Student with Questions about Starting a Masters Program

on June 4, 2019

Student w/ Questions about starting a Masters Program

This student reached out to me via GMAIL to ask about studying techniques and starting a masters program.

Email Subject: None

Hello,

My name is ████ █████ and I am a pre-dental student who has been keeping up with your inspirational videos on youtube and just came across your video describing your journey to dental school. I couldn’t believe how similar your journey has been to mine so far. I want to start off by saying that you are someone that I look up to, have a great amount of respect for, and someone that gives me a sense of hope in a time where I feel so lost. I want to thank you for sharing your journey and I am thankful to have stumbled upon your video.

So to start off I am currently 24 years old and live in LA. I graduated from ██████████ █████ University ██████████ in May 2017 with a major in Psychology. Since then, I made some of the same exact mistakes that you explained. I had only taken the science prerequisites for dental school (excluding physics, which I will be taking this summer). I received 3 C’s, which having only taken 7 science courses brought my GPA to a 2.9. I also took the DAT 2 times. The first time I completely bombed it and didn’t give it my all, which was one of the biggest mistake I could have made. The second time I actually studied and got a 19 AA 19 science avg. and 23 PAT. I had years of experience being involved with ████ pre-dental outreach program, taken basic dental principles courses, as well as years of shadowing, giving back to the underserved community, involvement with Kid’s Community Dental clinic, going to CDA cares events, and the list goes on. Just like you, I thought that would be enough to get me into dental school. I applied right when I graduated and did not get in. I made the mistake of applying once again the next cycle and did not get in yet again. This is where I started loosing hope. I finally made the commitment to go for my masters and just got accepted for the Masters of Arts in Biomedical Sciences at Midwestern University in Arizona for this fall!

Anyways I wanted to reach out and see if there is any advice you would be able to give me along the way. Any studying techniques that helped you throughout the program? Did you apply to dental school while you were completing the program and update the schools along the way with your transcripts? I spoke with counselors that said it was common for students to apply before they start the masters program, so I am going to apply this June for this cycle. Do you have any notes that would be helpful for the classes I will be taking for the masters program? Do you think that I should retake the DAT? I was wondering what your scores were for the DAT and if you have any advice for that as well.

Anyways, I am sorry for the long email. I just had to reach out because our journey has been so similar and it really propelled me to reach out! Thank you for all your help and for taking the time to make videos that give people like me hope.

Hello ████!

Thank you so much for reaching out and your kind words! I’m glad you found my YouTube as a helpful resource for your journey! It was my intention to help pre-dental students when I made my channel so I’m extremely happy to hear it’s reaching students!

You know, a DAT score of 19 is pretty good! This puts you in the 75th percentile and although it’s not a highly competitive score, there are people with far lower scores that have gotten into dental school! That score combined with a decent masters GPA should get you an interview somewhere! (Hopefully). It seems to me your primary focus in the program should be getting high scores as it’s a pretty rigorous program! I barely passed with a 3.0 and this was attributed to not knowing how to study in the beginning of the program.

As far as studying techniques go, I recommend this video. If you have time to watch the whole thing, it’s SUPER helpful. I did apply to dental school before starting the program. Interestingly, I almost didn’t fill out westerns secondary because the program got so busy! Don’t let this happen to you! Be on top of your studies and make time for the things you need to do. Unfortunately, I threw away all my notes when I bought a new laptop for dental school. Regardless, you should still be able to do a great job so no worries! Also, I believe you have a good enough score but do one thing for me. Add up all the subsections except for the Academic Average. For example, add up the Biology, Chemistry, Ochem, PAT, Quantitative, and Reading. If this all adds up to 119 – 120, you should be golden and not have to reatake the DAT. MWU does a weird thing for the MA’s and looks at the DAT’s this way. █████ ████ ████ █ █████████████ █████████ █████ ████ ███████ █ ████ ███ ███.

No worries about the long email! I’m glad to hear from you and routing for you to succeed at MWU! 🙂

Sincerely,

Michael Yoo

*[Use At Your Own Risk Disclaimer] Please note that although I am a WesternU Dental Student, in no way am I affiliated with WesternU interviews and admissions. The provided information are personal anecdotes intended to aide pre-dental students. Any action you take upon the information is strictly at your own risk and no one affiliated with this website, WesternU, and myself can be responsible for your use of the information contained herein.

