What To Do If You Do Not Get Accepted On Acceptance Day

Hello everybody,

I'm sure all of you know but tomorrow is acceptance day. A vast majority of you who have interviewed will receive your acceptances and/or notice of waitlist tomorrow. A small subset of you who have interviewed will not receive anything, but don't fret, it just means they haven't gotten to you yet. If you get that A, congratulations! If you don't get any news back, just continue to be patient and trust the process. If you happen to get waitlisted, there are a few things you can attempt in order to land yourself that sweet acceptance. Hopefully, you won't need to do it, but here they are just in case.

1) First and foremost, continue to improve your application - It is imperative for you to do this because if you haven't gotten an acceptance, that means there is some weakness to your application. Improve your overall application by continuing to do well in your courses to improving your GPA, get more letters of recommendations, consider taking a postbacc or a masters depending on your GPA, retake the DAT if it is under a 20AA, get more shadowing hours, shadow more specialties, involve yourself in your community's dental programs, get more volunteer hours, etc. If you are interested in doing a post-bacc or a special masters program but aren't sure which one to choose, be sure to check out my guide.

I know it's really hard to do any of that right now due to COVID, but do not neglect this. Too many students do not get accepted and make no attempt at improving their app, and end up just giving up. Do not be that student. Improve your app! It will come in handy if you happen to not get any acceptances for the cycle, you can at least have a better application for next cycle.

2) Get in contact with and send regular updates to the school and on AADSAS - As you continue to do well in your classes, or rack up another 50 hours of shadowing, or volunteered in dental clinics, be sure to compile a summary of what you did and send it regularly. Do it maybe once a month, maybe once every 3 weeks. Adcoms like to see interest, investment, and perseverance. If they were debating between two students with very similar stats, you and another, do you think they will pick the student who has never reached out to them, or you who has sent them updates every month? Do not underestimate the effect of keeping in contact and updating your schools admissions office.

In certain circumstances, some schools do actually hate it, so if they tell you to stop, stop. OR, if they tell you to do it another way, do it their way. Go through their proper channels. In general though, many and most schools do like updates.

3) Send a Letter of Intent - Very similar to number 2, but it goes one step further. This time, you will be sending a professional narrative of why you would like to go to that school. This may or may not help you get into your program of choice, but it definitely doesn't hurt. I know for a fact that it did help me.

Your letter of intent should ideally be a formal narrative of 400-600 words. Include the reasons why you want to go to that school. Make sure it's reasonable.

1. Does the program do something that you are interested in like digital dentistry? CEREC?

2. Does the program's mission statement align with your own values like working the underserved?

3. Does your program have a high specialization rate?

4. Does your program have good board passing rates?

5. Do you live there or want to live there?

These are all good questions to add in your letter of intent. I would choose 3 most important ones and then write a formal essay. Intro, 3 paragraphs, 1 for each topic, conclusion, 400-600 words. Don't make it too fancy or try different writing prose. Just make sure your intent is straightforward.

Need a sample? Check out my letter of intent.

4) Schedule an appointment to meet with the dean of admissions - Now this one is pretty crazy and at some points pretty out of reach due to location. However, if you want to go to a school that's in your city and have improved your app, contacted them with updates, and sent 1 or 2 letters of intents and are still getting nothing, it may be worth it to call them up and ask if they can schedule an appointment with the dean of admissions. Obviously, make your intentions well known because they will be pissed if you go in and they have no idea why you wanted an appointment. I personally have never done this, but I have heard from students who have done this and gotten an acceptance. Here are some things that I am relaying to you that worked for them.

If your school gives you an appointment, then this is your chance to convince the head of admissions to give you an A. You can now have a real conversation with someone and talk about yourself, talk about your passion, talk about why you want to go there. In short, talk about the same things from your Letter of Intent but also go more in depth. Just like in your interview, be prepared to address any weaknesses in your app, and talk to them about how you have improved. Hopefully by the end of that appointment, you will have made a good impression with the dean of admissions.

Good luck!