WAMC Dental 2023-24 cycle AL resident

[satho]

Date of submission: Hopefully early June, I can't think of anything that I'd be waiting on then to hinder my application
Overall GPA: 4.0
Science GPA: 4.0 (finishing my last semester but I feel good about these classes)
Bio-Chem-Physics GPA: 4.0
DAT score (include AA and all sections): 24 AA, 21 PA, 21 QR, 30 RC, 27 BY, 20 GC, 21 OC, 22 TS (August 2022)
State of Residence: Alabama
Undergrad Attended: UAB
Major: Biomedical Sciences
Minor: N/A
Minority? No
Reapplicant? No
Nontrad? No
Shadowing Experience: 20 hours rn with a general dentist, I have yet to shadow the other dentist at that practice but they've agreed to it and I have 2 other general dentists who have offered to let me shadow within the last month- I don't have any specialized dentists lined up though :I I kick myself for not getting more of this done last semester but I think I have time to aim for 80+ hours before I submit my app and am open to suggestion as to whether I should aim higher than that or how many hours it's recommended to shadow specialized dentists
Volunteering Experience: ~268 hours

• ~180 hours volunteering as a crisis counselor for a crisis/suicide chat-based line. 13 month commitment with a ~2 month break to study for the DAT
• a semester of tutoring in biology twice a week for a total of ~56 hours tutoring including the lesson plan prep
• ~5 hours volunteering at the dispensary for a student-run free clinic that cares for the medically underserved, summer 2022
• ~3.5 hours tutoring to improve reading comprehension for a 1st grader as part of a program meant to help underserved children reach the 3rd grade reading comprehension benchmark
• Volunteered at a food and clothing bank for ~24 hours with a serve-all policy for clients that generally were low income and/or impoverished

Employment: N/A
Research: it was so minimal I'm not even sure whether to include it. I spent 14 hours actively in a lab for a semester, plus ~15 hours of independent research on the topic and presentation prep. We presented at a research expo as an in-progress study on the ability of cerium oxide nanoparticles to reduce oxidative stress in breast tissue. We won 3rd place for that category but I left the research team after that semester and was not involved with publication. It was definitely a learning experience for me where I realized I'm not fond of research. Do I include it on my primary app y'all think or save it for if it comes up in the interview or something? or not mention at all?
Other Extracurriculars: Currently serving as Secretary, Education & Tabling Co-chair, and Co-founder for a student org with the mission of promoting education and awareness surrounding substance use, and establishing a recovery-ready community at my campus. I've been involved in getting the student banking account set up and organizing at least 2 tabling events as well as 2 educational presentations alongside an educational movie night.
Relevant Honors or Awards:

• Presidential Honors 2019-2023
• Best Writers Symposium Award 2020 (Annual symposium held to recognize outstanding student writers within my campus's english department)

LOR type and strength: Committee Letter, I feel good about my professors (2 science 1 I took with a topic I'm passionate about), I haven't asked a dentist yet about their willingness to write me a letter.. I want to, but not until I get more hours in.
Misc Info/Things not stated elsewhere/Red Flags:

• I'm taking a gap year so I'm a senior and this is my last semester. I plan on working during my gap year and continuing to volunteer in healthcare settings within rural, medically underserved populations because it's where I'd like to practice one day
• attended UAB School of Dentistry's SNDA First Impressions program in 2021- it was a day-long event where we got to hear from current students and faculty about the schedule, classes, dental specialties offered at UABSOD and participated in a virtual soap carving activity.
• From 2019-March of 2022 I was a caregiver for a mentally and physically disabled family member. She passed last march. Family no longer demands a lot of my time, but it was a significant responsibility during that time period. On top of having a daily commitment anywhere from 2-4 hours long depending on the day, I was in isolation for a lot longer than my peers during COVID to protect her from exposure, and it hindered my ability to get involved more with my campus or in-person volunteering opportunities. I've also just only begun to form meaningful relationships with my professors, which is why I'm a little nervous about the LORs, but I'm spending a lot more time this semester with the two science professors I'm asking.
• I think my Personal Statement is strong- I had it reviewed and critiqued by one of my professors who is also on the admissions committee for PA school. Her advice was totally awesome and my "why" to dentistry centers around improving quality of life for others. I don't have ECs specific to dentistry, but definitely improving quality of life. My PS talks about all of the ways in which I feel/have observed a general dentist improves QoL and how that ties into the motivations and impact of my ECs/experiences.

