After You are Accepted: Unwind

After three (or four?) years of non stop studying for school and DAT, interviewing etc this past summer I spent my time unwinding, great feeling.

After You Are Accepted: Things I did NOT Consider Part II

For school, you have to collect human teeth... lots of them... and you keep them in jars of bleach.

Bouncing Back from a Bad GPA

I went back to school and I believe my science GPA was somewhere around a 1.6. I started off taking chemistry I and biology I at a community college. Thinking back, I believe I struggled more with those freshman courses than I did with my current course load (histology, biochem/molecular biology of the gene, and medical bacteriology). The hard part in that first semester back was just figuring out how to study. All the way up to the age of twenty eight I did not know how to study. Once I figured that out, all of my classes were cake (by cake I mean a lot of work but at least I knew what I needed to do). My 1.6 GPA went to a little over 2.9 at the beginning of the application cycle to over 3 just after. I do believe you need a really good DAT score to be competitive if your GPA is lacking. It was a pretty big risk, I had somewhere around $20,000 in debt for school, spent around two thousand applying (not interviewing, just applying), around a thousand flying to the interviews, was living with my parents, no job but, in the end, got a place at my top choice. It is a lot of work, a lot of money, sooo time consuming but completely worth it if you know this is what you want to do.

Not Getting Accepted is NOT the End

There are a lot of things that can happen and being on a waitlist is pretty important. A friend of mine signed a lease, moved all of his stuff to Florida, got his books but then picked and moved back since he was accepted into his top choice a week AFTER classes started. I did not initially get in to my top choice so met with an adviser, drafted a letter of interest and mailed it along. Keep all of the schools you are interested in up to date with all of your activities and hopefully you will get the call like I did.  My very first application cycle I turned my application in a few months after it opened and received zero interview invites. The following year I was lucky enough to get six. Some people try four years until they get their school of choice. It's a long process but I think it is well worth it.

After You Are Accepted: Things I did NOT Consider

Get Your Vaccinations
HepB is the big one since it takes a few months.
Usually big cities will have some place where you can get them free or very cheap. You can also get them through some hospitals by volunteering there.

Your Physical
You can get them done cheaply through your university but if you are even just one day after your graduation your university will no longer offer you any medical services (happened to me, had to pay $250 to my doctor instead of just the $20 at my university).

Finding an Apartment:
If you've ever done this before it should be pretty straight forward but don't expect the place to always look like the website. Also if a place is unusually cheap make sure you check the crime for the area. Reviews are not the best guide. Some places have terrible reviews but end up being pretty nice. Some apartments offer student discounts and others will only take you if you are employed but make under a certain amount of money per year - something they might only tell you after you pay for an application.

The Payoff

Hopefully acceptances will start rolling in but if they don't, it is not the end. I received a few interview offers later in the game. I was not initially accepted in to my top choice, I started making plans to move, signed a lease but then got an amazing phone call a few weeks before I was set to leave. I am going to my top choice and feel incredibly lucky. The whole process can be incredibly frustrating, exhausting, expensive, humbling and incredibly amazing (I know I've said "incredibly" too many times). If being a dentist is truly what you want to do, the work is incredibly more than worth it.

Interviews Part IV:Random Advice Based on my Mistakes

If one school is your top choice and you have the option, interview at one of the schools you are less excited about first. Don't delay the interview too much but feeling the pressure and working out some of the kinks at a lower priority school will really help you out. My best interviews were at the schools I interviewed last.
If someone that stresses you out wants to come along, don't let it happen. A close friend of mine had that happened to her and it ruined her interview. Be selfish and make that day about you.
Pack more than you need. Hair products, extra shirts, antidiarrheal, coats, bug spray, lip balm etc... One of the cities had just swarms and swarms of mosquitoes.
Make sure you look professional, a lot of people argue you shouldn't wear black but I wore black to all my interviews and it was fine. Get your suit tailored if you can and don't wear white socks.
Make travel arrangements early - make sure you have that hotel and flights lined up.
Do not fly Spirit, they have lots of delays and charge if you bring ANY bags.
Line up rental cars with Costco - they are pretty cheap.
Have time to explore the city.
If you are going to the desert (AZ), bring sunscreen.
Do not correct the interviewer.
Don't eat a breakfast or dinner that is too heavy or questionable...
Make friends with the other interviewees, you will be surprised how many people you will run into again at another school and how interesting some of their experiences are.