chestachalupa37
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Date of submission: 8/15/25 - after DAT scores processed. 7/20 submission before DAT.
Overall GPA: 3.59
Science GPA: 3.35
Bio-Chem-Physics GPA: 3.21
DAT score (include AA and all sections): 460 (22) AA, 460 (22) TS, 440 (21) Bio, 520 (26) Gen Chem, 420 (19) Organic Chem, 450 (21) PAT, 440 (22) RC, 440 (20) QR
(DiscoDent conversion)
State of Residence: PA
Undergrad Attended: Small liberal arts college, Northeast
Major: Neuroscience - Why Neuro? I loved the dissection labs and integration of biology with behavior and cognition, even though it's a pre med major.
Minor: Sociology - I love learning about cultures and societal structures.
Minority? No, First college graduate in my family though.
Reapplicant? No
Nontrad? No, current biomedical master's at Tufts MBS, with a fall semester GPA interview linkage.
Shadowing Experience: 200+ shadowing, (125+ general, 25 ortho, 25 perio, 25 prosthodontics)
Volunteering Experience: 250+ (soup kitchen, volunteering, big brother big sister program, and free community healthcare clinic)
Employment: 200+ including family business (nail salon, licensed nail tech) in school breaks, 200 hours in dental assisting training/dental instrument sterilization (not included in shadowing hours).
Research: 2 summers of clinical (hospital) research (40 h/week for 10 weeks), 1 publication in pediatric medicine (2023). Loved the research and my PIs, but these clinical research experiences reinforced my desire to not pursue medicine.
Other Extracurriculars: Not sure about total hours, but I played rugby at my school and served on team leadership. I was the pre-dental club president, served on a student philanthropy committee where we evaluated nonprofits across the state and awarded grants, volunteered as an on-campus Red-Cross Blood Drives student coordinator, and worked to pay for my personal expenses as a receptionist at the science library. I also did a work-study lab tech position in a neuroscience lab where I dissected crickets for developmental nerve mapping.
Have you volunteered/shadowed/attended events at any dental schools?
Yes, as a pre-dental club president, I organized calls with Tufts and UNE and hosted the admissions team from BU at my school. I attended SNDA events and impressions days at BU, Tufts, UNE. I also spent a weekend at Yankee Dental Congress in Boston back in 2024.
Relevant Honors or Awards: Paid fellowship award through school to sponsor non-profit pediatric dentistry advocacy work (wrote storyboard with patients of free dental clinics, and interviewed tons of people). Paid scholarship for research experiences in undergrad. Ironically, I made the National Collegiate Rugby Academic Honor Roll my junior and senior year.
LOR type and strength: Committee packet (combination of Biochemistry professor letter, Neuroscience lab instructor (3 dissection labs taken with), sociology professor (4 classes taken), general dentist where I did 100+ shadowing, free clinic volunteer staff coordinator). I have to assume these are all strong because I have very close relationships with all of them.
Misc Info/Things not stated elsewhere/Red Flags: Of course, the elephant in the room is that my science GPA is weak because I had 2 C's in orgo my sophomore year. Aside from this, I've had As and Bs in the rest of my science prerequisites:
(A- Gen Chem, A- Analytical Chem, B+ Gen Bio, A- Microbio, B-/B+ physics I/II, A in calc and stats, B+ biochemistry, B/B+ neurobio + cognitive neuro, A in senior neuro seminar on translational animal models, A in Behavioral Neurobiology), although I have more B's than I would have liked.
Upward (?) trend: On AADSAS my (overall) freshman GPA was 3.88, sophomore 3.0, junior 3.67, senior 3.88. (A's my senior year in Micro, Analytic Chem, Behavioral Neuro, 3000 level neuro seminar on animal models).
I'm aiming for a 3.8+ in biomed masters where I'll be taking Medical Biochemistry, Physiology, Cell Bio, Genetics, Microbio, Medical Histology, Nutrition, and Pharmacology this fall. The program mimics the first year medical school curriculum of the associated institution. If I get a 3.2, I get a guaranteed interview to Tufts.
So far, I feel good because I'm coming right out of Biochem and Micro in undergrad and also DAT prep. I really enjoy the challenge that the science courses have, and I'm more excited to learn more than I am nervous about hitting a benchmark. I'm also excited because I didn't get a chance to take physio, anatomy, or nutrition, at my college because they weren't offered. I wanted to do genetics but this conflicted with one of my major requirements.
