WAMC - Late-ish applicant

[tc55113]

Date of submission: 8/29
Overall GPA: 3.65
Science GPA: 3.53
Bio-Chem-Physics GPA: 3.53
DAT score (include AA and all sections):
PA - 23
QR - 22
RC- 24
Bio - 21
Gen Chem - 21
Org - 21
TS - 21
AA - 22
State of Residence: Minnesota

Major: Chemistry
Minor: Education
Minority? No
Reapplicant? No
Nontrad? Yes

Shadowing Experience: 55, still accruing hours
Volunteering Experience: 0 on application, have started since applying
Employment: 3 years as bicycle store manager and mechanic
Research: Summer chemistry research. Fall/Spring project awarded funding after winning funding through EPA.
Other Extracurriculars: 2 years as XC/ Track and Field captain during undergrad. 4 years as athlete.
Have you volunteered/shadowed/attended events at any dental schools? No events at dental schools
Relevant Honors or Awards: Deans list majority of semesters during undergrad.
LOR type and strength: 3 LOR. 2 professors that I think are very strong, and 1 OMS letter that should also be fairly strong.

School list:
Iowa
Minnesota
UNC
Creighton (once shadowing hours are reached)
_________________________________________________________

Just curious on the Forum's opinions on my stats and the path I have taken. I understand I am a fairly late applicant and thus it may take a while to hear about interviews, assuming I get any. I think I have average to OK grades and I was surprised at my DAT AA, although a bit disappointed in the Gen chem/ochem score. I am a non traditional student in the since that I took 3 years of after graduation and worked full time. I have 3 years experience as a manager, and total 12 years as a professional mechanic. I have since returned to school to finish a few pre-req's (gen biology). I limited my submissions to 4 schools as these are the ones I really would like to attend. I will most likely add more schools next cycle if need be. I have limited to no volunteer/shadowing hours which I know is not a good look, But I am continuing to gain those hours after submission. Appreciate you all looking.

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[Mr.Smile12]

You should have waited until you got the volunteering and clinical hours. What biology class have you taken, if you only covered the intro sequence? Many schools will want to see microbiology, physiology, and biochemistry. Better to have your strongest application without obvious gaps submitted early than to submit late with obvious deficits.

 

[tc55113]

You should have waited until you got the volunteering and clinical hours. What biology class have you taken, if you only covered the intro sequence? Many schools will want to see microbiology, physiology, and biochemistry. Better to have your strongest application without obvious gaps submitted early than to submit late with obvious deficits.

I have taken Biochemistry. No physiology or micro. My undergrad also offered Chemical Biology, and Molecular Biophysics, as well as an additional Advanced Organic class on top of Org 1 and 2. I just have not completed the intro bio 1 and 2 courses. I am considering adding micro to my spring semester on top of Gen Bio 2.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

I have taken Biochemistry. No physiology or micro. My undergrad also offered Chemical Biology, and Molecular Biophysics, as well as an additional Advanced Organic class on top of Org 1 and 2. I just have not completed the intro bio 1 and 2 courses. I am considering adding micro to my spring semester on top of Gen Bio 2.

So you didn't/couldn't designate any classes in AADSAS as fulfilling your biology requirements. That may be an issue with screening.

 

[tc55113]

So you didn't/couldn't designate any classes in AADSAS as fulfilling your biology requirements. That may be an issue with screening.

They are currently designated as "in progress" and are on my application. Our Pre-Health counseling center has mentioned to me this is common as it shows I will complete them by matriculation.

 

[macsak]

Date of submission: 8/29
Overall GPA: 3.65
Science GPA: 3.53
Bio-Chem-Physics GPA: 3.53
DAT score (include AA and all sections):
PA - 23
QR - 22
RC- 24
Bio - 21
Gen Chem - 21
Org - 21
TS - 21
AA - 22
State of Residence: Minnesota

Major: Chemistry
Minor: Education
Minority? No
Reapplicant? No
Nontrad? Yes

Shadowing Experience: 55, still accruing hours
Volunteering Experience: 0 on application, have started since applying
Employment: 3 years as bicycle store manager and mechanic
Research: Summer chemistry research. Fall/Spring project awarded funding after winning funding through EPA.
Other Extracurriculars: 2 years as XC/ Track and Field captain during undergrad. 4 years as athlete.
Have you volunteered/shadowed/attended events at any dental schools? No events at dental schools
Relevant Honors or Awards: Deans list majority of semesters during undergrad.
LOR type and strength: 3 LOR. 2 professors that I think are very strong, and 1 OMS letter that should also be fairly strong.

