WAMC (3.81/3.97 GPA, 21AA) | Want school recommendations.

[TheDentalDave]

Hey all,

I'm looking for some feedback on my list of schools I'll be applying to and some feedback about if DAT retake is necessary. I'm looking for schools with good specialization rates and preferably a medical school based curriculum.

Date of submission: N/A. Will submit ASAP.
Overall GPA: 3.81 Undergrad (biology). 3.97 Masters in Biomedical Sciences (Anatomy and Physiology)
Science GPA: 3.78
DAT score (include AA and all sections): 22 PAT, 20 QR, 23 RC, 22 BIO, 21 GC, 19 OC. 20TS, 21 AA.
State of Residence: California

Undergrad Attended:
Major: Biology
Minor: N/A
Minority? No
Reapplicant? No
Nontrad? Yes, 2 year masters in Biomedical Sciences with a concentration in Anatomy and Physiology

Shadowing Experience: (157hrs)

• Dental
  • General (109 hours)
    • 100 hours shadowing general dentistry in private practice
    • 9 at neighbors private practice
  • Oral Surgery (16 hours)
  • Periodontics (16 hours)
  • Orthodontics (3 hours)
• MD Sports Medicine (8 hours)
• DVM Veterinary Medicine (5 hours)

Volunteering Experience: (289 hrs)

• TA for cadaver-based Gross Anatomy class
  • Taught undergraduate student class of 75 anatomy using cadavers. (150hrs)
• Mission of Mercy free dental clinic assisting. (24hrs)
• VR Content Creation training for CUSOM imaging elective project
  • Created VR lectures to add to college VR library for undergraduate and med students to learn from. Taught medical students how to use VR technology for their anatomy case presentations. (40hrs)
• VR Anatomy Presentations
  • Taught general public about anatomy at Western Stock Show. (3 hrs)
• Anatomy Mentors Program
  • Mentoring with 4 students at a local high school. Walking them through case studies and teaching them the appropriate anatomy in VR. (20 hrs)
• Anatomy Outreach Program
  • Using both isolated organs and cadavers to teach middle school and high school classes of 30 kids anatomy. (4 hours)
• Editor for Journal of Undergraduate Research
  • Part of a club that would review undergraduate research papers and edit them to help get students published. (48 hours)
• Pig heart presentations
  • Not much, but fits with teaching anatomy theme of application. Taught local elementary school kids pig heart anatomy using real pig hearts. (~3 hours)

Employment: (~1,260hrs)

• 2 semesters as a paid Graduate Teaching Assistant
  • Responsible for teaching classes of 20 undergraduate students lab techniques in Cell Biology and Genetics/also responsible for 2 lecture classes accompanying the lab component(currently working).
• ~300 hours as a sterile tech at a general dentistry private practice.
• ~500 hours as a dental assistant at that same general dentistry private practice (currently working).

Research: (250hrs total)

• 150 hours wet-lab experience researching mRNA localization.
• 100hrs researching effectiveness of utilizing VR education in teaching anatomy to undergraduate students.

Other Extracurriculars: Intramural soccer/been lifting for 6 years recreationally (270lbs bench, 355lbs squat @170lbs bw)
Have you volunteered/shadowed/attended events at any dental schools? No.
Relevant Honors or Awards:

• Deans list for 5 semesters.
• University Honors Scholar.
• Eagle Scout.

LOR type and strength:

• Anatomy Science faculty (strong)
• Undergraduate honors professor (strong)
• 2x General dentist I work for (strong)

Misc Info/Things not stated elsewhere/Red Flags:

• Worked in collaboration with endocrinology professor creating a literature review on potential causes in the differences in side effects of hormonal birth control in women for my honors thesis.

School list:

• UCSF, UCLA, Creighton, UConn, Boston, Tufts, Colorado, Stony Brook, UMich, Midwestern (AZ).

Schools chosen based off of California residency/where family is/dentist recommendation. UCSF is top choice, but would be happy at any. Periodontics and oral surgery sound/look cool and I'm confident ill be able to do well in dental school. A few current dental students/practicing physicians and dentists that did the same masters I did said it made the first two years of their respective schooling much much easier/it was great prep.

Application haas large teaching theme. I'd like to tie that into educating patients about oral health. Worried about DAT score. I was scoring 22s on bootcamp full lengths and sciences ranged from 22-26 on average, so I have no clue what happened on test day. Slightly disappointed.

That should be it! Hopefully my calcs are correct for my sciGPAs. Please feel free to recommend schools.

-DD

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[macsak]

to get interview invites and acceptances, you need mission fit
"California residency/where family is/dentist recommendation" is not mission fit
have you checked OOS/CA acceptance rates for your OOS schools?

