where you think this poor guy can go...

[jntruong2003]

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what do you guys think...

i have a 3.3 sGPA and overall GPA @ university of california, irvine. i got a 20 TS/19AA/19PAT. 2nd time taking the test.

i've done like 4 quarters of research. worked at a dentistry for 4 years.

i'm just wondering if that is good enough for me to move on towards the lighter side of the resume ie. doing fun hobbies, helping out at 3rd world nations, becoming more active at church, etc. to beef up my application.

thanks 😀

 

[Regmata]

You may be alright...if not, it won't be because you didn't do enough research or work in dentistry, it will because you did too much and your grades and DAT suffered. Either way, you can move onto the more fun stuff.

 

[blankguy]

Time to add something extra to your credentials. You want to stick out from the crowd.

 

[fireblast713]

what year did you grad?

 

[jntruong2003]

not yet, technically i could have but i'm hanging in just for a little bit longer to elevate that sGPA... should have been '07

 

[ucla2134]

i think you should be fine! Apply to all private school is a must.
Did you go straight to university? If not ADSEAA calculate your GPA from every college you attended to, that might increase your overall science GPA

 

[UNR.Grad]

You'll make it, just make sure you interview well and you're in the first round of AADSAS mailings.

 

[jdoc04]

in the first round of AADSAS mailings.

I think this is the most underestimated portion of the application process. Applying early can make or break and application especially for those with avg or below avg stats.

 

[masenasty]

Hey Buddy,

I graduated UCI in 07 with a 3.391 overall and a 3.44BCP with a 19/19/20. I shadowed for a year or two, had 1.5 years of reasearch, and had some community service. I am definitley in the middle of the pack. MY BIGGEST ADVICE IS APPLY EARLY EARLY EARLY EARLY!!!!!

I applied in June but my file was not complete cuz this cool but jackass professor of mine did not send his LOR till end of Sept. I got my 1st interview in mid jan and got accepted. i recently got another interview to BU.

luckily i am good looking and good talker, cuz if i wasnt, i for sure would not have gotten in.😉

Oh my personal statement sucked too, spend lots of time on that also.

Good luck friend, if you have any other questions i will more gladly help out, cuz i wish i was a lil more knowledgeable of the application process

 

[flyingkao]

what do you guys think...

i have a 3.3 sGPA and overall GPA @ university of california, irvine. i got a 20 TS/19AA/19PAT. 2nd time taking the test.

i've done like 4 quarters of research. worked at a dentistry for 4 years.

i'm just wondering if that is good enough for me to move on towards the lighter side of the resume ie. doing fun hobbies, helping out at 3rd world nations, becoming more active at church, etc. to beef up my application.

thanks 😀

I also graduated from UCI (ZOT! ZOT! ) with similar stats. Although I would say that my stats are below average, I got a Nov. 30th acceptance from UCSF, my first choice. I think a lot of it had to do with my research, extracurriculars, and maybe dental experience because it gave me a lot to talk about on the PS, secondary apps, and interview. I also started early, which gave me a lot of time to do what I wanted in terms of getting the experience that I wanted out of each activity.

I did about 2.5 years of research and completed the Excellence in Research program (it's important that you do something with the research to make it worth something) and had about 24 hrs shadowing GP and about 100 hours interning at a dental office. I also ran a community service club and was an active member of a bunch of clubs. So yeah, I think the importance of "beefing up the application" is underrated...but make sure you really enjoy the things you're involved in because your intentions come across in your apps and the interview. Unless you're good at bs-ing...but that's not recommended 👎.

I applied to 18 schools, but I got rejected from 4. So you never know who's gonna give you love or a good smack in the face. Like everybody else is saying, apply early (like in May) and apply to a lot of schools (do your research to which you can actually apply to, whether or not you've completed or plan to complete their required classes, and whether you have their required LOR from the right peeps).

Good luck Anteater! Hope this helps! 🙂

 

[UNR.Grad]

I think this is the most underestimated portion of the application process. Applying early can make or break and application especially for those with avg or below avg stats.

I agree entirely, more people need to stress being early in the process.

 

[alflley]

i'm from uci too! i'm a second year and i was wondering when all of you guys started doing research, and what type of research you did.

