What about the Personal Statement?

[Philippines03j]

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First off if you have not started your personal statement, and you are planning on applying june 2011, then I would advise starting it as soon as possible. This can be a deciding factor in whether you get an interview or not.

Lower GPA + Good EC + Excellent Personal Statement = Better possibility at interview = 👍

Higher GPA + Good EC + Excellent Personal Statement = Interview 👍


I felt like my personal statement was pretty well polished and had several (10 or so) different faculty, dental students, dentist, and english majors read mine. However, I called one school to see why I was not given an interview. It boiled down to turning my app in a little later (completed by sept) and them being nit picky on the personal statement. The recruiter said that a possible red flag was the word "cosmetic". Other than that she said it everything else was a go for an interview....

What is my point? Take the personal statement seriously and spend a good amount of time making it just the way you want it Just because the one recruiter said that was a possible red flag, would I change my personal statement if I were to go back? No, because I felt like it expressed who I was and my interests. 👍

Here is my brand new post on "Writing a Personal Statement"- http://dentaldat.blogspot.com/2011/04/writing-personal-statement.html

 

[doc toothache]

Especially if the word "cosmetic" and "mission trip(s)"was used in the same sentence.

 

[Lane138]

Especially if the word "cosmetic" and "mission trip(s)"was used in the same sentence.

Lol

 

[Philippines03j]

Especially if the word "cosmetic" and "mission trip(s)"was used in the same sentence.

Fortunately for me, I was smart enough to stay away from that 😀. I actually mentioned it while telling a short story about a lady who had come in with a broken front tooth and said something to the effect of how I enjoyed the cosmetic side of dentistry because of what the dentist was able to do for her in order to restore her smile.

Now I know I should have used a word like restore or something like that

 

[Mr PS09]

i dont get it why is "cosmetic" a bad word to use??? I could easily see myself saying the same as you Philippines. I just dont understand why its bad. If anything wouldnt it be good?

 

[Philippines03j]

Dental schools (many if not all) are very focused on serving the underserved population. This means they are going to be doing alot of restorative work and teaching prevention. Veneers and other "cosmetic" procedures are not at the top of the to do list when you are treating the underserved population. It seems to me that when you say cosmetic dentistry admissions/dentists think of a dentist who wants to make money through doing veneers, implants, and other big money making procedures. This means you will not be as interested in serving the underserved population and helping those in need.

Cosmetic dentistry is not bad but when applying to dental school, especially ones focused on services to the underserved, cosmetic is a good word to avoid.

With that said I still recieved and interview at San Antonio and Indiana. It may have been enough to tip the scale though at other schools.

 

[molar3]

Phillipines--were you accepted to dental school this year?

 

[Philippines03j]

Phillipines--were you accepted to dental school this year?

I was accepted last year. I will be finishing my first year at the beginning of june.