WAMC Next Cycle 2023-2024

[ShaelUmThul]

Overall GPA: 3.04(my undergrad GPA was previously a 2.67, and my post bacc GPA is a 3.57)
Science GPA: 3.42
Bio-Chem-Physics GPA: 3.47
DAT score (include AA and all sections): QR 16, RC 28, BIO 17, GC 18, OC 16, PAT 20, AA19/TS17
State of Residence: California

Undergrad Attended:
Major: Business
Minor: Human Resource Management
Minority? No
Reapplicant? No
Nontrad? Yes

Shadowing Experience: 300+ hours shadowing at a general office, another 20 shadowing at an Endo office.
Volunteering Experience: Working with Helping Hands Caring Hearts doing community outreach as well as a dental foundation, 200+ hours.
Employment: Over 7000 Hours working in the role of an Operations Manager in several private dental offices, including an OS office, also worked as a treatment coordinator for a massive west coast DSO.
Research: None
Other Extracurriculars: I belong to a college honor's society as well as a volunteer dental foundation.
Relevant Honors or Awards: Dean's Honor Role 2020,2021, 2022.
LOR type and strength: I have 2 letters from bio professors, 1 of which is from the head of the department/chair. 1 letter from a physics professor, and a LOR from a dentist who's practiced for over 35 years.
Misc Info/Things not stated elsewhere/Red Flags: Academic suspension in 2016 for plagiarism, I fought it but the school said the citing and formatting issues on my final paper were too great for them to ignore, but agreed to make it temporary and not permanent, it is on my transcript though.
Considering a DAT retake (this would be my third time, first AA was a 17, second was a 19AA) and/or a SMP.

I did apply this cycle to the following schools on 06/02/2022, received 1 Kira, 4 Rejections, and the rest radio silence. So anticipating another cycle.

School list:
USC
WESTERNU
ROSEMAN
UNLV
NYU
TOURO
BUFFALO
MUSC
UNIVERSITY OF NEW ENGLAND
LECOM
MIDWESTERN AZ
MIDWESTERN IL
OKLAHOMA
RUTGERS
ASDOH
MSDOH
MARQUETTE
TEMPLE
CASE WESTERN
UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO
UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA
VCU
UKMC
KCU

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[Ryxndek]

Hefty list of schools but you’ll probably need it given your DAT score. Double check to make sure they don’t have 17 subscore minimums so you aren’t auto screened out.

Yeah you’ll probably want to retake dat if you can otherwise SMP or even just a masters could help boost your application. Just be ready to grind if you do choose that route, SMPs are high risk/high reward so if you don’t do well, your chances are slim to matriculate.

 

[ShaelUmThul]

Hefty list of schools but you’ll probably need it given your DAT score. Double check to make sure they don’t have 17 subscore minimums so you aren’t auto screened out.

Yeah you’ll probably want to retake dat if you can otherwise SMP or even just a masters could help boost your application. Just be ready to grind if you do choose that route, SMPs are high risk/high reward so if you don’t do well, your chances are slim to matriculate.

Yeah, a lot of schools, it was an expensive application cycle and I anticipate the next one being so. The plan right now is to retake the DAT (for the third time) in May and get ready for applications to go out again on June 1 if I don't hear anything for the remainder of this cycle.

If I didn't end up doing the SMP, do you think something like an MPH would work to help competitiveness?

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Postbac GPA should have been a bit higher along with a much higher DAT. I would want to see your year-by-year GPA's and postbac hours if you really should try for an SMP..

Are you sure your plagiarism IA is on your official transcript? You have to disclose it, and I'm sure that also scared away many other schools, even if it were such a long time ago. Did you work with your student conduct office on a statement for AADSAS and supplementals?

 

[ShaelUmThul]

Postbac GPA should have been a bit higher along with a much higher DAT. I would want to see your year-by-year GPA's and postbac hours if you really should try for an SMP..