School list:
UAB School of Dentistry is my top choice. To the point if I don't get in this cycle I plan to wait another year, strengthen my app and apply again.
Dental College of Georgia at Augusta University
LSU New Orleans School of Dentistry
University of Tennessee Health Science Center College of Dentistry
Maybe Mississippi?? I'm really not sure. Not sold on it. I'm eagerly seeking advice from y'all on school recs! Y'all know so much. My heart is set on UABSOD but I know it's not a good idea to apply to only one school. Thank you for reading.

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[Mr.Smile12]

You should at least warrant an interview with the home team. Great job! Your list makes sense so I think you could add a few more schools at your preference.

My comment is on nonclinical volunteering: you don't have to include the activities where you have fewer than 10 hours.

 

[satho]

You should at least warrant an interview with the home team. Great job! Your list makes sense so I think you could add a few more schools at your preference.

My comment is on nonclinical volunteering: you don't have to include the activities where you have fewer than 10 hours.

Got it, thanks so much!

 

[macsak]

Date of submission: Hopefully early June, I can't think of anything that I'd be waiting on then to hinder my application
Overall GPA: 4.0
Science GPA: 4.0 (finishing my last semester but I feel good about these classes)
Bio-Chem-Physics GPA: 4.0
DAT score (include AA and all sections): 24 AA, 21 PA, 21 QR, 30 RC, 27 BY, 20 GC, 21 OC, 22 TS (August 2022)
State of Residence: Alabama
Undergrad Attended: UAB
Major: Biomedical Sciences
Minor: N/A
Minority? No
Reapplicant? No
Nontrad? No
Shadowing Experience: 20 hours rn with a general dentist, I have yet to shadow the other dentist at that practice but they've agreed to it and I have 2 other general dentists who have offered to let me shadow within the last month- I don't have any specialized dentists lined up though :I I kick myself for not getting more of this done last semester but I think I have time to aim for 80+ hours before I submit my app and am open to suggestion as to whether I should aim higher than that or how many hours it's recommended to shadow specialized dentists
Volunteering Experience: ~268 hours

• ~180 hours volunteering as a crisis counselor for a crisis/suicide chat-based line. 13 month commitment with a ~2 month break to study for the DAT
• a semester of tutoring in biology twice a week for a total of ~56 hours tutoring including the lesson plan prep
• ~5 hours volunteering at the dispensary for a student-run free clinic that cares for the medically underserved, summer 2022
• ~3.5 hours tutoring to improve reading comprehension for a 1st grader as part of a program meant to help underserved children reach the 3rd grade reading comprehension benchmark
• Volunteered at a food and clothing bank for ~24 hours with a serve-all policy for clients that generally were low income and/or impoverished

Employment: N/A
Research: it was so minimal I'm not even sure whether to include it. I spent 14 hours actively in a lab for a semester, plus ~15 hours of independent research on the topic and presentation prep. We presented at a research expo as an in-progress study on the ability of cerium oxide nanoparticles to reduce oxidative stress in breast tissue. We won 3rd place for that category but I left the research team after that semester and was not involved with publication. It was definitely a learning experience for me where I realized I'm not fond of research. Do I include it on my primary app y'all think or save it for if it comes up in the interview or something? or not mention at all?
Other Extracurriculars: Currently serving as Secretary, Education & Tabling Co-chair, and Co-founder for a student org with the mission of promoting education and awareness surrounding substance use, and establishing a recovery-ready community at my campus. I've been involved in getting the student banking account set up and organizing at least 2 tabling events as well as 2 educational presentations alongside an educational movie night.
Relevant Honors or Awards:

• Presidential Honors 2019-2023
• Best Writers Symposium Award 2020 (Annual symposium held to recognize outstanding student writers within my campus's english department)

LOR type and strength: Committee Letter, I feel good about my professors (2 science 1 I took with a topic I'm passionate about), I haven't asked a dentist yet about their willingness to write me a letter.. I want to, but not until I get more hours in.
Misc Info/Things not stated elsewhere/Red Flags:

