Christina has gone through tips for effective & efficient methods for studying DATs, approaches at writing a personal statement, and preparations for obtaining LORs. It is always good to have advices, but life happens, you can become busy, and it becomes easy to dismiss what people have tried to repeatedly advise you (such as "APPLY EARLY! I cannot stress that enough!"). I know I told my pre-dental buddies from research a whole lot of tips on what I thought would make them a good applicant. It became overwhelming and unrealistic as they only had 1 year to fulfill their future endeavors. It became unreachable to them and they started dismissing the plans we had eagerly set out for them.
So I thought something that could possibly get through to people and be sticky in the minds is naming mistakes I have made during my path. If you are too caught up to do things or too stubborn to change your habits, then the least you could do is avoid mishaps. [This will be a long post]
DAT studying: My method was probably the worst method ever. I stretched it out for an entire academic year studying 1 hr a day, sometimes even skipping several days, weeks at a time. I stretched it out for so long because initially I didn't sign up for a test date. People told me to sign up for a test date to give myself a deadline--I just thought why bother. I thought I would rather the comfort of studying with a mental deadline and once I feel ready, to then sign up. But that gave me the mentality that I'm not screwed and that I have time. So with club projects, school, work, that left me little time to take DAT studying seriously. I would end up having my DAT books open and the Kaplan online workshops open only to be writing emails for the club and cramming for other things on the way. Studying weakly for a stretch of a year made me not be able to give my all for club projects, exams, and even in my friendships & relationship. I would be so drained I couldn't even finish studying for some exams--falling into slumber in the midst of studying. I ended up taking my DAT exam during finals week (how much can I set myself up to mess up?!). Luckily, I did not fail my final exams or DAT exam--ha ha! The only plus side to studying for a year is that I ended up repeating some materials over and over, so it became so ingrained that some of it became common sense--however, leaving the rest of the materials untouched or inefficiently studied. BUT that was only one good thing. The cons of studying for a year trumps the 1 pro. I bought the DAT Destroyer carrying it with me most of the time thinking that I'd find a time during the day to flip through some questions. In the end I did not go through all of it, nor even a Kaplan practice test (I know! I'm the worst DAT studier). So point is: seriously sign up for a test date, not because you should, but because you HAVE to. It'll give you a real time frame, so then you can start organizing and prioritizing things seriously. Also, if you're not done studying for the DAT ochem, forget it and jump to the DAT Destroyer ochem questions, despite how uncomfortable it is to leave the material books. I heard it's the best practice for the test (because it's questions in the actual DATs!). My other friend going to UCSF told me she went through the DAT destroyer FOUR TIMES. So, do that.
Personal Statement: Well, as you can tell from the previous paragraph, I obviously set myself up for cramming everything during the most crucial times (dealing with DATs, final exams, club projects, & the dental application all at once). I started my personal statement in beginning/mid-June, which is when most people already finished a bajillion drafts since Spring Break (most people start writing during Spring Break so that they can have faculties edit their draft). But I did write a lot of drafts--the one thing I did the same as everyone! I actually would write a paragraph and then stare, stare, stare, and stare at it. Delete and do it again. Sometimes staring in admiration of how I used certain terminologies that made the draft sound professional and suave--only to delete it the next day, what a waste of time staring. My method of writing it, after stalling & writing a few sentences everyday, was just staying up late and writing one complete draft hitting all the points I wanted to get across before I could sleep. I think what a lot of people may tend to do is try to list out/show off any accomplishments for the admissions to take note of. But remember, most of your extracurricular activities are already listed on the AADSAS application. So just use this statement to convey why you want dentistry of all other fields (even other health fields), why you're good at it, and the goals you want to execute as a dentist. Tell a story, use imagery, let them see. You can always say why you're good, why dentistry is awesome, but to show them how will make it personal and unique to you (what I learned from Jimmy--who gave me a practice/mock interview for UCSF--thanks dude!). I had only three people edit my paper: my sister, her friend Debra (USC dental), & my friend Ben. I'm assuming you're supposed to have more people edit, but I just wanted a few that can talk to me personally about my paper. Not have a bunch of people change up my style and view. They were the best and I am so thankful and appreciative of the time they took out to help me!! Anyway, so if you could, write one draft (no matter how bad) of all the ideas you want from intro to conclusion by May. From there you have a backbone of basics and ideas you can work with--and a back up draft to give to professors you want a LOR from.
LORs: I asked my professors around May or later I think. Which is bad-- you want to give them time! I asked one teacher actually during Fall Quarter, but didn't get back to her till May because I was waiting for the LOR workshop from the school to sign up for the system. I was lucky though because all the teachers I asked knew me so it didn't take long for them to write me one. I did not know you had to give them your DAT scores, personal statements, grades, etc. All I gave was a waiver form and my resume. I assumed if they knew me as a student and my performance in their class, that was all they should be basing it on. And plus, I didn't start my personal statement nor taken the DAT yet to even show them. So a few asked me where my personal statement and DAT scores were and I was just like uh.... (bad!), but they were nice enough to say it was okay then. Working in a community oriented club also allowed me to work personally with faculties that I would invite to events, so I guess that helped them talk about me beyond an "'A'-student among 300 students class." For smaller classes, I interacted with the teacher a lot, asked them questions, participated in class--so that gave them a view of me as a student. My letters were from professors of science classes to music classes. I asked from classes I did well in, enjoyed, and where I was closer to the teacher beyond just a grade. So please, take the time to be more than an "A" student in your class, take the initiative to interact with your faculties. And when you ask for a LOR, be sure to ask if they can write you a strong LOR (to avoid generic ones--but then it's not like you would know how well or what they write about...). Be sure to also clearly give them a (earlier) deadline of when you need the LOR. Don't be afraid to remind them, kindly!! I hesitated and got one of my letters late because the professor mixed my deadline with another student. So, don't fear! So if you're going to ask professors with lack of documents ready for them, be sure that they know and like you, or else you're in tough luck.
I know it sounds like I'm a slacker (honestly, I wasn't) and procrastinator (maybe). But I'm trying to say some things that I messed up on that you can avoid. By no means did I perform below average nor slacked off. I was really busy and worked really hard, thus consequences leading to my delay in plans and my mistakes, but I always followed through and completed my tasks.
Despite being rejected & accepted from various schools with different levels of prestige & reputation, it still does not clearly tell me why I stood out more compared to another applicant, or even why I was not good enough for another school. One school may prefer your stats over your extracurricular activities. Another school will aim for high community involvement over grades.
What would (possibly highly) attract admissions beyond a typical DAT score and GPA, is finding something strong and unique that stands out in your application. Find what's important to you & pursue it during your undergraduate career--even if it's a hobby. Anything can be written on your resume and anything will look good. As long as you pursue something you truly care for, it will show through because you will be consistent, determined, and persistent in successful outcomes. Remember, taking the initiative in projects and stepping up as a leader are key qualities in an applicant. I was involved in music and community oriented projects and it showed across my application. During the interviews, that's what the admissions would ask me about, not grades or anything academic, but my passion in music and involvement in organizations.
I know this post is way too long and actually all over the place, but I wanted to let you know the majority of the important pointers I tell my pre-dental friends.
Good luck! Yay, go you!
All the best,
Oli
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