What should I do now?

[krnkimsung]

---

Members do not see this ad.

Hi everyone,

I just like to ask 3rd party opinion on my stats and what I can do to improve my application for DS this summer.

Undergrad: UC Berkeley
Major: Engineering (Cum Laude)
GPA: (Overall/Science/BCP): 3.54/3.65/3.48,
DAT (AA/TS/PAT): 23/22/23
Target School: UCLA, Columbia, Michigan, UOP, UCSF

Experience:
2 years of work-experience (business analyst) at two fortune 500 companies (Gap Inc, Cisco System) --> non-dental related
Dental Related Volunteer --> 300-350 hours at 3 different mobile clinic/county health agency
Non-Dental Related Volunteer --> 200-250 hours
Shadowing: GP--> 120 hours, OS --> 20-22 hours, Ortho --> 15-20 hours
Research: NONE

Weak Area:​

25 units of pre-reqs (including O-chem, DAT OC: 26) have been taken at CC, including 3 letters from CC science professors.

no upper-div biology yet (taking Biochem and Cell Biology this summer)

one 'C' in Honor Chemistry Class (DAT GC: 30)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

I am planning to apply those five schools only, as I wasn't really looking into attending other schools. Until 6/3, I have about a month, what should I be doing to enhance my application?

 

[krnkimsung]

bump 😀

 

[MatthewLeeDDS]

I cant believe you did that well on the DAT with no upper division biology! With that sort of DAT, I think you're going to be ok. Check out the specific schools and what they like to see in an applicant and maybe that will give you some help on which way to lean early this summer in terms of shadowing/volunteering/work/etc. before your application is due. From a stats standpoint, however, you are very competitive. The GPA is a hair low, but the DAT more than makes up in my opinion.

 

[dentaldawg32]

I cant believe you did that well on the DAT with no upper division biology! With that sort of DAT, I think you're going to be ok. Check out the specific schools and what they like to see in an applicant and maybe that will give you some help on which way to lean early this summer in terms of shadowing/volunteering/work/etc. before your application is due. From a stats standpoint, however, you are very competitive. The GPA is a hair low, but the DAT more than makes up in my opinion.

What's the big deal about that? The DAT covers general biology...and furthermore, where does it even say that he did well on the Bio section of the DAT?

OP: Your GPA (a 3.6 science from Berkeley is very good and by no means low) and DAT are both fine. However, the fact that you have taken the majority of your pre-reqs at a CC is going to most likely hurt you unless you throw in some upper division Bio at Berkeley to show your competence in the sciences. Have you taken any sciences at Berkeley?

 

[UCfan]

Hi everyone,

I just like to ask 3rd party opinion on my stats and what I can do to improve my application for DS this summer.

Undergrad: UC Berkeley
Major: Engineering (Cum Laude)
GPA: (Overall/Science/BCP): 3.54/3.65/3.48,
DAT (AA/TS/PAT): 23/22/23
Target School: UCLA, Columbia, Michigan, UOP, UCSF

Experience:
2 years of work-experience (business analyst) at two fortune 500 companies (Gap Inc, Cisco System) --> non-dental related
Dental Related Volunteer --> 300-350 hours at 3 different mobile clinic/county health agency
Non-Dental Related Volunteer --> 200-250 hours
Shadowing: GP--> 120 hours, OS --> 20-22 hours, Ortho --> 15-20 hours
Research: NONE

Weak Area:​

25 units of pre-reqs (including O-chem, DAT OC: 26) have been taken at CC, including 3 letters from CC science professors.

no upper-div biology yet (taking Biochem and Cell Biology this summer)

one 'C' in Honor Chemistry Class (DAT GC: 30)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

I am planning to apply those five schools only, as I wasn't really looking into attending other schools. Until 6/3, I have about a month, what should I be doing to enhance my application?

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=635046

 

[somethinpositiv]

You might be fine applying to only those 5 schools. If by December 1st you have no acceptances, you can send out a second wave of applications in a last ditch effort to get an acceptance somewhere, like to large schools such as NYU and USC who haven't filled up their class yet. I normally recommend applying to 8-12 schools, but there's a really good chance you'll get into one of those 5 schools, provided your personal statement and letters of recommendation are good.

 

[nuartywayne]

must have tanked that Bio Section....with GC 30, OC 26 and avg of 22. Your Bio Section comes out to a 10.