• I'm taking a gap year so I'm a senior and this is my last semester. I plan on working during my gap year and continuing to volunteer in healthcare settings within rural, medically underserved populations because it's where I'd like to practice one day
• attended UAB School of Dentistry's SNDA First Impressions program in 2021- it was a day-long event where we got to hear from current students and faculty about the schedule, classes, dental specialties offered at UABSOD and participated in a virtual soap carving activity.
• From 2019-March of 2022 I was a caregiver for a mentally and physically disabled family member. She passed last march. Family no longer demands a lot of my time, but it was a significant responsibility during that time period. On top of having a daily commitment anywhere from 2-4 hours long depending on the day, I was in isolation for a lot longer than my peers during COVID to protect her from exposure, and it hindered my ability to get involved more with my campus or in-person volunteering opportunities. I've also just only begun to form meaningful relationships with my professors, which is why I'm a little nervous about the LORs, but I'm spending a lot more time this semester with the two science professors I'm asking.
• I think my Personal Statement is strong- I had it reviewed and critiqued by one of my professors who is also on the admissions committee for PA school. Her advice was totally awesome and my "why" to dentistry centers around improving quality of life for others. I don't have ECs specific to dentistry, but definitely improving quality of life. My PS talks about all of the ways in which I feel/have observed a general dentist improves QoL and how that ties into the motivations and impact of my ECs/experiences.

School list:
UAB School of Dentistry is my top choice. To the point if I don't get in this cycle I plan to wait another year, strengthen my app and apply again.
Dental College of Georgia at Augusta University
LSU New Orleans School of Dentistry
University of Tennessee Health Science Center College of Dentistry
Maybe Mississippi?? I'm really not sure. Not sold on it. I'm eagerly seeking advice from y'all on school recs! Y'all know so much. My heart is set on UABSOD but I know it's not a good idea to apply to only one school. Thank you for reading.

you need to shadow more
get to 100 hours minimum
do as much volunteering/shadowing/attending events at UAB SOD as you can
make an appointment with their admissions coordinator in a month or two once this cycle slows down to ask what else you can do to make yourself a better candidate

add a couple more schools...

 

[satho]

you need to shadow more
get to 100 hours minimum
do as much volunteering/shadowing/attending events at UAB SOD as you can
make an appointment with their admissions coordinator in a month or two once this cycle slows down to ask what else you can do to make yourself a better candidate

add a couple more schools...

Got it, I'll get to 100 minimum before june and see if I can get in on any events UABSOD is hosting as well as make an appointment with their admissions coordinator later on! for more schools I'm thinking ECU... I like their mission statement mentioning disadvantaged and underserved populations. I'll dig around here and elsewhere to see if I can find one more that seems like a good fit? Thank you for your response and advice!

 

[macsak]

Got it, I'll get to 100 minimum before june and see if I can get in on any events UABSOD is hosting as well as make an appointment with their admissions coordinator later on! for more schools I'm thinking ECU... I like their mission statement mentioning disadvantaged and underserved populations. I'll dig around here and elsewhere to see if I can find one more that seems like a good fit? Thank you for your response and advice!

ECU takes very few OOS
but your stats are pretty good, so it's not wrong
but i would add another school if i were to add ECU...

 

[satho]

ECU takes very few OOS
but your stats are pretty good, so it's not wrong
but i would add another school if i were to add ECU...

Hmm, what about UT health dental school? I've heard A&M is super competitive but I do really like texas and would love the opportunity to stay in the south. not that UT is not also competitive but I think UT also takes a committee letter whereas A&M does not. choices, choices!

 

[Ryxndek]

Hmm, what about UT health dental school? I've heard A&M is super competitive but I do really like texas and would love the opportunity to stay in the south. not that UT is not also competitive but I think UT also takes a committee letter whereas A&M does not. choices, choices!

Texas schools are some of the hardest to get into in the country if you’re OOS. You have a chance given your stats but it’s something you should know. They also don’t use AADSAS, they use TEMDAS I believe it’s called. Their application also opens sooner, in may. Then June first for AADSAS. So be prepared to apply even earlier if you’re considering it!

 

[satho]

Texas schools are some of the hardest to get into in the country if you’re OOS. You have a chance given your stats but it’s something you should know. They also don’t use AADSAS, they use TEMDAS I believe it’s called. Their application also opens sooner, in may. Then June first for AADSAS. So be prepared to apply even earlier if you’re considering it!

oh wow!! I didn't realize they use a completely different application process. thanks for letting me know, that would have totally thrown me if I didn't realize sooner. I think I'll probably talk to my pre-health advisor when I get a chance to ask whether it's feasible for me to get my ducks in a row by then, since I'll be waiting on them past may probably for the committee letter