WAMC, please comment

[chillsapling]

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Hi there, I'm new to SDN, so hopefully I'm doing this right.

Date of submission: 9/3/2025
Overall GPA: 3.678
Science GPA: 3.59
Bio-Chem-Physics GPA: 3.6
DAT score (include AA and all sections): AA 430, QR 480, Reading 400, Bio 420, Chem 410, Org 420, Science 420, PAT 460
State of Residence: Illinois

Undergrad Attended: lower ranked academically (in South Carolina)
Major: Biology, concentration: cell, molecular biology, and genetics
Minority? No
Reapplicant? No
Nontrad? No

Shadowing Experience: 150 in 2 general offices
Volunteering Experience: 30 hours, coaching special needs children
Employment: 200 coaching, 180 serving, 10 offering coaching to underserved athletics
Research: 100 h chemistry research, no presentations/publications
Other Extracurriculars: 5200 hours athletics (1 year at JUCO level, 4 year at Division 1 level), 35 hours in pre-dental club, 20 hours in SAAC
Have you volunteered/shadowed/attended events at any dental schools? MUSC pre-dental shadowing day in 2024
Relevant Honors or Awards: Multiple occurrences on Dean's List/President's List, All American Scholar Athlete (NFCA), Full athletic scholarship for 5th year, NJCAA first-team all-academic, NJCAA all American scholar athlete
LOR type and strength: 1 general dentist (MUSC alum, who I was very close with), 1 organic chemistry professor, 1 chemistry research professor, and 1 division 1 athletics coach
Misc Info/Things not stated elsewhere/Red Flags: Currently attending a more prestigious university and doing a Graduate Certificate in Anatomical and Translational Sciences while playing my 5th year of division 1 athletics. I did my freshman year at a junior college before earning a walk-on spot at a division 1 university.
School list:
Florida, Lecom, Nova Southeastern, MUSC, UAB, UNC, Maryland, Penn, Kentucky, UIC, Pitt, DCG, UConn, Michigan

Have been invited to interview at Lecom, but I'm feeling the pressure with no other invites.

 

[macsak]

fill out the full WAMC template, please...

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Make it easy for us, and follow the template. As a pre-dental applicant, the details matter as would following directions precisely. What did you do outside of your athletics? You wave your community service, so it seems that's not important to you.

You mention you are a graduate student. What are you studying?

Have you attended any recruitment events (in-person or virtual) at dental schools where you aspire to attend? You may be an Illinois resident, but where in Illinois did you spend most of your childhood?

 

[chillsapling]

Make it easy for us, and follow the template. As a pre-dental applicant, the details matter as would following directions precisely. What did you do outside of your athletics? You wave your community service, so it seems that's not important to you.

You mention you are a graduate student. What are you studying?

Have you attended any recruitment events (in-person or virtual) at dental schools where you aspire to attend? You may be an Illinois resident, but where in Illinois did you spend most of your childhood?

Apologies, I'm new to this website!
Date of submission: 9/3/2025
Overall GPA: 3.678
Science GPA: 3.59
Bio-Chem-Physics GPA: 3.6
DAT score (include AA and all sections): AA 430, QR 480, Reading 400, Bio 420, Chem 410, Org 420, Science 420, PAT 460
State of Residence: Illinois

Undergrad Attended: lower ranked academically (in South Carolina)
Major: Biology, concentration: cell, molecular biology, and genetics
Minority? No
Reapplicant? No
Nontrad? No

