WAMC - Just an Average person

[BikiniBottomBaller]

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Date of submission: Aug 6th
Overall GPA: 3.76
Science GPA: 3.65
Bio-Chem-Physics GPA: 3.58
DAT scores:
AA: 480 (23)
PAT: 510 (23)
QR: 460 (22)
RC: 470 (24)
BIO: 490 (24)
GC: 470 (23)
OC: 490 (24)
SNS: 480 (23)
State of Residence: AR (Arkansas)

Undergrad Attended: Unversity of Arkansas
Major: B.A. Chemistry
Minority? Yes- Asian and white mixed breed.
Reapplicant? No

Shadowing Experience: 122; 84 at General, 30 at Pediatric office with ortho/peds, 8 OMFS
Volunteering Experience:
Mission trip: 70
- Distributed water filters in the Dominican Republic over spring break 2024. Recruited fellow fraternity members throughout the fall semester.

Rho Chi: 30
- Small group leader during fraternity recruitment. Led potential new members through each house and ensured houses were following rules (basically not letting them throw alcohol or abusing PNMs lol)

President: a lot
- Increased philanthropy dollars from 5k to 35k YOY
- increased overall fraternity philanthropy hours (Made 2 hours a requirement for each member), 320+ members.
- Head shave drive for Children's Hospital
- Halloween Carnival 2024 with a local middle school
- Every sorority philanthropy event on campus, I was sure to actively participate in. (Greek life is big at Arkansas)

Employment:
Owner of LLC
- Photo, video, graphic design, website design, sports, concerts, and anything that paid at first. Have been doing this since 2023 to support myself financially. Have worked with artists like FISHER, ODD MOB, Ty Myers, Da Baby, Trippie Redd, Twin Sick, Souljia Boy, Tee Grizzley, Slxm Jxmmy, and Big X tha Plug.

Nail Tech
- Licensed Nail Technician since I was 18. Worked way too many hours. probably 1000+ hours. While in school and over the summers. On and off since 2023.

Research: NONE
Other Extracurriculars:
President of Fraternity (Nov 2023- Dec 2024)
NIL media Intern (Fall 2023- Spring 2024)
Razorback Athletics Creative Media intern (Spring 2023)
Academic Chair (Nov 2022- April 2023)
Arkansas Rush Chair (Nov 2022 - Sept 2023)
T- Shirt Chair (Nov 2022- Oct 2023)



Have you volunteered/shadowed/attended events at any dental schools?
Pre-Dental Society
- Basic check-ups at local middle schools. Wrote down notes and the ratings given by a dentist.
Plan to do a dental trip over Christmas break 2025

Relevant Honors or Awards:
Chancellors' list and Dean's List awards throughout college
Pledge of the Year (Spring 2022 - Fall 2023) (fraternity)
Freshman of the Year (2022 - 2023)
Homecoming Court (Top 12)

LOR type and strength:
Committee letter
-Head of Chemistry Lab Dept.
- Organic Chemistry Teacher
- Assistant Dean of Students/ Head of Greek Life on Campus

Misc Info/Things not stated elsewhere/Red Flags:
Worked in a wood factory since I was 5. Play guitar. Learned to drive a forklift at 7.

School list:
UTHSC (Memphis)
LSU
Texas A&M
UT San Antonio
UT Houston
UF (lol why not)

I honestly just got my scores back. I am worried I am late, but better late than never! Where else should I apply as an OOS? Any feedback would be great!

 

[macsak]

Date of submission: Aug 6th
Overall GPA: 3.76
Science GPA: 3.65
Bio-Chem-Physics GPA: 3.58
DAT scores:
AA: 480 (23)
PAT: 510 (23)
QR: 460 (22)
RC: 470 (24)
BIO: 490 (24)
GC: 470 (23)
OC: 490 (24)
SNS: 480 (23)
State of Residence: AR (Arkansas)

Undergrad Attended: Unversity of Arkansas
Major: B.A. Chemistry
Minority? Yes- Asian and white mixed breed.
Reapplicant? No

Shadowing Experience: 122; 84 at General, 30 at Pediatric office with ortho/peds, 8 OMFS
Volunteering Experience:
Mission trip: 70
- Distributed water filters in the Dominican Republic over spring break 2024. Recruited fellow fraternity members throughout the fall semester.

