why didn't I get accepted?

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InternationalPreDen

InternationalPreDen

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I would really appreciate the inputs you all at SDN could provide.
I am a non-Canadian international student (East Asian) currently studying in a U.S college. I double major in
Biochemistry and Biology. English is not my first language.
I submitted my applications in July w/ DAT's taken in first week of September, my DAT scores were received by AADSAS on 09/21/2015,and my committee letter was submitted on early September.

Stats:
GPA generally in a upward trend, my freshman gpa is around 3.1ish
3.52 oGPA, 3.42sGPA, 3.37 bcpGPA. 25 AA 24 TS 22PAT (lowest score is 22).
Total shadowing hours(so far) : 160 hrs
420 hrs of volunteering (not related to dentistry tho)
Undergraduate research experience: 1 semester (credit) and 1 summer (paid) as student research assistant
2 internships: a Management&Consultant company and a local Hospital (an interviewer asked me why not medicine, i basically answered that it never occurred to me..)
Member of Pre-dent club, Biology Honors Society and etc. several semesters of dean's list

I was interviewed at 4 schools prior to Dec 1st
All waitlisted 🙁
I received an email from a dental school saying the Committee has decided to “HOLD” making a decision on my application on Dec 1st. I am not sure if I should reply or not.
Rejected by 2 schools w/o interviews
12 other silent schools

I was wondering if you guys could put some thoughts on why I didn't get accepted and what I should do at this point.
Thank you all and good luck to everyone else out there!
 
Last edited:
youre GPA is very low
 
Im a citizen and got waitlist 5 schools and got in 1.

believe it or not, may be dec 1st acceptances arent for u u should wait till 2nd or 3rd round of acceptances. you will get in. my non-canadian friend got in in jan/feb too after being waitlisted.
 
InternationalPreDen said:
darn it! I knew I should've married my high school sweet heart when I had the chance.
JK... but seriously, should I get a green card first?
Click to expand...

Dang it, you're not alone!
Here is my stat.

8th batch
GPA: 3.93/ 3.91, but only took 64 semester credits
DAT: AA 22, TS 22, PAT 24, Lowest score is Bio, 20
120 hours of shadowing
100 hours of volunteering
Several research experiences
7 years of Healthcare field experience

6 pre-dec interviews (Nova, NYU, Maryland, UDM, MWU-AZ, USC)
Waitlisted from Nova, NYU, UDM, USC
Rejected from MWU-AZ, Upitt, OSU, Buffalo, OHSU
I haven't heard anything from Maryland

I believe it's because of my poor English speaking skill (This is the 3rd year in the U.S.) as well as my status (non-Canadian international student)
 
gucci said:
ok maybe not VERY low but a 3.4sgpa is below average
Click to expand...
gucci said:
ok maybe not VERY low but a 3.4sgpa is below average
Click to expand...
I'm guessing you haven't applied yet lol. I had an even lower sgpa and ogpa, and I got into my top choices plus 3 others, declined 2 interviews and no rejections yet.

OP, as bad as it sounds, I think it really was because you're an international student. It's much harder to get in that way despite your scores and ECs being solid.
 
InternationalPreDen said:
I guess the only way for me to get a green card is through EB-5, but that's half million us dollars and you have to wait for a year and half..
Click to expand...

Yeah greencards aren't something you can just get easily now. Other way would be through the MAVNI program in the Army which requires you being in the reserves for like 6 years I think, but you become a citizen after bootcamp I believe.
 
Weakfart said:
Yeah greencards aren't something you can just get easily now. Other way would be through the MAVNI program in the Army which requires you being in the reserves for like 6 years I think, but you become a citizen after bootcamp I believe.
Click to expand...

I've looked into the MAVNI program, but I am not sure if one can qualify for military scholarship while in the reserve.
The downside is that they might pull you out of school and send you to somewhere in the middle east.
 
InternationalPreDen said:
I've looked into the MAVNI program, but I am not sure if one can qualify for military scholarship while in the reserve.
The downside is that they might pull you out of school and send you to somewhere in the middle east.
Click to expand...
Yeah I don't know anything about it sorry! Best chance would be marriage, military, or work for a major company like Google that can expedite your green card process! Regardless, I think you should just wait this cycle out. Your stats are excellent and getting a green card is not easy.
 
