Post-Acceptance Thus Far

Over my winter break, I re-visited UIC just to get one more look around. I keep forgetting that I will be 40 minutes from home instead of 3 hours. I actually had decided upon UIC before the second visit, but I still wanted to see it again, as well as personally turn in my deposit (not too keen on the postal service).

I was accepted December 1st, and turned in my deposit January 4th – about 10 days prior to the deadline. I sent emails out to the other schools letting them know they could offer my spot to other applicants. Shortly after, I received an email from UIC telling me about the next step: Housing and financial aid.

I must admit, I have been fortunate enough to have my parents pay for undergrad so I have no debt as of now. Obviously they won’t be fronting the dental school bill, nor would I expect them to – so I am preparing to go into debt. I really have no clue how to go about getting aid/student loans so this will be an overdue learning process about financial issues I didn’t have to bother with before now. UIC has a March 1st, deadline for filing FAFSA and I just finished it up a few days ago. It was a pain because they require parental information so I had to go over everything via the phone with my dad. Since all my tax info goes to home still, he took care of my end as well. FAFSA never gives us anything so I don’t expect things to change. Just another step to go over so that UIC will give me some options.

I am very relieved about the housing situation. My parents made it clear that they were considering buying a condo probably about a year ago. If I was accepted to UIC and chose to attend; than they would have even more incentive to buy. Real-estate in Chicago is phenomenal right now. Even around the UIC campus, condos and apartments are just sprouting up all year long. So through various friends and other connections, my parents have located a condo that they really liked and have pretty much locked it down. We haven’t worked out rent and all that crap, but I am definitely relieved to not have to deal with looking for a place to live. Owing money to parents is less intimidating than owing money to strangers. Than after school, if I do a residency in Chicago I can stay put, or if I go into practice elsewhere, they can rent out to someone else, or sell for a nice profit over 4-years of built equity.

It is a 2-bedroom condo and is only about 6 blocks from the school, so I’ll probably walk most of the time which is fantastic. The neighborhood is nice so I hopefully won’t get robbed or shot. It is fairly close to Taylor Street which apparently has some nice bars/restaurants. I’ve been to Chicago plenty, but I’ve never LIVED in Chicago, so I can’t wait to actually know where things are and be able to take family and friends to cool places that I discover over the next few years. So now the only thing left to do with housing is to get furniture, I don’t have much of my own but I’m sure I’ll be able to scrounge up some decent stuff.

So housing is pretty much solved, FAFSA is in, I’m supposed to hear from UIC about financial aid in the near future, so paying for everything is really the next big stage in this 5 month preparation process. Most of my peers are still hunting for living arrangements…I AM SO GLAD to have that settled so early. Once I get settled in, I may find a roommate to help pay the rent, but I decided a year ago that I really need to live by myself for awhile. Quite frankly, I am tired of having roommates.

Five months feels like a really long time…

The College Years (4)

I can’t even count the number of times I have heard future dental students ask “what kind of grades should I maintain to stay in.” I think a good rule of thumb is to keep hitting at least B’s, although I doubt a few C’s really will make a difference (unless you already had a crap GPA). I personally am not getting lazy at all; this is the last chance we will have to perfect our study habits before entering the real deal. Summer break will provide ample time to relax. Again though, the main goal is to finish your degree. Don’t assume everything is in order, check with the registrar. Make sure there are no loopholes that you somehow missed that will end up screwing you.

Lastly, enjoy these last months while you can, the magical realm of undergrad will soon be over forever. I personally got bored with this lifestyle by the end of last year…so I could care less and am ready to move on to the next phase. I bet I’ll be bitching come next fall though!

Well that is all I have to say seeing as I’m still in my fourth year, nothing left to go off of. This post also concludes my “pre-dental tutorial.” Future posts will be more present and based off of what I am currently experiencing or any other topic I feel like discussing. Since I am not starting school for another 5 months, I probably won’t have much to say.

Go…..play.

Choosing a School

Obviously you should be thrilled having just one acceptance, but the ultimate goal is to have a choice between great schools. Yea this will also add a new stress - choosing. Once again, you are liable to find many varying opinions on how to choose. The only real advice is to figure this out on your own.

Bring up the wordprocessor, use excel, write on paper, ect. Put down the pros and cons of every school. Some examples include tuition, class size, match-rate, board scores, location, ect. Figure out what you want.

