Categories
AADSAS Application Advice Dental School Tips

First Wave of Dental School Acceptances are Out!

acceptanceThe day is finally here! December 2nd is the first Monday of December which means it is the day all dental schools begin sending out acceptances to applicants who interviewed. Congratulations to all who got into dental schools. Everything you have done over the past few years has been building up to this moment!

Those that have been extended acceptances have 30 days to reply to the school and place a deposit to reserve their spot. Most December deposits are $1,000 dollars and can be placed on multiple schools if unsure about which you want to attend. This allows you an extra few months to figure out the best school for you, both financially and educationally. Usually, the first deposit will hold your spot until March or April at which a secondary deposit will be required in order to maintain your status at the school.

If you have received an acceptance from a dental school but do not intend to go there it is important to let the school know ASAP. They have hundreds if not thousands of other applicants who would love to have that seat. Feel free to call or email the admissions office to let them know that you kindly would like to withdraw your application and thank them for considering you as a student at their school. This is VERY IMPORTANT. You DO NOT want to burn any bridges with any dental schools since the majority of them have specialty programs or faculty that may be friends! You never know what can happen! 

Time to relax! You are now a dental student and on your way to becoming a dentist! (Lucky for you!)

Here are a few reminders now that you are in:

  •  Maintain your grades! Don’t let senioritis kick in fully! Yes, you don’t have to get “A”‘s anymore, but they are still recommended if you want to keep that GPA up for graduation. You won’t be kicked out of dental school for receiving “B’s”. Some dental schools will accept C’s, others may reevaluate your acceptance if you receive a B- or lower. Spare yourself the heart ache and continue to succeed as you have managed for the past 4+ years.
  • Complete the classes you told the AADSAS application you were planning on taking. Your acceptance can be revoked if you do not complete those classes as your decision factored in your upcoming workload. At some schools your future coursework may not be a factor, but try not to change your schedule too dramatically. A few classes is completely acceptable and expected.

Meet your class mates! Visit The Student Doctor Network School Specific threads to chat with other students who have been accepted and join the facebook page for your class (ie. class of 2018). Many of the facebook pages have students or admissions personnel from the school that can help you with any specific questions such as housing tips.

Kick back, relax, and enjoy the rest of the year! You earned it! If you would like, let me know where you got in using Ask Elias!

acceptance wordle

If you have yet to hear from schools don’t worry! Most schools only fill half of their class by December 2nd. Keep working hard. Send an academic update through AADSAS if you have completed any recent courses. If you have one school that you interviewed at and would go to over all the rest, call the school and ask if they accept a letter of intent. Make sure you let the dental schools know you are still interested in their school and looking forward to an update on your status.

If you are preparing to reapply for the upcoming cycle, take a look at each component of your application and figure out how you can improve it. Take the time to improve every component of your application. Take advantage of resources as the blank AADSAS application document as you work to improve your application. If you would like me to take a look at your application and help you figure out what areas need attention feel free to submit your information on the Ask Elias page!

Categories
AADSAS Application Advice Dental School Portfolio Tips

How to Write a Personal Statement for Dental School

The AADSAS Dental School application prompt seems fairly straightforward at first, but can be difficult to answer in less than 4,500 characters (including spaces), roughly a page. The prompt for the past few years has been:

Your Personal Statement should address why you desire to pursue a dental education and how a dental degree contributes to your personal and professional goals.”

Writing a personal statement for dental school can be one of the most challenging tasks in preparation for the application process. It is highly advised to start early and have many revisions over a long period of time. Strategy is also a big part of having a strong personal statement that compliments an application. Many schools will request the completion of a secondary application which often includes a few short essays. It is important to have a variety of experiences brainstormed in advance so you have a better idea on how all your writing accent one another and add on to to your application’s uniqueness. For this reason, I recommend using the following categories to plan out your personal statement and brainstorm your secondary application topics.

  • Leadership
  • Shadowing/Assisting
  • Community Service
  • Manual Dexterity
  • Personal Interest (e.g. technology, music)

Create separate documents for each category and start listing all of your key experiences related to each group. After doing so, select several experiences from each category to further develop as possible experiences to use in a personal statement. Begin plotting out a basic outline and structure for your message. The goal of the personal statement is to emphasize your strengths without giving everything away. You don’t want secondary applications to seem dry and do not advance you as an applicant and future dental student. Address 2 or 3 of the following groups:

  • Talents and leadership
  • Commitment to something you care about
  • Shadowing/Assisting
  • Hardship

Using these groups ensures that your personal statement samples a variety of your characteristics that you feel make you a strong candidate for dental school. The personal statement should show what is important to you, why you want to be a dentist, and why you are a valuable addition to a dental class. Throughout your personal statement, discuss how and why your experiences have affected your decision to pursue dentistry.

