 All right, we have a few more folks jumping on. So good evening, everyone, and welcome to today's webcast, mastering dentistry case study insights and best practices. We will be hearing from one of our advanced clinical training educators today. And before we run into the presentation, just wanted to share a little bit about advanced clinical training. So we are a leading online training and certification provider in the healthcare industry. And our goal is to provide a quality education that prepares our students to excel in a competitive health care landscape. We offer a simulation based instructor led trainings to deliver the best learning experience possible. Students learn in an interactive asynchronous formats to gain skills necessary to enter entry level health care positions in as little as 8 to 12 weeks while earning nationally accredited certifications. So we hope that today's webinar is this informative and valuable for you as it has been for our students in the past. And with that, I will turn it over to Beth Smith to go through today's presentation. Hi, everyone. As she mentioned, this webinar is titled mastering dentistry and I changed the title a little bit to have it say applying and thriving because I want this to be a little bit informal. And then it's kind of focused on the application because that's where we're at in the year application season is coming up. And so I wanted to really highlight that in this webinar. So before I start, I'll tell you a little bit about myself. I went to the University of South Carolina from 2014 to 2018 and I was in public health major. And then I went straight from undergrad to dental school and I went to the dental College of Georgia. That's in Augusta, Georgia, where the masters are. And I got my DMD there and then I went straight from dental school into an orthodontic residency program. So I'm specializing in orthodontics. I'm currently in Dallas at Texas A&M College of Dentistry. I am getting my certificate in orthodontics and a masters in biological sciences. And I graduate May of 2025. So I'm currently a resident and residency is a lot different than dental school. Dental school is very busy. Residency is more like a job. You have a bit more time to yourself. I'm still in some classes because I am getting a masters, but I do have some extra time. So with my extra time, I'm serving as the pre-dental mentor for advanced e-clinical training. And so what that looks like is that I get paired with mentees who are looking to apply to dental school. And I can help them with their resume, their personal statement, their DAT study plan, and then once applications open, I can really help fine tune that application. Really all the things. So if you're interested in some mentorship, I'm going to post my email at the end of this and you can also reach out just through the advanced e-clinical website if you would like some one-on-one mentorship. So as our discussion framework today, things we're going to touch on include key skills and attributes that dental schools are looking for and their candidates. I'll talk about some top tips for applying to dental school. I'll walk you through an application timeline and then we'll talk about some realistic challenges that are faced in dental school and then we'll go into best practices for excelling academically and clinically in dental school. So really just how to overcome some of these challenges. So first and foremost, if you're applying to dental schools, you're interested, you want to know what are dental schools looking for. I feel a little bit qualified to speak on this because when I've been through dental school and while I was in dental school, I worked really closely with some of the application committee members and I was really close with someone that was very high in admittance. So I think I have a pretty good understanding of what they're looking for. So I'm going to just talk about a few things. So hopefully this will be helpful to some of you. And I broke this down into three parts to begin with. So what are dental schools looking for on your application in your personal statement and at your interview. So the first thing we'll talk about is on your application because that's the first thing that they're going to see. It's the first thing that you present of yourself. So the first thing is a high GPA and a class rank. There are going to be people who don't have the highest GPA in the world and that's okay. But it is kind of sad to say that that's the first thing they're looking for and most schools have a cutoff. So if you're below this GPA, they probably won't even continue looking on at your application. So it's really important that you focus on your grades while you're in undergrad so that you can have a GPA that can pass this test. I think that a 3.0 is kind of the minimum that they would consider and then you have some room in other parts of your application to explain maybe why you have a lower GPA. But a 3.5 and above is what they're looking for. So make sure you're working really hard. You can always take summer classes to get your GPA up. You can take extra classes. You can retake a course if you've gotten a low grade before. So I would say grades are super important and I hate to put emphasis only on grades and it's not just about grades, but it is important. A second thing that they're going to look at and this is just in the numbers category. This is how they weed out applicants is a respectable DAT score. So the average DAT score in 2023 was a 19. And so that's what you should be aiming for. You want to at least get a 19. It would be a lot better to do better than that, obviously. And if you get a little bit lower, that doesn't necessarily mean that you won't be considered. But I think a 19 is kind of the gold standard the average right now. The other thing you can do is that when you're researching schools, a lot of schools will put out what their average DAT score is. And so some schools have a higher average DAT score that they're looking for and other schools will have a lower score. So at the very beginning, they're looking at your GPA and your DAT. So those are numbers things that you really have to be above a certain number to be considered. The next thing that they're looking for are some excellent communication skills. So on your application, what this looks like is it's going to be that you have really good formatting on your resume that you don't have any spelling or grammar mistakes. There are parts of the application where they ask you just a very simple question and you only have 100 characters to respond. They're looking for clear and concise answers that