Hey all,

I'm looking for some feedback on my list of schools I'll be applying to and some feedback about if DAT retake is necessary. I'm looking for schools with good specialization rates and preferably a medical school based curriculum.

Date of submission: N/A. Will submit ASAP.
Overall GPA: 3.81 Undergrad (biology). 3.97 Masters in Biomedical Sciences (Anatomy and Physiology)
Science GPA: 3.78
DAT score (include AA and all sections): 22 PAT, 20 QR, 23 RC, 22 BIO, 21 GC, 19 OC. 20TS, 21 AA.
State of Residence: California

Undergrad Attended:
Major: Biology
Minor: N/A
Minority? No
Reapplicant? No
Nontrad? Yes, 2 year masters in Biomedical Sciences with a concentration in Anatomy and Physiology

Shadowing Experience: (157hrs)

• Dental
  • General (109 hours)
    • 100 hours shadowing general dentistry in private practice
    • 9 at neighbors private practice
  • Oral Surgery (16 hours)
  • Periodontics (16 hours)
  • Orthodontics (3 hours)
• MD Sports Medicine (8 hours)
• DVM Veterinary Medicine (5 hours)

Volunteering Experience: (289 hrs)

• TA for cadaver-based Gross Anatomy class
  • Taught undergraduate student class of 75 anatomy using cadavers. (150hrs)
• Mission of Mercy free dental clinic assisting. (24hrs)
• VR Content Creation training for CUSOM imaging elective project
  • Created VR lectures to add to college VR library for undergraduate and med students to learn from. Taught medical students how to use VR technology for their anatomy case presentations. (40hrs)
• VR Anatomy Presentations
  • Taught general public about anatomy at Western Stock Show. (3 hrs)
• Anatomy Mentors Program
  • Mentoring with 4 students at a local high school. Walking them through case studies and teaching them the appropriate anatomy in VR. (20 hrs)
• Anatomy Outreach Program
  • Using both isolated organs and cadavers to teach middle school and high school classes of 30 kids anatomy. (4 hours)
• Editor for Journal of Undergraduate Research
  • Part of a club that would review undergraduate research papers and edit them to help get students published. (48 hours)
• Pig heart presentations
  • Not much, but fits with teaching anatomy theme of application. Taught local elementary school kids pig heart anatomy using real pig hearts. (~3 hours)

Employment: (~1,260hrs)

• 2 semesters as a paid Graduate Teaching Assistant
  • Responsible for teaching classes of 20 undergraduate students lab techniques in Cell Biology and Genetics/also responsible for 2 lecture classes accompanying the lab component(currently working).
• ~300 hours as a sterile tech at a general dentistry private practice.
• ~500 hours as a dental assistant at that same general dentistry private practice (currently working).

Research: (250hrs total)

• 150 hours wet-lab experience researching mRNA localization.
• 100hrs researching effectiveness of utilizing VR education in teaching anatomy to undergraduate students.

Other Extracurriculars: Intramural soccer/been lifting for 6 years recreationally (270lbs bench, 355lbs squat @170lbs bw)
Have you volunteered/shadowed/attended events at any dental schools? No.
Relevant Honors or Awards:

• Deans list for 5 semesters.
• University Honors Scholar.
• Eagle Scout.

LOR type and strength:

• Anatomy Science faculty (strong)
• Undergraduate honors professor (strong)
• 2x General dentist I work for (strong)

Misc Info/Things not stated elsewhere/Red Flags:

• Worked in collaboration with endocrinology professor creating a literature review on potential causes in the differences in side effects of hormonal birth control in women for my honors thesis.

School list:

• UCSF, UCLA, Creighton, UConn, Boston, Tufts, Colorado, Stony Brook, UMich, Midwestern (AZ).

Schools chosen based off of California residency/where family is/dentist recommendation. UCSF is top choice, but would be happy at any. Periodontics and oral surgery sound/look cool and I'm confident ill be able to do well in dental school. A few current dental students/practicing physicians and dentists that did the same masters I did said it made the first two years of their respective schooling much much easier/it was great prep.

Application haas large teaching theme. I'd like to tie that into educating patients about oral health. Worried about DAT score. I was scoring 22s on bootcamp full lengths and sciences ranged from 22-26 on average, so I have no clue what happened on test day. Slightly disappointed.

That should be it! Hopefully my calcs are correct for my sciGPAs. Please feel free to recommend schools.

-DD

 

[TheDentalDave]

to get interview invites and acceptances, you need mission fit
"California residency/where family is/dentist recommendation" is not mission fit
have you checked OOS/CA acceptance rates for your OOS schools?

Thanks for the catch. I'm still in the early stages of researching schools. I tried to choose schools based on their commitment to research/education since most of my app focuses on teaching others/researching ways to teach. I'll elaborate more on why I chose the following schools.