Fake marriage. instant access to green card. Just choose a pretty/decent looking girl to do fake marriage with. At least, if it turns out not to be fake, you dont lose anything.
 
darknightzzz said:
Fake marriage. instant access to green card. Just choose a pretty/decent looking girl to do fake marriage with. At least, if it turns out not to be fake, you dont lose anything.
Click to expand...

I am not gonna marry a girl whom I am not in loved with. That's just wrong, and besides if the immigration service find out, they are gonna give me a "season ticket on a one-way ride" to where I'm from.
 
InternationalPreDen said:
I am not gonna marry a girl whom I am not in loved with. That's just wrong, and besides if the immigration service find out, they are gonna give me a "season ticket on a one-way ride" to where I'm from.
Click to expand...

yes. it is wrong and illegal. however, if all else fails, I will take whatever option is left for me.
even if u get in Dschool and graduate, what practice will dish out 20-30k to pay for paperwork to sponsor you to become permanent resident/citizen?

and I am pretty sure whoever will pay/cosign your debt wont be expect you to return to wherever you are from to work after graduation.

not a lot of people want to do fake marriage but if that is all they have left with, what choice can they make? none.
 
gucci said:
youre GPA is very low
Click to expand...

My GPA is very close to OP's actually and I received 3 pre-December interviews and 3 acceptances. (1 rejection without interview from Nova).

OP, the fact that you received 4 interviews shows that schools were willing to see beyond your GPA. You seem to have great experiences too, so I really don't think it has to do with your status in the US and whether or not you hold a green card. I think it might have more to do with how you perform during interviews. Wait this cycle out, don't stress out about your status and don't marry someone just to get a green card haha. It's still fairly early so I'm sure you'll get in somewhere or get more interviews! Good luck 🙂
 
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darknightzzz said:
yes. it is wrong and illegal. however, if all else fails, I will take whatever option is left for me.
even if u get in Dschool and graduate, what practice will dish out 20-30k to pay for paperwork to sponsor you to become permanent resident/citizen?

and I am pretty sure whoever will pay/cosign your debt wont be expect you to return to wherever you are from to work after graduation.

not a lot of people want to do fake marriage but if that is all they have left with, what choice can they make? none.
Click to expand...

I know people who did fake marriage, I don't see what is so morally wrong about it (Heck I would marry the OP for 500k he was talking about earlier 😀)
And you have a great point, dentistry is not medicine; those corporations are not going to be sponsoring someone for an H1B (which btw doesn't lead to a green card either).
 
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InternationalPreDen said:
I will not marry anyone for a green card, or for anything..
Click to expand...

ah you are such a sweet honey. 🙂. I sincerely hope you will fall in love and marry a girl who will love you even without you being a dentist.

kayden28 said:
My GPA is very close to OP's actually and I received 3 pre-December interviews and 3 acceptances. (1 rejection without interview from Nova).

OP, the fact that you received 4 interviews shows that schools were willing to see beyond your GPA. You seem to have great experiences too, so I really don't think it has to do with your status in the US and whether or not you hold a green card. I think it might have more to do with interviews. Wait this cycle out, don't stress out about your status and don't marry someone just to get a green card haha. It's still fairly early so I'm sure you'll get in somewhere or get more interviews! Good luck 🙂
Click to expand...

yea interviews =/= acceptances. at interview stage, 1 out of 3 interviewees b4 dec 1st get accepted dec 1st. so its pretty low statistically. or may be your interviewers click with you more. congratz!

allantois said:
I know people who did fake marriage, I don't see what is so morally wrong about it (Heck I would marry the OP for a fraction of 500k he was talking about earlier 😀)
And you have a great point, dentistry is not medicine; those corporations are not going to be sponsoring someone for an H1B (which btw doesn't lead to a green card either).
Click to expand...

