WAMC - 4.0 GPA, 24AA only one interview invite

[mjf304]

Date of submission: August 2, my letters were all in early june but I didn't get my DAT score until august
Overall GPA: 4.0
Science GPA: 4.0
Bio-Chem-Physics GPA: 4.0
DAT score (include AA and all sections): 24 AA // 21 TS // 22 PAT // 28 QR // 27 RC // 22 BIO // 22 GC // 19 OC
State of Residence: New Jersey, but I moved to Philadelphia this summer so I'm actually not sure

Undergrad Attended: Rutgers - Camden
Major: General Sciences (focus in chemistry)
Minor: Biology
Minority? No
Reapplicant? No
Nontrad? Yes - Prior Military

Shadowing Experience: 100 hours shadowing at a general dentist
Volunteering Experience: Only a few hours through my schools honors program, but I did 6 years of active duty
Employment: 6 years as a Nuclear Reactor Operator - US Navy, 2 years field service engineer for Instron
Research: none
Other Extracurriculars: Military, secretary of the schools student veteran association
Have you volunteered/shadowed/attended events at any dental schools? Attended Rutgers "Gateway to dentistry" program, a week long introduction to the career of dentistry
Relevant Honors or Awards: Rutgers Camden Honors College, Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal x3, Delta Alpha Pi honors society member.
LOR type and strength: 2x Science Professors, 1 Committee Letter, and letter from a high ranking officer that I worked with in the Navy. I believe all these letters are strong but I haven't actually read them my self.
Misc Info/Things not stated elsewhere/Red Flags:

I guess I'm just kind of worried that I've only gotten one interview. I thought my application was really strong. Let me know what I can improve on

School list:
Temple
Upenn
Rutgers
NYU
Maryland (invited for interview)
Harvard
UCLA
UNLV

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[macsak]

Date of submission: August 2, my letters were all in early june but I didn't get my DAT score until august
Overall GPA: 4.0
Science GPA: 4.0
Bio-Chem-Physics GPA: 4.0
DAT score (include AA and all sections): 24 AA // 21 TS // 22 PAT // 28 QR // 27 RC // 22 BIO // 22 GC // 19 OC
State of Residence: New Jersey, but I moved to Philadelphia this summer so I'm actually not sure

Undergrad Attended: Rutgers - Camden
Major: General Sciences (focus in chemistry)
Minor: Biology
Minority? No
Reapplicant? No
Nontrad? Yes - Prior Military

Shadowing Experience: 100 hours shadowing at a general dentist
Volunteering Experience: Only a few hours through my schools honors program, but I did 6 years of active duty
Employment: 6 years as a Nuclear Reactor Operator - US Navy, 2 years field service engineer for Instron
Research: none
Other Extracurriculars: Military, secretary of the schools student veteran association
Have you volunteered/shadowed/attended events at any dental schools? Attended Rutgers "Gateway to dentistry" program, a week long introduction to the career of dentistry
Relevant Honors or Awards: Rutgers Camden Honors College, Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal x3, Delta Alpha Pi honors society member.
LOR type and strength: 2x Science Professors, 1 Committee Letter, and letter from a high ranking officer that I worked with in the Navy. I believe all these letters are strong but I haven't actually read them my self.
Misc Info/Things not stated elsewhere/Red Flags:

I guess I'm just kind of worried that I've only gotten one interview. I thought my application was really strong. Let me know what I can improve on

School list:
Temple
Upenn
Rutgers
NYU
Maryland (invited for interview)
Harvard
UCLA
UNLV

wow, that sucks that you haven't gotten a rutgers invite yet, but it can take a few weeks for your dat score to get verified and sent
your list is not terrible given your stats, but UPenn, Harvard, and UCLA are extremely competitive
you just need to trust the process...

 

[macsak]

wow, that sucks that you haven't gotten a rutgers invite yet, but it can take a few weeks for your dat score to get verified and sent
your list is not terrible given your stats, but UPenn, Harvard, and UCLA are extremely competitive
you just need to trust the process...

and ace that maryland interview...

