WAMC?

[BigToothPerson]

Date of submission: June 4th (tentative)
Overall GPA: 3.68
Science GPA: 3.56
DAT score (include AA and all sections): SORRY HAVEN’T TAKEN IT YET! June 29th

State of Residence: NC
Major: Biochemistry
Minor: English
Minority? No
Reapplicant? No

Shadowing Experience: 250 hours. 100 with my general dentist & community health center. 150 specialties, mostly ortho, some oral surgery.

Volunteering Experience: ~200 hours of volunteering for a food bank network in my state. 50% hard labor (farm and garden work), 50% packing meals, teaching cooking classes and delivering meals to seniors. ~40 hours volunteering at the teaching farm associated with my school. 100 hours volunteering at community dental clinic. 30 hours of MoM clinic volunteering, not many hours but intense experience

Employment: Bartender for a year and a half, will be working for my biochem professor this summer as a TA
Research: Summer research program in pediatrics, 2022, 400 hours. 1 publication, podium presentation. (I was accepted to this summer program out of high school but they postponed it for two years bc COVID messed up funding! I feel like it’s random on my application but I want to go to a research-strong school so am including it)
Work-study research assistant in linguistics since last summer. 300 hours, 1 publication pending, poster presentation

Other Extracurriculars: English Club since 2022. Pre-dental club since 2023 (debating leaving this one off because the pre-dent club at my uni is not very active at all? I have ~15 hours of overall time I can count with them.)
Manual dexterity: I like to make jewelry for myself and my friends/family. I started metalsmithing and soldering in high school as a pet hobby and got more into it since starting college. I have experience in metalworking, stone cutting and setting

Have you volunteered/shadowed/attended events at any dental schools? Yes

• toured both my IS schools and VCU
• shadowed at clinic run by UNC SNDA
• have attended UNC virtual events
• will be attending an enrichment program at ECU!
• shadowed ortho residents for a few days
• visited ECU satellite clinic, assisted D4s and shadowed advanced standing residents

Relevant Honors or Awards: Community service award from the English Club, I organized programming for after-school reading and English tutoring for middle/high schoolers once a month this past spring.

LOR type and strength: Biochemistry professor/academic advisor, my general dentist, work-study research advisor, anatomy professor. I expect all of them to be strong.

Misc Info/Things not stated elsewhere/Red Flags: I'll be a super senior and will be graduating next May. Studied agricultural science for a year before switching to biochem. I took a medical withdrawal from classes freshman year due to depression during COVID. Not sure how to bring this up on the general application without hurting my reputation. No note on official transcript, just many W's. Admission officer at IS school reviewed my grade history and told me I had a strong upward trend in my GPA since then.

School list:

ECU, UNC, VCU (close to home), Ohio State (research), Pittsburgh (research), UConn (research), Louisville, Temple, LECOM

Sorry I know my lack of DAT score is a limitation! I'm planning to submit my application before I take it, so I need help building a good school list for out of state. I’ve been making good scores on my practice exams (19-27).
My orthodontist influenced my foray into dentistry, and I know things can change but I have a strong interest in orthodontics because of that. I enjoy the metalworking parts of the day-to-day clinical work and I like reading about the effects of malocclusion on speech and facial development. I would love to attend a school that has an ortho department and good funding so that I can continue to do research and develop my interests.

I added the last three schools because they seem like affordable schools for out of state applicants like me but I don’t know what other schools to add that are realistic. Any and all advice is appreciated.

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[macsak]

Date of submission: June 4th (tentative)
Overall GPA: 3.68
Science GPA: 3.56
DAT score (include AA and all sections): SORRY HAVEN’T TAKEN IT YET! June 29th

State of Residence: NC
Major: Biochemistry
Minor: English
Minority? No
Reapplicant? No

Shadowing Experience: 250 hours. 100 with my general dentist & community health center. 150 specialties, mostly ortho, some oral surgery.