My mission fit would be centered around educating others/public service/research.

I have skimmed OOS acceptance rates. Creigton/Tufts/Boston/MW-AZ seem to have good OOS acceptance. Colorado/Stony Brook/UMich less so, but I could be wrong.

UCSF
-Their "True North" mission statement overlaps with a lot of core boy scout principles which I exemplified as an Eagle Scout, especially community service (I led a small at 100+ man-hours of actual work community service project to help a locally declining population of burrowing owls). The three pointed fleur-de-lis on the First Class rank badge had similar motifs and lots of scouting focused on the similar ethical pillars UCSF follows, so I feel like I fit in pretty well with their mission statement.
- Strong research focus/leading dental education. UCSF is a research heavy school. Most of my dental school application focuses on teaching others/helping to pioneer new methods of anatomy education through my VR research. My 150 hrs during the summer in undergrad research combined with my 100+ in VR education research in grad school should match with this pretty well.
-In state applicant.

UCLA
-"education, research, patient care, and public service". Matches similar qualities to what I mentioned above. Education and research I show though my GTA teaching job and my research, patient care via working as a dental assistant, and public service through mission of mercy/eagle scout award.
-In state applicant.

Colorado-
-Taught some of their medical students VR tech for their anatomy case studies.
-"education, research, patient care". I demonstrate this through my own continued education with my masters, my passion for teaching others, my research (VR education/wet lab) mentioned above. Patient care through DA.

Boston
- Their mission statement mentions "using innovative technologies and educational methodologies" which fits perfectly with my focus of VR anatomy education, something my professors mentioned as a emerging tool for anatomy education.

Creighton-
-Catholic/Jesuit dental school. I was raised catholic. Big on service to others. See above.

UConn
-"research and discovery of new knowledge, education and development of competent health care professionals". Fits in well with my education and VR research.
-Med school based curriculum, which is important for me. My masters had the same basis and I think this would really ease the transition for me from my grad program to dental school.

Tufts/Stony Brook/UMich
-I put these on my list due to my GPA being above average for these schools and my DAT being around their target range(UMich DAT average being an exception). I've heard good things about their schools clinically from the dentists I work with(I know, not a mission statement) and from my overview of these schools, I like the way their curriculum is structured. Stony Brook with the medical school integrated curriculum is a bonus with my masters in BMS, UMich with their focus on BMS, and Tufts has a strong research focus from what I've read.

Midwestern (AZ)
"In addition to MWU’s personal touch, we always stay up to date with the latest technology, including virtual reality training to simulate working on teeth". This works perfectly with my VR work on anatomy education.

I hope this clarifies the "mission statement" part of your response. Please let me know if I misunderstood or need further editing.

Thank you

 

[macsak]

you need to do more than "skim" OOS acceptance rates and not go by "seem" and "less so", especially when you "could be wrong"
and note that i didn't only say OOS...
also note that if you look at ALL dental schools' mission statements, they all basically say the same thing and your story would fit with any of them
plus i never mentioned "mission statements", i mentioned "mission fit". look at what the schools do, not what they say
i am not saying you won't have success with this school list, but you kinda have 4 reach schools (ucla, ucsf, umich, and some would say uconn) 2 in range publics (of which i only like colorado- i doubt stony brook takes many lower dat oos, especially from the west coast) with 4 safeties (i love creighton here, and understand why you chose boston/tufts. and MW-AZ makes sense geographically but is $$$)
you should have a broad school list with a few reaches, mostly inrange schools, and some safeties
some would also say 10 schools is too little, but it just depends on your school mix (plus your GPA, especially in the masters, is really good)
my recommendation is always to start looking at schools closer geographically to where you reside before branching out...

Thanks for the catch. I'm still in the early stages of researching schools. I tried to choose schools based on their commitment to research/education since most of my app focuses on teaching others/researching ways to teach. I'll elaborate more on why I chose the following schools.

My mission fit would be centered around educating others/public service/research.

I have skimmed OOS acceptance rates. Creigton/Tufts/Boston/MW-AZ seem to have good OOS acceptance. Colorado/Stony Brook/UMich less so, but I could be wrong.

UCSF
-Their "True North" mission statement overlaps with a lot of core boy scout principles which I exemplified as an Eagle Scout, especially community service (I led a small at 100+ man-hours of actual work community service project to help a locally declining population of burrowing owls). The three pointed fleur-de-lis on the First Class rank badge had similar motifs and lots of scouting focused on the similar ethical pillars UCSF follows, so I feel like I fit in pretty well with their mission statement.
- Strong research focus/leading dental education. UCSF is a research heavy school. Most of my dental school application focuses on teaching others/helping to pioneer new methods of anatomy education through my VR research. My 150 hrs during the summer in undergrad research combined with my 100+ in VR education research in grad school should match with this pretty well.
-In state applicant.