Shadowing Experience: 150 in 2 general offices
Volunteering Experience: 30 hours, coaching special needs children
Employment: 200 coaching, 180 serving, 10 offering coaching to underserved athletics
Research: 100 h chemistry research, no presentations/publications
Other Extracurriculars: 5200 hours athletics (1 year at JUCO level, 4 year at Division 1 level), 35 hours in pre-dental club, 20 hours in SAAC
Have you volunteered/shadowed/attended events at any dental schools? MUSC pre-dental shadowing day in 2024
Relevant Honors or Awards: Multiple occurrences on Dean's List/President's List, All American Scholar Athlete (NFCA), Full athletic scholarship for 5th year, NJCAA first-team all-academic, NJCAA all American scholar athlete
LOR type and strength: 1 general dentist (MUSC alum, who I was very close with), 1 organic chemistry professor, 1 chemistry research professor, and 1 division 1 athletics coach
Misc Info/Things not stated elsewhere/Red Flags: Currently attending a more prestigious university and doing a Graduate Certificate in Anatomical and Translational Sciences while playing my 5th year of division 1 athletics. I did my freshman year at a junior college before earning a walk-on spot at a division 1 university.
School list:
Florida, Lecom, Nova Southeastern, MUSC, UAB, UNC, Maryland, Penn, Kentucky, UIC, Pitt, DCG, UConn, Michigan

Have been invited to interview at Lecom, but I'm feeling the pressure with no other invites.

 

[chillsapling]

fill out the full WAMC template, please...

Apologies, I'm new to this website!
Date of submission: 9/3/2025
Overall GPA: 3.678
Science GPA: 3.59
Bio-Chem-Physics GPA: 3.6
DAT score (include AA and all sections): AA 430, QR 480, Reading 400, Bio 420, Chem 410, Org 420, Science 420, PAT 460
State of Residence: Illinois

Undergrad Attended: lower ranked academically (in South Carolina)
Major: Biology, concentration: cell, molecular biology, and genetics
Minority? No
Reapplicant? No
Nontrad? No

Shadowing Experience: 150 in 2 general offices
Volunteering Experience: 30 hours, coaching special needs children
Employment: 200 coaching, 180 serving, 10 offering coaching to underserved athletics
Research: 100 h chemistry research, no presentations/publications
Other Extracurriculars: 5200 hours athletics (1 year at JUCO level, 4 year at Division 1 level), 35 hours in pre-dental club, 20 hours in SAAC
Have you volunteered/shadowed/attended events at any dental schools? MUSC pre-dental shadowing day in 2024
Relevant Honors or Awards: Multiple occurrences on Dean's List/President's List, All American Scholar Athlete (NFCA), Full athletic scholarship for 5th year, NJCAA first-team all-academic, NJCAA all American scholar athlete
LOR type and strength: 1 general dentist (MUSC alum, who I was very close with), 1 organic chemistry professor, 1 chemistry research professor, and 1 division 1 athletics coach
Misc Info/Things not stated elsewhere/Red Flags: Currently attending a more prestigious university and doing a Graduate Certificate in Anatomical and Translational Sciences while playing my 5th year of division 1 athletics. I did my freshman year at a junior college before earning a walk-on spot at a division 1 university.
School list:
Florida, Lecom, Nova Southeastern, MUSC, UAB, UNC, Maryland, Penn, Kentucky, UIC, Pitt, DCG, UConn, Michigan

Have been invited to interview at Lecom, but I'm feeling the pressure with no other invites.

 

[macsak]

Apologies, I'm new to this website!
Date of submission: 9/3/2025
Overall GPA: 3.678
Science GPA: 3.59
Bio-Chem-Physics GPA: 3.6
DAT score (include AA and all sections): AA 430, QR 480, Reading 400, Bio 420, Chem 410, Org 420, Science 420, PAT 460
State of Residence: Illinois

Undergrad Attended: lower ranked academically (in South Carolina)
Major: Biology, concentration: cell, molecular biology, and genetics
Minority? No
Reapplicant? No
Nontrad? No