Hello Michael,

Thank you so much for replying to my email! I am sorry that I am just getting back to it now but I am super thankful for all your help and for you taking the time to write me. I was a bit worried when hearing that the program was super tough just because the main reason I am going through with my masters is to improve my science GPA, and prove that I can succeed in science based courses. I know you said that you passed with around 3.0, and I was wondering if there is any advice you would give me in regards to the courses and what you found to work for you as well as what did not. I watched the link you provided that went over studying tips and techniques and it was really helpful. Are there any other specific suggestions you have that are targeted to the classes that I will be taking or different teaching styles the professors have? Also, on another note, do you believe that this program helped prepare you for your first year of dental school? Did you receive any other interviews to different schools? I am planning to submit my apps on June 4th, which shouldn’t be hard considering everything is saved from the last cycle. When you applied, did you use your same personal statement? Also, do you remember what month you applied and when you received your interview? I am half excited to start the program and half nervous/ letting my fears get the best of me. Any advice for that too lol?

Anyways, thank you again for everything. Knowing that I am not alone and that there is someone out there that had an extremely similar path as I do means the world.

████! No problem at all! I know first hand how life can get busy and I’m just glad you didn’t disappear fully!

Being worried about this program is normal. I know for sure that I was as well. My only tip for you would be to go into it fully knowing that this is what you want and that it’s for you to pursue your dreams and passion for dentistry. Yes, it will definitely be hard. Yes, it will challenge you. BUT, it will also make you a stronger person in the end. It has helped me a lot in my first year of dental school and I am still using a lot of the same studying techniques that I did back then. The guy in the video talks about making practice questions for yourself and thats something I did during the masters program. I also recorded every lecture so that I could listen back on it if there was something that wasn’t clear in class. I also sat in front of the class, eliminated all distractions, and made sure that I wrote down good notes.

You will become familiar with something called the three pass method. What you do is skim through the lecture before class and attempt to break the lecture up into sections that will be easy for your mind to follow along. In other words, since there are multiple topics in a lecture, you should break up each section so that your brain will know when to shift gears and start learning about another topic. This will help you organize your notes and your brain for that days material Once you are done with the lecture, you go home and review that lecture. You then review it again the next day. This way you had four exposures to the lecture and three passes through it as well. If you have time you may even be able to do a fourth or a fifth pass!

All the professors are really great about showing you what type of teaching style they have so thats no worry. They also try to point out what’s REALLY important for you to remember. For those things, I usually put a star on the slide to make sure I review it again later. Use them as a resource outside of class too so that you can get any of your questions cleared up!

I received two acceptances last year and rejected one. It’s good to hear you are submitting your application on June 4th but I highly recommend that you do not use your same personal statement again. I’ve talked to many admissions officers and that’s their biggest pet peeve. If you have time, I would update it with things that you’ve done recently. I also applied in August, and this was a mistake…. I would say applying early is doing yourself a favor because the by the time I submitted, half of all school interviews were already finished. It’s amazing that I even had a chance to interview.

Don’t be too nervous! I’m sure you have your support group and you’re going to make some pretty awesome friends while you are there. Make sure you keep up your strength and keep pushing yourself forward and everything will be fine!

BEST of luck to you ████ and if you have ANY other questions please let me know.

Hello Michael,

Thank you again for you helpful words of advice. It truly means so much and I am so thankful for all your help. I am taking your advice and trying to revise my personal statement for my application. I was planning on submitting June 4th, which is when the cycle opens, but I think I might take a bit longer in order to have a different statement and to make sure everything is the best it can be before I submit. For now, I just began my physics course over the summer. I should be done with physics 1 and 2 before I begin the program. I am sure I will have a bunch more questions in regards to applications and the school once I come closer to submitting. I will definitely reach out when I might have questions! Thank you again and I look forward to speaking with you very soon!

Sounds good ████! Just make sure you dont apply past August! Even the beginning of August is pushing it a bit but one thing you have working in your favor is the enrollment agreement with MWU (that is if you want to put all your eggs in that basket). Either way, best of luck and yes, please reach out again if you have any more questions!

This conversation was posted with the permission of all correspondents.

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