r/predental

Hello guys I had a quick question.

I received basically a misconduct warning from my university for allowing my freind to enter the school library, which I only did bc they were helping me study for my DAT and they didn’t go to that university. It isn’t considered an academic violation at all and I didn’t suffer any consequences, it’s just a warning. But AADSAS asked if I received any during my time at university. How bad do you guys think this affects my chances this upcoming cycle? Also should I mention it or nah? Considering again no consequences and it’s not on any public record only the universities internal records.

Hi all, I didn't have much luck this past cycle and will likely need to reapply. Was wondering if anyone might have advice on how I could improve my app, or any potential areas that might be the reason why I didn't get in. I interviewed at UPenn and Columbia, but I feel like this was just largely because of my DAT score. I'm waiting to hear back from UPenn and I got waitlisted at Columbia.

My DAT scores: 540AA, 550TS, 530PAT. My cGPA is roughly 3.8. I have about 245 hours of shadowing from two dentists, and roughly 150 hours of volunteering distributed over a few activities. I have other extracurriculars including dental club eboard, recurring TA position for a course, esports club eboard member, and a paid high school tutoring job.

My main concerns for why I didn't get in right now are currently 1) because I didn't do research 2) my extracurriculars don't involve many of my hobbies (which I do have) 3) my volunteering hours are not within one consistent organization.

Since applying, I have continued being a TA, continued volunteering, and continued my paid high school tutoring job. I'm also in the process of reaching out to schools for feedback on my application, but was wondering if I might be able to get any advice from this subreddit! I'm not sure if I've improved enough to reapply.

has anyone tried obtaining private loans? how are the rates going. i’ve seen some get like 2-3% but i think that’s that’s very rare. what are the stipulations attached.

also, does anyone know what would happen if private loan company decline to give u loans or cap you out at a certain number, but you still need more?

Hello everyone, I'm writing this for my wife. She is in a predicament. She is currently on the waitlist for her state school, and she recently reached out to them asking on how to improve her application assuming she will have to reapply, and they basically told her she had a good app and there was simply no space in the class for this year. So we wanted to share highlights of her app here incase any successful reapplicants have any guidance:

DAT: 430 AA, 430 TS, 410 PAT

GPA: 3.39

sGPA: 3.33

ECs: Co-founded 2 clubs on campus, on the exec board for dental club, political advocacy, public speaking, lifeguarding and camp counselor job with children for 2 summers, baby sitting, research(50 hours), 100+ shadowing (general & perio), 100+ volunteer

LOR: 3 strong LOR that includes 2 science prof and 1 general dentist

PS: had it checked many times and received feedback that final product was strong and meaningful

Above is what she appllied with last summer. Her GPA should be a little higher and she should have more hours. Also to mention, she had a strong upward trend in her last 2 years by getting mostly As. If anyone can provide any guidance on how she can improve her app for next cycle, that would be very helpful. She is graduating with her BA in biology next month. Thanks!

I am just curious if anyone had heard anything from Tanner College of Dentistry in pikeville? It’s a very new school that’s near where I live but I have not heard anything since the application period first opened up for it last year. Thanks in advance!

honestly have no words. About a week ago, I was notified by the admissions committee that my offer of acceptance was rescinded. Long story short, I completed my master’s program but failed the cumulative exam portion, and due to program policy, I’m not allowed to retake it. So yeah… I’m absolutely cooked.

Because of that, my degree could not be conferred at the time I was communicating with my program director and dean. I reached out to my program to ask if there was anything I could do to rectify this and earn my MS, and they basically told me to go scratch. Come to find out, there was an option to switch to another track and still earn my degree—but I only learned that after the fact, when it was already too late.

So now, not only do I have to drop a smooth $10,000 to finish my degree at that university bucause it cheeper to stay within the school im positive the director of the program is praying on my downfall. I can't stomach the idea of starting over from square one. It genuinely makes me sick thinking about it.

And on top of that, I have to retake the DAT because I got a 17 AA/TS...

The only silver lining is that I would only need to take four additional classes to earn my MS. I communicated all of this to the dental school I was accepted to and explained that I had no other way of completing the degree within their deadline. This was after months of communication and due to the dental school policy anything stated on the ADEA dental application from a class or degree must be completed.

I finished with a 3.5 GPA, so it’s only up from here… but right now, I feel like an absolute joke.