Shadowing Experience: 150 in 2 general offices
Volunteering Experience: 30 hours, coaching special needs children
Employment: 200 coaching, 180 serving, 10 offering coaching to underserved athletics
Research: 100 h chemistry research, no presentations/publications
Other Extracurriculars: 5200 hours athletics (1 year at JUCO level, 4 year at Division 1 level), 35 hours in pre-dental club, 20 hours in SAAC
Have you volunteered/shadowed/attended events at any dental schools? MUSC pre-dental shadowing day in 2024
Relevant Honors or Awards: Multiple occurrences on Dean's List/President's List, All American Scholar Athlete (NFCA), Full athletic scholarship for 5th year, NJCAA first-team all-academic, NJCAA all American scholar athlete
LOR type and strength: 1 general dentist (MUSC alum, who I was very close with), 1 organic chemistry professor, 1 chemistry research professor, and 1 division 1 athletics coach
Misc Info/Things not stated elsewhere/Red Flags: Currently attending a more prestigious university and doing a Graduate Certificate in Anatomical and Translational Sciences while playing my 5th year of division 1 athletics. I did my freshman year at a junior college before earning a walk-on spot at a division 1 university.
School list:
Florida, Lecom, Nova Southeastern, MUSC, UAB, UNC, Maryland, Penn, Kentucky, UIC, Pitt, DCG, UConn, Michigan

Have been invited to interview at Lecom, but I'm feeling the pressure with no other invites.

how did you come up with this school list?

 

[Mr.Smile12]

What feedback have you gotten about your application before you submitted?

 

[chillsapling]

how did you come up with this school list?

Connections with dentists (MUSC/DCG/Michigan), proximity to home (UIC), and proximity to other family.

 

[chillsapling]

What feedback have you gotten about your application before you submitted?

I had friends (in PA, med, pharm, and dental school) who I knew would be honest with me, review my essay, experience descriptions, and school specific questions. While I know I don't have the strongest stats, everyone that has reviewed has told me that my responses are good and show that I'm interested in dental for the right reasons. Everyone so far has said that my path/well rounded-ness shows through. I also didn't know that I wanted to pursue dentistry until the summer approaching my senior year of undergrad. My grades were very mediocre, but I finished my senior semesters with all A's (in 300/400 science (neuro,immunology,organic 2, etc)), once I found/decided dental.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Connections with dentists (MUSC/DCG/Michigan), proximity to home (UIC), and proximity to other family.

Where did you tell the dentists you wanted to practice to include in your letter?

 

[macsak]

Connections with dentists (MUSC/DCG/Michigan), proximity to home (UIC), and proximity to other family.

you get interview invites and acceptances from having mission fit
"proximity to other family" and "connections with dentists" are not mission fit...

 

[chillsapling]

Where did you tell the dentists you wanted to practice to include in your letter?

I don't fully understand your question... but I made it clear to the dentist (MUSC alum) who wrote the letter that MUSC is one of my top choices. As for post-graduation, I'm currently applying to both the Army/Navy Hpsp and NHSC. Post-service I made it clear (to dentists+southeast schools) that I'd love to be in the Carolinas/southeast (I have a big interest in rural dentist/UAB). My schools are spaced out with proximity to family, and I have an interesting significant other situation. My fiancé is a professional athlete (consistently moving/trades/training), so my schools were also considering proximity to training facilities.

 

[macsak]

you get interview invites and acceptances from having mission fit
"proximity to other family" and "connections with dentists" are not mission fit...

Florida, MUSC, UNC have STRONG IS preference
UAB, DCG you'd have to look at their stats to check
UNC, Penn, Michigan are easily in the top 8-10 most difficult to get into schools in the country
and i'd be that uconn may be in the top 10-15

your gpas are around the average matriculant, but your dat scores are lower

your best shots are UIC (strong IS preference, but i'd bet with higher stats) and lecom/nova...

 

[chillsapling]

you get interview invites and acceptances from having mission fit
"proximity to other family" and "connections with dentists" are not mission fit...

Hi, I wasn't specific enough earlier, but I do align myself with my schools' mission fit. This was how I narrowed down my list. My goals for my distant future self are practicing rural medicine in the southeast (MUSC, DCG, UNC, UAB, and Florida schools). Providing service to underserved areas is a large priority of mine, whether that be to children on the west side of Chicago, or to seniors and veterans that haven't had access in decades. I obviously could go in much greater detail with personal anecdotes. I'm really just looking for a professional opinion about my stats and if it's normal to not have received a ton of interviews. I'm the only person in my family in healthcare, so I'm navigating this experience alone.

