GPA, and submission timing. You applied without knowing specific details about how Indiana is a good fit for you vs. other schools on your list.

Details matter to dentists. Being off by a millimeter is huge.
 
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