Rho Chi: 30
- Small group leader during fraternity recruitment. Led potential new members through each house and ensured houses were following rules (basically not letting them throw alcohol or abusing PNMs lol)

President: a lot
- Increased philanthropy dollars from 5k to 35k YOY
- increased overall fraternity philanthropy hours (Made 2 hours a requirement for each member), 320+ members.
- Head shave drive for Children's Hospital
- Halloween Carnival 2024 with a local middle school
- Every sorority philanthropy event on campus, I was sure to actively participate in. (Greek life is big at Arkansas)

Employment:
Owner of LLC
- Photo, video, graphic design, website design, sports, concerts, and anything that paid at first. Have been doing this since 2023 to support myself financially. Have worked with artists like FISHER, ODD MOB, Ty Myers, Da Baby, Trippie Redd, Twin Sick, Souljia Boy, Tee Grizzley, Slxm Jxmmy, and Big X tha Plug.

Nail Tech
- Licensed Nail Technician since I was 18. Worked way too many hours. probably 1000+ hours. While in school and over the summers. On and off since 2023.

Research: NONE
Other Extracurriculars:
President of Fraternity (Nov 2023- Dec 2024)
NIL media Intern (Fall 2023- Spring 2024)
Razorback Athletics Creative Media intern (Spring 2023)
Academic Chair (Nov 2022- April 2023)
Arkansas Rush Chair (Nov 2022 - Sept 2023)
T- Shirt Chair (Nov 2022- Oct 2023)



Have you volunteered/shadowed/attended events at any dental schools?
Pre-Dental Society
- Basic check-ups at local middle schools. Wrote down notes and the ratings given by a dentist.
Plan to do a dental trip over Christmas break 2025

Relevant Honors or Awards:
Chancellors' list and Dean's List awards throughout college
Pledge of the Year (Spring 2022 - Fall 2023) (fraternity)
Freshman of the Year (2022 - 2023)
Homecoming Court (Top 12)

LOR type and strength:
Committee letter
-Head of Chemistry Lab Dept.
- Organic Chemistry Teacher
- Assistant Dean of Students/ Head of Greek Life on Campus

Misc Info/Things not stated elsewhere/Red Flags:
Worked in a wood factory since I was 5. Play guitar. Learned to drive a forklift at 7.

School list:
UTHSC (Memphis)
LSU
Texas A&M
UT San Antonio
UT Houston
UF (lol why not)

I honestly just got my scores back. I am worried I am late, but better late than never! Where else should I apply as an OOS? Any feedback would be great!

why not umkc?
why not alabama?
why not mississippi?

 

[BikiniBottomBaller]

why not umkc?
why not alabama?
why not mississippi?

I have family connections in all the cities I listed except for UF. Admission statistics-wise, I figured these gave me the best chances to get admitted while also making financial sense for me. UMKC is too expensive. For Bama, it is similar to some on my list, but I have no family or friends there. And Mississippi doesn't even take out-of-state, from what I have seen.

 

[macsak]

I have family connections in all the cities I listed except for UF. Admission statistics-wise, I figured these gave me the best chances to get admitted while also making financial sense for me. UMKC is too expensive. For Bama, it is similar to some on my list, but I have no family or friends there. And Mississippi doesn't even take out-of-state, from what I have seen.

have you looked at the OOS stats for the 3 texas schools?

 

[macsak]

I have family connections in all the cities I listed except for UF. Admission statistics-wise, I figured these gave me the best chances to get admitted while also making financial sense for me. UMKC is too expensive. For Bama, it is similar to some on my list, but I have no family or friends there. And Mississippi doesn't even take out-of-state, from what I have seen.

are you going off that discodent page that has them as the most expensive OOS school in the country?
you might want to do your own research instead of trusting that site...

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Why did you apply to Florida? DSE says 6 enrolled from 48 interviewed out of 1182 OOS applications. Basically 1 AR applicant got in, and you never know what connections they had with the school, so I need your answer (at least more specific than "why not").

I would have gone for NovaSE. 30 OOS admitted from 153 interviews from 1739 applied.

If "UMKC is too expensive," why not LECOM?

Tuition (not COA) per year
UF OOS $80K DSE
UMKC OOS $45K Graduate and Professional Program Tuition Rates | Cashiers | University of Missouri - Kansas City
LECOM $65K Dental Tuition and Fees - Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine
NovaSE $77K DSE

How did you come up with your list? Clearly, it wasn't about tuition.

Lyon is a 3-year program that just opened in Arkansas. Regular warnings about being a guinea pig class, but not including them makes me question why you want to be a dentist and how strong your dental experience is.

I already have issues with your non-clinical volunteering: your fraternity involvement mostly defines your insight into community, and I don't see evidence you have extended yourself outside of your comfort zone. Most of us will discount your involvement with out-of-country activities. It appears that immersing yourself with under-resourced communities in the US is glaringly missing.

