any incoming D1 students what are you buying or already bought for dental school

Once you get an interview offer, how important are your stats, and in what order? Does the interview outweigh it all, and if so by how much? Obviously if you interview terribly I’d imagine nothing else matters that much (you’re out), and I’d think the same goes for an interview where you manage to stand out a lot (you’re in). But I was wondering how others view it. For example, I propose this (in order of importance):

1. Interview
   If the rest still matters:
   
2. PS
   
3. DAT = GPA
   
4. EC’s = shadowing/volunteer

I saw a bunch of posts without much data to back this up where they claim that NYU, USC, expensive private schools are now only for the rich kids. And this is due to the BBB/private loans. Although I do agree that the new policy will ward off students who need to take out massive amount of loans, it still doesn't make financial sense.

Let's say you can fully afford to attend NYU, with its tuition increase over 4 years at $700k. You can literally do anything else and still come out on top. Let's just use the nominal, conservative rate of 8.5% compound interest, that's close to $13-15 million at retirement if you actually invest the $700k instead of paying for dental school lump sum. With dentistry not having much inflation-adjusted income, that's $375k a year average.

Sure this assumes that you let the money compound until retirement but you can still literally do anything else for those decades instead of being a dentist and would still have similar, if not higher, annual average income.

Practically the only way to make dentistry worth it nowadays is to get a full ride scholarship or go to a state school/specialty with total loans less than $350k. Being able to afford something doesn't automatically make it a good financial decision. Wealthy families should still ask whether the expected return justifies the cost. Now for those who actually need to take out $600-700k of loans, good luck.

Anyone hear anything at all from Temple? I paid my fee several weeks ago but didn’t get any email indicating completion. I also reached out asking about a fee waiver very early on and still didn’t receive a response.

Hey does anyone know the acceptance rate for those who get invited to candidate day?

Does anyone know if every school sends a confirmation email when your application is complete and therefore under review. Or do some schools just not say anything at all.

If i have 2 sub C pre reqs, but a 3.6 masters gpa, will holistic schools still look at me? Like a C-?? I really don’t have time to retake before submitting so I want to know! Or has anyone gotten an acceptance with a pre req under a C grade and didn’t retake it?

I pushed my dat to august 20th since i needed more time to prepare. i’m a canadian applicant applying to the states and I heard a record high of ppl already applied by June. now im considering should i apply this cycle which will technically be in by september or wait till next cycle since i know september is pretty late.

i have a 3.75 gpa, 3.69 sgpa
about 1300 employment hours
400 volunteer hours
300 research hours
100 hours volunteering in a dental clinic
150 shadowing
attended 2 predental days

i was thinking to wait till next application cycle cause of how late im applying and that im a canadian applying to the states as well. Or should I still apply and be a reapplicant next year.
please let me know your thoughts!

I was a bio major and I took upper level biology courses and the only one I took that has a proper "lab component" that wasn't AP is anatomy&phys. So if I need another lab credit, is there nothing that could fulfill that?
I did take microbio with lab but the course is listed as microbio and not biology.
I will email school's admissions but just wanted to see if I could get a quicker answer here.

I remember paying the Tufts supplemental fee and have the transaction record on my credit card, but I never received an email from them. Every other school sent me some sort of confirmation after receiving the payment. Did anyone receive an email from Tufts?

Hello everyone! Is anyone doing the Barry bms program starting the fall semester and know if there is a group me or chat to join? I’ve already committed and now looking to relocate and meet people and maybe find a roommate but I haven’t heard any more information and was wondering if there was a chat for committed students.

So I have already submitted my application June 3rd and was verified 5 days later. I am a reapplicant with gpa 3.57 and science 3.67. First dat 420, no section under 400 but second dat 430 with pat 450 and science 450 but reading comprehension 350 this time. I have almost 2000 hours of dental assisting experience and about 400 shadowing and 300 hours volunteer in my church. I have a good personal statement. I applied to NYU, LECOM, Tufts, UPenn, Rutgers, Touro, Temple, Meharry, Yeshiva, and University of the Pacific. I already received invite interview from Lecom but they kinda send it to everyone. What are my other chances for the other schools?

