 Hi guys, I am Dr. Josie, this is Write Your Acceptance. Today I have Ava, former student of mine, who is going to share her pre-dental journey and kind of give us insights into her experience while she applied to dental programs in the US. If you are interested in learning how I work with students and kind of chatting about how we could be potentially partners in application, grab your spot on my calendar link, the link is in the description. And let's start with Ava. Alrighty, I'll see you soon. Ava, thank you so much for meeting me today and sharing your journey so far. So let's jump right in, yeah? Yeah, for sure. So to start us off, let's kind of jump into good news first. Can you share how many interviews you've had, how many acceptances you've had? So I had eight interviews and then out of those eight I had six acceptances and two wait lists. Okay, nice. And do you kind of know already kind of where you're going to end up in or not yet? Yes, so I think that if I don't get into Canada, then I'm going to commit to Boston University. All right, okay, exciting. So being on the other side of kind of applying, how do you feel kind of looking at your entire application journey? How do you feel about it? It's definitely a hard process and it's a long one. I think my biggest advice would be to start as early as possible. So I think I reached out to you in maybe February of last year where application cycle really starts in May. So I wanted to get the personal statement and everything that needs work done ahead of time, which I think really helped me be more prepared for the application cycle and allowed me to submit my applications the first day that applications opened. And I think once you're going through it, it's really stressful, but now that I'm on the other side of it, it's very daunting in the moment, but it all goes well. Like interviews are not as scary as they seem. It's really just a conversation with the people, but it doesn't get better every time. So you anticipated my next question, which would be kind of what advice would you give pre-dental students? Besides starting early, anything else from like how you picked your extracurriculars or kind of how did you find your own? Like what advice do you feel like sometimes is not shared enough? I think picking specifically anything on your application just for the application kind of shows through. So if you're not interested in any of like the medical clubs or pre-dental clubs, if you're interested in the arts or music, I think go the route that you're interested in because it'll show through on your application and also in interviews you'll be able to talk about it and it'll sound authentic. Whereas if you're picking extracurriculars or research or anything, just because it looks good on an application, it's very easy to see through that. So for me, my extracurriculars, so I've been playing the violin since I was little. So that was a big part of my application that in almost all of my interviews they asked about that and it actually has nothing to do with dentistry. And I did a few clubs in university. I think that really helps show a lot of qualities about you like leadership and teamwork. So if there is something that you're interested in, there's a lot of clubs at school and that's a great way to get involved. I also did research and I reached out to a lot of professors in dental school. So I was able to get involved with dental related research, which really helped my application, I think, because that was another big point that interviewers really wanted to talk about. Yeah. And then other than that, I think the story about you is really what they're interested in. So whether you're a non-traditional student or if you are a traditional student, if you have a unique background or whatever it is, everyone has something unique to them. For example, mine was immigration that a lot of interviewers ask questions about because they want to get to know you. So show them who you are and don't just write stuff just for the application to look good. Yeah. It's interesting, right? Like right now you mentioned immigration, you mentioned the violin, and yet you had kind of research and clubs, but you have so many kind of authentic to you aspects of your application and that shine through in different aspects of your application, right? So it's not only your personal statement, but you mentioned that it's in your kind of interview and that they asked you about it. So it's kind of an interesting dance that we had to play with about how to get personal and advance your wide dentistry at the same time. And kind of balance of the two is super important. How did you find those research contacts? So did you send emails directly to professors? Did you find them on LinkedIn? Like how was that kind of connection forged for you? Yeah. So I got involved in physiology research at my school. So I sent a bunch of emails to a lot of professors at my school, just letting them know that I'm interested in their research and sort of what they're investigating. And I was brought onto a project as a volunteer and then an intern. So I had research experience to then leverage when I was reaching out to these professors at dental schools. And so I did email a bunch of professors at universities in Canada. And I did hear back from a couple, but none that were interested in taking me as a volunteer. But fortunately for me, I had contacts within the dental world because my parents are both dentists. And they were able to reach out to their colleagues that were professors at