are telling them something about you. They're looking for efficient and effective communication. That's really important because one, it kind of shows how you can carry yourself and communicate as a professional. Two, it kind of gives them a window into how you might be when communicating with patients. And that's really important because a patient doesn't want to hear you go on and on. But they want to hear you say the information they need in a clear and concise way. And that's something that the application kind of tests. The other thing that's important in terms of communication is whether or not you're well spoken enough to produce research and write a research paper. This isn't important to all dental schools, but I don't think it's a bad thing for any dental school to think that you could contribute to research in an effective way. So I'll go to research next, but research experience is also something on the list that I have as something that dental schools are looking for. If you haven't done research, don't worry about it because it's definitely not a requirement. Not all schools require research because I know it can be kind of difficult to get involved with research in undergrad. You have so much going on. It can seem like a crazy thing to find a research project to jump into. But if you can get involved with research, it's definitely something that would pad at your application, especially if you have a lower GPA or a lower DAT score. So research in general is just a great thing to have on your application. It's really good experience. It could show them that you could be interested in doing research in dental school. Or the other way that having some research experience is really useful is that a lot of dental schools in their curriculum and in their teaching are leaning very heavily on what's called evidence-based dentistry. And so that means that a lot of what's being taught right now is based off of the current research that's being published. And so if you have some research experience, then they have a good idea that you can understand how research works and where all of this is coming from. So you'll have a better grasp of why you're doing what you're doing. I skipped over this one, but the next I want to talk about is some exposure to clinical dentistry. I think this is really important. And what I'm referring to here is shadowing hours. Shadowing hours are super important to the admissions committee because it shows your commitment to dentistry. Dentistry is kind of a weird industry because if you're not in dentistry, you don't know much about dentistry. How would you? You don't know what's going on in your mouth. When you go to a dentist's office, you lean back in the chair and you can't see what they're doing. And so it's really hard to know what a dentist does during the day if you don't go and shadow. And so shadowing is just very important in their eyes because it shows your commitment and it shows that you have some knowledge of the field. And dental school can be really tough. And so it's important that you know what you're getting into and you feel like you have a good grasp of what your life is going to look like moving forward. The next thing is community service. I think this is kind of self-explanatory. I think any application, any resume looks better with some community service. Dentistry is all about caring for people and wanting to do better, wanting to make an impact in your community. And so showing that you have community service and that you've been doing community service in high school and in college is really important to them. They're looking for empathetic people who, again, just want to help people. And so making sure that you're taking the time to do some community service is really important to have on your application. The next thing on here is extracurricular activities. This is also important because this is how you can show that you have more dimensions to you. So if you play a sport, that's huge because playing a sport shows that you have leadership qualities. It shows especially that you have time management skills. And so in terms of extracurricular activities, I don't think they're looking for anything specific. You don't have to be a dental assistant even. That's not an extracurricular activity that is necessary. What they're looking for is that you have extracurricular activities because that shows that you have time management and that you're able to do multiple things while still excelling in school and applying to dentistry, all the things. So it's just important to make sure that you're involved. And then the last thing I have here on this list is manual dexterity, which means hand skills. When I was applying to dentistry, someone told me that I needed to have manual dexterity and I had no idea what that meant. I think a lot of people that are applying are in this boat where you hear about manual dexterity. There's one question on the application about it. It asks, what hand skills do you have? And for the most part, people don't know how to answer. If you've played a sport that involves your hands, that's something you can say. If you play an instrument that involves your hands, that's something you can say. If you're an artist, you paint or you draw anything with your hands, that's something you can say. I had none of those things. And so I signed up for a knitting class and I took a year of knitting before I applied to dental school, just so I would have something to say. Did it really help me? I don't know. But it's something where you're using your hands. And no matter what, it's going to be kind of a shock to the system when you start dental school and you're having to do all these things that you've never done before. But some people are more equipped than others because they've been using their hands for fine details their whole lives. And so you don't have to be an amazing musician or you don't have to have some crazy skill. But I would say try to think about something ahead of time, some way that you could develop some hands skills so that you have an answer to this question. Because again, that just shows that you had the foresight to know that this was coming and to give it some thought so that you had an answer to put on your application. So moving on from application, we'll talk about personal statement. So personal statement is very, very important. What they're looking for I would say first and foremost is a unique story. You want that story to allow them to get to know who you are as a person. A lot of times a resume and the application can kind of just feel like you're going down a checklist. You don't get to