Wondering about my chances....

[Chemboy23]

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Okay, I have a 3.25/3.279, respectively. My GPA is low because I basically took lots of harder classes that aren't REQUIRED, but I was just wanting to learn. I was going to take the DAT on July 22nd and felt I was not yet prepared, somewhat thanks to DAT Acheiver. So...I rescheduled to Aug 10th, hope it doesn't kill me 🙁 I know my GPA is sort of low and this test pretty much determines the fate of my career. Anyways, with a semi-low GPA, I was wondering if any of you have any advice on where I should apply. I am from MS, so of course I applied there (their AVG GPA is a 3.8 though 😡). I am living in AZ, so I am applying to these two schools. I talked to a dentist and he told me to just apply to a bunch of schools, which is great wishing but I don't have that kind of money. So...my question is, what do you all think I need to shoot for on each of the practice tests, and at which point do I know I'm ready (specific score on a specific practice test). I have KBB, the destroyer, DAT Acheiver, CDP, and Schaum's Bio and Cliff's AP Bio review, and TopScore. I have all the resources, but it's like I keep getting sidetracked because of the amount of information lol. I have also been watching Chad's videos and they are sooooo helpful. Also, I have disadvantaged info, but I feel like it's a cop out...I mean, I just don't like people having to feel sorry for me to get into dental school, I think that's weak. Everyone has to work for what they get no matter where you come from. Anyways, here are the schools I'm applying to...

UNLV
Mississippi
Tennessee (UT-Memphis)
Western (CA)
Midwestern (AZ)
ASDOH (AZ)
Loma Linda
Louisville

Thanks so much for all your help in advance!

 

[Shelley]

Where in AZ are u from?

 

[cutecheese]

your gpa isn;t too terrible. i think if u had god extracurriculars and manage to kill ur dats and get a great score than ur chances will still be good. 🙂
maybe in ur statement u can say u took the extra, challengeing courses because you have a passion to learn or someother reason like that. g-luck!

 

[Chemboy23]

Shelly...I live in Phoenix

cutecheese....Thanks...I'm just really nervous that I will not get in. The whole app process is so expensive, ya know? I think I can do it though 🙂 Plus I went to a private Christian college after going to a community college and the Biology dept dean at the private school, of course was extremely prideful. He thought that all students who come from community colleges are basically all dumb. So...of course this all made him extremely biased in grading my tests. I used to have to actually go through and correct his corrections. It's really sad that some call themselves Christians, yet they act accordingly. 🙁 But, I know I will prevail in the end, that's all that matters

 

[pacific2013]

UNLV: ~60-70% are instate. They interview many OOS applicants but not too many spots. Applying early is important also. You need a high DAT score of ~22TS so unless you can achieve that I wouldn't apply there.
Mississippi: No idea
Tennessee (UT-Memphis): No idea
Western (CA): I applied there but don't know what kind of applicants they want.
Midwestern (AZ): It was an easy school to get an interview for the inaugural class, but since last cycle they have greatly increased the difficulty. I think they have more bias of GPA > DAT.
ASDOH (AZ): They want LOTS ( prob >500hrs) of community involvement so unless you have that, it will be a total waste of money for you.
Loma Linda: No idea, but very religious school favoring Seventh Day Adventist.
Louisville: Heard they have lots of spots for OOS but unsure about difficulty.

Perhaps you should add schools like BU, Tufts, NYU, USC, and Temple.

 

[flyingforever]

Apply to more schools, more chances to play with.

 

[schen140]

UNLV: ~60-70% are instate. They interview many OOS applicants but not too many spots. Applying early is important also. You need a high DAT score of ~22TS so unless you can achieve that I wouldn't apply there.
Mississippi: No idea
Tennessee (UT-Memphis): No idea
Western (CA): I applied there but don't know what kind of applicants they want.
Midwestern (AZ): It was an easy school to get an interview for the inaugural class, but since last cycle they have greatly increased the difficulty. I think they have more bias of GPA > DAT.
ASDOH (AZ): They want LOTS ( prob >500hrs) of community involvement so unless you have that, it will be a total waste of money for you.
Loma Linda: No idea, but very religious school favoring Seventh Day Adventist.
Louisville: Heard they have lots of spots for OOS but unsure about difficulty.

Perhaps you should add schools like BU, Tufts, NYU, USC, and Temple.

are you sure that unlv looks for such high dat scores? on their website they say that 19 is considered competitive, and i remember their stats being on the low end in the adea guidebook

 

[pacific2013]

are you sure that unlv looks for such high dat scores? on their website they say that 19 is considered competitive, and i remember their stats being on the low end in the adea guidebook

19 is competitive, if you are in-state. The class size is typically 77 students with about ~50 students from in-state and ~25 students from OOS. For those competing for in-state, you are only competing with roughly 160-175 students depending on the year. That gives you about 30% chance of getting in regarding accepted/total instate applicants, not interviewees. In addition, due to the smaller application pool, the average DAT score is rather low. Where as OOS people compete for 25 seats out of total of 2300-2500 applicants. More than 25 students are accepted each year for OOS because not everyone who are accepted attend the school. But irregardless the competition for OOS is much fiercer. The AdCom has far more selection of applicants out of the OOS pool and they can pick people with high DAT scores.

Forgot to mention this before, I mentioned high DAT scores for the OP because UNLV has a formula that give heavy weight on RC, OC, QR, and Bio. With the OP's low gpa, high DAT is necessary to overcome the low GPA.

 

[schen140]

ah i see, thanks for explaining. if i had known this from the start i wouldnt have bothered to apply to unlv haha