 

[masenasty]

sooner the better. If you are already on SDN, then congrats. I didnt know about this till later in my application. I didnt start research or shadowing untill end of 3rd and begining of Sr year. Start looking ASAP and get into a research that you are interested in, or one with an awesome teacher. Dr. Bowler is the ****... such a chiller

 

[kiwipie]

How early would you guys recommend applying for people with sub par stats?

 

[masenasty]

i'm from uci too! i'm a second year and i was wondering when all of you guys started doing research, and what type of research you did.

I did Genital and ocular herpes research as well as plant evolution.... pretty random, right.

and kiwipie, apply early. the earlier the better. Its WAY easier said then done. Make sure you have all your transcripts and DAT scores submitted a while back, and make sure you have you LORs before you apply. Some Professors are super busy and will take a long time to get the LOR written. Use this site and ask people, because if i knew about this site. i think i would've had an easier time. The drawback is that SDN has super applicants which make you feel like a piece.

Good Luck my babies

 

[ummjoey]

How early would you guys recommend applying for people with sub par stats?

as early as possible. i dont see any benefit to apply late unless you run into personal problems when you're applying.

make sure you are on top of all your transcripts and letters of rec.

learn everything you can about the application process.

 

[denticus]

what do you guys think...

i have a 3.3 sGPA and overall GPA @ university of california, irvine. i got a 20 TS/19AA/19PAT. 2nd time taking the test.

i've done like 4 quarters of research. worked at a dentistry for 4 years.

i'm just wondering if that is good enough for me to move on towards the lighter side of the resume ie. doing fun hobbies, helping out at 3rd world nations, becoming more active at church, etc. to beef up my application.

thanks 😀

Did you really serve a mission (i.e."helping out at 3rd world nations") "to beef up" your application?

 

[Sinfest]

i'm from uci too! i'm a second year and i was wondering when all of you guys started doing research, and what type of research you did.

Zot zot 👍 hahaha I think it's never too early to start research, but I started in the summer after my 2nd year and I'm currently a 3rd year. I study the biology of aging with fruit flies.

 

[alflley]

is that the rose lab?? i applied and was accepted for that research, but it required me to stay during winterbreak so i declined.

 

[flyingkao]

i'm from uci too! i'm a second year and i was wondering when all of you guys started doing research, and what type of research you did.

I started the summer after my 2nd year and stayed with it until I graduated. I did mine in the Neurobiology and Behavior dept. with Cramer Lab and studied the expression of the EphA4 protein in the mouse auditory brainstem 😛.

 

[Sinfest]

is that the rose lab?? i applied and was accepted for that research, but it required me to stay during winterbreak so i declined.

hahaha yeah it is. Everyone knows about this lab because of how huge it is hahaha

If you plan on staying at UCI for summer, and you want to do research, maybe you should join the rose lab next quarter.

 

[jdmsamurai]

hahaha rose...take his ecology and evolution class....he sure knows his stuff and loves those sex/evolution jokes 👍

 

[alflley]

since this is kinda turning into a UCI thread.. i was just wondering if any of you guys used the UCI letters of rec service and if it was helpful. i want to use it but i kinda dont want to take the required class bio 3a. it never fits into my schedule!

 

[Amalgam4U]

aadsas has its own LOR stuff. I think that the LOR thing at Irvine is just so that Irvine will send it everywhere for you...but your PI or whoever you got to recommend you only has to send it to aadsas. I think aadsas even has an email option now.

I wish I had gotten a committee letter. Easier than making sure all the different letters were in. I think if you have a good individual letter you can send that in too. It's up to 5 now, right?

I went to Irvine too...didn't get in yet tho still crossing my fingers.

btw, you guys got pretty good research. Anyone in CHP?

 

[fireblast713]

I graduated UCI in '07, Bio Major, I was in CHP

 

[jntruong2003]

thanks guys, i've been sick ever since i took that darn dat. i'll make sure i apply early. i might need another letter or rec from irvine, any suggestions!?!?!?

thanks again to everyone's posts. it's really helping =)

 

[predentn]

I think this is the most underestimated portion of the application process. Applying early can make or break and application especially for those with avg or below avg stats.

Applying early is overrated. When it comes down to it, there is no substitute for a good DAT and GPA. You're given a few months to apply for a reason and it's not because they want to see who can get their application in the fastest.