Volunteering Experience: ~200 hours of volunteering for a food bank network in my state. 50% hard labor (farm and garden work), 50% packing meals, teaching cooking classes and delivering meals to seniors. ~40 hours volunteering at the teaching farm associated with my school. 100 hours volunteering at community dental clinic. 30 hours of MoM clinic volunteering, not many hours but intense experience

Employment: Bartender for a year and a half, will be working for my biochem professor this summer as a TA
Research: Summer research program in pediatrics, 2022, 400 hours. 1 publication, podium presentation. (I was accepted to this summer program out of high school but they postponed it for two years bc COVID messed up funding! I feel like it’s random on my application but I want to go to a research-strong school so am including it)
Work-study research assistant in linguistics since last summer. 300 hours, 1 publication pending, poster presentation

Other Extracurriculars: English Club since 2022. Pre-dental club since 2023 (debating leaving this one off because the pre-dent club at my uni is not very active at all? I have ~15 hours of overall time I can count with them.)
Manual dexterity: I like to make jewelry for myself and my friends/family. I started metalsmithing and soldering in high school as a pet hobby and got more into it since starting college. I have experience in metalworking, stone cutting and setting

Have you volunteered/shadowed/attended events at any dental schools? Yes

• toured both my IS schools and VCU
• shadowed at clinic run by UNC SNDA
• have attended UNC virtual events
• will be attending an enrichment program at ECU!
• shadowed ortho residents for a few days
• visited ECU satellite clinic, assisted D4s and shadowed advanced standing residents

Relevant Honors or Awards: Community service award from the English Club, I organized programming for after-school reading and English tutoring for middle/high schoolers once a month this past spring.

LOR type and strength: Biochemistry professor/academic advisor, my general dentist, work-study research advisor, anatomy professor. I expect all of them to be strong.

Misc Info/Things not stated elsewhere/Red Flags: I'll be a super senior and will be graduating next May. Studied agricultural science for a year before switching to biochem. I took a medical withdrawal from classes freshman year due to depression during COVID. Not sure how to bring this up on the general application without hurting my reputation. No note on official transcript, just many W's. Admission officer at IS school reviewed my grade history and told me I had a strong upward trend in my GPA since then.

School list:

ECU, UNC, VCU (close to home), Ohio State (research), Pittsburgh (research), UConn (research), Louisville, Temple, LECOM

Sorry I know my lack of DAT score is a limitation! I'm planning to submit my application before I take it, so I need help building a good school list for out of state. I’ve been making good scores on my practice exams (19-27).
My orthodontist influenced my foray into dentistry, and I know things can change but I have a strong interest in orthodontics because of that. I enjoy the metalworking parts of the day-to-day clinical work and I like reading about the effects of malocclusion on speech and facial development. I would love to attend a school that has an ortho department and good funding so that I can continue to do research and develop my interests.

I added the last three schools because they seem like affordable schools for out of state applicants like me but I don’t know what other schools to add that are realistic. Any and all advice is appreciated.

you need to have a dat score before we can tell you your range of schools
your gpa is only slightly above matriculant average overall (3.55) and exactly average for science (3.55)
but you are going to need more schools unless you get 22+
you also have almost all publics, you need to have a range of schools, a few reaches, mostly in-range, and a few safeties...

 

[macsak]

you need to have a dat score before we can tell you your range of schools
your gpa is only slightly above matriculant average overall (3.55) and exactly average for science (3.55)
but you are going to need more schools unless you get 22+
you also have almost all publics, you need to have a range of schools, a few reaches, mostly in-range, and a few safeties...

you probably should explain the Ws
not in personal statement if you can avoid it, perhaps in the secondaries or disadvantaged statement...

 

[Mr.Smile12]

My concurring opinion: you're in a good position for UNC and ECU (your in-states). Keep VCU. The other publics on your list (Ohio State and UConn) are not OOS friendly with applicants with your stats. Once you have a solid DAT result, you should add a few more privates that make sense for you.

 

[BigToothPerson]

you probably should explain the Ws
not in personal statement if you can avoid it, perhaps in the secondaries or disadvantaged statement...

Okay! I was thinking of putting it in the "COVID-19 Impact" section and adding more detail for schools with supplementals. My personal statement is done and I didn't want to waste space talking about it there

you need to have a dat score before we can tell you your range of schools
your gpa is only slightly above matriculant average overall (3.55) and exactly average for science (3.55)
but you are going to need more schools unless you get 22+
you also have almost all publics, you need to have a range of schools, a few reaches, mostly in-range, and a few safeties...

There are a few schools up and down the East Coast that I could apply to but it seems that the newer ones don't allow federal loans? I will do some more digging.