 

[chillsapling]

Florida, MUSC, UNC have STRONG IS preference
UAB, DCG you'd have to look at their stats to check
UNC, Penn, Michigan are easily in the top 8-10 most difficult to get into schools in the country
and i'd be that uconn may be in the top 10-15

your gpas are around the average matriculant, but your dat scores are lower

your best shots are UIC (strong IS preference, but i'd bet with higher stats) and lecom/nova...

I know a majority have in-state preference, and that's why I included UIC. UAB definitely has IS, it was very apparent on their application. DCG as well. I tried not to get too hung up on stat lines/rankings because I believe that I'm a well-rounded applicant. I thought I had a pretty average DAT score (assuming 420=20).
I'm hoping that my LOR for MUSC will give me some leverage there. My mentor said that she was excited to write a "glowing" letter for me. I also received an "in house" LOR from a current student. She was a former undergrad classmate of mine, but she said that students can write internal LORs (but they don't let applicants know that).

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Hi, I wasn't specific enough earlier, but I do align myself with my schools' mission fit. This was how I narrowed down my list. My goals for my distant future self are practicing rural medicine in the southeast (MUSC, DCG, UNC, UAB, and Florida schools). Providing service to underserved areas is a large priority of mine, whether that be to children on the west side of Chicago, or to seniors and veterans that haven't had access in decades. I obviously could go in much greater detail with personal anecdotes. I'm really just looking for a professional opinion about my stats and if it's normal to not have received a ton of interviews. I'm the only person in my family in healthcare, so I'm navigating this experience alone.

Which of your activities allowed you to serve rural communities? It's not clear from the description. Which rural community did you grow up in?

I think it's normal to have 1, maybe 2, interviews. Not every school will read the LORs to make interview decisions (though they probably would be read for final offer/waitlist decisions). We'll just see if MUSC responds.

I don't see the evidence that you would be up for serving with underserved communities. In what ways have you been successful establishing trust with people who are extremely skeptical of you? Where do you show you are comfortable helping those who aren't comfortable with you? How are you an advocate for rural Alabama or rural South Carolina?

 

[macsak]

Hi, I wasn't specific enough earlier, but I do align myself with my schools' mission fit. This was how I narrowed down my list. My goals for my distant future self are practicing rural medicine in the southeast (MUSC, DCG, UNC, UAB, and Florida schools). Providing service to underserved areas is a large priority of mine, whether that be to children on the west side of Chicago, or to seniors and veterans that haven't had access in decades. I obviously could go in much greater detail with personal anecdotes. I'm really just looking for a professional opinion about my stats and if it's normal to not have received a ton of interviews. I'm the only person in my family in healthcare, so I'm navigating this experience alone.

yes, it's normal to not receive a ton of interviews with your stats
i know someone with nearly a 4.0 and 27/28 dat that only has 2
look at the predental subreddit and there are high stat people with zero

this is not to say that you won't get interviews/acceptances in the future
being a D1 athlete carries some weight
and if you were able to show what you just wrote about rural medicine, you could get some interest...

 

[chillsapling]

Which of your activities allowed you to serve rural communities? It's not clear from the description. Which rural community did you grow up in?

I think it's normal to have 1, maybe 2, interviews. Not every school will read the LORs to make interview decisions (though they probably would be read for final offer/waitlist decisions). We'll just see if MUSC responds.

I don't see the evidence that you would be up for serving with underserved communities. In what ways have you been successful establishing trust with people who are extremely skeptical of you? Where do you show you are comfortable helping those who aren't comfortable with you? How are you an advocate for rural Alabama or rural South Carolina?