schools and sort of explain why I wanted to get involved in their research and just put me in contact with them. So that's how I was able to be involved in endodontic research. Got it. Perfect. Anything that surprised you from your kind of prepping so your journey to applying not the actual application process? One thing that surprised me, which I sort of anticipated was how long the personal statement processes, especially if you are a perfectionist or you go through it so many times and there's always something to change. And as an applicant, you're hard on yourself. So the surprising thing for me was like how long it takes for it to actually become finalized. And so I think I worked on it all the way from February up until the very day that I submitted my applications because you're always gonna find something that you're gonna be nitpicky about. I would say that would be something that would require a lot of time. Yeah. And you're an excellent writer. I mean, I remember, I distinctly remember your personal statement, but it's what you said. It's like, it's a back and forth. You're always gonna find something. Sometimes it's even kind of like anticlimactic where it's like, okay, it's done. Are you sure it's done? I'm not sure. It's done. I don't feel it. It's done, right? So it's just like to let it go too is tough, but you want that space. Yeah, you want that time and you want that kind of back and forth to not worry, okay, I only have two edits or I don't kind of, I only have three weeks to work on this kind of, and sometimes that's the reality and you have to deal and that's okay and people do it and do well. But if you can stretch out a little bit and just kind of like give that time to yourself, it's yeah, it's kind. Okay. And what about kind of you turned in your application and kind of the waiting game? How did you kind of manage that? How did you feel? What did you do? The waiting game is definitely the worst. Even the interviews as well as the acceptance. So for interviews for dental school, there's no like specific date that just come rolling. So it's hard when you see or hear other people have gotten interviews from a certain school that you really want, but then you kind of feel that you've missed that cycle of interviews and you have to wait until the next cycle. What I always remind myself is they go through these applications, you know, in a pool and maybe you're not in this interview cycle. That doesn't mean that you're never gonna get an interview. And if you don't get an interview, you don't wanna be somewhere that you're not wanted. So it's really hard to do the waiting game. I think the worst thing is like checking your email every five seconds for an interview or an acceptance because you'll just drive yourself crazy. I got some of the interviews that I was really waiting for at the most random times like and I opened my email the next day and I found out. So I tried to stay off of like checking my email every five seconds. I checked it every day, but not every minute of the day. And then also staying off of social media and too much, like especially in the groups that everyone posts their interview invites and acceptances, it just really stresses you out. And leading up to the acceptance date, I sort of just reminded myself that I did everything I could to prepare for interviews for the application cycle. And I felt that my interviews went decently well. So I sort of just again stayed off of those groups that everyone, especially on December 15th because it comes out in one day, but they also come out at different times. So you don't know what time it is in seeing that people are getting acceptances from like your dream school or school that you written and that that is really hard. So I just sort of stayed off of it. And when my acceptances started coming in, that's when I found out I didn't even know when schools were sending out their acceptances. Yeah, which is nice. And I mean, that's super kind of kudos to you for mental discipline to kind of know, okay, this is not so healthy for me or this is like I'm gonna get more anxious or more nervous, so I'm gonna dial this down from, yeah, sometimes too much information is not great. Yeah, too much transparency is not great just because it's a lot of external noise. And like you said, you never know if you're in that pool in that moment for kind of that wave of interview invites. It's such a drawn out process that you have to kind of really coach yourself through it. And so we were able, I mean, we had, I had the privilege of working with you the entire way, right? From personal statements to interview prep. How was your experience kind of working together and working through the program? Yeah, my experience was amazing. I think like you definitely really helped me with my application that I submitted on in May and then also the interview prep. You know, I think you were able to show me that storytelling that I was talking about and making sure that you come through as a person that has all these unique, amazing qualities about you and you were able to draw those out of my application and really make those focal points which ended up being the talking points in my interviews. And then in the interviews as well, same thing with like having structured answers and making sure that that authenticity comes through in your answers. So, yeah, and honestly, you were so supportive throughout the whole way. Like, every time I sent you an email or something, I would get a response within like 12 hours, maybe even less. So, it's just nice to