Yes, it is illegal so of course it is wrong morally somewhat but what else of a choice you have on the plate? none. Yes, why you want to dish out so much money for Dental school when you can't guarantee you can live and practice in US.

normally fake marriage in where i live, Socal, CA runs for 35k if you are a girl and 40k if you are a guy.
 
hellofuturedentists said:
"I didn't get into dental school. What do I do?"
"Get a fake marriage to a US citizen"

classic SDN
Click to expand...

dont be jealous of the problem solving skills SDN has.
OP has a implied problem SDN seeks out, we propose a solution.
 
allantois said:
I know people who did fake marriage, I don't see what is so morally wrong about it (Heck I would marry the OP for 500k he was talking about earlier 😀)
And you have a great point, dentistry is not medicine; those corporations are not going to be sponsoring someone for an H1B (which btw doesn't lead to a green card either).
Click to expand...

I was talking about the EB-5 visa. 500k is the minimum amount of money one has to invest in order to obtain the visa.

"The EB-5 visa provides a method of obtaining a green card for foreign nationals who invest money in the United States.To obtain the visa, individuals must invest $1,000,000 (or at least $500,000 in a Targeted Employment Area - high unemployment or rural area), creating or preserving at least 10 jobs for U.S. workers excluding the investor and their immediate family." ---From wikipedia.
 
InternationalPreDen said:
I would really appreciate the inputs you all at SDN could provide.
I am a non-Canadian international student (East Asian) currently studying in a U.S college. I double major in
Biochemistry and Biology. English is not my first language.
I submitted my applications in July w/ DAT's taken in first week of September, my DAT scores were received by AADSAS on 09/21/2015,and my committee letter was submitted on early September.

Stats:
GPA generally in a upward trend, my freshman gpa is around 3.1ish
3.52 oGPA, 3.42sGPA, 3.37 bcpGPA. 25 AA 24 TS 22PAT (lowest score is 22).
Total shadowing hours(so far) : 160 hrs
420 hrs of volunteering (not related to dentistry tho)
Undergraduate research experience: 1 semester (credit) and 1 summer (paid) as student research assistant
2 internships: a Management&Consultant company and a local Hospital (an interviewer asked me why not medicine, i basically answered that it never occurred to me..)
Member of Pre-dent club, Biology Honors Society and etc. several semesters of dean's list

Interviewed at 4 schools (Roseman, UDM, Nova, and NYU) prior to Dec 1st
All waitlisted 🙁
I received an email from Marquette saying the Committee has decided to “HOLD” making a decision on my application on Dec 1st. I am not sure if I should reply or not.
Rejected by 2 school w/o interviews (Case and UConn)
12 other silent schools

I was wondering if you guys could put some thoughts on why I didn't get accepted and what I should do at this point.
Thank you all and good luck to everyone else out there!
Click to expand...

Your English writing skills are obviously excellent, how are your speaking skills? Since verbal communication is critical in Dentistry that could be holding you back (if your speaking skills aren't as good as your written skills are). Other then that, I can only guess that its your GPA. Your grades are certainly not bad but I sometimes wonder what schools think when they see such amazing DAT scores like yours paired with "only" decent grades....they would never admit this but it is human nature to ask, why does this guy have a 25 on his DAT but a 3.5 gpa?

More importantly, the title of your post should be "why haven't I been admitted YET". You were waitlisted at 4 schools....you weren't rejected for a reason. I would say you have a very good chance of getting in at least one of those.
 
Honestly I wouldn't throw this as a strictly interviewing problem for OP. I feel (and am pretty certain/have been told) that I am a great interviewer/speaker. Interviewing was the part of the app process I was least stressed about, yet I was still Wait listed at the majority of the schools I applied to.

If he didn't get rejected after interview, I doubt there was a red flag during that stage. Just as they say in wait list letters, there are just people more qualified, and I accept this fact
 
InternationalPreDen said:
I would really appreciate the inputs you all at SDN could provide.
I am a non-Canadian international student (East Asian) currently studying in a U.S college. I double major in
Biochemistry and Biology. English is not my first language.
I submitted my applications in July w/ DAT's taken in first week of September, my DAT scores were received by AADSAS on 09/21/2015,and my committee letter was submitted on early September.