put your personality in that. And a lot of people think that in their personal statement they should talk about how badly they want to be a dentist and what skills they have that would make them a good dentist. And that is what they're looking for, but not in the way that you might think. I see a lot of people who write their personal statements like I am an empathetic person. So I think I would be a good dentist and they just like they very much list things instead of telling a story. So what they're so much more interested in is you telling a very specific story that highlights why you would be a good dentist. You don't need to straight up say I think this would make me a good dentist. They should be able to know what you're saying through the story. So I would say really work on that make sure you spend time on it be creative with it have several people read it so that you can have some good insights. The next thing that they're looking for in your personal statement is I would say perfect grammar and a professional writing style. You could have so much time to do this personal statement you could have started it your freshman year of college. You have time to make sure that the grammar is good. Attention to detail is so important in dentistry and so this is a great area where you can showcase that you have attention to detail you've taken your time and you've made this perfect personal statement. You haven't made any little mistakes and that's really important to them. Another thing that you can address in your personal statement is an explanation for any questionable aspects of your application. So if you have a low GPA and it's because of one class and you got to see in the class or you got a D in the class. This is a good time to actually bring up what happened. You can explain why you struggled in that class or if you were maybe going through something personally that caused you to not do as well as you maybe wanted to. Another place where this is important and I hate to bring it up because hopefully no one struggles with this but I do know that a lot of students get in trouble. So if you have anything on your record that's questionable. So if you've gotten trouble with the police or with the academic department. It's a really good time to address this here. And once again just give an explanation for why it's here. Just because you've made a mistake in the past doesn't mean that you have no chance of getting into dental school but it is important that you're truthful and forthcoming about it and your personal statement is a good place to address it. And then the last thing is just any additional information about you that can't be found in your application. So this kind of goes back to storytelling but really just let your personality come through in your personal statement. Talk about your family talk about people you love talk about hidden talents that you have like anything that wouldn't come across in your personal statement that you think is important for them to know about you. This is a good time to talk about it. So next moving on from personal statement will talk about your interview so interviews are really exciting but they can also be kind of scary because you don't really interview for colleges at least not when I was going to college. You maybe have interviewed for jobs but this is going to feel high pressure because you really want to go to dental school I'm sure. And so your interview is super important. I actually watched YouTube videos prior to my interviews to try to like practice I practice with friends. If you're interested in doing the mentorship program you can practice with me, but it is good to practice. But so what are dental schools looking for at your interview. I would say they're looking first and foremost for some confidence and also a genuine desire to be there and an interest in dentistry. So you have to be confident you have to be confident in yourself you have to believe in yourself that's really really important and that's what gets you through the four years of dental school. A genuine desire to be there and an interest in dentistry like I said that's really important. They're looking for people who know what they're getting into who know a little bit about dentistry and who have taken the time to shadow and like I said know a little bit about the field. And so just make sure that when you're there you're really being excessive and letting them know that you're happy to be there and you're genuinely interested in dentistry you're excited to be a dentist that's important. I think asking insightful questions is important. Every interview at the end of the interview they will say do you have any questions for me. A lot of times the major reaction is just to say no thank you like do you have any more questions for me because you're used to them asking you all these questions. But it can be so impressive if you are able to ask them an insightful question that makes them think about something or it shows something that you know or if it's just something you're curious about they like to see curiosity. So I would say have some questions prepared and make sure that you're ready for them to ask you that. Another thing I would talk about is willingness to accept feedback. This is super super important in dental school. I think I'll get to it near the end of my presentation but they might give you some feedback on your application and they kind of probably just want to see how you're going to respond to getting feedback. So I think being open to feedback and receiving feedback well is really important here so just make sure that you're ready for that in an interview and you're willing to accept it. The next thing is courage to admit when you don't know the answer to something. I actually went into this a lot in my interviews surprisingly they will ask you difficult questions that you don't know the answer to and they know that you don't know the answer to. And they're either looking for you to give it your best guess in a humble way or to admit that you don't know and that's OK. They don't expect you to know you're not a dentist yet but they want to know that you're able to ask for help when you need it and admit when you don't know something or admit when you're wrong. Another thing that's important is that you interact well with other candidates. I think it definitely depends on the dental school here but some dental schools are very very particular in the way that they pick their classes because they're looking for a super cohesive group. I feel really lucky that my dental school class was like that we were all really really close there was no really