 

[doc toothache]

Applying early is overrated. When it comes down to it, there is no substitute for a good DAT and GPA. You're given a few months to apply for a reason and it's not because they want to see who can get their application in the fastest.

👍 👍 👍

 

[MB111]

Applying early is overrated. When it comes down to it, there is no substitute for a good DAT and GPA. You're given a few months to apply for a reason and it's not because they want to see who can get their application in the fastest.

i applied in october and the schools saw it early nov. and im not in anywhere yet. u think the timing is the reason why?

 

[doc toothache]

i applied in october and the schools saw it early nov. and im not in anywhere yet. u think the timing is the reason why?

Maybe your gpa and being an international student may have something to do with the lack of response from U.S. dental schools. Your high dat scores are out of sync with the gpa.

 

[MB111]

Maybe your gpa and being an international student may have something to do with the lack of response from U.S. dental schools. Your high dat scores are out of sync with the gpa.

totally. and it's depressing. not to boast about the university of toronto, St. George campus, but it's really competitive there. profs have to write a LETTER to the dean to explain and give justification if there are more than 20% of the class receive above 80. ALL my first year class AVERAGES were C+, if not lower. and receiving even a B is like einstein material. and they make it that way for i don't know what insane reason -- maybe they think the more competitive a school is, the higher the rep? I HAVE NO IDEA and UT is going to kill meee!!!

applying right in may this coming cycle. do i stand a chance? i can prb boost my gpa to a 3.4 by the end of this term

 

[predentn]

totally. and it's depressing. not to boast about the university of toronto, St. George campus, but it's really competitive there. profs have to write a LETTER to the dean to explain and give justification if there are more than 20% of the class receive above 80. ALL my first year class AVERAGES were C+, if not lower. and receiving even a B is like einstein material. and they make it that way for i don't know what insane reason -- maybe they think the more competitive a school is, the higher the rep? I HAVE NO IDEA and UT is going to kill meee!!!

applying right in may this coming cycle. do i stand a chance? i can prb boost my gpa to a 3.4 by the end of this term

You need to do something to improve your application, whatever that may be, don't just reapply earlier.

 

[flyingkao]

since this is kinda turning into a UCI thread.. i was just wondering if any of you guys used the UCI letters of rec service and if it was helpful. i want to use it but i kinda dont want to take the required class bio 3a. it never fits into my schedule!

Actually, you only have to attend the one lecture in Bio 3A that is for the Letter of Rec service. I highly encourage everyone to use the service because it's really efficient, organized, and the people there are hired solely for the letter of rec service (Suzette Trimble was the head of the letter of rec service when I was there) so they are quite on top of things.

What I did was I had my 4 recommenders send their individual letters to the bio sci letter of rec office. After all the letters arrived, I notified the office that my letter of rec packet was complete (which is done online, and you can also check online to see if the letters have arrived at the office...it is pretty cool 😀). What they did for me is they sent all my letters in one big packet as a "committee letter" straight to AADSAS within a week, who passed it along to all the dental schools I applied to.

If you get your individual recommenders to send it to AADSAS, they have a reputation for getting the letters "lost in the mail" and for being just plain slow in general 👎. I would've hated to ask my recommenders to resend their letters again, what a hassle.

 

[flyingkao]

^ Oh, and just in case I wasn't clear in the last post, you don't have to sign up for Bio 3A to attend the Letter of Rec lecture. Just make sure you sign in when you do attend. It comes around every quarter, so convenient! 😀

 

[MB111]

You need to do something to improve your application, whatever that may be, don't just reapply earlier.

i guess i could find a job and jobshadow another dentist?? maybe take a summer school course that i think will boost my gpa?? i wouldn't mind masters but i don't want to unless it's necessary because it'd tie me back 2 big years, then another 4 for dentistry..🙁

 

[doc toothache]

i guess i could find a job and jobshadow another dentist?? maybe take a summer school course that i think will boost my gpa?? i wouldn't mind masters but i don't want to unless it's necessary because it'd tie me back 2 big years, then another 4 for dentistry..🙁

Shadowing a dentist is not going to give you enough traction. As for your comments on a M.S., it comes under the heading of how badly do you really want to be a dentist. A degree may be your ticket to admission.