WAMC: Weak volunteering experience and CC student

[spicyturtleneck]

Date of submission: Planning on applying this cycle
Overall GPA: 3.95
Science GPA: 4.0
Bio-Chem-Physics GPA: Not quite sure yet, I'm still taking physics and biochem but it's a 4.0 as of right now
DAT score (include AA and all sections): AA 22/ TS 21/ PAT 21/ OC 22/ GC 20/ BIO 22/ RC 30/ QR 18
State of Residence: Maryland

Major: Biological Sciences at CC, Microbiology at 4-year
Minor: N/A
Minority? No (Asian)
Reapplicant? No
Nontrad? No, I'm a junior

Shadowing Experience: will have 134 at multiple offices (general, perio, ortho, and endo) by the end of winter break, hoping to get at least 150 before I start to apply
Volunteering Experience: >50, but I've been trying to look for more opportunities
Employment: dental assisting for 3 years (30 hours/week in the summers and during breaks), Learning assistant (6 hours/week) for a semester
Research: ~180 hours of research in a paid internship with the ADA and a semester long CAPSTONE project (not sure if it counts since I got a grade for it)
Other Extracurriculars: American Chemical Society (founding president at cc), Honors Student Association (secretary at cc), predental society (at 4 yr), and cultural societies (also at 4 yr)
Relevant Honors or Awards: Dean's list every semester >3.5 GPA, multiple merit based scholarships, part of an honors program at cc, Phi Theta Kappa
LOR type and strength: chem professor @ cc (strong), dentist I worked for (fairly strong to strong), history professor (fairly strong)
Misc Info/Things not stated elsewhere: I graduated from a cc last spring with an AS in Biological Sciences, but now I transferred to a 4 year university. I'm worried about how many schools would take cc credit.
School list:
U of Maryland
U of Colorado
U of New England
VCU
U Penn
Nova
Midwestern (in AZ and IL)
U of Michigan
UNLV
Case Western
A.T. Still U of Arizona

I based my list off of the schools from the 2019 dental school stats, but my list isn't finalized. If anyone has any other suggestions or feedback for schools on this list I'd be very grateful! I've been trying to look for more oos friendly schools that take cc so any suggestions are welcome!

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[captainmike03]

It depends on the school. Some dental schools prefer your pre-reqs to be done at a 4 year school, others are fine with CC credit. Your DAT score is very good, so I think that supports your GPA well. I would be more concerned if you scored an 18 AA, which would cause ADCOMs to think that your undergrad courses were too easy. You had a 22 though, so I think you supported your case well.

My assessment (for what its worth) is that you should be fine. Some of your schools are harder to get into, but overall you have a good list. Maybe you could've used a few more schools, but I'll stick by my original assessment.

 

[S_Diamond_DDS]

There’s still plenty of time to get more volunteering experience if you want to, but it’s not a crucial part of the app as long as you have some extracurriculars to show for. Most schools accept CC credits so don’t worry about that, BU and tufts are the exceptions and there may be one or two others that don’t accept them. Columbia might be another consideration. In general, private schools, especially those with large class sizes, are the most oos friendly. Schools like colorado (oos friendly only to WICHE states, look it up), vcu, and unlv are oos unfriendly, but you do have good stats, so at some level, you can apply to some of these. I know AT Still likes to see a lot of volunteer service, so you might also keep that in mind.