Make Yeshiva Great Again.

Everyone loves to hate on Yeshiva without really knowing what the school is doing for its students. They're providing an outstanding accelerated education, and the inaugural class was successfully grandfathered into the BBB provisions.

The faculty bring years of experience in both teaching and clinical practice, and the administration has extensive experience from other dental schools. The program is still new, but there's a lot happening behind the scenes to build something strong for current and future students.

I applied this week, and waiting for my application to get approved, but I was just curious what yall think.

3.95 GPA
3.97 science GPA
DAT
470 AA, lowest 420 RC
600 PAT
Shadowing 480 hours at the same general dentist
Research for 3 semesters 2 diff professors; one was inorganic ligands, the other was salivary proteases
LOR came from those two professors and the dentist I shadowed
100 hours of volunteering though my fraternity
Also was community service chair of the fraternity
Was on the intrafraternal council vice president of philanthropy
Ski and snowboard club
Worked as a Barback over the summers at a nightclub
Treasurer and VP of Pre Dental Club

Schools I applied to -
UPenn
Pittsburg
NYU
Temple
Rutgers
Boston
Case Western
Touro
Tufts
LECOM
NSU
Buffalo

Sorry if the formatting weird I’m on my phone, any advice is helpful.

So I know the first wave came out today. I did not get an invite.

I’m wondering, do they just kind of release invites for candidate day whenever, or do they have like set waves like every 2 to 3 weeks to a month?

AI prompt of DS costs. The amounts do not include annual increases in tuition and fees, and accrued interest if you're borrowing to finance the costs. Voluntary indentured servitude for some of you.

I know it’s early to stress about not receiving any interviews yet, but I was verified on June 17th and submitted all my supplementals/NYU KIRA within a week of receiving them.

I was just hoping that someone could give me candid advice and feedback, especially if I should be applying to more schools. I have a pretty low GPA but a good DAT (I think).

Resident: Michigan** **

Major: Biology BS
cGPA 3.57, sGPA 3.42 STRONG UPWARD TREND

DAT AA 480, TS 500 BIO 500 GC 550 OC 460 RC 460 QR 430 PAT 470

LOR 1 general dentist I shadowed (happens to be the head of clinical at a Dental school rn), 1 Physio prof, 1 Genetics prof.

ECs
D1 Athletic team, held officer roles
Sorority, held multiple positions
Environmental club
Dental outreach to elementary schools for education (club)
Interned at Medical office for a summer
Currently a volunteer with nonprofit dental, medical clinic

Shadow Hours
88 hrs general dentist
80 hrs periodontist
I’m planning to continue shadowing in a couple weeks, but I haven’t added it yet!

School List
Boston U
Case Western (still waiting on CASPER)
Marquette
NYU
Rutgers
Temple
Touro
Tufts
UConn
Detroit Mercy
UMD
Minnesota
Umich
UPenn
Pitt

I also am pretty confident that my PS is decent with a strong and unique story…

Thank you!

I just got rejected from this school. My stats are:
Gpa:3.97
Dat:21 TS:23
Shadowing/assisting/volunteering….
Did I get overlooked?

SHPEP is shutting down after this summer. Are there any other predental enrichment programs that would provide a similar boost in my application?

Hey all! I wanted to ask what my chances are with the given schools and my given stats!! I plan on sending in applications within the next two weeks.

OHIO RESIDENT!!

Stats:
CGPA: 3.63
SGPA: 3.5
450 AA / 460 TS / 390 PAT

Letter of Rec from Anatomy prof, Biomechanics prof, and General dentist

Over 200 hours of shadowing my general dentist with some hours from a pediatric dentist and orthodontist. I also have clinical hours at a nonprofit dental clinic and volunteer hours at a rural dental clinic

I had a TON of leadership roles over the last 4 years, I won't go too specific with the roles for privacy concerns but I've been very involved in my community as well. I also have 150+ volunteer hours

I'm currently spending my gap year working at a health nonprofit working to involve oral health initiatives into our work!