Thoughts: I think a big problem in undergrad was my over-involvement in extracurriculars, which I don't regret due to the experience, but this caused my grades to suffer and made me fight an uphill battle for the rest of college. I will be focusing more on my master's GPA especially this fall and so I will be doing less extracurriculars.
I'm concerned about my OChem score being the lowest subsection on the DAT. While not bad by any means, it's average, and I really wanted to score a 500+ to offset my Orgo grades. At this point though, I think a retake would be more of a distraction for my master's. Please let me know if you think differently.
WAMC? Please let me know if the school list is appropriate. I just really want to start dental school, and I've fallen in love with dentistry (especially community dentistry through my extracurriculars). I went with Tufts Master's in Bio medical science because I got decent financial aid there and it has (IMO) an attainable interview threshold. I know understanding my chances are tough given the concurrent master's enrollment but I'd rather take a shot now then wait another year since my parents are getting old and I just want to have some career advancement.
I worked hard in college and really tried to change my story my junior and senior years. Being an immature kid got the best of me sophomore year with OChem, and unfortunately that kind of made an irreversible dent in my science undergrad GPA.
School list:
Temple, Pitt, Penn (this is my shot from the moon school since I live in PA), Tufts (interview linkage), Boston U, UNE, ASDOH, LECOM, Midwestern IL, Detroit Mercy, Louisville, Nova Southeastern, Creighton, Case Western, Touro.
I know there's a lot of privates. As a PA resident, I applied to all the schools in my state, but I don't really feel like I have a "state school" since Temple and Pitt (and Penn doesn't even count) don't seem to really care about state preference, are only half funded by the state (and therefore don't have an obligation to accept in state residents) and are very competitive to begin with. I don't think it would be worth applying to out of state schools because my sGPA is below competitive and because of my financial situation, I'm paying for these apps out of my savings (got some fees waived). I do have money set aside for traveling for interviews, but I don't want to get ahead of myself.
Thanks in advance. Having honest advice from mentors like you all is both helpful and motivating.
Overall GPA: 3.59
Science GPA: 3.35
Bio-Chem-Physics GPA: 3.21
DAT score (include AA and all sections): 460 (22) AA, 460 (22) TS, 440 (21) Bio, 520 (26) Gen Chem, 420 (19) Organic Chem, 450 (21) PAT, 440 (22) RC, 440 (20) QR
(DiscoDent conversion)
State of Residence: PA
Undergrad Attended: Small liberal arts college, Northeast
Major: Neuroscience - Why Neuro? I loved the dissection labs and integration of biology with behavior and cognition, even though it's a pre med major.
Minor: Sociology - I love learning about cultures and societal structures.
Minority? No, First college graduate in my family though.
Reapplicant? No
Nontrad? No, current biomedical master's at Tufts MBS, with a fall semester GPA interview linkage.
Shadowing Experience: 200+ shadowing, (125+ general, 25 ortho, 25 perio, 25 prosthodontics)
Volunteering Experience: 250+ (soup kitchen, volunteering, big brother big sister program, and free community healthcare clinic)
Employment: 200+ including family business (nail salon, licensed nail tech) in school breaks, 200 hours in dental assisting training/dental instrument sterilization (not included in shadowing hours).
Research: 2 summers of clinical (hospital) research (40 h/week for 10 weeks), 1 publication in pediatric medicine (2023). Loved the research and my PIs, but these clinical research experiences reinforced my desire to not pursue medicine.
Other Extracurriculars: Not sure about total hours, but I played rugby at my school and served on team leadership. I was the pre-dental club president, served on a student philanthropy committee where we evaluated nonprofits across the state and awarded grants, volunteered as an on-campus Red-Cross Blood Drives student coordinator, and worked to pay for my personal expenses as a receptionist at the science library. I also did a work-study lab tech position in a neuroscience lab where I dissected crickets for developmental nerve mapping.
Have you volunteered/shadowed/attended events at any dental schools?
Yes, as a pre-dental club president, I organized calls with Tufts and UNE and hosted the admissions team from BU at my school. I attended SNDA events and impressions days at BU, Tufts, UNE. I also spent a weekend at Yankee Dental Congress in Boston back in 2024.