I got into three schools and the choice was not simple. In the end, UIC simply was the best choice for me. I like having every specialty in house. I went to undergrad in a very rural area..so a move to the city (and closer to home) felt right. Oh yea, in-state tuition is also a major plus. If I had gone out of state, I would have essentially doubled my debt. I know everyone thinks dentists make a lot of bling. Let me ask you this, how many 27 year old dentists do you know? Most of them are not running private practices that is for sure, so even clearing 100k out of school is unlikely for freshly minted docs. It takes a few years to really get root into a community. But I digress...

You usually have a good month or so before that first deposit is due. I would not recommend laying down more than one because the choice does not get any easier by delaying it. You can't get that money back either.

GOOD LUCK!

The Application Process – Part III, Interviews and December 1st

A lot of debate has gone into exactly what purpose the interview serves. Some schools evaluate their candidates and ‘score’ them based on the interview. However, each and every one of my interviews was non-confrontational. I have no idea how they evaluated me when I was just chatting away with the interviewer about all kinds of things.

Your typical interview will involve an introduction, the actual interview(s), and a tour of the school. Be prepared to spend a few hours at the school (or entire day in some cases). Don’t wear crappy clothes, you need to look nice. Trust me, I am not one to care about fashion, or how the hell people think I look, but this is a time when you need to bite the bullet, get a hair-cut, shave, and all that jazz. Most dental schools are run by conservative, old-school dentists that don’t care for grungy hippies.

I really don’t have advice on how to interview – aside from getting a little practice beforehand and researching the school. Have some questions ready to ask, and make them genuine and interesting. There is no way the website answered any and every question you may have had. Just be a sociable person and don’t let your nerves screw you up. Everyone will be nervous for that first interview, but nobody should let that ruin the day. Try to take control of the interview whenever you are provided with an opportunity. “Tell me about yourself” essentially lets you lead to the interviewer to what you want him to hear. Relax and have a conversation.

Now for the tour, just have questions for the students. They will give you honest and often candid responses about pretty much anything you ask. Figure out what is important to you at the school – match-rates, clinical exposure, research, ect. Ask questions while you are there in the flesh, you won’t get this opportunity again.

Ok so hopefully you had 3 or so interviews prior to December 1st – the official day schools can begin offering admissions. For those of you who interviewed in September/October, this is a horrible wait. Just wrap yourself up in that last year of undergrad, and try not to think about it. If you had multiple interviews, the odds are definitely in your favor.

Don’t worry if you don’t hear immediately, some schools are slow. However, most of them will tell you if you can muster the courage to call them up. The application cycle does not end with December though, most schools interview well into March and even April.

There is plenty more for you to research on your own about the application cycle, I have only briefly touched on the major points. I will eventually post about choosing a school to attend. If you have been a diligent student, and really put a great app. together, you most likely will have choice.

I was quite pleased with the overall success of my application. Hard-work and perseverance pay off. Now that you have jumped through all the hoops, you can kick back and enjoy that final year of care-free undergraduate life. Of course, dental school will present a new series of challenges that I can only begin to imagine.

Good luck to all future applicants. The relief of acceptance is truly a grand experience.

The Application Process – Part II, AADSAS at your service

So it is now mid-may. You have interviewed with the committee, they have collected all required materials so that they can write you an evaluation. They usually won’t churn it out until june/july, so be prepared to wait – do not fret, your application will not be held up.

AADSAS is the company that you MUST go through to apply to dental school (aside from a few schools – most of them in texas). I don’t even remember what it stands for and am too lazy to look. You will figure this crap out anyway. Regardless, mid-may marks the official beginning of the application cycle. Once AADSAS opens the new cycle, you can create an account with them online, and you will be presented with an online application.

While I must admit that AADSAS does a decent job organizing the various application materials, I still am amazed at how much money they want. There are various folders regarding different aspects of your application. Research, general background, DAT scores (you will already have official scores sent to schools at this point), leadership positions, ectera. Basically, you are repeating your CV in a segmented format. You also are going to put your personal statement on AADSAS. They do have a character limit, so you may have to edit your original letter – about one page single-spaced will still fit. You might also notice a folder for LORs. Fortunately, most committees will not send the letter to AADSAS, but directly to the schools for you. I prefer this, as AADSAS has a tendency to lose things.

Ok, so you have filled everything out, now you have to designate schools. Where should you apply? How many schools? No right answer here. It really depends on you. Don’t apply somewhere you know you wouldn’t be happy living for four years. Don’t apply to Ivy League schools unless you have research experience and highly competitive stats. Don’t apply to public schools that have a reputation for only accepting state-residents (unless of course, you happen to be a resident). Figure this out before AADSAS opens up. I personally applied to 7 schools and that was plenty for me. I believe the average is somewhere around 10.

