Its Official

Everybody, I'm going to Columbia next year. I'm sending in my deposit this week when the acceptance letter makes it to me, then I have to do a boatload of paperwork for financial aid, registration, health services and housing. Once again, I'm really excited to be going to one of the best dental institutions in the country and to live in New York.

Columbia!

Great news everybody! After months of waiting on the waitlist and pestering poor Dr. McManus I got the call from him telling me that I have been ACCEPTED TO COLUMBIA COLLEGE OF DENTAL MEDICINE! I'm so happy to hear this, especially since I graduated from UVa just 24 hours ago.

Let this be a lesson to you guys out there. Even though I didn't have the best GPA, I made up for it with my DAT, extracurriculars, perseverance and most importantly, a positive attitude. More to come on this developing story :)

....so happy

Another day, another check

Yup, so that April 15th deadline for Tufts' 2nd deposit is coming up. I get to send in 500 more dollars just to prove I want to go there lol. Thats life though. Cheers*

More updates

Soooo sadly I was rejected by UW yesterday, very sad. In other news I decided to accept the waitlist spot at Maryland. Also, VCU should be deciding their alternate list and D.5 candidate offers within a week.

Maryland Update

I got waitlisted at Maryland today. I'm not sure whether I will accept the spot, since its soooo similar to Tufts.

Maryland Interview

This past Tuesday, February 2nd, I had my last dental school interview at the University of Maryland Baltimore college of Dental Surgery in Baltimore, MD. In many ways, it’s the end of a long road that started in October. It seems like forever since I was sitting in the administrative offices at Columbia nervously awaiting my interview. I’ve had 6 interviews at schools all over the country and I have learned a lot about myself. It turns out I’m resilient as hell when it comes to traveling alone in strange cities haha. But on a more serious note, I think the interview process has really helped me to discover why I got into dentistry in the first place. It takes a lot of emotional strength to deal with the 8 month wait every day from June till the next year. I’ve also really come to fine tune my own view of dentistry. The interview questions are old news in the sense that I really don’t even have to prepare. I just know from experience at the hospital dental department and I can go off the top of my head about why it’s the right field for me. The whole process is very tiring and expensive but someday I’ll look back on it and smile.

Anyway, now on to the interview experience at UMD. BEWARE! THIS IS UNABRIDGED! I had visited the campus last spring with the UVA Pre-Dental Society and had an amazing time seeing the school. That visit is pretty much why I applied here. The second time around was just as good. Firstly, the facilities are incredible. Overall, it’s the nicest school I’ve seen thus far in that light, just barely in front of Tufts. Much has been made about the surroundings of Baltimore. For the most part, they’re true that its pretty ghetto. If you’re a girl, its not smart to walk home too late, but its not too bad during the day. The school is near one of the poorest areas in Baltimore. But enough about that.

One big unique thing about Maryland is that they audio/video record all their classes, so if you want, you can watch it from home in the morning or just whenever you feel like it. This is very convenient, but at the same time, some classes have very poor attendance. This is a point of contention among faculty. However, there are a few classes that you just have to be at, like labs. The school is very forward-thinking. The dean is very willing to listen to students and even to change stuff for them in opposition to the faculty.

I had mixed feelings about UVA mostly from student doctor network. Some people say the faculty are a mixed bunch. I can’t stress that you NEED to take everything you hear on SDN with a grain of salt. A surprising amount of things said there are either from embittered rejected people, pre-dents trying to get you to stay away from their #1 school, or people that just have no idea what they’re talking about. Still, I believe its an okay source. You just have to go experience stuff yourself. I feel so much better about UMD now that I asked students there myself. Don’t be afraid to ask them any question on your mind.

So whats the next step for me? Right now, I’ve got a deposit with Tufts. I’m going to wait to see if I hear back from UMD, VCU, Columbia or UW in the next couple of weeks and wait to make a decision. I have no idea what I’m going to do, but I’ll be sure to think really hard about it and make the right decision. Ugh…. This whole process is almost over! More updates to follow!

Maryland comes out of their coma

Just got a secondary application and an interview invite to Maryland on February 2nd! I hadn't heard from them since my application was "complete" in August. Better late then never I guess.