Relevant Honors or Awards: Paid fellowship award through school to sponsor non-profit pediatric dentistry advocacy work (wrote storyboard with patients of free dental clinics, and interviewed tons of people). Paid scholarship for research experiences in undergrad. Ironically, I made the National Collegiate Rugby Academic Honor Roll my junior and senior year.
LOR type and strength: Committee packet (combination of Biochemistry professor letter, Neuroscience lab instructor (3 dissection labs taken with), sociology professor (4 classes taken), general dentist where I did 100+ shadowing, free clinic volunteer staff coordinator). I have to assume these are all strong because I have very close relationships with all of them.
Misc Info/Things not stated elsewhere/Red Flags: Of course, the elephant in the room is that my science GPA is weak because I had 2 C's in orgo my sophomore year. Aside from this, I've had As and Bs in the rest of my science prerequisites:
(A- Gen Chem, A- Analytical Chem, B+ Gen Bio, A- Microbio, B-/B+ physics I/II, A in calc and stats, B+ biochemistry, B/B+ neurobio + cognitive neuro, A in senior neuro seminar on translational animal models, A in Behavioral Neurobiology), although I have more B's than I would have liked.
Upward (?) trend: On AADSAS my (overall) freshman GPA was 3.88, sophomore 3.0, junior 3.67, senior 3.88. (A's my senior year in Micro, Analytic Chem, Behavioral Neuro, 3000 level neuro seminar on animal models).
I'm aiming for a 3.8+ in biomed masters where I'll be taking Medical Biochemistry, Physiology, Cell Bio, Genetics, Microbio, Medical Histology, Nutrition, and Pharmacology this fall. The program mimics the first year medical school curriculum of the associated institution. If I get a 3.2, I get a guaranteed interview to Tufts.
So far, I feel good because I'm coming right out of Biochem and Micro in undergrad and also DAT prep. I really enjoy the challenge that the science courses have, and I'm more excited to learn more than I am nervous about hitting a benchmark. I'm also excited because I didn't get a chance to take physio, anatomy, or nutrition, at my college because they weren't offered. I wanted to do genetics but this conflicted with one of my major requirements.
Thoughts: I think a big problem in undergrad was my over-involvement in extracurriculars, which I don't regret due to the experience, but this caused my grades to suffer and made me fight an uphill battle for the rest of college. I will be focusing more on my master's GPA especially this fall and so I will be doing less extracurriculars.
I'm concerned about my OChem score being the lowest subsection on the DAT. While not bad by any means, it's average, and I really wanted to score a 500+ to offset my Orgo grades. At this point though, I think a retake would be more of a distraction for my master's. Please let me know if you think differently.
WAMC? Please let me know if the school list is appropriate. I just really want to start dental school, and I've fallen in love with dentistry (especially community dentistry through my extracurriculars). I went with Tufts Master's in Bio medical science because I got decent financial aid there and it has (IMO) an attainable interview threshold. I know understanding my chances are tough given the concurrent master's enrollment but I'd rather take a shot now then wait another year since my parents are getting old and I just want to have some career advancement.
I worked hard in college and really tried to change my story my junior and senior years. Being an immature kid got the best of me sophomore year with OChem, and unfortunately that kind of made an irreversible dent in my science undergrad GPA.
School list:
Temple, Pitt, Penn (this is my shot from the moon school since I live in PA), Tufts (interview linkage), Boston U, UNE, ASDOH, LECOM, Midwestern IL, Detroit Mercy, Louisville, Nova Southeastern, Creighton, Case Western, Touro.
I know there's a lot of privates. As a PA resident, I applied to all the schools in my state, but I don't really feel like I have a "state school" since Temple and Pitt (and Penn doesn't even count) don't seem to really care about state preference, are only half funded by the state (and therefore don't have an obligation to accept in state residents) and are very competitive to begin with. I don't think it would be worth applying to out of state schools because my sGPA is below competitive and because of my financial situation, I'm paying for these apps out of my savings (got some fees waived). I do have money set aside for traveling for interviews, but I don't want to get ahead of myself.
Thanks in advance. Having honest advice from mentors like you all is both helpful and motivating.
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