School list:
Iowa
Minnesota
UNC
Creighton (once shadowing hours are reached)
_________________________________________________________

Just curious on the Forum's opinions on my stats and the path I have taken. I understand I am a fairly late applicant and thus it may take a while to hear about interviews, assuming I get any. I think I have average to OK grades and I was surprised at my DAT AA, although a bit disappointed in the Gen chem/ochem score. I am a non traditional student in the since that I took 3 years of after graduation and worked full time. I have 3 years experience as a manager, and total 12 years as a professional mechanic. I have since returned to school to finish a few pre-req's (gen biology). I limited my submissions to 4 schools as these are the ones I really would like to attend. I will most likely add more schools next cycle if need be. I have limited to no volunteer/shadowing hours which I know is not a good look, But I am continuing to gain those hours after submission. Appreciate you all looking.

you should've waited until next cycle when you have enough shadowing volunteering hours...

 

[Ryxndek]

I'm giving an honest opinion here as you're a Minnesota resident and I go to Minnesota.

You have enough shadow hours for the U, but barely. I think the minimum is 50, generally, you want to aim for 100 to meet all school requirements. But in this case, probably whatever Creightons is if you haven't met it. I think its 75?

With zero volunteer hours before applying, that puts you at a disadvantage since many applicants will have had something to put down. Doing them now is okay, but you won't have much to update schools on unless you're volunteering every day or a few times a week for a significant amount of time.

Your GPA and DAT are fine, they're competitive enough for UMN, Creighton, and Iowa. However, you're chances for Iowa and UNC are pretty slim. Iowa takes heavy preference for applicants that apply very early (June) and UNC is just highly selective in general, and you're regional demographics don't match unless you have a strong alignment with North Carolina present in your application. I'm unsure about creighton, in the past they've usually sent out most, if not all, interviews by now but with Dr. N's death this past year they've done things slightly different. But with them being a Jesuit school, having zero volunteer hours doesn't align well as they are heavy on service orientation.

You might get love from the U if you can update them with some volunteer hours or extracurriculars you have done. They interview fairly late and some of my friends got in last spring so anything is possible. But I think you might have shot yourself in the foot a little. I would see if you can attend one of the U's open houses or dental events if they're still hosting to try and make some connections with admissions to get your name in their radar.

Hopefully, you can pound those hours out and update them at some point before December, or shortly after to see if you can still snag an interview. But see if you can network with the schools a little more too. Hoping for good luck, but if things remain quiet, focus on volunteer work and buff those experiences for the next cycle. Your stats are fine, but holistically it seems your app is a little light. The research experience will help, however.

 

[tc55113]

I'm giving an honest opinion here as you're a Minnesota resident and I go to Minnesota.

You have enough shadow hours for the U, but barely. I think the minimum is 50, generally, you want to aim for 100 to meet all school requirements. But in this case, probably whatever Creightons is if you haven't met it. I think its 75?

With zero volunteer hours before applying, that puts you at a disadvantage since many applicants will have had something to put down. Doing them now is okay, but you won't have much to update schools on unless you're volunteering every day or a few times a week for a significant amount of time.

Your GPA and DAT are fine, they're competitive enough for UMN, Creighton, and Iowa. However, you're chances for Iowa and UNC are pretty slim. Iowa takes heavy preference for applicants that apply very early (June) and UNC is just highly selective in general, and you're regional demographics don't match unless you have a strong alignment with North Carolina present in your application. I'm unsure about creighton, in the past they've usually sent out most, if not all, interviews by now but with Dr. N's death this past year they've done things slightly different. But with them being a Jesuit school, having zero volunteer hours doesn't align well as they are heavy on service orientation.

You might get love from the U if you can update them with some volunteer hours or extracurriculars you have done. They interview fairly late and some of my friends got in last spring so anything is possible. But I think you might have shot yourself in the foot a little. I would see if you can attend one of the U's open houses or dental events if they're still hosting to try and make some connections with admissions to get your name in their radar.

Hopefully, you can pound those hours out and update them at some point before December, or shortly after to see if you can still snag an interview. But see if you can network with the schools a little more too. Hoping for good luck, but if things remain quiet, focus on volunteer work and buff those experiences for the next cycle. Your stats are fine, but holistically it seems your app is a little light. The research experience will help, however.