Something fishy about this. Good luck applying but when asking for advice don't embellish your stats.

Be truthful to the schools and if those are ur DAT scores you are going to have to re-take...so that you pull up your Bio Section of 10.

Cum Laude with a 3.54...is also a stretch.

 

[anishannayya]

must have tanked that Bio Section....with GC 30, OC 26 and avg of 22. Your Bio Section comes out to a 10.

Something fishy about this. Good luck applying but when asking for advice don't embellish your stats.

Be truthful to the schools and if those are ur DAT scores you are going to have to re-take...so that you pull up your Bio Section of 10.

Cum Laude with a 3.54...is also a stretch.

OP is an engineering major. Cum Laude for an EM might be 3.5 @ UCB.

 

[MatthewLeeDDS]

What's the big deal about that? The DAT covers general biology...and furthermore, where does it even say that he did well on the Bio section of the DAT?

OP: Your GPA (a 3.6 science from Berkeley is very good and by no means low) and DAT are both fine. However, the fact that you have taken the majority of your pre-reqs at a CC is going to most likely hurt you unless you throw in some upper division Bio at Berkeley to show your competence in the sciences. Have you taken any sciences at Berkeley?

Yeah you're right, I don't have a clue what I was looking at... I actually didn't have any upper div bio myself when I took the DAT and got a 21 on bio but for some reason my brain registered me reading a high bio for the OP somewhere. I think I saw the GC and OC and assumed a high bio... But looking back the TS is way too low for the bio to be very high. Whoops! Big screw up on my part.

 

[krnkimsung]

yes I was cum laude in UCB. I recommend you take a single engineering class at Cal then you will see why 3.5

bio gotta be 10? Where did you come up with that number. TS gets calculated differently than AA. Well my bio was 19, which wasn't good at all.

I posted this thread for an advice, not for a criticism or questions about my honesty.

 

[krnkimsung]

You might be fine applying to only those 5 schools. If by December 1st you have no acceptances, you can send out a second wave of applications in a last ditch effort to get an acceptance somewhere, like to large schools such as NYU and USC who haven't filled up their class yet. I normally recommend applying to 8-12 schools, but there's a really good chance you'll get into one of those 5 schools, provided your personal statement and letters of recommendation are good.

Thanks for the advice. Yeah, I think I should just apply to 10-12 schools to be on the safe side. I feel like my PS is okay, and letters are fairly strong. I was told by few adcom people that my apps will be competed against other non-science app files and I was wondering if "no-upper-div-bio" card affect my chance significantly even though I will be taking them over the summer.
A lot of SDNers have been telling me that "your GPA is low", "taking classes at CC will hurt you most likely" "you have no shot with those school w/o upper division bio" and I totally understand where they come from.
but I've also seen many people who got in just fine with no upper bio and pre-reqs done at CC. Especially those with Bachelor degree in non-bio area. It seems like many SDNers are bio/chem majors and they always try to fit us within their own admission criterias. Don't DS look at that you're NOT from bio/chem area and you worked in a corporate world?

I am just confused.

 

[dentaldawg32]

Thanks for the advice. Yeah, I think I should just apply to 10-12 schools to be on the safe side. I feel like my PS is okay, and letters are fairly strong. I was told by few adcom people that my apps will be competed against other non-science app files and I was wondering if "no-upper-div-bio" card affect my chance significantly even though I will be taking them over the summer.
A lot of SDNers have been telling me that "your GPA is low", "taking classes at CC will hurt you most likely" "you have no shot with those school w/o upper division bio" and I totally understand where they come from.
but I've also seen many people who got in just fine with no upper bio and pre-reqs done at CC. Especially those with Bachelor degree in non-bio area. It seems like many SDNers are bio/chem majors and they always try to fit us within their own admission criterias. Don't DS look at that you're NOT from bio/chem area and you worked in a corporate world?

I am just confused.

Majoring in something non-science related is perfectly acceptable; I don't think anyone was arguing otherwise. However, it is well known that taking all your pre-reqs at a CC will most likely be a detriment to your application UNLESS you take some upper division bio classes at a 4 year university. Additional bio classes will help make up for that 19 Bio on your DAT as well.