 

[mjf304]

wow, that sucks that you haven't gotten a rutgers invite yet, but it can take a few weeks for your dat score to get verified and sent
your list is not terrible given your stats, but UPenn, Harvard, and UCLA are extremely competitive
you just need to trust the process...

thanks for the reply. according to the AADSAS portal my dat was received. I'm hoping that these schools just haven't looked at my app yet :/

and yeah I feel pretty good interviewing.

 

[mjf304]

Stats are obviously stellar. Hope you get a Rutgers invite soon(alumni here). I would just give it some time and you may get more interviews a bit later.

Are you doing HSCP/HPSP? or using the GI bill? If the latter, I suggest adding more state schools.

Thanks, I just found out my application fee got lost in the mail for rutgers ….. hopefully they will work with me.

I’m using voc rehab / GI bill. I really don’t want to go too far but temples yellow ribbon program looks like it covers full tuition.

 

[salt_b]

Thanks, I just found out my application fee got lost in the mail for rutgers ….. hopefully they will work with me.

I’m using voc rehab / GI bill. I really don’t want to go too far but temples yellow ribbon program looks like it covers full tuition.

Temple's yellow ribbon does not cover full tuition. Looks like it's $4,000. I've done a decent amount of yellow ribbon research and I haven't come across a private dental school that fully covers tuition via yellow ribbon. But temple is a public institution so GI bill should pretty much cover everything you need?

Find A Yellow Ribbon School | Veterans Affairs

Search for schools that participate in the Yellow Ribbon Program.

www.va.gov

 

[mjf304]

Temple's yellow ribbon does not cover full tuition. Looks like it's $4,000. I've done a decent amount of yellow ribbon research and I haven't come across a private dental school that fully covers tuition via yellow ribbon. But temple is a public institution so GI bill should pretty much cover everything you need?

Find A Yellow Ribbon School | Veterans Affairs

Search for schools that participate in the Yellow Ribbon Program.

www.va.gov

no temple is private "state related" I'm actually not sure how it works. I think I'm going to email them

 

[salt_b]

no temple is private "state related" I'm actually not sure how it works. I think I'm going to email them

I would verify that for sure. All public institutions in Pennsylvania are considered "public" state related not "private" state related. This label applies to Penn State as well as Pitt. Let me know on this thread what they say!

 

[mjf304]

I would verify that for sure. All public institutions in Pennsylvania are considered "public" state related not "private" state related. This label applies to Penn State as well as Pitt. Let me know on this thread what they say!

I emailed them and it looks like the GI bill will cover full tuition. So hopefully I get an interview soon. I really don't want to move.

I was going based off the info on DAT booster Temple Dental School Requirements | DATBooster

 

[teficlac]

Date of submission: August 2, my letters were all in early june but I didn't get my DAT score until august
Overall GPA: 4.0
Science GPA: 4.0
Bio-Chem-Physics GPA: 4.0
DAT score (include AA and all sections): 24 AA // 21 TS // 22 PAT // 28 QR // 27 RC // 22 BIO // 22 GC // 19 OC
State of Residence: New Jersey, but I moved to Philadelphia this summer so I'm actually not sure

Undergrad Attended: Rutgers - Camden
Major: General Sciences (focus in chemistry)
Minor: Biology
Minority? No
Reapplicant? No
Nontrad? Yes - Prior Military

Shadowing Experience: 100 hours shadowing at a general dentist
Volunteering Experience: Only a few hours through my schools honors program, but I did 6 years of active duty
Employment: 6 years as a Nuclear Reactor Operator - US Navy, 2 years field service engineer for Instron
Research: none
Other Extracurriculars: Military, secretary of the schools student veteran association
Have you volunteered/shadowed/attended events at any dental schools? Attended Rutgers "Gateway to dentistry" program, a week long introduction to the career of dentistry
Relevant Honors or Awards: Rutgers Camden Honors College, Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal x3, Delta Alpha Pi honors society member.
LOR type and strength: 2x Science Professors, 1 Committee Letter, and letter from a high ranking officer that I worked with in the Navy. I believe all these letters are strong but I haven't actually read them my self.
Misc Info/Things not stated elsewhere/Red Flags:

I guess I'm just kind of worried that I've only gotten one interview. I thought my application was really strong. Let me know what I can improve on

School list:
Temple
Upenn
Rutgers
NYU
Maryland (invited for interview)
Harvard
UCLA
UNLV

probably because of your lack of volunteer hours. Active duty is not volunteering if you're getting paid.

