WAMC - Nontrad Engineer

[TG393]

Date of submission: As soon as the app opens

Overall GPA: 3.14

Science GPA: 3.12

Bio-Chem-Physics GPA: 3.27 (This includes all of my upper division physics classes. It's higher than my cGPA/sGPA because the 2 years of math I took was brutally curved and competitive.)

DAT score (include AA and all sections): 25AA, 24TS, 25BIO, 24GC, 24OC, 23RC, 27QR, 24PAT

State of Residence: California

Undergrad Attended: Top 5 research university in California 2011-2015
Year 1 GPA: 2.44
Year 2 GPA: 3.09
Year 3 GPA: 2.99
Year 4 GPA: 3.41
Years 3 and 4 were essentially all upper div physics courses. I didn't purposely take easy classes so I'm hoping that shows improvement.



Major: Physics B.S.
Minor: None
Minority? No
Reapplicant? No
Nontrad? Yes, I graduated 6 years ago and am changing careers.

Shadowing Experience: ~100hours
Volunteering Experience: ~50h is my guess. I'm trying to find more opportunities.
Employment: Full time, Engineer. Same manufacturing plant for 6 years
Research: Would I include research from my undergrad? I'm unsure of how far back I'm supposed to include here.

Other Extracurriculars: Head coach for a high school girls tennis team. I put in ~300 hours to this each year and I've been coaching for the past 4 years.

Relevant Honors or Awards: My tennis team recently just broke a section record under my leadership. Is that relevant for this?

LOR type and strength: I'm guessing that the 2 from professors will be of average quality. 1 will be stronger if he just has me write it for him. 1 strong from the dentist I'm shadowing.

Misc Info/Things not stated elsewhere: My undergrad GPA was ~2.95. I've retaken bio, chem, and ochem last year to fullfil pre-reqs and improve my GPA. I'm also planning on writing my personal statement on how I want to come back to my rural hometown. Would this hurt me for out of state schools? I'm not sure how it looks if I say that I want to return to California right after I graduate. Would I be better suited saying I want to work in a rural area in general? I'm also unsure how far back I'm supposed to go for volunteering/research/extracurriculars.

School list: I'm planning on applying to ~10-15 schools. I'm not 100% where except for the 4 I listed from California. I can't apply to USC because some of my classes were accelerated and the website explicitly says that they won't accept those credits. I'm also not planning on specializing at the moment.



UCLA
University of the Pacific
Western
UCSF



Is my application good enough to where I could apply to more public schools vs private?

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[1942]

GPA far too low for UCLA. I’d say no shot there. UCSF highly values community service so you want to aim for 150+.

yes include research from undergrad.

EC: include them but they are virtually meaningless. Adcoms don’t really care what clubs you were apart of. Your tennis teams success will have zero impact on a decision. Include it though so they have an idea what you have been up to and interests

LORs are extremely important. Make sure they are as strong as possible. Especially with your grades. Offer to write it if you think it will only be average.

PS is also very important and might be third in importance after DAT/GPA. Make sure it is perfect. I probably wouldnt mention returning to a specific area but instead I would speak more broadly about my aspirations to serve rural/underserved communities. PS can be organized in many ways but make sure it’s powerful and adcoms come away certain that this individual has shown 1)a commitment to dentistry 2) has the qualities that will fit with their program. How you convey that is up to you.

I think the app specifies experience and extracurriculars in the last 5 years only. So anything 2016 and after should be listed.

definitely apply broadly and to schools who accept students with relatively low GPAs. The DAT is outstanding and will likely offset some of the concerns with the GPA. But some of the top schools will exclude you right away (algorithm will filter your app)

 

[Azuzu]

EC: include them but they are virtually meaningless. Adcoms don’t really care what clubs you were apart of. Your tennis teams success will have zero impact on a decision. Include it though so they have an idea what you have been up to and interests

I don't think is true at all. I had plenty of EC's, most of them had nothing to do with dentistry, but I still listed them all in my app because I think they made me more unique compared to other applicants. I had a 23 DAT and 3.2 sGPA and will now be attending UCSF.

I think the app specifies experience and extracurriculars in the last 5 years only. So anything 2016 and after should be listed.

Don't think this is true either, I listed all my EC's starting from 2014 when I first started college.

I do agree that you need to apply to more schools, @TG393, especially private schools since your GPA is a bit low. In terms of what @1942 said about algorithms filtering your app, I think UCLA filtered out my app due to GPA 😅

 

[TG393]

GPA far too low for UCLA. I’d say no shot there.