My upbringing was extremely urban, but I mentioned how (when I was a child) I was a part of programs (run by dental schools) that provided checkups to lower-income area schools. I knew that my experience "list" would be more compact in the volunteer/work areas because of athletics. A majority of my shadowing experience was rural, so yes, the drive for this was more anecdotal than volunteer based. I did have multiple impact stories from this shadowing experience that I tried convey.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

My upbringing was extremely urban, but I mentioned how (when I was a child) I was a part of programs (run by dental schools) that provided checkups to lower-income area schools. I knew that my experience "list" would be more compact in the volunteer/work areas because of athletics. A majority of my shadowing experience was rural, so yes, the drive for this was more anecdotal than volunteer based. I did have multiple impact stories from this shadowing experience that I tried convey.

This is helpful. If you grew up in Chicago, your story would appeal to UIC, which is known for many community health outreach programs including rural communities. I presume that if you worked beside dental students while an athlete in SC, that would appeal a bit to MUSC.

Where's your LOR from the Graduate program? Did you start when the application cycle began? Have any grades come in yet? Maybe it's a question of waiting until you can do an academic update...

 

[chillsapling]

This is helpful/ I you grew up in Chicago, your story would appeal to UIC, which is known for many community health outreach programs including rural communities. I presume that if you worked beside dental students while an athlete in SC, that would appeal a bit to MUSC.

Where's your LOR from the Graduate program? Did you start when the application cycle began? Have any grades come in yet? Maybe it's a question of waiting until you can do an academic update...

My LORs in AADSAS are full, but some schools allow you to submit more. I'm thinking that I could get one of my professors at grad program to submit in addition to when I upload my grades in December.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

My LORs in AADSAS are full, but some schools allow you to submit more. I'm thinking that I could get one of my professors at grad program to submit in addition to when I upload my grades in December.

You need to contact individual schools because most won't take additional letters outside of AADSAS unless you were interviewed. I think this may be more indicative of why you haven't gotten more "action." (I don't have a transcript to know why you are taking this MS; your undergrad GPA is fine, so I'd have to know why you are doing the masters.) Make sure you file your academic update as soon as your grades are available and a transcript could be sent.

 

[chillsapling]

You need to contact individual schools because most won't take additional letters outside of AADSAS unless you were interviewed. I think this may be more indicative of why you haven't gotten more "action." (I don't have a transcript to know why you are taking this MS; your undergrad GPA is fine, so I'd have to know why you are doing the masters.) Make sure you file your academic update as soon as your grades are available and a transcript could be sent.

I didn't "pursue" grad school, I was in the portal due to extra athletic eligibility. I received a full scholarship offer which pushed me to find a program that would prepare me for dental school. I didn't take anatomy in undergrad, but I know some schools value it, so this was an opportunity to intro anatomy/histology.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

I didn't "pursue" grad school, I was in the portal due to extra athletic eligibility. I received a full scholarship offer which pushed me to find a program that would prepare me for dental school. I didn't take anatomy in undergrad, but I know some schools value it, so this was an opportunity to intro anatomy/histology.

How did you explain this in your application?

 

[chillsapling]

How did you explain this in your application?

There wasn't really a time/place to talk about how the opportunity occurred. I mainly just talked about that I worked extremely hard at my previous school (where I was a walk-on athlete) to earn a full scholarship, which is allowing me to further my education at a great university.

 

[chillsapling]

How did you explain this in your application?

Do you think it would be beneficial to continue shadowing? I put a pause on it when I studied/took my DAT and starting grad school. I have the opportunity to shadow a periodontist when I go home for winter break (I haven't shadowed anything other than general).

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Do you think it would be beneficial to continue shadowing? I put a pause on it when I studied/took my DAT and starting grad school. I have the opportunity to shadow a periodontist when I go home for winter break (I haven't shadowed anything other than general).

How long has it been since your shadowed dentists?

 

[chillsapling]

I shadowed from May 2024-May 2025

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Some schools want you to have had exposure to private practice dental clinics, and definitely more than one. It is just as important to sample how each clinic uses technology to maintain a connection with patients and to observe management of long-term relationships. I don't know what you did in your shadowing, but you can always add.