Ok so now you have CAREFULLY proofread every little thing AADSAS wants submitted. You have designated schools, and have put down some cash. I had to cough up 550 for 7 schools. Now hopefully your school will have final grades finished before June so you can get your transcripts sent to AADSAS – yes they require them. This was my first real bump in the road. My school gets out later than most, and I didn’t have transcripts mailed until mid June. You will also note that AADSAS has a ridiculous turnaround time for posting updates such as “transcript received.” It took about a month, and three additional mailings for them to actually post that they had my transcripts. After that, it took about 3 weeks for them to calculate my GPA by their standards. If your school uses +/-, your GPA shouldn’t change too much. Your GPA gets broken down into two subtypes: Science GPA and Cumulative GPA. Both of these numbers most likely are the first thing that Adcoms will be looking at. Your DAT score takes a close second.

AADSAS is pretty self-explanatory and I’m not really here to provide a walkthrough. I am more or less warning you all that things will go VERY SLOWLY. Don’t freak out either, because most schools will not even consider applications until late August. I had my AADSAS app submitted June 7th, transcript verified sometime in July, and the application was sent out to my schools on August 4th. Essentially the entire summer. Be patient, but not complacent. If I hadn’t checked up on my transcripts, they may never have been posted as I had to send additional copies. Don’t freak out when you hear all your friends getting interview invites in July, they have applied to the select schools that review very early (Case comes to mind).

Now once AADSAS sends everything off, wait a week or so, and contact EVERY school you applied to and make sure that the application, committee letter, and DAT scores have arrived. Most schools will not bother to tell if something never showed up until it is very late in the application process. So follow-up.

You now should start receiving secondary forms/interview invites late august—October (and beyond). If you are competitive, you should hopefully get a few interviews before October. If the school requires a secondary application, get it done ASAP, your application will get held up until you finish. Oh and did I mention application fees? Yea, every school will want those too – prices vary (all of mine were from 20-60$). Some schools want a photo too; just send everything they need as soon as they ask. DO NOT PROCRASTINATE. You will note that the most commonly prescribed advice to applicants is to APPLY EARLY and get everything in fast.

Be patient, the summer months are grueling and boring because you are suspended in some vortex and most likely very anxious to see if you get those interviews. Save your strength, the most painful waiting games have not yet begun.

Interviews up next!

The Application Process - Part I, the final preparations

You’ve made it this far, now prepare for the ultimate test in patience, humility, frustration, and anger-management. The application process is not something you will want to repeat, so hopefully you have been slowly building a very solid application as opposed to sloppily slapping one together this last semester. This post will be geared towards schools with a pre-professional committee. These committees write a composite LOR so you need not worry about mailing millions of copies from all your separate letter writers. I’ll explain details momentarily.

Now, you have just taken the DAT. Ideally you scored no less than 18 in any section as many schools have cutoffs around there. Obviously the higher, the better, but don’t let people with higher scores make you think that 18s are no good. Assuming you are solid everywhere, 18s WILL get you into a school. Still, if you think you could hit 20+, you have plenty of time to retake, go nuts – which is another great reason to take it before you start applying.

The aforementioned committee will require several things: first, your curricula vitae (CV) which is pretty much an academic/e.c. resume. You will list your GPA, any extra curricular activities you are involved in, your volunteer service, job experience, shadowing, and so forth.

The committee will also want a copy of your personal statement (which you hopefully have been working on for a few months…DO NOT RUSH IT). I had my PS revised about 18 times before submitting the final copy. Have it read by English majors, your family, friends, hobos on the street, GET FEEDBACK. What sounds great to you may sound horribly contrived and arrogant to someone else.

Remember those LORs? The committee will require every letter and will assimilate them into a single composite letter that pretty much every dental school will accept in lieu of separate LORs.

My committee also requests a ‘vision statement’ which pretty much had me predicting my own future. However, I have not heard of other school’s requiring this. All of the above items will have deadlines that your advisor should have told you about. If not, be proactive and figure out when things need to be done so that you don’t have to rush.

So throughout your spring semester, you will undoubtedly have to interview with members of the pre-professional committee at your school. I personally had two interviews: the first was about 20 minutes, one on one; the second was the same length but two on one. I went to a small school, so I was familiar with two of the three interviewers (which probably made things less stressful). These interviews are meant to assess your competence, genuine interest, and practicality regarding your chosen career path. Prepare to address issues that will most likely come up during dental school interviews such as: Tell me about yourself? Why dentistry? How are you unique? What would you do if dentists were no longer needed? Tell me about a time in which you had to overcome adversity. I could go on and on. Do some additional interview research and you will get the idea.