Are you sure your plagiarism IA is on your official transcript? You have to disclose it, and I'm sure that also scared away many other schools, even if it were such a long time ago. Did you work with your student conduct office on a statement for AADSAS and supplementals?

Technically speaking the PostBacc GPA is a little higher, 3.72, however, I have a grade replacement which I know dental schools do not use, so it's a 3.57. I took a non-structured PostBacc which was 88 credits that covered all pre-reqs including microbiology and A&P. Kept an A-B average except for the one class that was taken again. I received an Associate of Science in Mathematics and Science after completion.

DAT... yeah... I'm neurodivergent and standardized testing has always been the bane of my existence, I do believe I can continue the upward trend by taking it the third time.

Yeah, I have the official transcript from my undergrad and it shows "SS- Scholastic suspension" and "R-SS Scholastic Suspension Removed." So it's there, I did explain it in my application but did not work directly with the school on my statement. I also figured this would eliminate some schools from the running.

I do have some big fears about doing an SMP and just burning out and failing due to the neurodivergent thing, but at this point, other than getting a 22+ on the DAT, I have no idea what else I can do, and I'm not even sure that is enough.

I'm continuing to rack up shadowing and volunteer hours as we speak.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Do your homework about the type of SUPPORT you would be looking for once you get into dental school. I don't know if you had accommodations in any of your courses or in taking any significant exams. In the likely event you have to retake the DAT, go through the process for accommodations if you have the documentation.

Work with your student conduct office on your disclosure statement on the suspension.

 

[ShaelUmThul]

Do your homework about the type of sport you would be looking for once you get into dental school. I don't know if you had accommodations in any of your courses or in taking any significant exams. In the likely event you have to retake the DAT, go through the process for accommodations if you have the documentation.

Work with your student conduct office on your disclosure statement on the suspension.

Speaking of that, I just submitted my accommodation request for the DAT and it was approved a couple of weeks back, so this time it will be taken with accommodations. I did not previously have an accommodation for any of my classes/tests.

I will contact my undergrad university and speak to them about helping with a disclosure statement re: my suspension.

In your opinion would it be advisable to pursue a master's/SMP or just work on the DAT and getting the disclosure statement dialed in?

 

[macsak]

Speaking of that, I just submitted my accommodation request for the DAT and it was approved a couple of weeks back, so this time it will be taken with accommodations. I did not previously have an accommodation for any of my classes/tests.

I will contact my undergrad university and speak to them about helping with a disclosure statement re: my suspension.

In your opinion would it be advisable to pursue a master's/SMP or just work on the DAT and getting the disclosure statement dialed in?

do the second one
if you get a good score on DAT and clean up the disclosure, you have a shot
masters/smp is going ot take way more time/money

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Speaking of that, I just submitted my accommodation request for the DAT and it was approved a couple of weeks back, so this time it will be taken with accommodations. I did not previously have an accommodation for any of my classes/tests.

I will contact my undergrad university and speak to them about helping with a disclosure statement re: my suspension.

In your opinion would it be advisable to pursue a master's/SMP or just work on the DAT and getting the disclosure statement dialed in?

I'm hesitant with the SMP until I know more about learning support you got or did not get in your academic history. I would not rush into a SMP if it did not support you, so I would do a lot of research on that. If you did a DIY postbac, along with accommodations, what courses would you have left?

 

[ShaelUmThul]

do the second one
if you get a good score on DAT and clean up the disclosure, you have a shot
masters/smp is going ot take way more time/money

I agree, the cost commitment and opportunity cost is much higher, and could backfire if I don't do as well.

 

[Ryxndek]

DAT accommodation could really help. I got it for mine and it definitely made a difference in my score. Study your butt off, get your accommodation and hopefully the exam will go better. Hoping for the best for you!

 

[ShaelUmThul]

I'm hesitant with the SMP until I know more about learning support you got or did not get in your academic history. I would not rush into a SMP if it did not support you, so I would do a lot of research on that. If you did a DIY postbac, along with accommodations, what courses would you have left?