there was no competition there was no animosity between people. And so I think that the school that I was at did a great job of choosing a class that meshed really well together and who was all friends. And so I think that they look for that on your interview day they want to see that you're friendly with other people and that you can work well with others because getting through dentistry you're going to have to rely on other people. And so showcasing that you can get along with the other people there is important. And then the last I would say is just to stay present throughout the whole day. It can be a long day and again you might not be used to interviews and so just really trying to stay present. Make sure that you're there. A lot of dental schools will offer you a chance to shadow at the end of your dental school they'll let you go into the clinic and watch the dental students. And I think that accepting that offer is something that shows that you want to be there again you're staying present and you're really interested. And so that is what I think dental schools are looking for there's definitely more but I think those are the key things and kind of breaking it down and focusing on application personal statement and interview is a good way to make sure that you're hitting everything. The next thing I'm going to talk about is my top 10 tips that I would recommend when applying to dental school. One of these I've already touched on just briefly but I'll go into a little bit more depth on things and there's definitely more tips. But these are the ones that I would focus on and I tell my current mentees to focus on as they're applying right now. So the first thing I would do is create a research list of schools that you plan to apply to. A lot of people say they're applying to dental school but the reality of today is that there are a lot of dental schools and so it's really important that you do your own research to find out which school is best for you. So which school is going to fit in with your personal preference the best. I think some things to consider when you're choosing schools to apply to include location so is it somewhere that you want to be is it somewhere that you could be happy living at for your next four years. Is it close enough to family that you'd be able to see family is the weather something that you're interested in. It's four years of your life and they are fun. They're some of the best years of your life but they're also some of the hardest. And so it's important to make sure that you're in a place where you feel happy to be. Again dental school is kind of a hard time because you're coming right out of college you're surrounded by friends all the time. And then once you graduate your friends are going to go off and working and you're still in school and so making sure that you're in a place that you want to be is important. The next thing I would say and this is probably the most important at least it was for me is cost dental school is so expensive. Dental schools are a lot more expensive than others, but they're very expensive and so doing your research and finding out what the tuition of each dental school that you're interested in is is really important because it will help you create a ranking. When you're ultimately choosing what school you want to go to. When I was making my decision I had one school that I really really loved but it was so expensive and at the end of the day I was like what's where can I be happy but also make a smart choice for my future. Another thing is class size and kind of going with that is faculty to student feel. So some dental schools I think all dental schools honestly are growing their class sizes which isn't an issue like it's it's good to be surrounded by a lot of people and there's definitely a need for dentist. But you want to make sure that it's not so big that you feel like you're getting lost in the crowd and so that's where faculty to student ratio comes in. You want to make sure that there's a good faculty to student ratio so that you know that you're going to be getting one on one attention and not always having to be lumped in with a group. You want to make sure that there's enough faculty that you're getting good instruction. The next thing that's important I would say is boards passing rates. So at the end of dental school you have to take board exam and that's how you become a licensed dentist. The schools will do a better job than others at preparing their students and this is something that should be of interest to you because you want to become a board certified dentist so you can practice. And so just doing some research I also think that the schools that have really high board passing rates are really proud of it and so having some knowledge of that going into your interview or in an application question I think is is good to know. Another thing is graduation rate or whether or not they hold students back. So different dental schools have different philosophies on this but some of the classes your first two two and a half years are difficult and some schools will hold students back. Some schools will pass all the students along and make sure everyone's passing but some schools hold students back either a semester or a full year and they have to pay an additional year of tuition. So that's something that you should be aware of. Hopefully no one has to worry about it but it's something you should know about so that you're not caught off guard if you do find yourself in that position. Another thing I think is big is if students schedule their own patients. I think this is kind of a personal preference thing and it depends on the school some schools have administrators who schedule patients for the students other schools the students schedule their own patients. Before you're in dental school this is probably the least of your worries but this is kind of why I wanted to touch on it here because I think it's really important and again it's kind of personal preference. The school that I went to we scheduled our own patients which to be honest made my life a lot more stressful but I had a lot of control over what I did. So I never had my patients cancel or no show because I personally called them the day before and said please come to your appointment it's really important that you make it. And with that I was also able to make my schedule what I wanted it to be so if I was really interested in doing a lot of fillings I could schedule my patients that needed fillings if I was interested in endo I could do that. But I think it was one the importance of making sure my patients showed up, but also to I think I got