predental11112
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- Joined
- Apr 25, 2020
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Date of submission: Will submit this weekend (I am still waiting on one of my letters of recommendation)
Overall GPA: 3.82
Science GPA: 3.76
DAT score (include AA and all sections): 25AA/27PAT/27QR/24RC/26Bio/23GC/27OC/25TS
State of Residence: Kansas
Undergrad Attended: University of Kansas
Major: Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology
Minor: None
Minority? No
Reapplicant? No
Nontrad? No
Shadowing Experience: 120 hours in a variety of dental settings (Endodontist, General Dentist, Periodontist, and Shadowing at UMKC)
Volunteering Experience:[170] Assisting a Panamanian Dentist in a Pop-up clinic in rural Panama (40 hrs), Health Ambassador(80 hrs), making and donating masks (20 hrs), Other Misc. Volunteer hours on campus(30hrs)
Employment: Chemistry Tutor (200hrs), Outreach Coordinator for a Health Center (400 hrs), Pediatric Dental Assistant (500 hrs)
Research: None
Other Extracurriculars: Leadership position in Scientific Journal Club, and active in Pre-Dental Society, Marketing Club and Jayhawk Health Initiative
Relevant Honors or Awards: Dean's List, Chancellor's Scholarship, Member of the University Honors Program
LOR type and strength: 2 from science professors (1 very strong, 1 strong / moderate), 1 from dentist (strong)
Misc Info/Things not stated elsewhere:
- Personal Trainer (ACE Certified)
- Was able to complete undergraduate in three years and I am currently taking a year before dental school to work full time
- I spent a long time on my personal statement, and I am happy with how it turned out
- Working on my applications for the Army and Navy HPSP.
- I was fortunate enough to have room for a lot of upper level Biology Electives (Molecular Biology of Cancer, Histology, Cadaver Lab, ect. )
School list: Columbia, USC, UMKC, UPENN, UCSF, Colorado
Questions:
- Should I apply to more schools? I feel like a majority of them are reach schools.
- Is applying this late going to hurt me?
-I lost my grandmother to cancer in June and had prioritized spending time with her over working on my application material (no regrets there). She was immunocompromised, so I was very careful about quarantining, which pretty much stopped me from volunteering and shadowing for a while. I also wasn't able to take my DAT until July because of prometric being wack. Should I mention these thing in the COVID prompt?
- In high school, I had a drawing that was put up in a district building, a drawing that was picked up by an art gallery, and a drawing that received 2nd place in a talent competition (out of about 500 entries). I know that it is generally frowned upon to include awards from high school, but I don't have anything manual dexterity related that I could include in my application from my time in college. Do you think these accomplishments would be worth including on the manual dexterity prompt?
- I am struggling to find a third science professor to fill my LOR requirements for Columbia. I would really love to go to school there, but I am worried that I am going to end up with a weak letter of recommendation. I regret not establishing a closer relationship with more of my professors, and under normal circumstances I would have met with them in person. Any advice on finding that last letter or is it even worth pursuing?
- I am thinking of applying to some dental lab jobs (I know there is one in my area that has a history of employing pre-dental students). Would it look bad if I was only worked as an assistant for 4 months before becoming a lab tech? Or would the variety of experiences be looked at as a positive? I feel like I have worked a lot of jobs, and I don't want to come across as uncommitted, but I feel like working in a dental lab would be a great opportunity to work with my hands.
- What could I be doing right now to make myself a stronger applicant for the HPSP? How much does getting that application material in early matter? I would really appreciate the opportunity to begin my dental career in the Military.
- Any other general input?
I know that was a lot of questions, thank you all for reading through this!
Overall GPA: 3.82
Science GPA: 3.76
DAT score (include AA and all sections): 25AA/27PAT/27QR/24RC/26Bio/23GC/27OC/25TS
State of Residence: Kansas
Undergrad Attended: University of Kansas
Major: Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology
Minor: None
Minority? No
Reapplicant? No
Nontrad? No
Shadowing Experience: 120 hours in a variety of dental settings (Endodontist, General Dentist, Periodontist, and Shadowing at UMKC)
Volunteering Experience:[170] Assisting a Panamanian Dentist in a Pop-up clinic in rural Panama (40 hrs), Health Ambassador(80 hrs), making and donating masks (20 hrs), Other Misc. Volunteer hours on campus(30hrs)
Employment: Chemistry Tutor (200hrs), Outreach Coordinator for a Health Center (400 hrs), Pediatric Dental Assistant (500 hrs)
Research: None
Other Extracurriculars: Leadership position in Scientific Journal Club, and active in Pre-Dental Society, Marketing Club and Jayhawk Health Initiative
Relevant Honors or Awards: Dean's List, Chancellor's Scholarship, Member of the University Honors Program
LOR type and strength: 2 from science professors (1 very strong, 1 strong / moderate), 1 from dentist (strong)
Misc Info/Things not stated elsewhere:
- Personal Trainer (ACE Certified)
- Was able to complete undergraduate in three years and I am currently taking a year before dental school to work full time
- I spent a long time on my personal statement, and I am happy with how it turned out
- Working on my applications for the Army and Navy HPSP.
- I was fortunate enough to have room for a lot of upper level Biology Electives (Molecular Biology of Cancer, Histology, Cadaver Lab, ect. )
School list: Columbia, USC, UMKC, UPENN, UCSF, Colorado
Questions:
- Should I apply to more schools? I feel like a majority of them are reach schools.
- Is applying this late going to hurt me?
-I lost my grandmother to cancer in June and had prioritized spending time with her over working on my application material (no regrets there). She was immunocompromised, so I was very careful about quarantining, which pretty much stopped me from volunteering and shadowing for a while. I also wasn't able to take my DAT until July because of prometric being wack. Should I mention these thing in the COVID prompt?
- In high school, I had a drawing that was put up in a district building, a drawing that was picked up by an art gallery, and a drawing that received 2nd place in a talent competition (out of about 500 entries). I know that it is generally frowned upon to include awards from high school, but I don't have anything manual dexterity related that I could include in my application from my time in college. Do you think these accomplishments would be worth including on the manual dexterity prompt?
- I am struggling to find a third science professor to fill my LOR requirements for Columbia. I would really love to go to school there, but I am worried that I am going to end up with a weak letter of recommendation. I regret not establishing a closer relationship with more of my professors, and under normal circumstances I would have met with them in person. Any advice on finding that last letter or is it even worth pursuing?
- I am thinking of applying to some dental lab jobs (I know there is one in my area that has a history of employing pre-dental students). Would it look bad if I was only worked as an assistant for 4 months before becoming a lab tech? Or would the variety of experiences be looked at as a positive? I feel like I have worked a lot of jobs, and I don't want to come across as uncommitted, but I feel like working in a dental lab would be a great opportunity to work with my hands.
- What could I be doing right now to make myself a stronger applicant for the HPSP? How much does getting that application material in early matter? I would really appreciate the opportunity to begin my dental career in the Military.
- Any other general input?
I know that was a lot of questions, thank you all for reading through this!