What are my chances at these schools???

[fairbrother]

Hi All,
This is my first post. I found this website aboout couple weeks ago and found some useful info. so thank you all for that. Now back to my specific question. In 2005 I am planning on applying to Temple, Nova, UDM, Michigan, Pittsburg, UOP, Indiana with temple being the top choice.
here is little info about my stats. I am kind of non-traditional 24 year applicant. I graduated back in 2001. I was chemistry major and My DAT is 24/23/19 science/AA/PAT with 18 in RC being the lowest and everything else being above 20. I have problem with my grade trend. I went first two years at community college with 3.8 GPA and took all my pre-requisites there. Then I transferred to university as an engineering major and did really bad my junior year. In Fall term I got the following grades A,C+, D, D+ and spring term W, B-, B, C+(many personal problems). I changed my major to chemistry and took the three other terms to graduate. My last three semesters, I took 14 credit hours each and had my GPA 3.8 so My total university GPA 3.25 and my total GPA 3.45(including CC). Also in my last three semesters I took Biochemistry(second time, first time got D+), Microbiology, Anatomy and got A's in all. I kind of afraid of my junior year that it might come and hurt me. I was wodering what you guys think.

Also my EC's are like 1 year volunteering at hospital, 60 hours shadowing dentist and continue, 50 hours of volunteering at homeless shelter, 1 year of tutoring, 1 year of working in lab and some research(part of my curriculum in chemistry) and working full time since I graduated. So what you guys think about my chances at these schools. Should I apply to more schools to be safe?? I want to be good GP and want to attend a school with good clinical program and I don't care about bigname school or anything. Please post all your responses on my school choices and any suggestions you guys might ahve and thank you all in advance.

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[Mo007]

Strong DAT
Strong GPA
Strong Experiences in the Healthcare Field - Did you shadow in Dentistry? - if not, you need to get it done soon (schools will ask you about this).

Other than that...

Apply early, and expect (if you do well in the interviews) all those schools to accept you.

 

[Radioheadblue]

You should get an interview at most of the places you apply with those numbers and your community service, and accepted at most if you sell yourself well. You're probably a shoe in, though people on here will tell you there is no such thing.

There is a section on AADSAS that allows you to tell personal problems that affected your grades and such. But I don't think it will be too big of a problem, if they ask you in the interviews just say that you've learned quite a bit from those tough times. Always make negatives into positives, etc..

Best of luck

 

[JRogoff]

No chance in Hell. You might want to take the DAT again, aim for all 30's, then you might have a chance.

















J/K. The only way you will not be accepted is if you set your interviewer on fire.

 

[UMDeeMan]

i'm in the same position as you fairbrother, although I have a completely positive grade trend with no regression. I'll end with the about the same gpa and hopefully can pull 20's and up on the DAT. good luck brother.

 

[t12kim]

you have great DAT and good enough GPA..dude..chill out. Even though you didn't do well in your junior year, you made it up in your senior year. good luck.

 

[fairbrother]

Thanks all for replying.
The reason I am worrying about my grade trend is that my advisor told me couple years ago that I did really bad in my junior year and I went to CC for first year so i only have 3 semesters of good university work and is not enough to prove to admission comittee that I can handle upper level classes. She also told me that I should do atleast one year of Post-Bac to increase my chances of acceptances. That was the reason I waited few years to work and see where I stand after my DAT. I wanted apply in 2001 but she kind of discourahed me and since I had good job offer I took a job and see what happens in couple-three years. After my DAT I e-mailed here about couple weeks ago and she said that I ahve 50/50 shot because of my good DAT but still my CC credits could hurt my chances. After seeing these responses it seems that may be she is mixing the Dental school admission with something else. I Don't know why she told me to do a post-bacc. I didn't do it and I am glad that I didn't do it.

 

[Calculus1]

Tell your old advisor to kiss your ass! I've never heard any advisor ,premed or predent, give a word of advice that was worth a damn. It's easy for an advisor to get you in if you have a spotless record. I've never seen one work hard for the person that isn't in the best shape, but has what it takes. You tore up the DAT, you got A's in the classes you fouled up in. Don't waste a year with post bac work unless you get denied. By the way, I went to CC 2 years and when applied to D school I only had 2 semesters of "good university work". I got into all 3 I applied to. Your chances are very good of getting into dental school, as far as your first choice goes, who knows, but if you want to be a dentist, you can.

 

[blankguy]

Fairbrother,
ask the adcoms of the schools you are interested. Get input from as many people as possible. That way you eliminate the possibility which advice is "wrong" for you. Don't rely solely on this board and your adviser. Broaden your sources of advice.

 

[Biogirl361]

It might be a good idea to check out the admissions websites of the schools you are interested in, for example, the FAQ section of the Umich website says that they don't allow prereqs to be taken at a community college. I know some other schools don't mind though. If you haven't already, take a look at all the school websites for bits of info like average accepted dat, gpa, do they accept cc credits, etc. hope this helps.

 

[sxr71]

Originally posted by Calculus1
Tell your old advisor to kiss your ass! I've never heard any advisor ,premed or predent, give a word of advice that was worth a damn. It's easy for an advisor to get you in if you have a spotless record. I've never seen one work hard for the person that isn't in the best shape, but has what it takes. You tore up the DAT, you got A's in the classes you fouled up in. Don't waste a year with post bac work unless you get denied. By the way, I went to CC 2 years and when applied to D school I only had 2 semesters of "good university work". I got into all 3 I applied to. Your chances are very good of getting into dental school, as far as your first choice goes, who knows, but if you want to be a dentist, you can.

I have to agree with this. Especially the part about pre- health sciences advisors not giving advice worth a damn. They usually give you the worst advice, and they always seem to have this tendency of discouraging you from doing anything that tests your potential.