I really hope no one else has had to go through something like this, but if you have—did you make it out on the other side?

At this point, I feel like I’ve officially lost my mind. But I still have just enough time to regroup and be an earlyish applicant. I have 200 hours of shadowing, 100 hours of community service, strong letters of recommendation, a solid personal statement, and meaningful experiences from undergrad and shocker in my masters program. This is my #rockbottom

I couldn’t post this in the dental school thread so here I am. I’ll be honest, I’m not the brightest person, but I can manage and get by. I was wondering if anyone who did subpar in undergrad was able to find themselves a groove while in dental school. Someone who didn’t have straight A’s or a 4.0 GPA. I just want to know what it feels like and how things have been for those people!

Hi, just wanted to see if anyone would have some insight/advise on my school list. I've included all my stats down below. I'm also a re-applicant, this will be my third time.

My first year applying, I applied to 6 schools and was waitlisted by 1 (declined by rest), and I applied first week of September. Last cycle, I won't lie I was hit strong by post grad depression and didn't apply till October and applied to 4 schools - didn't hear back by any.

I've started my Masters degree now and feel like I can be a strong applicant if I apply broadly and early. I currently have 10 schools in mind and want to see if there's any that I am missing.

Let me know if there is anything missing and I can elaborate!

Stats

Canadian applicant (considered OOS for most as per my citizenship)
DAT: 20AA, 23PAT
GPA: 3.45cgpa (4.0masters - but I don't take many courses as I'm doing a thesis)
Shadowing: 150hrs - general
Experiences: several leadership, worked in both medical + dental offices in various roles (can elaborate on this if required, but my experiences definitely are strong).
Research: completed an undergraduate thesis and am now in a MSc working on my thesis
Volunteering: 100+ hrs - humane society and free dental clinic

School List: Temple, Touro, Roseman, Midwestern AZ, Tufts, UDM, Boston, NYU, UNE, & Case Western.

Please help!!!!

Hi all, got an okay DAT (430) score but I really want to get into state schools. I’ve had some input on this already but would love to hear more. I have all my letters, PS, hours/experiences ready to put on my application when it opens but I’m confused if I want to put “retake DAT” on the application because schools won’t even review until they get that and I plan to take it by the end of August which is also considered late by many of you.

I want to gage how I do on the practice tests to retake it so if I don’t get the score that I want I was just going to stick with the 430 and apply next cycle if I don’t get into cheaper schools. What should I do?

#help the schools im applying to require one from a teacher who taught you and one from a dentist. i already have both of those, and for my third i am going to ask my research professor. for my fourth, i could ask my physics professor because she always tells us “if anyone needs a letter id be happy to write it for any of you” but i am also not very close with her, we have only had a handful of conversations, and i dont go to class all the time. she is really nice so im sure it wouldn’t be a bad letter but just not super personalized. the other person i could ask is my high school principal. i just dont know if it even matters since that was 3 years ago im not sure. if neither of these are good i can try and find someone else. what are some examples??

Hey everyone,

I’ve taken the DAT three times, and my latest scores are 19 AA / 19 TS / 21 PAT. My GPA is around 3.3, with 6000+ hours working as a dental assistant, 300+ shadowing, and 400+ volunteering.

I applied late last cycle (October) and got an interview but no acceptance.

I’m planning to apply first day this cycle. Do I have a good chance? Also, if anyone can help me build a solid school list, I’d really appreciate it.

For programs that require A&P, will Human Anatomy alone count, or do they expect both anatomy and physiology?

I’ve already taken Human Physiology separately, but I never took a combined A&P course. Do most schools accept Anatomy + Physiology as separate courses, or do they specifically want the A&P sequence?

Hi guys, so I have a Twitter account where I post fanart for video games. It's an account that I made in high school and I post ship art mostly (for those not in the know, that means I think two characters from the franchise should be an item lol)

It's pretty successful, has a bit more than 10k in followers. I've kept my interests pretty private and have never shared the account with anyone, but some people know I have an account where I post digital art and that I have a small following. I've sold commissioned art for people who like my art as well. I would say around 60 pieces over the past few years.

When I brought up the dental school admissions requirement for dexterity, those people said I should let the admissions know I have this account. I said absolutely not, I don't want anyone knowing about this account, it wouldn't be professional and also mortify me off the face of the earth. But they said it's worth bringing up that I have this skill that was able to get a following.