Stats:
GPA generally in a upward trend, my freshman gpa is around 3.1ish
3.52 oGPA, 3.42sGPA, 3.37 bcpGPA. 25 AA 24 TS 22PAT (lowest score is 22).
Total shadowing hours(so far) : 160 hrs
420 hrs of volunteering (not related to dentistry tho)
Undergraduate research experience: 1 semester (credit) and 1 summer (paid) as student research assistant
2 internships: a Management&Consultant company and a local Hospital (an interviewer asked me why not medicine, i basically answered that it never occurred to me..)
Member of Pre-dent club, Biology Honors Society and etc. several semesters of dean's list

I was interviewed at 4 schools prior to Dec 1st
All waitlisted 🙁
I received an email from a dental school saying the Committee has decided to “HOLD” making a decision on my application on Dec 1st. I am not sure if I should reply or not.
Rejected by 2 schools w/o interviews
12 other silent schools

I was wondering if you guys could put some thoughts on why I didn't get accepted and what I should do at this point.
Thank you all and good luck to everyone else out there!
Click to expand...
mariojoa said:
Dang it, you're not alone!
Here is my stat.

8th batch
GPA: 3.93/ 3.91, but only took 64 semester credits
DAT: AA 22, TS 22, PAT 24, Lowest score is Bio, 20
120 hours of shadowing
100 hours of volunteering
Several research experiences
7 years of Healthcare field experience

6 pre-dec interviews (Nova, NYU, Maryland, UDM, MWU-AZ, USC)
Waitlisted from Nova, NYU, UDM, USC
Rejected from MWU-AZ, Upitt, OSU, Buffalo, OHSU
I haven't heard anything from Maryland

I believe it's because of my poor English speaking skill (This is the 3rd year in the U.S.) as well as my status (non-Canadian international student)
Click to expand...

Omg! I totally feel you guys! I'm also a non-Canadian international student. I got waitlisted at multiple schools and was ignored by some schools that I interviewed. I don't know if it's because of the interview skill or status. 🙁 Now I'm emotionally drained and start losing hope.
 
InternationalPreDen said:
I would really appreciate the inputs you all at SDN could provide.
I am a non-Canadian international student (East Asian) currently studying in a U.S college. I double major in
Biochemistry and Biology. English is not my first language.
I submitted my applications in July w/ DAT's taken in first week of September, my DAT scores were received by AADSAS on 09/21/2015,and my committee letter was submitted on early September.

Stats:
GPA generally in a upward trend, my freshman gpa is around 3.1ish
3.52 oGPA, 3.42sGPA, 3.37 bcpGPA. 25 AA 24 TS 22PAT (lowest score is 22).
Total shadowing hours(so far) : 160 hrs
420 hrs of volunteering (not related to dentistry tho)
Undergraduate research experience: 1 semester (credit) and 1 summer (paid) as student research assistant
2 internships: a Management&Consultant company and a local Hospital (an interviewer asked me why not medicine, i basically answered that it never occurred to me..)
Member of Pre-dent club, Biology Honors Society and etc. several semesters of dean's list

I was interviewed at 4 schools prior to Dec 1st
All waitlisted 🙁
I received an email from a dental school saying the Committee has decided to “HOLD” making a decision on my application on Dec 1st. I am not sure if I should reply or not.
Rejected by 2 schools w/o interviews
12 other silent schools

I was wondering if you guys could put some thoughts on why I didn't get accepted and what I should do at this point.
Thank you all and good luck to everyone else out there!
Click to expand...

In my opinion there are 3 reasons: 1. You are an international student so your chances are lower (Did you apply to NYU? They accept a lot of International students.) 2. Your application was late due to your DAT being submitted in Sept. This is why you haven't heard anything from 12 schools. It's crucial to apply in June with all the docs submitted if you are an international student otherwise your lose your chances. 3. Improve your interview skills
 
Why don't you call the schools and ask? I bet it's because you're international student. You to be at least a permanent resident (i.e. have a green card) to get in.
Did you apply to NYU?
 
All of these are very stressful for international students... and more than what I imagined. I feel like having anxiety disorder recently while waiting for responses from the schools. Cortisol level is way high.. I'm pulling my hair everyday..
 
Where did you apply? I'm also non canadian international student.
I got 7 predec interviews, got in 4, waitlisted at 2 with 1 silence. I'm also got 4 post dec interviews ( 1 with UCSF). GPA is definitely on a lower side, but maybe because of the schools that you applied?
 
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