Fairbrother: You will get in at most of those schools, just apply early. Your GPA is solid despite the few bad grades, and the AADSAS application gives you an opportunity to describe any personal circumstances that affected your academic performance. I have no doubt that you are going to dental school next year. In all honesty, I'll bet that if you applied to NYU this year you'd have a very good shot at getting in since they accept applications until June 15. If you want to save a year, give it a shot there's a very good shot that you'll make it with your scores. (use their internal app - not AADSAS).

 

[fairbrother]

Hey sxr71 and biogirl thanks for you reply. Also biogirl thanks for your advise on that cc thing. I am not going to apply to anyschool which mentions abut CC becasue it would not be good idea to go to those schools. the worse thing is that I went to U of Michigan for my undergrad but didn't know that they didn't accept CC pre-requisites. it is sad now to be a wolvorine. I guess i won't be applying to Michigan now. i am going to doulbe check with the dean of admissions at u of M to see if it is true. I have been doing research on schools websites and talking to people about what are my chances??? But after looking at avg. DAt of some schools on their website I feel like I am competent enough. There is also reason why I went to CC(didn't have money at all and parents weren't able to help so!). Also I have 4 AP credits in chemistry and 4 AP credits in Calculus I. i did really well in my high school but money was the biggest factor for me in my undergrad and then U of M offered me free scholarship so i went to U of M after my CC.

sxr i can't apply and go to NYU because living 4 years in NYC would be very hard for me becasue I can't take that metropoliton fast paced life. I know, most of the schools I am going to apply are in big city but NYC, chicago and boston are different than those. Also UOP is the only school that is in SF and the reason for me to apply there is becasue my family moved there last year and it would be nice to live around my family. Thanks for your advise on that NYU though. i heard that NYU is really good school but only down side is the price and for me is also location.

 

[PERFECT3435]

fair,

when did yo utake the DAT?

hope they won't be older than 3 yrs for the next cycle.

 

[fairbrother]

Hey perfect,
I took my DAT about 3 weeks ago. i worked full time and decided to wait few years. I realized about 6 months ago for sure that dentistry is what i want to do and started peparing afterwards. Thanks for checking on that. By the way does anyone know about how old DAT the adcoms accept. This info mught come in handy to some people on this board.

 

[PERFECT3435]

FAIR,

DAT scores older than 3 yrs will not be accepted.


your stats are awesome and you shouldn't have any problems.

good job!

 

[Shomeda$]

Originally posted by PERFECT3435
FAIR,

DAT scores older than 3 yrs will not be accepted.

Thanks for the info captain obvious

 

[krull]

 

[sxr71]

Fair,

I would still apply to Michigan if I were in your shoes. Michigan is a great school and you took some of your undergrad classes there so they are clear about the quality of the classes taught there.

Sometimes these stipulations that pre-reqs be taken at a 4-year accredited university can be relaxed for exceptional candidates. With your solid DATs, and excellent performance in advanced science classes at Michigan they might be inclined to look past that requirement. If you really want to go to Michigan, you can give it a shot. I wouldn't be too surprised if you get in despite taking your pre-reqs at a CC. It is a $95 gamble, but it might be a pretty good wager. Usually private schools are willing to relax rules for exceptional candidates, but if any public dental school can relax requirements Michigan would most likely be it.

 

[Calculus1]

I would apply to U Mich as well. I think when they tell you that you can't have taken requirements at a CC they probably are talking about people who start out at a University then only take their hard classes in the summer at CC(it looks fishy). I think if you have started at CC to save money or whatever the reason they can't discriminate esp. when they use the DAT as an outcomes assessment. I know plenty of people that have put in 4 solid years of "good university work" and only got a 16-17 on the DAT. Apply to Mich.

 

[Biogirl361]

I concur that those great DAT scores will make any adcom look twice at your application. If you're interested, here is the FAQ page I was referring to: http://www.dent.umich.edu/study/appl-faq.html Good luck w/ all your apps - even though it isn't your first choice,who knows - we could be umich dental school classmates in a year

 

[fairbrother]

Hey Biogirl, Thanks for the link. Michigan is probably my second choice because i kind of Like Ann Abor and I can spend four years donw there like a breeze. Are you currently at U of M. It says on the website that they prefer pre req at university not required but I think I will still apply like sxr said is only a $95 game. I also e-mailed the admission office and they said that since you went to michigan and your DAT is good and you should apply. Also said in e-mail that I have good chance of getting in since I went there for my undergrad. I think I will apply to Michigan. Even though I said Temple and Michigan are my top choices I will be more than happy to go to any of the schools I listed. the dentist I shadow rightnow told me that don't apply to school unless you see yourself going there becasue if you don't then its waste of time, money and energy. He actully graduated from UDM and recommends 100% for its clinical. He didn't do GPR or anything but he worked as an associate for 6 months and started his own practice from scratch and after 6 years now he is very succesful. The reason I know is because his house is huge and he drives Proche. Anyway I got carried away in the off topic.

 

[UMDeeMan]

dude, what the frock is a prosche? i'm sorry, the bulldogs just lost and i'm drunk.

 

[trypmo]

Originally posted by UMDeeMan
dude, what the frock is a prosche? i'm sorry, the bulldogs just lost and i'm drunk.

At 2:30 in the afternoon? On a weekday?
Whoa -- you're braver than I am!

 

[fairbrother]

hEY Umdeeman It was typo and I know you figuredd it out. I was at work when I was typing and something came up so I typed it up fast.

 

[PERFECT3435]

Originally posted by PERFECT3435
FAIR,

DAT scores older than 3 yrs will not be accepted.


your stats are awesome and you shouldn't have any problems.

good job!

obviously not everyone knows that.

just go back and read the previous posts