I guess so, but I think bringing this up in my application will lead to them asking about the account. I've never said anything discriminatory about any group on the account, but the account is not exactly SFW and I don't think I'll be able to show it to the admissions officers without feeling like a potato burning in hell. I can definitely talk about digital art and art as a whole being my passion, but is it worth bringing up the account? Or is it not worth the risk of them wanting to know more?

Any advice is appreciated. I can delete a fair bit of my past art or tweets to try and make it a bit admissions friendly but also know that those tweets can probably be dug up with some searching. If I get into dental school I want to lean into my digital art hobby and participate in school journal activities, but I haven't done that at my current school.

Also, on a tangent, do my interests show dexterity? Obviously I like art, I've done a fair bit of physical art painting pieces that I am proud of and can definitely show people. I also do a bit of gardening, have grandparents whose farm I used to work on regularly, volunteer work was a bit in managing grounds for a healthcare stay house, and am recently dabbling in wood and soap carving. Which one of these should I build on to show my dexterity?

I graduated undergrad with a 2.6 gpa. I immediately did an SMP right after without addressing why I was getting bad grades during undergrad. So I repeated the same mistakes during my SMP and finished with a 3.01. I took science courses at a community college (because I could no longer afford at at 4 yr university) for about a year, did well on them, but it only boosted my undergrad gpa to a 2.7. I’ve taken over 200 credits at this point so taking any more will do nothing, the gpa will barely move. DAT was 25AA. Do I have a chance at any schools at all or what should I do moving forward?

I have been accepted to NYU (College of Arts and Science), UCSD (Biology major), and UMich (Biology, Health, and Society).

I am a low-income student. For cost of attendance, UMich (25K) > UCSD (11K) > NYU (1K).
At this point, I am not sure which school to choose.
UMich:
Pros: Top 20 university, more prestigious, strong in science-related majors.
Cons: High cost, very competitive, and I am not sure whether I can maintain a high GPA.
UCSD:
Pros: In-state, closer to home, and more recognized in California (according to my aunt, a doctor at UCSF, UCSF medical school admission officer).
Cons: Quarter system (more pressure), biology is a very competitive major, and I am not sure whether I can maintain a high GPA there.
NYU:
Pros: Lowest cost of attendance (about $1K), accepted into the honors program, and closer to my twin sister, who will be attending Cornell.
Cons: My personal impression is that it is not very good, and not very strong in science-related majors.

My aunt suggests that I go to UCSD. As a UCSF admissions officer, her impression of UCSD is the best among these three schools. She does not have a good impression of NYU and says she has seen very few NYU students in applications she has reviewed.

She recommends UCSD mainly because she believes it has strong resources for pre-med students, the UCSD medical school is very close to the main campus, strong access to research opportunities, and has good weather. Since we live in California, it is also closer to home.

However, I am concerned that the quarter system may be stressful. My cousin’s son also attended a UC, and she said it was manageable. (but my aunt graduated from Harvard, her definition of a manageable workload might not be for me).  Is the quarter system difficult?

She also said that the DAT is more important than GPA, and that when reviewing applications, she pays more attention to DAT scores because she knows GPA inflation exists at some schools. However, I think students admitted to UCSF all have very high GPAs, so they care very little about the small difference in gpa.

Which school should I choose?

I’m a Canadian (Ontario) student writing the cDAT at the end of August and I just finished my third year of my undergrad. This summer, im taking organic chemistry (to meet out of province/country reqs) while prepping for the DAT. My top two choices for school is Western (#1) and UofT (#2) to remain in-province but my top international choice is case western.

I am hoping to get advice on which booster is best? I want the opportunity to have one-on-one tutoring to get the most beneficial education/preparation for this exam. I really want a one and done type experience with this exam! I’m deciding between DAT Booster, Bootcamp and Crusher. I’ve heard great things about all three but apparently crusher is specifically geared toward the Canadian DAT. I have a few questions if anyone is up for answering!!

1. Which one did you use and how was your experience? (I.e. how helpful was it, did you learn a lot, etc)

2. What score did you end up getting? Do you fully attest that to your booster or do you believe it mildly supplemented the prior knowledge you had from undergrad?

3. Did your booster provide one-on-one tutoring? If so, how did it work (did you get to pick your own tutor, how often did you meet). If not, did it have group tutoring and if so how was that?

4. If you could redo your entire process all over again, what would you remain doing and what would you change?

Thank you in advance!!!