have someone that you know is there for you and is supporting you and helping you through the way because it is definitely a really good process. You don't feel alone. I mean, it's such a drawn out process, overwhelming. Yeah, I mean, my kind of number one, it's almost like when I'm talking to students and they wanna really know about, oh, what would be your working relationship? How does this program work? It's kind of like hard to explain that it's not editing in the sense of like moving a comma here and there. Yes, we'll work on. Of course, it's gonna be a clean copy of whatever you turn in. It's gonna be elevated language and excellent writing. But it's so much more than that. It's really about curating that story, looking at that message and kind of being there for students and kind of partnering so that you don't feel alone and kind of questions come up and then something, you know, a curve ball happens and kind of like, how do I handle this? How do I navigate that? So, yeah, I mean, I feel so lucky to work with you specifically and then students like you. It's been amazing. Anything else you would tell students? Anything that completely shocked you about like interviews? So something that shocked me was a lot of times, a lot of my interviews weren't like structured like one, two, three questions. It was more like everyone says it's more of a conversation but it really was more of a conversation. And a lot of my interviews, they were very nice and it wasn't like they were trying to trick you or want you to mess up or be super nervous in the interview. They really try to make you feel comfortable in that interview and talk about things that you would wanna talk about. So like they would ask you the typical questions like tell me about yourself or why dentistry and then they would extend off of those questions and pick on something that you said and allow you to explain it further which was really useful for me. And also after my first interview, it really calmed my nerves because I realized that it's not as scary. I had an interview that was for actually Boston University that was an hour long. And at the end the interviewer was like I didn't even realize an hour went by because it wasn't like question after question. It was just like we weren't talking about me as an applicant but also his background and the background of the school and everything. So yeah, definitely try, it's hard to say and try to be more relaxed but it's not as scary and after the first interview I think definitely calms your nerves a lot. Yeah, awesome. So Ava, would you be so kind as to share kind of your statistics, so your GPA, DAT, all that good stuff? Yes, of course. So I had a 3.93 GPA out of a 4.0 scale and my DAT score was a 22 average and then a 21 PAT and a 23 total sciences. Amazing. So we got the interviews and the acceptance is how many schools in total did you apply to? I applied to about 15 schools and so I've had eight interviews. I turned down an invite as well and then I structured my application so I had a few that were sort of like dream schools. They were Ivy Leagues and then I had the most amount of schools in that middle category where I knew I had a shop but it was still very competitive and then I had a few that I knew that most likely my stats fell within the stats of the school and for me it was harder though because I'm an international student applying to the state so I knew that even if I was well above the stats of the school it was still very difficult for me to get in which is why I applied on the first day and it definitely helped my application to apply that early because of the rolling cycle. But yeah, I think anywhere you never really know like it changes every single year so even if you are well above stats there's no guarantee so I don't know if I would recommend applying to that many schools again if you have decent stats and I'm sure a great application I would say maybe a lower number would be better but I'm just that sort of nervous applicant that I did 15. Yeah and it's not uncommon for sure 15, 12, 15 even like 18 schools it's just it's that kind of competitive right but I think you kind of really try to set yourself up to maximize your chances at all times like a timely submission and just kind of you don't only want to turn it in early you want it to be as strong as possible and starting in February to kind of give you that space so it's just like it's almost like you've done this race to prepare you've prepped the DAT you've been excellent in your school but now it's like you're starting a new kind of race right and it's a marathon to apply. So you really kind of there's so many kinds of fronts that you did really well. So kudos to you and to kind of have that foresight to really kind of set yourself up for success. So for those watching if you are starting to write your personal statement or starting to think about your application I'm releasing this like in kind of end of February you don't have to feel overwhelmed you don't have to be kind of alone in this. So if you want to schedule your free call and kind of learn about more details as to how I work with students please schedule your call the link is in the description. Thank you so much Aval for sharing your experience I really, really appreciate it and thank you for working with me. It's been such a privilege. It really has. Thank you so much for all your support and help. I definitely don't think I would have been able to do this without you. Yay, I love the love. All right guys, thanks for watching. Have a good one. Bye.