 

[Vicviper]

Especially since you did so well on the DAT, I don't think that not having any significant upper level bio is going to hurt you very much at all. As long as you've taken the upper level bio classes that might be pre-reqs... ie, biochem, micro, etc, you should be fine. It really seems that the reason you're encouraged to take those classes is to prove that you can hack the hell that is the first two years of dental school, and from your DAT scores - unless they were a fluke or something - I think you'll be alright. The same goes for the CC pre-reqs, I think you've proven yourself.

With your scores and your GPA, I think you're definitely a solid bet to get in somewhere, and I think you stand a very good chance of getting into one of those schools you listed. And yeah, you should always apply to at least 10 schools, because people with 4.0's and 22's are regularly turned down for one reason or another, so there's no sense in cutting off your nose to spite your face.

Lastly, don't think of letters from CC professors as a weakness, often CC professors can write much stronger letters, and it sounds like you got some nice ones. Good luck!

 

[nuartywayne]

All I'm saying there are is a lot of BS around here and this smells like a big one...

I come from a much stronger University with a much more reputable Engineering School and 3.5 as a Cum Laude like I said is pretty weak.

no worries though....good luck

 

[dentaldawg32]

All I'm saying there are is a lot of BS around here and this smells like a big one...

I come from a much stronger University with a much more reputable Engineering School and 3.5 as a Cum Laude like I said is pretty weak.

no worries though....good luck

Much more reputable? Cal has the second best undergraduate engineering program in the country, right behind MIT and tied with Stanford...

 

[dentaldawg32]

All I'm saying there are is a lot of BS around here and this smells like a big one...

I come from a much stronger University with a much more reputable Engineering School and 3.5 as a Cum Laude like I said is pretty weak.

no worries though....good luck

Also, I don't think you understand the implication of a relatively low GPA standard for Cum Laude. It simply means that there is grade deflation in Cal Engineering. If the standard were much higher, I would most likely question the rigor of the program.

 

[krnkimsung]

Majoring in something non-science related is perfectly acceptable; I don't think anyone was arguing otherwise. However, it is well known that taking all your pre-reqs at a CC will most likely be a detriment to your application UNLESS you take some upper division bio classes at a 4 year university. Additional bio classes will help make up for that 19 Bio on your DAT as well.

Yeah you're absolutely right. I should've done at least 21 on DAT Bio. I'm kind of losing hopes for those 5 schools that I listed... 🙁

At this point, there isn't really anything I can do. I gave myself only a year to take all the pre-reqs + studying DAT + Volunteer/Shadowing + Applying, and I am certain that I did the best I could do. Taking upper-div bio would've been possible if I had another year (truth to be told, I can have a second bachelor in Biological Science from the post-bacc school that I am admitted for upcoming fall semester)

I will just have to apply and see what happens.

Thanks for the advice. It was very helpful.

 

[dentalaee]

You will get in SOMEWHERE, but those 5 schools are competitive. If you had a higher RC and BIO scores (which are known to be the two of the important sections on the D.A.T), then you would have a better chance.

 

[lphiewok]

All I'm saying there are is a lot of BS around here and this smells like a big one...

I come from a much stronger University with a much more reputable Engineering School and 3.5 as a Cum Laude like I said is pretty weak.

no worries though....good luck

lol really? you come from a school much stronger than Cal?
your post sounds more BS than OP to me.

to OP,

contact schools about your situation (or at least try few). Since you have an incredible DAT score to back up your situation with science courses, hopefully schools would not mind. But as you know, some schools do have cut-off line for total hours of CC credits especially for pre-req courses. But because your DAT proves that you know your material, I don't think you'll have a hard time getting into at least few schools but i would still contact some schools to see how they view your situation

 

[BearBrick]

WTF?! APPLY APPLY APPLY! Your DAT scores are amazing, and your GPA (even if its not IB/MCB) is great. I suggest you apply 6/3 and academic update after taking post-bacc upper-div science courses or CC upper-div science courses.

http://extension.berkeley.edu/spos/premed.html

Good luck!

 

[FutureDent020]

Your stats look great and so does your overall resume. You appear good to go. And a 19 on bio is fine. And what's all this disbelief about 3.5 not being cum laude? 3.5 is a tough GPA to maintain for 4 years and deserves honors. There are also much higher honors like magna cum laude (3.8 or 3.85) and summa cum laude (3.9 or 3.95). So i'm not sure what's so suprising about 3.5 being cum laude.