Thank you for your opinion. I know this was not the most ideal way of doing things. My reasoning was that by the time I gathered enough volunteer and clinical hours to be competitive most application deadlines would have passed. I figured I might as well apply and see what happens. When you mention updating the U with volunteer hours, how would you go about that? Does the admissions office accept information like that outside of the ADEA app?

 

[Ryxndek]

Thank you for your opinion. I know this was not the most ideal way of doing things. My reasoning was that by the time I gathered enough volunteer and clinical hours to be competitive most application deadlines would have passed. I figured I might as well apply and see what happens. When you mention updating the U with volunteer hours, how would you go about that? Does the admissions office accept information like that outside of the ADEA app?

For the bolded: I would have just said to wait until the next cycle. Best to start out with your best foot forward than trying to crawl up from behind. But that's too late. We just have to wait and see.

For the second part, you could update your experience on AADSAS and follow up with an email to admissions letting them know you've made an update to your experiences in AADSAS. (You can't edit past experiences, but you can add new ones) But I wouldn't do this often, if anything I'd do it once before Dec. and maybe in like Feb if you still haven't heard anything. You don't want to bombard them, but if they tell you that you can send updates it doesn't hurt you. I would just make sure you've accumulated a decent amount of hours first. I know @Mr.Smile12 recommends doing so around 100. But since you have zero, I'd imagine anything would be better than that. Maybe when you get to 50 you could send an update.

 

[tc55113]

For the bolded: I would have just said to wait until the next cycle. Best to start out with your best foot forward than trying to crawl up from behind. But that's too late. We just have to wait and see.

For the second part, you could update your experience on AADSAS and follow up with an email to admissions letting them know you've made an update to your experiences in AADSAS. (You can't edit past experiences, but you can add new ones) But I wouldn't do this often, if anything I'd do it once before Dec. and maybe in like Feb if you still haven't heard anything. You don't want to bombard them, but if they tell you that you can send updates it doesn't hurt you. I would just make sure you've accumulated a decent amount of hours first. I know @Mr.Smile12 recommends doing so around 100. But since you have zero, I'd imagine anything would be better than that. Maybe when you get to 50 you could send an update.

Interesting. I feel like the counselors and professors I spoke with when starting to apply leaned more to the side of "you can always apply again" and that is doesn't hurt to apply this cycle. But like you said, too late now. Oh well. Given that I applied late August would you expect that if I was lucky enough to get an interview at the U, that I shouldn't expect to hear anything until winter/spring?

 

[Ryxndek]

Interesting. I feel like the counselors and professors I spoke with when starting to apply leaned more to the side of "you can always apply again" and that is doesn't hurt to apply this cycle. But like you said, too late now. Oh well. Given that I applied late August would you expect that if I was lucky enough to get an interview at the U, that I shouldn't expect to hear anything until winter/spring?

I think this is probably one of the most misleading things that professors and counselors say to students. When you're a reapplicant, you're being held to higher standards compared to first-time applicants. Adcoms will want to know what you've done differently since the last time you applied and why they should interview you over someone who's applying for the first time and has all their things in order. And they could be more stringent on your application if you did not change much. Which will hurt you, again.

But regardless, you've already applied, and you're bulking your app already now. So keep at it and try to build on some experiences if you have the ability to.

But in regards to the second point, no one knows. The U will interview the strongest applications first that meet their mission but they also reserve seats in their class for post-December interviews. So while you could have a chance for a fall interview, my guess is they will want to see an update of your hours and how significant in number before they decide on a decision. Which could be in Jan. or maybe March. But by that point, there's few seats remaining. So just keep working on the hours, send an update, and hopefully it's enough to grab their attention.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Interesting. I feel like the counselors and professors I spoke with when starting to apply leaned more to the side of "you can always apply again" and that is doesn't hurt to apply this cycle. But like you said, too late now. Oh well. Given that I applied late August would you expect that if I was lucky enough to get an interview at the U, that I shouldn't expect to hear anything until winter/spring?

I don't like to criticize my peers, but I remind them they aren't spending your money or your time. Bring in a less than optimal prep as a D1, and I assure you the response won't be so nice as "you can always try again. "

You must show a consistent pattern that you submit acceptable, passable work, and an application isn't the best proxy, but it is still an indicator.