 

[BigToothPerson]

My concurring opinion: you're in a good position for UNC and ECU (your in-states). Keep VCU. The other publics on your list (Ohio State and UConn) are not OOS friendly with applicants with your stats. Once you have a solid DAT result, you should add a few more privates that make sense for you.

Thanks! Are there any privates that come to mind that make geographic/mission sense for me? I'm having a bit of trouble using my spidey sense to discern between the ones I am aware of. MUSC jumps out at me because they're research-heavy and I'm not aware of another private school in the south that has that edge

As for filling out my application, would you recommend to keep or leave out my involvement in the pre-dent club? My hours are low and I get the impression from this forum that anything under 50 hours isn't that important.

 

[macsak]

Thanks! Are there any privates that come to mind that make geographic/mission sense for me? I'm having a bit of trouble using my spidey sense to discern between the ones I am aware of. MUSC jumps out at me because they're research-heavy and I'm not aware of another private school in the south that has that edge

As for filling out my application, would you recommend to keep or leave out my involvement in the pre-dent club? My hours are low and I get the impression from this forum that anything under 50 hours isn't that important.

do not leave out predental club

you need to do more research/spidey sense
MUSC is not a private school...

 

[Mr.Smile12]

I took a medical withdrawal from classes freshman year due to depression during COVID. Not sure how to bring this up on the general application without hurting my reputation. No note on official transcript, just many W's. Admission officer at IS school reviewed my grade history and told me I had a strong upward trend in my GPA since then.

I'm also going to guess the admissions professional just told you, "write the truth" when it comes to what happened to you during the COVID-19 pandemic when prompted. Just tell the truth about it, and let us know what you are doing to manage your depression since.

Just out:

Beyond MSAR: Additional Resources for Building Your School List - SDN

The Student Doctor Network provides free tools, resources, and advising services to help students become health professionals.

www.studentdoctor.net

MUSC jumps out at me because they're research-heavy and I'm not aware of another private school in the south that has that edge.

Obviously, UNC, UAB, and VCU immediately come to my mind, too. Not that others won't do research, but that's my impulse response. Of course, understand that "research" in dental school is not as key as in medical school. There are just a handful of schools that do the DMD/PhD, and I'm not sure that's what you (or most dental students) want to do. You can look up LECOM.

Check out dental research by looking up the AADR and IADR.

 

[BigToothPerson]

I'm also going to guess the admissions professional just told you, "write the truth" when it comes to what happened to you during the COVID-19 pandemic when prompted. Just tell the truth about it, and let us know what you are doing to manage your depression since.

Just out:

Beyond MSAR: Additional Resources for Building Your School List - SDN

The Student Doctor Network provides free tools, resources, and advising services to help students become health professionals.

www.studentdoctor.net

Obviously, UNC, UAB, and VCU immediately come to my mind, too. Not that others won't do research, but that's my impulse response. Of course, understand that "research" in dental school is not as key as in medical school. There are just a handful of schools that do the DMD/PhD, and I'm not sure that's what you (or most dental students) want to do. You can look up LECOM.

Check out dental research by looking up the AADR and IADR.

Hi! I didn't really get a chance to talk with the admissions officer at length about how to address it so I brought it here to yall instead.
Really it was COVID... Social isolation/a lack of career services at my school affected my outlook on my future and my self-esteem. My freshman year was all online at home until I withdrew halfway through 2nd sem. I retook the classes I needed to proceed with my degree and did well. I have no concerns about something like that happening again because those were peculiar times and more importantly, I've learned to manage myself thru the professional/academic/personal support I've since had available (!) and the skills I gained from Going To Therapy Big Time and also Not Being 18 Anymore

Thanks for mentioning AADOCR/IADR. I hope this isn't short sighted of me but I think of doing research in dental school as a supplement to approaching clinical cases. and b/c research fun but I feel a PhD dual degree program would detract from the time I need to develop clinical skills first. I saved grant pages and abstracts from students/faculty at IS schools 👍

I might bump this in a month or so when I get my DAT scores to ask for some final feedback on my list/schools to add/privates to consider (not MUSC.......oops). I will try my darnedest to do my homework on OOS schools in the meantime. Thanks again (both of yall) for your resources and guidance!!!!!!