I didn't really receive any learning support and wasn't actually officially diagnosed with anything until 2021, just didn't know why everything felt so much harder for me. The only course I'd have left at this point would be biochemistry for schools that require it. So, the plan would be to retake the DAT in May, work with my school in the mean time on a disclosure statement, and probably take Biochemistry at a 4-year extension program starting in June.

 

[ShaelUmThul]

DAT accommodation could really help. I got it for mine and it definitely made a difference in my score. Study your butt off, get your accommodation and hopefully the exam will go better. Hoping for the best for you!

Thank you! I sincerely appreciate it!

 

[Mr.Smile12]

I didn't really receive any learning support and wasn't actually officially diagnosed with anything until 2021, just didn't know why everything felt so much harder for me. The only course I'd have left at this point would be biochemistry for schools that require it. So, the plan would be to retake the DAT in May, work with my school in the mean time on a disclosure statement, and probably take Biochemistry at a 4-year extension program starting in June.

And work with your learning service office about needing accommodations for biochemistry and other courses you need to finish.

 

[ShaelUmThul]

And work with your learning service office about needing accommodations for biochemistry and other courses you need to finish.

That's a great idea, thank you for that!

 

[ShaelUmThul]

One final question, when is a good time to reach out to schools I've been rejected from to ask what I can do to improve during the next cycle year?

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Where did you get rejections (you didn't note rejections or interviews)?

Time-wise, read While You Are Waiting: Processing Health Professions Applications - SDN , and look at the graphic. I would think March-April for schools where you were outright rejected. Of course, expect no response or a canned one.

 

[ShaelUmThul]

I received rejections from the University of Colorado, University of Oklahoma, University of Missouri-KC, Marquette, and it looks like one from Midwestern this morning.

 

[ShaelUmThul]

And work with your learning service office about needing accommodations for biochemistry and other courses you need to finish.

Retook the DAT, attempt 3 scores are as follows
QR 18, RC 30, BIO 18, GC 18, OC 19, PAT 19, AA21/TS18

 

[macsak]

Retook the DAT, attempt 3 scores are as follows
QR 18, RC 30, BIO 18, GC 18, OC 19, PAT 19, AA21/TS18

congrats on the improvement on DAT
you have to check your school list, i bet there are some public schools on there that are not as favorable to OOS students...

 

[ShaelUmThul]

congrats on the improvement on DAT
you have to check your school list, i bet there are some public schools on there that are not as favorable to OOS students...

Agreed, based on what I've seen for OOS acceptances, I'll be taking 4-5 of them off the list

 

[Ryxndek]

Agreed, based on what I've seen for OOS acceptances, I'll be taking 4-5 of them off the list

Yeah, I agree. Congrats on the improvement. The 18TS might make OOS public’s a little more hesitant. I would try to focus on privates as they’ll be more forgiving on the 18TS. The 21AA is a great improvement and should help.

 

[ShaelUmThul]

@Ryxndek @macsak Happy to report I was accepted to Loma Linda and will be starting in the fall! The last DAT retake was the key.

 

[Ryxndek]

@Ryxndek @macsak Happy to report I was accepted to Loma Linda and will be starting in the fall! The last DAT retake was the key.

Woohoo, congrats! Your hard work paid off. Well done. Enjoy your next few months and get ready to put in the work!

 

[macsak]

@Ryxndek @macsak Happy to report I was accepted to Loma Linda and will be starting in the fall! The last DAT retake was the key.

congrats!!!

will LL work with you on accommodations?

 

[ShaelUmThul]

congrats!!!

will LL work with you on accommodations?

Thank you! Yes, it was written out in one of the follow-up emails. I just need to submit documentation to student services

 

[ShaelUmThul]

Woohoo, congrats! Your hard work paid off. Well done. Enjoy your next few months and get ready to put in the work!

Thanks! My wife got a great picture of me ugly crying when I opened the email. It lives forever! LOL!