What are my chances?

[MOLARSITY]

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I had 5 pre-december interviews, rejected from one and was waitlisted at two schools on december 2nd. I sent a letter of intent to one school (actually my top choice so fingers crossed on this school) and a letter of interest to the other school I was waitlisted at but didn't hear anything today so I guess I wasn't considered for any spots that opened up from the dec 1st acceptance batch. This is my second time applying and I really am nervous that I won't get in to a school again. I don't know that I will be able to apply again for the upcoming cycle (due to financial constraints) =( I'm not sure what to do at this point. I haven't heard anything from the other 2 schools yet so I'm not sure if I'm waitlisted or if my application is still being considered.

I also had a pretty cruddy semester. I haven't released my academic update yet but only got a 3.0 GPA for this semester which is going to drastically lower my cumulative GPA.


Should I start looking into other options for a career at this point? Dentistry is my passion but unfortunately I'm just not in a position to keep applying or taking extra courses to try and boost my GPA.

 

[dr.d00m]

Your stats don't seem to be the issue since you're getting far enough along in the process to receive interview invites. Maybe the issue is your interview itself. How do you feel you performed in all your interviews?

Also, don't give up on the other 2 schools just yet. Due dates for deposits are right around the corner, so seats are going to start opening up in every school.

 

[MOLARSITY]

Your stats don't seem to be the issue since you're getting far enough along in the process to receive interview invites. Maybe the issue is your interview itself. How do you feel you performed in all your interviews?

Also, don't give up on the other 2 schools just yet. Due dates for deposits are right around the corner, so seats are going to start opening up in every school.

I honestly don't know. I thought my interviews went really well. I think the worst one I had was with one of the schools I haven't heard from so far, but the rest I thought were pretty good. But maybe I'm just naive of how bad they were. This is actually the second time I've interviewed and been waitlisted at my top choice school and the first time I was 'high priority waitlisted' whereas this time I was only 'waitlisted' so I'm not sure what to make of that.

 

[MOLARSITY]

I DO know that for all of my interviews I tried to steer the conversation in a direction that discussed what made me unique or different rather than the usual rigamarole that I'm sure all interviewers have heard 1000 times from everyone about their interests in dentistry and maybe that hurt me. I honestly don't remember a single time during my interviews where I actively made it clear how important this profession was to me because I thought that everyone would say the same thing.

 

[dr.d00m]

I honestly don't know. I thought my interviews went really well. I think the worst one I had was with one of the schools I haven't heard from so far, but the rest I thought were pretty good. But maybe I'm just naive of how bad they were. This is actually the second time I've interviewed and been waitlisted at my top choice school and the first time I was 'high priority waitlisted' whereas this time I was only 'waitlisted' so I'm not sure what to make of that.

I DO know that for all of my interviews I tried to steer the conversation in a direction that discussed what made me unique or different rather than the usual rigamarole that I'm sure all interviewers have heard 1000 times from everyone about their interests in dentistry and maybe that hurt me. I honestly don't remember a single time during my interviews where I actively made it clear how important this profession was to me because I thought that everyone would say the same thing.

That is strange. Usually when they invite you for an interview it means they already like what they see on paper, but want to get to know you better face-to-face to see if you'll be a good fit.

Try emailing the school you got rejected from and ask them what you could improve on in your application. They probably won't give you a straight answer if the problem was with your interview, but they might be straightforward about any stat-related things.

 

[MOLARSITY]

That is strange. Usually when they invite you for an interview it means they already like what they see on paper, but want to get to know you better face-to-face to see if you'll be a good fit.

Try emailing the school you got rejected from and ask them what you could improve on in your application. They probably won't give you a straight answer if the problem was with your interview, but they might be straightforward about any stat-related things.

That was the first thing I tried once I got the rejection since I actually thought I had my best interview with that school. I got a response that said they couldn't advise me until the application cycle was over.

 

[dr.d00m]

That was the first thing I tried once I got the rejection since I actually thought I had my best interview with that school. I got a response that said they couldn't advise me until the application cycle was over.

Yeah I'm not surprised. At this point, there's not much you can do but wait it out until the end of the application cycle.

You never know, you might just get accepted into one of those 2 remaining schools or get bumped in from one of the waitlists. If not, come summer time email every single one of the schools you applied to and ask them how to make your application stronger. If the problem ends up being with your interviews, that's something that is easily fixed with a bit of practice

I know you said you weren't sure if you wanted to apply again, but I think you have a good shot. Maybe choose your schools a bit more strategically and you have a decent shot of getting accepted based on how far you've gotten in the 2 times you've already applied. In the meantime, boost your resume as much as possible..go volunteer, shadow, etc.