WAMC - Non-traditional, Possible Volunteering Weakness and Low School Count

[Toofster]

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Date of submission: 6/17/20 (DAT received 8/17/2019)
Overall GPA:3.94
Science GPA: 4.0
Bio-Chem-Physics GPA: 4.0
DAT score (include AA and all sections): 23 AA/23 TS (22 BIO, 19 GC, 30 OC, 22 QR, 24 RC, 25 PAT)
State of Residence: OK


Undergrad Attended: Small school in Wisconsin
Major: Communications & Theological Studies minor
Minority? No
Reapplicant? No
Nontrad? Yes

Shadowing Experience: 948 hours (24 of which was focused shadowing by general dentists and 920 being employed at a dental office as both front office staff and assistant manager)

Volunteering Experience:
I believe this is my weakest area.

75 hours of volunteer work for a nonprofit I helped initiate with my family that does construction updates for the disabled and elderly. (Created in 2018, have jumped on a few more projects since submission, but am not sure if I can update it now)

Have served in local church youth groups for years, but haven't done so since 2019 due to some church issues. So unsure if I should even list this. Working on getting replugged into our new church we just started attending.


Employment:
Youth Director/Church Intern (936 hours)
Customer Service Rep/Corporate Trainer (3480 hours, payroll company)
Treatment Coordinator in Dental Office (360 hours)
Assistant Manager in Dental Office (560 hours)
Communications Specialist at corporate office of DSO (2880 hours, create manuals for the various positions, conduct trainings, and administer doctor payroll)

Research:
None

Other Extracurriculars:
Ministry Team (440 hours, 8 years ago)
Student Council Member (156 hours, 9 years ago)
Lead Coach of Improv Group (200 hours, 6 years ago)

Relevant Honors or Awards:
Summa Cum Laude from graduating college
President's Honor Roll from community college (for science prereqs)

LOR type and strength: 2 dentists and 2 science professors. I believe all are very strong.

Misc Info/Things not stated elsewhere: I've had to juggle all of my science prereqs (none were required for my previous degree) while also working full time and having a family (wife and infant daughter). My issue is that some schools require very specific courses that will be hard to fit into my schedule before classes start (anatomy, physiology, etc.).

Would love some advice on the volunteer section as well what other schools might be good fits. I also have to take finances into consideration as I have to pay for all my classes out of pocket and can't afford applying to 15+ schools.


School list: (3 schools currently)
Oklahoma (#1 choice)
UTH San Antonio
Colorado

 

[Hi Just Lurking]

Hey!

I think you have a great shot. Your volunteering is not weak to the degree that it will hurt your application. I do believe that if you are going to add more schools, then you should do that sooner rather than later. Your application is strong enough that you could likely just apply to 7-8 schools. You already have 3 state schools, so I would recommend 3-4 private schools. Also, you should note that Texas tends to be OOS unfriendly.

 

[Toofster]

Yeah, I was trying to look at schools that were relatively close by my home state of OK, and thought I'd throw in at least one TX school, but it might not have even been worth my time.

Thank you for the encouragement, and I'll look into some private dental schools to potentially add (and maybe another state school since TX probably won't turn out well).

 

[S_Diamond_DDS]

I mean you’re a strong applicant, but I usually suggest at least 8-10 IS/oos friendly schools for everyone. Colorado and UTHSA are oos unfriendly, so really you only have a strong chance at your IS currently. Cheaper schools that are still relatively oos friendly are: the AT stills, umich, pitt, uconn (but uconn has a small class size, thus less chance here). Since you have high stats, you stand a good chance at the ivy leagues- penn and columbia as well. I also believe it’s always good to add some number of private schools with large class sizes to your list as safety schools, pick your poison: MWU-IL, UDM, BU, roseman, Tufts , Nyu, usc, lecom, nova, une, creighton, case, temple, (touro I think)

 

[captainmike03]

Yeah, I was trying to look at schools that were relatively close by my home state of OK, and thought I'd throw in at least one TX school, but it might not have even been worth my time.

Thank you for the encouragement, and I'll look into some private dental schools to potentially add (and maybe another state school since TX probably won't turn out well).

You really have some great stats there, but like people are saying, some schools are just very OOS unfriendly. The Texas schools get about 1000 aps per year, but can only offer a maximum 10% of their class size to out of state applicants. Your ap looks pretty strong though, so it wouldn't shock me if you made it. But I agree that a good strategy is to add more schools.