Writing your first draft of a personal statement can be challenging. One of your priorities should be to have a strong opening paragraph that catches the readers interest. Members on the admissions council have thousands of statements to read and are not required to read each one in its entirety. The first paragraph decides if they will continue to review or put your application off to the side.

Often I get asked where to find examples of dental school personal statements, and while I have found various resources, I highly advise against reading any other dental personal statements until later in your writing process. I say this because reading other statements tends to make an applicant want to follow a similar structure to the statements reviewed. This is a problem because many of the freely available examples are used as templates by many pre-dental students and as a result are the most common structures. This can annoy admissions very quickly as there is no creativity to the personal statement when reading through hundreds of these in a few days. For this reason, I will not be supplying examples to read, including my own. However, I will discuss the content of my personal statement to some degree.

One of my first articles on this website, Why Dentistry?, had a writing exercise with an example of my answer to the question “Why Dentistry?”. While none of this writing exercise was used in my personal statement, it helped me first put my answer into words that others could understand. In the article I say,

This write up does not need to be perfect. The exercise is designed to “outline” what is important to your story and to help you stay on focus when telling your story to others. It is not meant to be memorized and regurgitated. Here are some key points of my story that together show my interest in dentistry:

  • I mentioned my interest working with my hands.
  • I looked into career choices and saw what appealed to me in dentistry
  • Experienced dentistry by shadowing
  • Took the initiative and started working as a dental assistant
  • Memorable experience that explains the joy dentistry gives me”

Don O. over at Inquarta did an excellent job writing strategy guides for a dental personal statement. I recommend his article “How to Write a Winning Dental School Personal Statement” prior to starting to write a draft of your statement. You can check out the rest of his dental school personal statement posts here. I used his post to better understand what the personal statement means to dental schools and what to focus on in writing a well developed paper.

While working on your personal statement, be sure to have others read it. People with a background in dentistry tend to give the best advice since they could relate to the content of your personal statement.  Keep in mind to keep all large edits in your own words. With plenty of writing in your secondary applications, admissions will be able to easily tell if your personal statement is actually written by you. If they differ, this may affect your applications integrity and possibly hinder an admissions decision.

Check out the Pre-Dental Student Doctor Network forums for FREE Personal Statement critiquing. Using this service will give you a good idea of how different people will react to your personal statement and to learn of your essay’s strengths and weaknesses and what changes to make accordingly. I would like to remind you to be courteous to these individuals and ask if they would like to review your personal statement before providing a copy. The thread for the last cycle was titled “Personal Statement Reviewing Service (2013-2014 Cycle)“, but is largely inactive now since the application cycle is coming to a close. Future reviewing services will be similarly titled and likely stickied at the top of the pre-dental forums.

If you have any questions during the process or would like to me review your personal statement, feel free to use the Ask Elias page! Good luck writing!

Categories
Advice Background Information Dental School Portfolio Tips

My Personal Letter of Recommendation Experience

Prior to asking for letters of recommendations, I had reviewed what to-do and not to-do in order to receive strong letters of recommendation and on time. You can find much of this information on my post All You Need to Know about Letters of Recommendations and in the Letter of Recommendation section of the FAQs. While religiously following the strategies I have learned, several of my letters of recommendation did not go as smoothly planned. Planning ahead provided a reassurance that the letters of recommendation would be completed on time expecially in these unexpected circumstances.

It is important to review the requirements of the dental schools you intend to apply to. Some dental schools may require a letter of recommendation from a specific individual like a (general) dentist, chemistry professor, biology professor, etc. Based on my selection of schools (and in most cases), it was best to have a letter of recommendation from a dentist, a biology professor, a physics/chemistry professor, and a principle investigator in my research lab. The research lab letter of recommendation is focused towards the research funded dental schools. A fifth letter of recommendation was requested by a specific school in order to meet their unique requirement.