 

[mjf304]

probably because of your lack of volunteer hours. Active duty is not volunteering if you're getting paid.

Well if that’s how schools view this then I think its completely misguided, but thank you for the insight.

 

[dentalmicrobio]

A UCLA associate dean mentioned low volunteer hours is a red flag (I was doing the SHPEP program there). Six years of active duty is a crazy experience, but unfortunately, it doesn't count as volunteering. Also, you are out of state for UCLA. Harvard, Upenn, and UCLA seem to favor research experience a lot too. UCLA just recently started sending invites, they'll keep doing so every day and hosting Mondays and Fridays. You also submitted in August, I'd imagine they have to get through June and July Applications first.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

probably because of your lack of volunteer hours. Active duty is not volunteering if you're getting paid.

I also disagree with this. We all love military applicants because of their service to the nation. (Seriously, thanks for your service!) It doesn't matter if they are paid (they should be). Many faculty did HPSP decades ago, and we have a strong affinity towards other military.

I have to recheck, but many state dental associations have opportunities to provide free dental screenings to low-income veterans. I don't know how many on the OP's list have a strong clinical relationship with a VA, but having military experience is a plus for adcoms I have worked with.

 

[teficlac]

I also disagree with this. We all love military applicants because of their service to the nation. (Seriously, thanks for your service!) It doesn't matter if they are paid (they should be). Many faculty did HPSP decades ago, and we have a strong affinity towards other military.

I have to recheck, but many state dental associations have opportunities to provide free dental screenings to low-income veterans. I don't know how many on the OP's list have a strong clinical relationship with a VA, but having military experience is a plus for adcoms I have worked with.

oh I see. Thanks for informing me

 

[mjf304]

A UCLA associate dean mentioned low volunteer hours is a red flag (I was doing the SHPEP program there). Six years of active duty is a crazy experience, but unfortunately, it doesn't count as volunteering. Also, you are out of state for UCLA. Harvard, Upenn, and UCLA seem to favor research experience a lot too. UCLA just recently started sending invites, they'll keep doing so every day and hosting Mondays and Fridays. You also submitted in August, I'd imagine they have to get through June and July Applications first.

Thanks, I guess I will work on adding some volunteer hours regardless.

 

[mjf304]

I also disagree with this. We all love military applicants because of their service to the nation. (Seriously, thanks for your service!) It doesn't matter if they are paid (they should be). Many faculty did HPSP decades ago, and we have a strong affinity towards other military.

I have to recheck, but many state dental associations have opportunities to provide free dental screenings to low-income veterans. I don't know how many on the OP's list have a strong clinical relationship with a VA, but having military experience is a plus for adcoms I have worked with.

Appreciate the reply and thank you for the acknowledgement. It is a goal of mine to work with veteran's as a practicing dentist as the VA does not offer adequate dental care to its members. University of Maryland works pretty closely with the VA in Baltimore as does Temple from what I can tell. I'm really hoping to hear from Temple since it looks like I am to be considered in IS applicant. I'm pretty confused as to why Maryland would have invited me to an interview but not Temple. But I suppose I just have to wait

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Appreciate the reply and thank you for the acknowledgement. It is a goal of mine to work with veteran's as a practicing dentist as the VA does not offer adequate dental care to its members. University of Maryland works pretty closely with the VA in Baltimore as does Temple from what I can tell. I'm really hoping to hear from Temple since it looks like I am to be considered in IS applicant. I'm pretty confused as to why Maryland would have invited me to an interview but not Temple. But I suppose I just have to wait

Pennsylvania has odd rules with state residency. You can reach out to them to be sure they know you are around the proverbial corner. I think we are at that time when it is helpful though it might not get you any immediate results.

 

[mjf304]

Pennsylvania has odd rules with state residency. You can reach out to them to be sure they know you are around the proverbial corner. I think we are at that time when it is helpful though it might not get you any immediate results.

Thanks, I did send them an email informing them of the change and telling them they were my number one school on Friday. Not sure if it will be of any benefit but I figured it wouldn't hurt.