1 Profiles of Accepted Dental School Applicants from one application year at UMBC The PreMedical and PreDental Advising Office, University Center 116 PreMedical PreDental PreOptometry PrePodiatry PreVeterinary www.umbc.edu/premed; Health Professions Advising Coordinator, Ms. Botdorf, botdorf@umbc.edu This handout is a tool to help students critically analyze their individual competitiveness for admission to dental schools. Readers will gain an appreciation for each of these students, what makes them special, and why they got admitted to dental school. Many factors influence the admissions decisions of dental schools. These profiles include all experiences from first-semester freshman year up to and including the Spring semester that preceded submission of the AADSAS application. DAT Score abbreviations: Academic Average (AVG), Perceptual Ability (PAT), Quantitative Reasoning (QRT), Reading Comprehension (RCT), Biology (Bio), General Chemistry (Gen), Organic Chemistry (Org), Total Science (SNS) Student A: Science GPA: 3.70 Cumulative: 3.76 DAT Scores: 18 AVG, 17 PAT, 18 QRT, 19 RCT, 16 Bio, 18 Gen, 18 Org, 17 SNS Private tutor, 1 semester Leadership position, community organization, 5 semesters Member, UMBC organization, 3 semesters 175 hours of dental related shadowing Applied to 20 schools, 1 acceptance Special circumstances: Extraordinary life circumstances, International student (completed Bachelor s degree and all dental school prerequisites in the United States), first-generation college student, transfer student, served in the military for two years, attended an English language center for one year, and extensive foreign travels. Student B: Science GPA: 3.24 Cumulative GPA: 3.55 DAT Scores: 19 AVG, 22 PAT, 19 QRT, 15 RCT, 20 Bio, 20 Gen, 22 Org, 20 SNS Leadership position, community organization, 8 semesters Leadership position, community organization, 8 semesters Leadership position, community organization, 8 semesters
2 Leadership position, community organization, 5 semesters Leadership position, community organization, 2 semesters 75 hours of community service 150 hours of dental related shadowing Worked a part-time job for 20 hours per week throughout entire college career; 40 hours during the summer and winter breaks Applied to 4 schools, 1 acceptance Special circumstances: First-generation college student Student C: Science GPA: 3.13 Cumulative GPA: 3.43 DAT Scores: 18 AVG, 19 PAT, 16 QRT, 19 RCT, 18 Bio, 19 Gen, 18 Org, 18 SNS Founder and Leader, community organization, 8 semesters Member, community organization, 5 semesters Founder and Leader, UMBC organization, 2 semesters Leadership position, UMBC organization, 2 semesters 35 hours of community service 250 hours of dental related shadowing Applied to 15 schools, 1 acceptance Special circumstances: First-generation college student, transfer student, overcame personal crisis within six months of submitting application Student D: Science GPA: 3.20 Cumulative GPA: 3.39 DAT Scores: 20 AVG, 18 PAT, 17 QRT, 21 RCT, 19 Bio, 21 Gen, 20 Org, 20 SNS Honors College member 2 semesters of research (1 publication) Leadership position, UMBC organization, 2 semesters 70 hours of community service 60 hours of dental related shadowing Applied to 8 schools, 2 acceptances Student E: Science GPA: 3.73 Cumulative GPA: 3.83 DAT Scores: 21 AVG, 22 PAT, 22 QRT, 20 RCT, 19 Bio, 23 Gen, 23 Org, 21 SNS Meyerhoff Scholar 8 semesters of research (2 publications)
3 Founder and Leader, UMBC organization, 8 semesters 110 hours of community service 580 hours of dental related shadowing Applied to 12 schools, 3 acceptances Special circumstances: First-generation college student, applied during senior year Student F: Science GPA: 4.0 Cumulative GPA: 4.0 DAT Scores: 19 AVG, 18 PAT, 18 QRT, 19 RCT, 18 Bio, 20 Gen, 22 Org, 20 SNS Phi Beta Kappa UMBC tutor, 3 semesters Leadership position, community organization, 1 semester Leadership position, community organization, 1 semester Member, community organization, 3 semesters 32 hours of community service 240 hours of dental related shadowing Worked a part-time job for 5 hours per week throughout entire college career Applied to 2 schools, 1 acceptance Special circumstances: Applied during senior year Student G: Science GPA: 3.94 Cumulative GPA: 3.93 DAT Scores: 20 AVG, 18 PAT, 16 QRT, 17 RCT, 19 Bio, 22 Gen, 24 Org, 22 SNS 4 semesters of research UMBC tutor, 2 semesters Leadership position, community organization, 3 semesters Leadership position, community organization, 1 semester Leadership position, UMBC organization, 2 semesters 90 hours of community service 120 hours of dental related shadowing Worked a part-time job in a healthcare setting for 20 hours per week throughout entire college career Applied to 7 schools, 1 acceptance
4 Student H: Science GPA: 3.93 Cumulative GPA: 3.97 DAT Scores: 23 AVG, 22 PAT, 20 QRT, 23 RCT, 24 Bio, 27 Gen, 23 Org, 25 SNS Full scholarship to UMBC 1 semester of research UMBC tutor, 2 semesters Private tutor, 1 semester Leadership position, community organization, 2 semesters Member, community organization, 5 semesters Student H continued: 420 hours of community service 525 hours of dental related shadowing Applied to 5 schools, 1 acceptance Special circumstances: Completed two Bachelor s degrees Student I: Science GPA: 3.38 Cumulative GPA: 3.54 DAT Scores: 18 AVG, 23 PAT, 16 QRT, 18 RCT, 20 Bio, 19 Gen, 19 Org, 19 SNS UMBC Teaching Assistant, 1 semester Member, UMBC organization, 5 semesters 160 hours of community service 540 hours of dental related shadowing Worked a part-time job for 20 hours per week for two semesters Applied to 8 schools, 1 acceptance