What feedback did you get from your prehealth advisors/committee? How confident are they that you will get an offer with your list?

 

[BikiniBottomBaller]

Why did you apply to Florida? DSE says 6 enrolled from 48 interviewed out of 1182 OOS applications. Basically 1 AR applicant got in, and you never know what connections they had with the school, so I need your answer (at least more specific than "why not").

I would have gone for NovaSE. 30 OOS admitted from 153 interviews from 1739 applied.

If "UMKC is too expensive," why not LECOM?

Tuition (not COA) per year
UF OOS $80K DSE
UMKC OOS $45K Graduate and Professional Program Tuition Rates | Cashiers | University of Missouri - Kansas City
LECOM $65K Dental Tuition and Fees - Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine
NovaSE $77K DSE

How did you come up with your list? Clearly, it wasn't about tuition.

Lyon is a 3-year program that just opened in Arkansas. Regular warnings about being a guinea pig class, but not including them makes me question why you want to be a dentist and how strong your dental experience is.

I already have issues with your non-clinical volunteering: your fraternity involvement mostly defines your insight into community, and I don't see evidence you have extended yourself outside of your comfort zone. Most of us will discount your involvement with out-of-country activities. It appears that immersing yourself with under-resourced communities in the US is glaringly missing.

What feedback did you get from your prehealth advisors/committee? How confident are they that you will get an offer with your list?

Why not- I have heard their curriculum is challenging. That makes me think I’ll be prepared. And again, I thought why not have one reach school.

For schools around the 65-75k range in tuition, I have family in those cities and could live with them. I also have many mutuals who attend UTHSC and LSU. So those were always in my mind. The state use to give grants to Arkansas residents to attend OOS. LSU, UTHSC, and Texas A&M were common schools for this grant.

I am applying for lecom and Lyon, I just didn’t include them as I am paying for the applications myself and waiting to get paid this weekend.

For. Non-clinical. Volunteering, I agree I wish I did more. But to out myself through school working my business, being a president, and school took up a lot of time. I was already stretched thin. In my senior year I want to do more of this now that I am less busy. What do you also mean by outside of my comfort zone?

Thanks for letting me know that umkc is not as expensive. I will send an application as soon as I can.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Why not- I have heard their curriculum is challenging. That makes me think I’ll be prepared. And again, I thought why not have one reach school.

For schools around the 65-75k range in tuition, I have family in those cities and could live with them. I also have many mutuals who attend UTHSC and LSU. So those were always in my mind. The state use to give grants to Arkansas residents to attend OOS. LSU, UTHSC, and Texas A&M were common schools for this grant.

I am applying for lecom and Lyon, I just didn’t include them as I am paying for the applications myself and waiting to get paid this weekend.

For. Non-clinical. Volunteering, I agree I wish I did more. But to out myself through school working my business, being a president, and school took up a lot of time. I was already stretched thin. In my senior year I want to do more of this now that I am less busy. What do you also mean by outside of my comfort zone?

Thanks for letting me know that umkc is not as expensive. I will send an application as soon as I can.

Explain to me how the UF curriculum change is an advantage to you.

I don't mind Tennessee or LSU given that they are neighboring state programs that know Arkansas doesn't have a great public option (yet). Those make sense to me. Texas... well, I'd also say why not with your metrics.

But I'm sorry, you went to the DR. You can't complain about not having enough time to do more non-clinical volunteering when you spent a significant amount of time with your fraternity. Everyone makes decisions to spend their time on things they care about, and when I see this WAMC profile, it's clear what you prioritized. You even own a business (LLC) that helped you through school (I see your nail tech). You say you wish you did more non-clinical volunteering, but you can't run away from what you decided was more important.

Stretch out of your comfort zone: I want to know what you have done to work with people who don't want to work with you. There are more patients that don't want to see you as their dentist (or any dentist for that matter) than there are patients who love going to the dentist. What are you doing to connect with people who are afraid of you? I don't really see it from the profile. Professional school admissions isn't about rewarding you for your accomplishments; your success also relies on demonstrating the high ceiling/potential you will reach once you are an established professional. Being a dentist is more than just getting a paycheck, and it's becoming less about running your own practice. What are you going to do when you have the $500K "debt talk" with your financial aid officer? Are you doing HPSP or NHSC? Why or why not?

Furthermore, I appreciate your humility, but having your own company does not make you "an average person." Why should any dental school value "an average person" like you? Get out of that mindset and know what you bring to the profession of dentistry and what your peers should learn about your story.