UCLA
-"education, research, patient care, and public service". Matches similar qualities to what I mentioned above. Education and research I show though my GTA teaching job and my research, patient care via working as a dental assistant, and public service through mission of mercy/eagle scout award.
-In state applicant.

Colorado-
-Taught some of their medical students VR tech for their anatomy case studies.
-"education, research, patient care". I demonstrate this through my own continued education with my masters, my passion for teaching others, my research (VR education/wet lab) mentioned above. Patient care through DA.

Boston
- Their mission statement mentions "using innovative technologies and educational methodologies" which fits perfectly with my focus of VR anatomy education, something my professors mentioned as a emerging tool for anatomy education.

Creighton-
-Catholic/Jesuit dental school. I was raised catholic. Big on service to others. See above.

UConn
-"research and discovery of new knowledge, education and development of competent health care professionals". Fits in well with my education and VR research.
-Med school based curriculum, which is important for me. My masters had the same basis and I think this would really ease the transition for me from my grad program to dental school.

Tufts/Stony Brook/UMich
-I put these on my list due to my GPA being above average for these schools and my DAT being around their target range(UMich DAT average being an exception). I've heard good things about their schools clinically from the dentists I work with(I know, not a mission statement) and from my overview of these schools, I like the way their curriculum is structured. Stony Brook with the medical school integrated curriculum is a bonus with my masters in BMS, UMich with their focus on BMS, and Tufts has a strong research focus from what I've read.

Midwestern (AZ)
"In addition to MWU’s personal touch, we always stay up to date with the latest technology, including virtual reality training to simulate working on teeth". This works perfectly with my VR work on anatomy education.

I hope this clarifies the "mission statement" part of your response. Please let me know if I misunderstood or need further editing.

Thank you

 

[bkthmusic]

I agree with the comments above. Your list is too short and majority of those schools are highly selective. I can almost guarantee UConn will reject over 90% of OOS applicants even the closer ones geographically. Some of them are public and not so friendly to OOS students. As an OOS applicant you should really stand out and that includes a higher DAT as well.
Add the rest of schools in CA, some private OOS that have lower tuitions.

 

[TheDentalDave]

you need to do more than "skim" OOS acceptance rates and not go by "seem" and "less so", especially when you "could be wrong"
and note that i didn't only say OOS...
also note that if you look at ALL dental schools' mission statements, they all basically say the same thing and your story would fit with any of them
plus i never mentioned "mission statements", i mentioned "mission fit". look at what the schools do, not what they say
i am not saying you won't have success with this school list, but you kinda have 4 reach schools (ucla, ucsf, umich, and some would say uconn) 2 in range publics (of which i only like colorado- i doubt stony brook takes many lower dat oos, especially from the west coast) with 4 safeties (i love creighton here, and understand why you chose boston/tufts. and MW-AZ makes sense geographically but is $$$)
you should have a broad school list with a few reaches, mostly inrange schools, and some safeties
some would also say 10 schools is too little, but it just depends on your school mix (plus your GPA, especially in the masters, is really good)
my recommendation is always to start looking at schools closer geographically to where you reside before branching out...

Ok, thanks for the input. I’ve really just started looking into this whole application process so I’ve had very little time to look at mission fit or anything like that at this point as I took my DAT just last week and I work more than full time.

I did look at a few of the other California schools, but places like USC are too expensive, OoP has had some school admin issues/too short of a program.

Right now I mainly just want to know if a DAT retake is necessary for the schools I have on this list now and if there are some other good schools I can throw in that are good for specializing/have a med school integrated curriculum.

Thank you

 

[mjzccle19701]

Marquette is a Jesuit school too

 

[Mr.Smile12]

My mission fit would be centered around educating others/public service/research.

This is not a mission fit because you don't need to be a dentist to do this. You might be better served going MD, pharmacy, or public health. Why do you want to take on 500K+ in debt?

What support and advice have you gotten from your Masters faculty? Do you feel you have enough to convince dental schools you don't still want to be an MD/DO where a bulk of your experiences can have a bit more value? I enjoy dissecting pig hearts, but you won't be doing that in dental school.

Can you list dental schools that would benefit from the virtual anatomy technology you use or were taught on? I'm curious what you know about how dental schools teach anatomy. Which programs have solid dental research programs and present at AADR/IADR. Why not DDS/PhD?

Bridging the Gap Between the Bench and Chairside: The DDS/PhD Pathway - SDN

The Student Doctor Network provides free tools, resources, and advising services to help students become health professionals.

www.studentdoctor.net