The following is a breakdown of each letter and any unique circumstances/complications:

  • Dentist (Prosthodontist)
    • Requested from a specialist  that I have known and worked closely with for many years.
    • Least formal request (email) since I was hundreds of miles away.
    • A previous letter had been drafted for a job 3 years ago and letter was updated with further developed for dental school applications.
    • No documents requested (familiar with my experiences).
    • Conclusion: Close friends. Submitted on time no problems other than a identification verification with letter of recommendation storage service.
  • Biology
    • Requested from a Human Physiology professor in early January whom I have taken two classes with.
    • Asked through email for an appointment and summarized the appointment’s reason.
    • Dressed professionally with a suit and a portfolio of documents.
      • Professor commented on professionalism.
      • Declined any documents. Professor prefers to write letters of recommendation based on previous knowledge.
        • This was an unexpected. However, if I was writing a letter of recommendation, I would do the same.
    • Brief interview with professor about dentistry.
    • Letter of recommendation received within the time frame.
    • Conclusion: ALWAYS come professional and prepared. It can have a significant impact in situations just like this.
  • Physics
    • Requested from a mechanical physics professor in late December.
    • Personal interaction with professor.
    • Asked in person for a letter of recommendation after office hours and provided a portfolio.
    • Professor took a 6 month international vacation making it difficult to communicate.
    • Emailed a few reminders over 4 months and offered to ask another professor for a recommendation if she could no longer.
    • Letter completed in April.
    • Conclusion: In this case it really paid off to ask early. I would have been in trouble if I only asked 2 months in advance.
  • Research Principle Investigator
    • Requested from principle investigator from drug addiction research lab in May.
      • Waited until after several research events and awards in may.
    • Provided portfolio to compliment research achievements.
    • Principle investigator is also Dean of the Graduate School and is very busy.
    • Deadline of letter of recommendation near that of many research grants. As a result letter could not be completed on time.
    • Conclusion: Be weary of your letter writer’s schedule. They are busy people too and this can delay your application if not requested early enough.
  • Priest
    • Priest of nearly a decade. Served as an alter boy.
    • Requested a letter of recommendation and provided a resume.
    • Completed and received by dental school within 2 weeks!

 

As you can see from my experiences, no two situations were alike. Take some advice from my experiences and be sure to plan ahead, ask early, and come professional and prepared as if you are going to an interview for dental school. If you attend a large university, expect many other students to be asking for letters of recommendation. If you attend a research institution, professors are extremely busy managing time between lectures and research. In cases like these, be sure to give your letter writer as much time as you can. They will greatly appreciate it and write you a better letter.

Categories
DAT

The Dental Admissions Test (DAT) is Changing in 2014!

UPDATE (3/10/2014): New details have been summarized in More Details Emerge on the Upcoming Changes to the Dental Admissions Test (DAT) 

 

A recent publication by the ADA titled “DAT Newsletter – Volume 4” sheds light on several large changes to the DAT. The document states that these changes are expected to begin in 2014, less than 3 months away.

The ADA puts out a newsletter regarding policy changes for the DAT on, what seems to be, an annual basis. This newsletter summarizes the upcoming changes discussed by the DAT Committee since the last summary.  A past example of the DAT Newsletter from 2012 can still be accessed on the ADA website. Usually the newsletter consists of updated test taking policies and does not discuss changes to the content of the DAT. However, the DAT Newsletter for 2013 brings some interesting test subject changes alongside a few policy changes. A summary of the key changes can be found below.

2014

Biology test specifications will be changed for 2014. Biology survey courses have shifted to a systems approach (i.e., focusing on complex interactions within biological systems, rather than viewing biology in a reductionist manner), and thus the biology test specifications are being adjusted to conform to this holistic approach. The Examinee Guides will be reviewed and revised to ensure clarity.”

Based on this quote from the newsletter, we believe the biology section of the DAT will likely have less “random” factoids to commit to memory such as material from lower division biology courses covering the topics of  “Organism to Ecosystem”. It is expected that topics such as physiology are to become a larger focus on the DAT biology section. This change may make it more difficult for many students to take the DAT following their 2nd year (as currently advised) since only a handful of core biology courses have been taken alongside the general and organic chemistry classes.

When contacting the ADA regarding more clarity on the biology section changes, we received a canned response:

The Biology Test Construction Committee has some recommendations regarding changes in the test specifications, and they will be up for discussion and approval by the DAT Committee in early 2014. We will keep test takers posted as to when it will take effect.”

Our only advice at the moment to those planning on taking the DAT is to take several of the core upper division biology classes such as physiology and microbiology prior to taking the DAT. Preparing for the exam in early 2014 may be difficult due to a lack of new preparation material and a well rounded understanding of biology is a must to perform well in this case! Keep an eye peeled for an updated iteration of The Examinee Guide. It is also likely that other material on the ADA’s main DAT Information Page, such as the sample test, will be updated to provide more information regarding these changes.

 

2015

Quantitative Reasoning Test (QRT) specifications have been revised to eliminate the sections for numerical calculations, conversions, geometry, and trigonometry. Items will be added in the following areas: data analysis, interpretation, and sufficiency; quantitative comparison; and probability and statistics.”