a lot of good experience with talking to patients and knowing how a dental schedule works so I think it was good experience. I put more work on my plate and it was more stressful than some of my counterparts who went to other schools and didn't have to schedule their own patients. So that's the plus side of not scheduling your own patients is you don't have to worry about it if your patient doesn't show it's not your fault. So it really is significantly less stressful. But as I said, I think there's pluses and minuses but it's something to know, I think going into school and something to consider what you think you might want. The next thing is overall reputation of the program so I reach out to current students who attend the programs that you're considering and get their real thoughts on the school. Student doctor network is a good thing and a bad thing there's a lot of information about different schools on there I think it's worth reading through it, because different dental schools are going to be different and so you want to know what you're interested in. You're interested in getting a really, really good clinical education and you don't care about how stressed out you're going to be one program might be better for you than another. And so it's just something to consider and make sure that you're doing your research so that you can know more about what schools you're applying to and you can decide for yourself where you might want to go. Number two is ask for letters of recommendation early. So you need several letters of evaluation. And I found this to be really difficult when I was in college because I went to a big school and my college courses there were tons of people in my classes so I didn't ever really feel like I had super great relationships with my professors. And so I had no idea who to ask and so thinking about this early is one of my biggest pieces of advice because then you can pinpoint those professors that you think you really like you're like I really get along with this guy maybe he would be willing to write me a letter of evaluation when the time comes and then you can spend the rest of the semester really trying to form a relationship with that professor so that they can get to know you and they'll be more willing and even excited to write your letter of evaluation. When you ask someone to write your letter of eval it's important to recognize that it takes time and energy for them to write it and so you need to give them plenty of time to do it that's why asking early is important. When you ask you need to make sure that you have your updated resume and personal statement ready. Again, tons of people in college even if you form a pretty good relationship with someone they don't know that much about you so it's important that you can give them your resume and your personal statement. So they have a good picture of who you are and why you want to go to dental school. You're going to have to follow up probably several times to make sure that they submitted on time. Don't be afraid to do it but just be polite. That's it they need reminders but as long as you're polite they're not going to be upset when you remind them. And then my last tip on this is to definitely write a thank you note and possibly include a small gift once they've submitted your letter or after you've been accepted somewhere. So I think the way I did it was I waited until I found out what dental school I was going to be going to and I got all of them a coffee mug with a little thank you note and I think cookies from somewhere and just said thank you and that's something that they'll remember because it shows that you're gracious and you really did appreciate them doing that for you. My next tip is to submit your application as soon as possible. When I was ordering these I wasn't sure where to put this but this is maybe the most important thing. The applications actually this year I saw that it opens on May 9 and then the submissions are accepted on May 30. Applications are looked at on a rolling basis so the sooner you get your application in. The more likely you are for them to look and take a good look at your application and then they're already going to start divvying out interviews. You won't be notified way before everyone else but when they first start they maybe have 200 interview slots. If you're one of the first applications that they look at then they're still meaning to fill 200 slots. If they don't get your application until the end of the cycle they might only have five slots left and that means that you have to be better than everyone else at that time. And so your chances of getting an interview are just a lot higher if you submit earlier on. It also shows to them that you're prepared you're organized and that you really are serious about it because you're on top of it and you're ready to go. The next tip I have is to put aside some money. I talked about cost a little bit when I talked about researching dental schools but the application itself can be costly. So I think there's like a border fee of maybe a borderline fee of $150 and then every additional school you apply to is maybe $100. And then most schools will have a supplemental application and depending on the school it could be 50 to 100 extra dollars for their supplemental application. So the cost adds up and then you have to think about interviews. If you have to travel to go to an interview then you're going to have to pay either gas money, airfare, hotel. It really adds up not to mention when you start one you've done a school payments you will get dental school loans for the most part unless you're able to afford it yourself. You'll have some loans but there are some costs up front that you might have to pay for before you have your loan money. And this is something also that's important to maybe ask at interviews or find out from students but things you might have to pay for would be cost of instruments so some students have to buy their own instruments. Some schools have instruments and the students use them but some programs require each student to buy their own set of instruments and that can be thousands of dollars. Another thing is your loops. Everyone buys loops the first couple weeks of dental school and I think loops are anywhere between one and $2,000 maybe even three are pretty expensive. And so that's a cost that you'll have to pay right up front it's just something you need to be aware of. The other thing to consider is cost of living in whatever area so just make sure that if you can if you're working. Try to put aside some money so that you're not super overwhelmed when the time comes and you can really