WAMC? What can I highlight or improve on?

[rineaster]

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Date of submission: Mid-June
Overall GPA: 3.82
Science GPA: 3.7
Bio-Chem-Physics GPA: 3.61
DAT score (include AA and all sections): 22AA, 21TS, 21 Bio, 22 GC, 20 OC, 22 RC, 23 QR, 18 PAT
State of Residence: CA

Major: Health sciences
Minor: N/A
Minority? No
Reapplicant? No
Nontrad? No

Shadowing Experience: General dentist offices (200+ hours), ortho (40 hours), pediatric (50 hours)
Volunteering Experience: Volunteer scribe for 4 years, children's hospital volunteer for 1 year
Employment: Pediatric dental assistant for three months, orthodontic technician for three months, English tutor for one year, endodontic assistant for the upcoming gap year
Research: Voluntary research assistant for one and a half years, one semester of completing an independent research project under a professor
Other Extracurriculars: Dental association (assistant VP), cultural organization (chair), dental-related fundraising club (committee for 2 years), health class TA for 1 year, online writer/mentor for 6 years
Have you volunteered/shadowed/attended events at any dental schools? No
Relevant Honors or Awards: Dean's List
LOR type and strength: 2 Science LORs (average/strong), 1 research professor LOR (strong), 1 dentist LOR (very strong)
Misc Info/Things not stated elsewhere/Red Flags:
School list (still under consideration and would appreciate some advice here!):
- UCSF, USC, UCLA, UOP, Loma Linda, Western, Washington, Oregon, BU, Harvard, Tufts, UMich, NYU, Columbia, Touro, UPenn

 

[Mr.Smile12]

First, you can create a list that better matches your stats. How schools may "forgive" you for the PAT will vary greatly. Otherwise, your profile looks good.

Washington and Oregon have IS preference.
Harvard, Michigan, and Columbia are real stretches, and I'm not sure your metrics/experiences point to a mission fit with them.
You aren't trying for any midwest schools. Put in Temple and UNLV instead of the Ivy schools.

 

[macsak]

Date of submission: Mid-June
Overall GPA: 3.82
Science GPA: 3.7
Bio-Chem-Physics GPA: 3.61
DAT score (include AA and all sections): 22AA, 21TS, 21 Bio, 22 GC, 20 OC, 22 RC, 23 QR, 18 PAT
State of Residence: CA

Major: Health sciences
Minor: N/A
Minority? No
Reapplicant? No
Nontrad? No

Shadowing Experience: General dentist offices (~100 hours) + more planned, ortho (30 hours), pediatric (50 hours)
Volunteering Experience: Stanford clinical research volunteer for 4 years, children's hospital volunteer for 1 year
Employment: Pediatric dental assistant for three months, orthodontic technician for three months, English second language tutor for one year, endodontic assistant for the upcoming gap year
Research: Voluntary research assistant for one and a half years, one semester of completing an independent research project under a professor
Other Extracurriculars: Dental association (member for 2 years, committee for 2 years), cultural organization (exec for 4 years), dental-related fundraising club (committee for 2 years), health class TA for 1 year, online writer/mentor for 6 years
Have you volunteered/shadowed/attended events at any dental schools? No
Relevant Honors or Awards: Dean's List
LOR type and strength: 2 Science LORs (average/strong), 1 research professor LOR (strong), 1 dentist LOR (very strong)
Misc Info/Things not stated elsewhere/Red Flags:
School list (still under consideration and would appreciate some advice here!):
- UCSF, USC, UCLA, UOP, Loma Linda, Western, Washington, Oregon, BU, Harvard, Tufts, UMich, NYU, Columbia

how did you come up with this list?

 

[macsak]

First, you can create a list that better matches your stats. How schools may "forgive" you for the PAT will vary greatly. Otherwise, your profile looks good.

Washington and Oregon have IS preference.
Harvard, Michigan, and Columbia are real stretches, and I'm not sure your metrics/experiences point to a mission fit with them.
You aren't trying for any midwest schools. Put in Temple and UNLV instead of the Ivy schools.

man, this is twice today i am disagreeing with you 🙁
18 on pat is not a bad score
and washington and oregon have IS preference, but take CA students and OP profile is close to their stats and does not scream "UCLA/UCSF lock"

i do agree with OP not having an obvious UMich/Ivy profile
and that OP should apply to mountain/midwest schools...

 

[rineaster]

how did you come up with this list?

Thank you for your response. I considered proximity to CA, areas where I am most likely to find myself living/working in the future, my GPA and DAT scores, and also chose some reach schools in my starting list that I plan to narrow down. I do want to make sure I have enough in-range schools, but attended undergrad on the east coast and found myself initially focusing on the dental schools there. I'm currently doing more research on where I might have more mission-fit, but would appreciate any recommendations as starting points!

 

[rineaster]

First, you can create a list that better matches your stats. How schools may "forgive" you for the PAT will vary greatly. Otherwise, your profile looks good.

Washington and Oregon have IS preference.
Harvard, Michigan, and Columbia are real stretches, and I'm not sure your metrics/experiences point to a mission fit with them.
You aren't trying for any midwest schools. Put in Temple and UNLV instead of the Ivy schools.

Thank you for your feedback! I'll look into the schools you recommended.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

18 on pat is not a bad score
and washington and oregon have IS preference, but take CA students and OP profile is close to their stats and does not scream "UCLA/UCSF lock"

i do agree with OP not having an obvious UMich/Ivy profile
and that OP should apply to mountain/midwest schools...

18 PAT isn't a bad score, but it's not a great score for the Ivy schools.
We can still disagree. We're noticing different things. I'm just thinking out loud, brainstorming other options.

 

[macsak]

Thank you for your response. I considered proximity to CA, areas where I am most likely to find myself living/working in the future, my GPA and DAT scores, and also chose some reach schools in my starting list that I plan to narrow down. I do want to make sure I have enough in-range schools, but attended undergrad on the east coast and found myself initially focusing on the dental schools there. I'm currently doing more research on where I might have more mission-fit, but would appreciate any recommendations as starting points!

i recommend you do more research
Please include a list of schools you are interested in applying to! It is much easier for users to help you when you have taken the time to construct your own school list first!