I kind of figured, but still think it’s worth it to throw an application in just because it’s in state.

I probably wouldnt mention returning to a specific area but instead I would speak more broadly about my aspirations to serve rural/underserved communities. PS can be organized in many ways but make sure it’s powerful and adcoms come away certain that this individual has shown 1)a commitment to dentistry 2) has the qualities that will fit with their program.

Thank you for the advice. I’ve been thinking for the past few weeks on how I would go about the PS. I feel as though it’ll make or break my application.

In terms of what @1942 said about algorithms filtering your app, I think UCLA filtered out my app due to GPA 😅

It’s kind of rough because not all university’s are equal in difficulty. I wouldn’t have gone to a top university if all that mattered was your gpa.

Thoughts on ratio of private to public schools I should apply to? Originally I was leaning towards 50:50 but now I’m not 100% sure. It’s most important to me to get in on this next application cycle because I already feel as though I’m starting late.

 

[1942]

I don't think is true at all. I had plenty of EC's, most of them had nothing to do with dentistry, but I still listed them all in my app because I think they made me more unique compared to other applicants. I had a 23 DAT and 3.2 sGPA and will now be attending UCSF.


Don't think this is true either, I listed all my EC's starting from 2014 when I first started college.

I do agree that you need to apply to more schools, @TG393, especially private schools since your GPA is a bit low. In terms of what @1942 said about algorithms filtering your app, I think UCLA filtered out my app due to GPA 😅

I meant generic EC activities that are labeled specifically as EC aren’t weighed much. Obviously ECs that illustrate a sustained commitment to giving back (community service hours), working in a dental office (professional development/shadowing), or things like research are noteworthy ECs. But generic activities like coaching, Greek life, IM sports, membership in pre dental clubs (Basically things that you label as extracurricular and not community service or shadowing hours) Etc mean little.
you probably had a lot of ECs Labeled community service that contributed to A lot of service hours (Heavily weighed for SF) . Or you may be URM.. but either way I don’t think excessive ECs impacted your app. (If this had any validity you’d frequently see people with low GPAs but lots of involvement get More offers at top schools which is not my impression based on anecdotal evidence.. idk tho).

Also If I remember correctly Aadsas said ECs in the last 5 years. Maybe it was 10? Or Maybe There was no mention of it. Idr tbh it’s been years. I stand corrected if wrong.

 

[1942]

I kind of figured, but still think it’s worth it to throw an application in just because it’s in state.


Thank you for the advice. I’ve been thinking for the past few weeks on how I would go about the PS. I feel as though it’ll make or break my application.



It’s kind of rough because not all university’s are equal in difficulty. I wouldn’t have gone to a top university if all that mattered was your gpa.

Thoughts on ratio of private to public schools I should apply to? Originally I was leaning towards 50:50 but now I’m not 100% sure. It’s most important to me to get in on this next application cycle because I already feel as though I’m starting late.

Yeah agreed on UCLA. At the end of the day if money isn’t a super big issue it’s only ~$200 or so to apply. Considering you’re a CA resident, I’d still apply as well.

my advice for the PS is to start writing now. Even if you aren’t 100% sure on the flow of the paper or the theme. start writing now and slowly refine it further and further so you effectively convey the message you want. Then have as many people read/critique it as possible.

I’d probably aim for 15ish schools. Minimize reach schools. I don’t really look at private vs public. Just what my stats are in line with. Luckily your DAT is strong and offsets the low GPA to a degree. Cross reference adea explorer and if your GPA doesn’t exceed or isn’t close to the bottom 5%ile of an incoming class , then it’s probably not worth applying. It’s actually a bit more complicated technically but that’s a good start

 

[1942]

I kind of figured, but still think it’s worth it to throw an application in just because it’s in state.


Thank you for the advice. I’ve been thinking for the past few weeks on how I would go about the PS. I feel as though it’ll make or break my application.



It’s kind of rough because not all university’s are equal in difficulty. I wouldn’t have gone to a top university if all that mattered was your gpa.

Thoughts on ratio of private to public schools I should apply to? Originally I was leaning towards 50:50 but now I’m not 100% sure. It’s most important to me to get in on this next application cycle because I already feel as though I’m starting late.

Consider looking in to the following schools.

Touro
Western
Tufts
Roseman
Boston University
UNLV
Midwestern (both)
NYU (if you aren’t concerned about cost)
ASDOH
Temple
UoP
Maryland
LECOM
Utah
UCSF
UCLA