focus on your application instead of stressing about your finances. The next tip I have is to use your health advisor so your health advisor is free they have tons of experience and knowledge. You are not going to be the first person at your university or your college that's applying to dental school. They've probably worked with several other students helping them with their personal statement with their application and so this is a good resource. Sometimes it can feel like a big barrier to entry if you go to a big school but normally they have online resources where you can make an appointment. And this is just something I definitely recommend it's another set of eyes who can look at things. As I said your grammar is really important your punctuation like this is someone who can give you some feedback and who can help you. If they don't have time to read and edit your personal statement like I was mentioning they can usually put you in touch with a different university service that can do it. It's important that you have them and you can lean on them when you find yourself overwhelmed like I said they have a lot of experience with this and so they're just a really good resource to have. My next piece of advice is to research the requirements so this is kind of the same thing as my first tip but I'm emphasizing it again because I really feel like it's important. Not only do you need to research the dental school and make your list but you need to research the requirements of each dental school so different dental schools require different application materials. Some ask for supplemental essays transcripts said directly from your university a headshot cover letter and almost always like I said an additional fee. It's very common for different dental schools to have different due dates and so you need to be able to keep track of all those due dates. Some programs I remember one in particular will even ask for your personal statement handwritten instead of submitting it through. AdSAS or the past application these schools are definitely looking for your commitment and how much you want to go to that program but you just need to know that. These schools have different requirements and it's important to keep them separate so you might find it helpful to keep a spreadsheet of the different programs you're applying to something like this. This is my personal spreadsheet that I made this is actually for my ortho interviews or my ortho application so these aren't dental school programs these are ortho programs but I have in one column a list of the program name. I think I turned it green I turned the font to green once I had heard back from them that they received my application so I have that as a different column but received complete. And then they have supplemental requirements so you can see some of them supplemental requirements complete easy don't have anything for other ones you need a specific two by two photo. You need it has to be sent as a JPEG or PNG. For another school a one to two page CV, a self address stamped postcard, a two by two passport size photo. Different schools require different things again they all have different due dates. Another thing that would be good to do is keep track of the interview dates so that you can keep yourself. Organize some of the interviews might conflict with one another and so this is when making a hierarchy a list of schools that you really want to go to will be important. So my next tip as I building on this is just to stay organized, keep all of your application materials in one place, make a folder organize your folder. By saying organize you're going to be less likely to miss things and you'll be able to complete the application quicker once it opens. So if you have everything set up and ready to go before the application even opens and your organize, you're going to be able to submit it so much quicker. Again at spreadsheet with deadline dates and requirements can be incredibly helpful here. So just make sure if you're not an organized person, that's okay, but now is the time to try to get organized. The next thing this is simple but read the instructions, although this seems obvious, be sure to read all the instructions. Some of the questions are purposely specific to test your attention to detail. Some of the application questions might ask you just a very, very specific thing because they want to know that you've read it. Once again, emphasizing that attention to detail. Again, for instance, they might ask for a two by two passport sized photo with a plain background. That's pretty specific. A lot of people don't have that already. And so you just have to be wary of this and make sure that you're being proactive about knowing what all the specific instructions are. Next, I would recommend cleaning up your socials. So most people have Instagram, maybe Facebook, I don't know if y'all are too young to have Facebook. TikTok is big. Twitter maybe threads. People on the application committee will look you up on social media. They care what you're posting. It's important that you're professional and that you have a good representation of yourself on your social media. Otherwise you need to make it completely private so that they can't see it. I would probably recommend going the private route, even if your social media is perfectly clean. I think it's best just to keep your social media as a separate personal component of your life and your application, something separate, but it's still important. I think to have it clean just in case they're able to get past your privacy. So make sure you clean that up. That is important. People will be checking on it. And it's something that people forget about a lot of the time. The next thing I'll say is to stay positive and just be patient. Getting into dental school is really challenging and it's getting more and more difficult every year. It's important to stay positive and continually remind yourself how far you've come. Getting ready to apply is amazing in itself because that means that you've already done so much. If you don't get interviews right away, don't panic. It's not a bad idea to call some of the schools you're interested in and ask about the status of your application. If you're not admitted on the first day, which is normally sometime in mid-December, that doesn't mean you won't get in. It's not a bad idea to call some of the schools that you're most interested in and ask about the status of your application. I highly recommend doing this. They like to know that you're interested. That makes them more interested in you. It's good for their stats if the people that they offer spots to