Definitions: PB=Post-baccalaureate program GR=Graduate school GPA=Grade Point Average Cumulative GPA=The calculated grade point average of all collegiate coursework taken at either the undergraduate, post-baccalaureate, or graduate level, with any repeated courses averaged. Science GPA=The calculated grade point average of all Biology, Chemistry and Physics (BCP) courses taken at either the undergraduate, post-baccalaureate, or graduate level, with any repeated courses averaged. All applicants are US citizens or permanent residents, unless otherwise noted. If an applicant designated themselves as Disadvantaged or as an Underrepresented in Medicine/Underrepresented Minority on their AADSAS application, then it would be noted under Special Circumstances for the appropriate profile. Disadvantaged= The AADSAS application asks applicants if they want to be considered as Disadvantaged, realizing that some students may have overcome educational, social, or economic obstacles throughout their lives. Disadvantaged status is self-determined and each dental school has their own policies for how they use this information. To help determine if you are disadvantaged, please read the notations below: Underserved: Do you believe, based on your own experiences that the area in which you spent the majority of your life from birth to age eighteen was medically/dentally underserved? Government Assistance: Have you or your immediate family ever used federal or state assistance programs? What was the income level of your family during the majority of your life from birth to age eighteen? Did you have paid employment prior to age eighteen? Were you able to contribute to the overall family income (as opposed to working primarily for your own discretionary spending money)? How many people lived in your primary household during the majority of your life from birth to age eighteen? The aforementioned federal and state programs are specifically defined as "Means-Tested Programs" under which the individual, family, or household income and assets must be below specified thresholds. The sponsoring agencies then provide cash and non-cash assistance to eligible individuals, families, or households. Such programs include welfare benefit programs (federal, state, and local); Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC or ADC); unemployment compensation; General Assistance (GA); food stamps; Supplemental Security Income (SSI); Medicaid; housing assistance; or other federal, state, or local financial assistance programs. The Federal Government broadly defines "immediate family" as "spouse, parent, child, sibling, mother or father-in-law, son or daughter-in-law, or sister or brother-in-law, including step and adoptive relationships. 5
Education Funding Sources: How have you paid or did you pay for your postsecondary education? For each of the applicable options, indicated the average percentage contribution toward your post-secondary education. Did you graduate from a high school from which a low percentage of seniors graduated, or a low percentage of students went to college? Did the high school you attended have many students eligible for free or reduced price lunches? Provide any additional information about your background that can help clarify your disadvantaged student status (limit answer to 4500 characters). URM=Underrepresented in Medicine/Dentistry. For clarity, the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) definition of underrepresented in medicine (URM) is also being used here: Underrepresented in medicine means those racial and ethnic populations that are underrepresented in the medical profession relative to their numbers in the general population. http://www.aamc.org/meded/urm/start.htm Many dental schools want to know more about your background and ask you to indicate if you consider yourself to be of Hispanic origin. AADSAS also asks you to select the racial classifications that you use to describe yourself. Within some categories of race, you are also asked to specify your ethnicity (e.g., Asian Indian, Cambodian, Chinese, etc.). Consider these AADSAS definitions when selecting your ethnicity and race: Hispanic or Latino: A person of Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican, South or Central American, or other Spanish culture or origin, regardless of race American Indian or Alaska Native: A person having origins in any of the original peoples of North and South America (including Central America) who maintains cultural identification through tribal affiliation or community attachment Asian: A person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian Subcontinent, including, for example, Cambodia, China, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippine Islands, Thailand, and Vietnam Black or African American: A person having origins in any of the black racial groups of Africa Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander: A person having origins in any of the original peoples of Hawaii, Guam, Samoa, or other Pacific Islands White: A person having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa 6