This change has been rumored for a while and some preparation materials such as Math Destroyer have been adding tests with questions focused on the concepts listed above. The ADA explicitly states that “These changes will be implemented no sooner than 2015.” More information will be added regarding this change in the near future.
As more information becomes available, it will be posted on the DAT website

Source

Categories
Advice DAT Dental School Tips

Dental Admissions Test (DAT) Part 2 – Planning, Strategies, and Resources

Shortly after my exam, I started to receive multiple messages a day asking of how to best prepare for the DAT. The truth is, there is no right way to prepare. Each person has a unique background in the subjects tested and their own way of mastering them. With that said, it is important to research the many resources available to pre-dental students preparing for the DAT. It is best to plan out your strategy beforehand rather than exploring the resources as you prepare. Here are a few tips and resources I used to construct my own study schedule for the DAT:

  • IF POSSIBLE, give yourself at least 6-8 weeks of studying.
  • Understand, DON’T memorize!
    • The material may become overwhelming towards the end of your preparation and understanding the material will help you retain information or help select the best answer from the possible choices.
    • Understanding will significantly help in increasing your speed, a vital part of success on the DAT.
  • Create a schedule beforehand and plan out your attack!
    • Review your schedule of the day every morning and at the end of a session, review the next day’s goals.
    • Creating a schedule REALLY helps to keep you on target and focused on completing your day-to-day study goals.
  • Use a base structure like dentalWorks 8 Week Study Guide on Student Doctor Network for  your schedules foundation. Modify to fit the resources you are using!
  • Check out our DAT resources section on the Pre-Dental Ultimate Resources page for more useful resources such as practice questions.
  • Try to schedule your DAT as early as you feel comfortable. Having a definitive date really kicks motivation into high gear!

 

Since I am applying this year, I had limited time to prepare for the DAT. As a result, I used the sample schedule above and condensed it into a 4 week program, doing double the work per day. While it is possible, I DO NOT RECOMMEND doing this. The experience was extremely exhausting and in retrospect was risky.

 

To prepare for the DAT I used the following materials:

  • Chad’s Complete DAT Prep Videos, Notes & Quizzes (30 day subscription) – HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
    • Bio Videos (Incomplete)
      • As a biology major, these videos were extremely fundamental. I do not recommend them for people with strong biology backgrounds.
      • The videos have not been finished and as a result, only cover a fraction of the bio needed.
    • General Chemistry
      • Excellent! With only one run through, I understood a large portion of the material covered on the DAT. Notes are a great review tool and reference throughout studying.
    • Organic Chemistry
      • I am horrible at organic chemistry! These videos did not work the same as his general chemistry videos. Repeated review of the notes was a key aspect of understanding the material! Take great notes. Don’t be afraid to pause the videos to add more detail!
    • Qualitative Reasoning (Math)
      • I have a very strong background in math and I found these videos essential to improving my calculation speeds without using a calculator.
    • Angle Ranking Questions
      • Hundreds of questions. Most are only 3-4 degrees apart making them similar to the most challenging angle ranking questions that you will see on the DAT!
      • Formatting of the questions are poor and letter choices can be confusing from time to time.
  • DAT Destroyer – HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
    • DAT Destroyer does exactly what its name implies. It DESTROYS your DAT self esteem. With that said, the system works! It makes sure you don’t forget the subjects you have been painstakingly learning and expands upon them. Several of my DAT questions were extremely close to the questions in DAT Destroyer. To maximize the benefits of this resource, you should understand why every answer choice is right/wrong.
    • It is widely recommended that the book is reviewed in its entirety multiple times.
    • It is normal to get ~50% of the questions right the first time around.
  • Math Destroyer – HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
    • Contains difficult qualitative reasoning questions that cover the breadth of the section on the DAT. Mastering this book teaches you all the techniques you may need and exposes you to the type of questions to expect.
    • I was skeptical about buying Math Destroyer with a strong understanding of math.
    •  It is very difficult to finish within the time allotment on the DAT (45 minutes). I finished the QR section on the DAT in 30 minutes and had 15 minutes to go over my answers. The DAT had many similar questions to the MATH Destroyer which really helps out.
    • It’s the last section of the DAT and your adrenaline starts pumping like crazy which can make it hard to focus knowing your score is on the next screen.
  • Glimmer1991’s Ultimate Breakdown Collection – HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
    • An excellent resource that brings together many of StudentDoctorNetwork’s finest DAT preparation content.
    • Excellent bio guides, PAT tutorials, strategies, and answer sheets for DAT Destroyer.
    • Excellent compilation of DAT breakdowns for hundreds of members.
  • DAT Kaplan Blue Book (in-book and online practice tests)
    • Decent all-in-one DAT resource. PAT section does not hold up to the difficulty of the DAT. Provides decent practice tests with full explanations. The online tests closely replicate the real DAT, even includes the tutorial!
  • Cliffs AP Biology
    • Great reference guide for the breadth of the biology section on the DAT.
  • ADA 2007 Practice Exam – HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
    • Easy, but free, practice exam by the ADA. A great first practice test midway through your preparation!
  • NEW (2018) ADA Practice Test and Practice Modules – HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
    • Candidate will have 24 hours to complete the testing module from the time of purchase.
    • Individual modules are identical to the modules included in the Full Practice Test, except that there are two additional modules provided for the Perceptual Ability Test that are not in the Full Practice Test.
    • $20 per Module – Individual Modules
      • Biology 101 (40 items)
      • Organic Chemistry 101 (30 items)
      • General Chemistry 101 (30 items)
      • Reading Comprehension 101 (25 items)
      • Perceptual Ability 101 (30 items)
      • Perceptual Ability 102 (30 items) – NOT INCLUDED IN FULL SET
      • Perceptual Ability 103 (30 items) – NOT INCLUDED IN FULL SET
      • Quantitative Reasoning 101 (40 items)
    • $100 – Full Practice Set
      • Biology 101
      • Organic Chemistry 101
      • General Chemistry 101
      • Reading Comprehension 101
      • Perceptual Ability 101
      • Quantitative Reasoning 101
      • 3 hours and 5 minutes, divided into timed sections to simulate the actual test
    • The number of correct answers will be reported upon completion. Scores will not be provided.
    • I recommend ordering the Full Practice Set & Perceptual Ability 102 + 103
  • RETIRED – “ADA 2009 Practice Exam” – HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
    • A practice exam by the ADA that comes in a print or computerized form.
    • I highly recommend the print version as the computerized one does not let you review your mistakes, but only shows your scores.
    • Please make sure to order ahead of time as the test must be shipped.
      • Exam costs $27 dollars + $8 dollar shipping.
    • Test contains several mistakes, however a corrections packet should come along with the exam.
    • This is as real as it gets! This should be one of the last practice tests you take.
  • DAT Bootcamp – HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
    • High quality timed practice questions.
    • Focuses on key concepts and targets commonly misunderstood material.
    • Used when DAT Bootcamp only had 1 test ready. Now contains 5 tests per section.
    • A current 3 month subscirption costs $97 dollars.
  • Crack DAT PAT – HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
    • 5 or 10 practice PAT tests that are great for developing strategy and an eye for the section. Can significantly improve one’s score. I ordered the 10 test version, but only completed half of the tests before my DAT.
    • 5 test version costs $99. 10 test version is $129.
    • Great simulation of the testing environment.
    • Comes with demos of other DAT section material. Be sure to try out the reading comprehension demo!
  • TopScore DAT (3 Test) – RECOMMENDED
    • I found the biology and qualitative reasoning sections to be more difficult than the actual DAT.
    • PAT section is worthless after the first test. The other two tests are variations of the same questions and are no longer a challenge.
    • Includes several DAT guides including strategies and a prep checklist.
    • Surprisingly accurate on predicting actual DAT Score.
    • Order it in advance! While it is a digital download, keys are manually provided and only provided during business hours.
      • 3 test version costs $59.95.
  • RETIRED “ADA OAT Practice Test” – HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
    • A free and recently updated exam produced by the ADA for the OAT. Since the exam is also made by the ADA, its Survey of the Natural Sciences, Reading Comprehension, and Quantitative Reasoning sections are identical to the DAT.
  • NEW (2018) OAT Practice Test and Practice Modules
    • Similar in design & cost to the new DAT practice test. May contain identical questions (unknown).

 

Other Popular Resources:

  • Kaplan DAT Prep Course
    •  Focuses on building a foundation for all topics. A great resource for non-science background pre-dental students.
    • Great for those who need a set study schedule.
  • DAT Achiever – RECOMMENDED
    • Advanced topic tests that are preferred by high scoring pre-dental students.
    • A great resource to review if you have extra time.
    • PAT section is considered one of the most accurate representations of the DAT.
    • Up to 7 tests depending on price plan ($69.99-139.99)

 

Please understand that this is just a review of study material I and many others have used. No one has to follow it 100%, there is no guarantee that you will score a high or low score by following it.