accept. So they want to be accepting people that want to go there. If you don't get in, make sure you follow up with a few schools to see how you can improve your application. Taking a gap year is always an option and it might actually be a better option for you to make some money and avoid burnout. I know so many people that took a gap year and wouldn't have had it any other way. Sometimes I even wish that I took a gap year so that I had a little bit of break in school because I'm about to be 28 years old and I've been in school my entire life. So do what's best for you. Don't be discouraged if you don't get in the first year. It's a good learning experience. And so just stay positive if you really want to be a dentist. It will happen. You just have to persevere. So next we'll talk about the application timeline. And this first part is what according to the ADA. So they say November to December about two years before you plan to begin dental school, you should ensure that you finish or on track to finish all the necessary prerequisite courses. So this is important. Make sure that you're signed up for all the courses you need. Some schools are more specific than others about what requirements you need. And so, again, research the requirements. It's important. It's also time to build your dental CV with research, volunteerism, your extracurriculars, jobs or pre dental clubs. I recommend getting serious about pre dental school prep. So mainly your extracurricular activities because you can't be joining something like two weeks before the application opens. I would say spring of your sophomore year. This gives you about a year and a half to build your pre dental portfolio. However, if you feel like you have the bandwidth to start this earlier, amazing. The earlier the better. So then January to March, this is the time to acquire your letters of recommendation and continue to build your CV and take the DAT if you haven't already. Again, this is according to the DAT. Personally, I recommend taking the DAT earlier than this. Taking the DAT at least a year in advance gives you plenty of time to retake it if you're unhappy with your score. The other thing is that the DAT is structured in different sections. So there's biology, chemistry, organic chemistry, anatomy and physiology. So if you take organic chemistry and anatomy or sophomore year and you've probably taken biology and general chemistry or freshman year, it probably makes sense to take the DAT right after your sophomore year because that's all fresh. So kind of just look at your classes and your schedule, what time, when do you have the most time to study and see when that makes the most sense for you. And then April to June, so during the spring you can begin working on your application. Your personal statement and resume should be complete so that you can spend your time organizing your shadowing hours, extracurricular honors and awards. When I say your personal statement and resume should be complete, it really should be complete because you should have sent that to your letters of recommendation people. So those things are important to get them done early. You can always adjust them and edit them later on, but make sure you get those done. Application opens, as I said this year it's May 9th. So you have about a month between the time application opens and when you can submit. Although it seems like a long time, it's a really tedious process to put everything in. It's just like entering a lot of little things in the computer. So make sure that you are organized beforehand. You have everything together and that way when you're actually putting the information into the computer into the application, it's not too bad. And then in July through September, you've submitted your application, hopefully on May 30th. Be on the lookout for secondary applications and supplemental essays. So normally after you submit the original application, they will reach out to you and ask for a supplemental application. Some schools will begin sending out interview invites at this time and you should use the time to prepare for your interviews and continue to build on your dental experiences so that you have plenty of time or plenty of things to talk about during your interview. And then October through December, the interviews will come into late fall. The first round of acceptances will come early to mid December. And you might also learn that you're waitlisted at this time. If you've been accepted to several programs, you should use this time to weigh the pros and cons of each to help you make your decision. And if you've been waitlisted, you should reach out to your top programs to see where you stand. And then January through August, this is the months before school begins. You should stay in contact with the schools you've been waitlisted at. Most students will be notified if they've been accepted to a school during this period. If or when you're accepted, you should celebrate spend the rest of your semester enjoying your time with friends. If you graduate from college, enjoy your time off and then most programs begin sometime between July and September. So here is kind of just like a very brief overview. It's a little blurry here. So if anyone is interested in this graphic, I can send it afterwards. But these are kind of the main things that you should focus on during each school year. And then here is a specific application timeline that I made for one of my mentees. So this was really specific to her. And this was like exactly the months that I wanted her to get things done. So, again, if you're interested in some mentorship, we can put together a personalized timeline for you. And then you can also do yourself. So it's good to sit down and look at a calendar and give yourself checkpoints for when you want to have things ready and done. So the last thing I'm going to talk about tonight is challenges of dental school and how to overcome them. The first one, as I've alluded to several times throughout this is time management. This is the biggest one. It's the hardest thing for most people. It's really busy. The workload is much greater than what you're used to and you'll be expected to be at the school from 8am to 5pm, which is a change from your college schedule. Most people have classes sporadically throughout the day, but in dental school, you got to be there. And then normally you have to stay afterwards to practice your hand skills and then you might have to study for your tests when you get home. So it's really tough at first to get used to the workload. Not only are you in school a lot longer, but the workload is a lot more. And so you've got to