Fortunately, my pre-health advisor has her students practice in mock interviews prior to any official business. I would recommend practicing at least once before going into any committee interviews.

So why go through the committee? Well, first off, they conveniently condense your separate LORs into a single composite letter which will make your postal tasks a mite easier. Secondly, most schools really prefer that composite letter and look favorably upon applicants who have the letter sent. The committee is also less biased than individual LORs, and in fact, will not recommend an applicant for professional school if they have poor grades, interview horribly, ect. You will have the option of signing away your rights to read the letter as well – which I would recommend doing. Schools will put little emphasis on a letter they know the applicant has read to make sure everything is flowers and butterflies. They want facts, unbiased facts – untampered by YOU.

Scared yet? Hah, no reason, if you have been a good student, done even a little reading about dentistry, gotten good LORs, the committee will not put you to the flame. Just please, for the love of god, don’t go into an interview knowing little-nothing about dentistry. Yea your knowledge will be understandably limited, but there is no reason to not put forth some effort. Read some journals, keep up to date on health breakthroughs, and know something recent. Just basics, there are plenty of health-related websites meant for the common public. Get going.

I could rant on and on about this but there is no need to lecture. Note that I am not trying to intimidate anyone either, I have simply seen so many of peers completely broadsided by the gravity of applying to professional school. Notice how every freshmen you meet is ‘pre-med?’ How many are still in that boat at this point?

The entire application process- including all your prior preparation is one giant weed-out fest. It requires jumping through hoop after hoop to see who wants it most. Eventually, these hoops get set on fire, further increasing their difficulty to cross. If you have the drive, you will make it to the end – which in fact, is just another beginning.

Up next, AADSAS, your new best friend/worst enemy.

The Dreaded DAT

So your junior year is going smoothly; you’ve just finished your fall semester. The time is now, prepare to become a hermit for the next few months. Only make time for the most fundamental and rudimentary tasks like eating and sleeping. Yea, I’m exaggerating a little, but this test will require a great deal of preparation.

There is much debate over WHEN to take the test. Some argue to take it the summer before junior year; others profess to take it after junior year. I however believe that taking the test during your spring semester is the best time. I support this mainly because it is the ultimate test in time-managing skills. If you can handle a full course load, get good grades, AND ace the DAT – than you might actually be doing yourself a favor. Dental school is going to be intense; forcing yourself into a difficult semester should better prepare you as well as give you a great ‘plus’ to talk about during interviews.

The DAT is a test composed of four primary batteries. The Natural Science (40 bio, 30 genchem, 30 ochem). The Perceptual Abilities Test (PAT) which consists of 90 questions (15 are experimental and will not count but you will never know which these are). The Reading Comprehension (RC) which consists of 50 questions; and finally, the Quantitative Reasoning (QR) section which consists of 40 questions.

Having taken both the MCAT (practices only) and DAT, I can safely assure you that they are not similar. The MCAT requires critical thinking and less memorization while the DAT is the complete opposite. This is good for some, bad for others. Combining study materials is not recommended. In case you were wondering, I was never pre-med, my school just preps the DAT kids with a few MCATs at first (Not really sure why).

I’m not going to walkthrough how to study every section because every person excels and stumbles differently. Here are the essential keys:

Give yourself a minimum of three months to prepare. This way you won’t have to try cramming 10 hours a day.

Speaking of cramming; don’t. Study in short bursts (40 mins) and take a 20 minute break. Do this over the course of the entire day. Sorry, looks like you will have to skip out on a social life for now.

Take a review course if possible

Study EVERY day, including weekends.

Eat/drink something that will keep you going. I personally used sippin’ whiskey for those long nights of chemistry review. Obviously you don’t want to get buzzed, just a little kick to stay alert.

Prepare to make social sacrifices; you do not want to retake this crap.

The PAT is easiest section to get better at; people only do poorly because they don’t practice enough – not because they can’t “see it.”

Get your hands on practice tests: Kaplan, Topscore, DAT Achiever, DAT destroyer, Barons, ect. I had about 10. Space these tests out over the next three months to help gauge your progress.

REVIEW those tests and see WHY you got problems wrong

Figure out what works best for you as far as study methods go

Here is a link of my own DAT experience that is a bit more detailed than this post:
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=276023

GOOD LUCK!!!