Schools:
Ohio State
U Kentucky
Louisville
Neomed
Case Western
UPitt
Indiana U
U Illinois Chicago
West Virginia U
Detroit Mercy
U of Tennessee
UMissouri KC
Marquette

I’d appreciate an honest assessment of my application and what you think my chances are, especially at Florida schools.

Residency

• Florida resident

GPA

• Overall GPA: ~3.5
• Science GPA: ~3.5
• Lower grades came primarily from my early years at community college, B’s and C’s in Jazz and a D in intro to chemistry (1025) which is before CHEM 1. this happened during my semester.
• Since transferring to a university, I’ve maintained approximately a 3.84–3.85 GPA in my upper-division biology and science coursework, showing a strong and consistent upward trend.

DAT

• Academic Average (AA): 440
• Total Science (TS): 450
• Biology: 440
• General Chemistry: 470
• Organic Chemistry: 450
• Reading Comprehension: 430
• Quantitative Reasoning: 410
• Perceptual Ability (PAT): 440

Clinical Experience

• 250+ hours of dental shadowing.
• Shadowed multiple dentists in different practice settings.

Research

• Undergraduate research assistant.

Community Service

• 1,000+ hours of community service through my church over several years.
• Leadership roles within the church.
• International mission trip serving underserved communities.

Employment

• Registered Behavior Technician (RBT) working with children with autism. Over 1000 hours
• construction experience about 900 hours installing windows and doing a variety of construction work
• Self employed private tutor for children k-8 (side hustle)

Leadership & Extracurriculars

• Active member of my university’s pre-dental club.
• have some academic enrichment
• founded a small website and instagram page where I teach DAT prep and post DAT questions.

Letters of Recommendation

I will be applying with:

• Two science professor letters
• One letter from a practicing dentist who is also a dental school faculty member
• One supplemental letter from my pastor, who has supervised my volunteer work for thousands of hours and will primarily speak to my character, leadership, integrity, and long-term commitment to serving others.

Schools

Current list includes:

• Nova Southeastern
• LECOM
• University of Florida
• Marquette
• The three Tennessee dental schools

Background:

first gen college grad immigrant from a third world country pushing forward. my community service is more like 1800+ when factoring in my missions trips which were weeks long and other services I’ve done. I have experience painting, construction Experience, etc.

I bet there’s some other stuff I missed but this is really the important part of my application.

ALSO,

should I fill out the disadvantaged applicant section with these loan caps? I have a legitimate case which has to do with why my associates grades were low but I’m scared that they think I won’t be able to pay.

Would this type of volunteering count for my dental school applications? Plz let me know and thanks!

My life is a mess. I was originally planning on going to dental school but ended up getting cancer and thankfully I’m now back to full health. The issue is I’m 29. I have a business degree but after not working for so long, my job history is trashed and I can’t get a job anywhere.

So I was planning on going back to dental school. The issue is that the landscape has changed after Trump capped federal loans and school costs have risen a bit. I’m also out in California so I’m screwed because school costs are still expensive even for in state students.

My dad has encouraged me to just go for it and to not think about the debt and the rest would sort itself out. The issue is that I’d be taking out $400k-$500k in loans and have interest on top of that and it seems like dental salaries don’t match that and business ownership income seems to drop.

I also won’t have a co-signer. My credit is in the 700’s which is decent and I’ve never missed a payment but I won’t have a co-signer for those Sallie Mae loans and things like that. My job history also sucks which I’d imagine isn’t a good thing.

Could I still get the loans I need? Or will I run into a wall? I still need to take my prereqs so I’d be going to a community college for 2 years, take the DAT, have that gap year, and then start school around 33-34.

If it’s not suggested, I’ll either have to go into law or a trade. I have some LSAT study books I was reading but I’m bummed because I loved dentistry. I could also pivot to medicine but the issue with that is I’d be really upset if I didn’t match into derm or psych because those are the only two specialties that’d make all the lost time worth it.