figure out how you're going to balance your time, especially because your life can't just revolve around dental school. You need to learn how to make time for studying, but also eating while exercising, spending time with your friends and sleeping. So you do have to make sacrifices in some areas, but I would encourage you to make sure that you're making time for what you care about the most. I think there's like the glass ball analogy of you're juggling so many things, but you just need to make sure that you find what your priorities are and make it happen. The next one is developing hand skills. This is what I talked about earlier, but very few people have hand skills prior to dental school. Like I said, knowing how to play the piano being good at ceramics or having the ability to knit, maybe they might be useful, but they're not the same. Everyone's going to be learning how to wax and how to use a dental handpiece and it takes time. Some people are going to be better than others, but you have to be patient and give yourself grace. The best way to improve is through practice and repetition. You will not just wake up one day and have golden hands. I struggled with this a lot at first. It took me a really long time and the person who sat right next to me was so good at it at first. But you just have to practice and you have to believe in yourself and you have to know that it will come with practice. This isn't something that you should be good at right away. It's something that you have to learn and everyone goes through it. Luckily, or hopefully you'll have a really good class and people to lean on, but this is one of the biggest challenges and it's something that you have to work on and practice, but don't let it get you down. The next one is learning to take feedback. So I touched on this at your interview. They might give you feedback and see how willing you are to accept it. But when I was in dental school, this is something they emphasize all the time. We had classes on receiving feedback. It's really important because like I've mentioned, dental school is difficult and you're doing things that you've never done before. You're not supposed to be good at them and a lot of times you won't be. So receiving feedback well, especially negative feedback is a skill that you need to develop. You need to be able to do it so that you can maintain your composure while you're at school and you get some negative feedback. But you also need to do it so that for your own mental health, you can be strong and be able to receive some negative feedback but still know that you're worthy, that you're capable and that you're going to be okay. Again, you're going to be a complete novice when you start. Mentally, you need to learn how to take feedback in a way that doesn't break you, but instead helps you grow and get better. The next big struggle of dental school is being a student when your friends are working and making money. It can be tough to accept that you have four years of being a student, especially when you're going into debt, while many of your friends are working and making money. The good news is that you'll be surrounded every day by people that are in your same situation. They will become some of your very best friends and that's something that I would advise is to just lean into the people around you. Obviously, keep your other friends and make time for them. But don't compare yourself. Comparison is the thief of joy. You are on your own path. You're going to do amazing things. So don't compare yourself. There's tons of perks to being a student. You're going to get winter breaks. You'll get summer breaks. There's still learning. Being a student can be fun. So just make sure that you keep a positive attitude about being a student. Make sure that you look forward and know that you have a lot to look forward to and don't compare yourself to others. The last thing, the last struggle I would say is burnout. So during dental school, almost everyone experiences some time of some type or time of burnout. There are daily challenges and sometimes it can feel like it's too much or not worth it. My best advice here is to make sure you take care of yourself. You have to find little ways to spark joy in your daily life. Whether it's buying yourself a coffee or going to a yoga class, you have to make sure you fit things into your day that remind you how good life can be. Again, your dental school friends will become some of your very best friends and even though dental school is hard, it is so much fun and you're going to be a dentist. Like, that's what you've always wanted. That's what you have to remember. And so the struggles are all worth it once you graduate, once you've made it through. And so you have to keep that in mind. So now I will open the floor to any questions. Hopefully this was useful for some of you. I'm happy to answer any questions or if you'd rather type questions in the chat, I'm happy to answer them that way. And if you don't have any questions right now, but you want to reach out later, I put my email right there on the screen and you can reach out to me anytime. I'm happy to chat. Thank you so much, Beth, for all that information. I think we have time for just one question and it is, what inspired you to pursue a career in this particular field? And when did you know you wanted to do this type of job? I'll have to read my personal statement for that. No, I always knew I wanted to go into healthcare. One of my very best friends, so I originally, when I was younger, I thought I might want to be a doctor. But one of my very best friends, her dad, her stepdad and her sister were all dentists and they were like my heroes. I spent so much time with them. So I was really interested in it. And then when I went to college, I had the ability to go on a mission trip, a dental mission trip, and it just made me so happy to know that I was going to have the power to not only make people smile, but kind of help create their smiles. And so I couldn't get that out of my head. I was like, I want to make people smile and make some smiles. And so that's why I pursued this career. Thank you so much for sharing. I'm pretty sure and can attest to the information that you shared for those who are looking to go into dentistry. I hope that the information shared today was very valuable. And please feel free to reach out to Beth via the email displayed here and to learn more about advanced clinical training and our programs. Please also visit learn.adclin.org. That's learn.adclin.org. And with that, we'd like to thank you all so much for joining today's webcast and hope to see you next time. Thanks everyone.