When considering where to apply for dental school, all of the options can feel overwhelming. Questions like what is the best dental school, how much does dental school cost, what is the average GPA for dental school, and what are the prerequisites for dentistry can be a lot to figure out. But having a system is the best way to keep yourself on the right track. My dental school list was my saving grace when I was figuring out where to apply and I hope you can use it too!
Access my “Dental School List Template” Google Sheet here! Make a copy and follow along with the steps.
Getting started with your dental school list
First thing’s first, you’ll need to gather all your stats. Things like your DAT score, GPA, shadow hours, and volunteer hours will help you figure out what schools are a good match for you. Enter those at the top of your Google Sheet for your reference.
Setting up your table
Next, you’ll want to set up the table. I created columns to look at school stats, location and cost, demographics, school curriculum, and application specifics. Feel free to add or delete columns based on what you’re looking for in a dental school!
Now for the fun part… color coding! Color coding is great to be able to understand your data quickly and easily. Especially, because this spreadsheet has so many numbers and columns, it really helps to be able to interpret everything at a glance.
Most of my color coding is done automatically using Google Sheets’ conditional formatting. If you aren’t familiar with conditional formatting, it basically lets you chose how your cells look under certain conditions. For example, I love living in an urban area. So if my “Setting” cell says “urban,” then it turns green!
To set up conditional formatting, use the follow steps:
- Click on “Format” in the menu bar. Then, click on “Conditional formatting.”
- In the conditional formatting menu, click on the box “apply to range” section, select the cells in the column, and click “OK.”
- Set up your conditions in the “Format cells if…” section. You can choose your color, font, etc. at the bottom under “Formatting style.”
- You can add additional conditions to your selected cells by clicking “Add another rule.”
Check out this example video to see what it looks like in action! ⬇️
Mostly, I use green, orange, and red to mark things as good, average, and bad. Except for comparing my stats to the school. I found that using “good” and “bad” when it came to grades or test scores was feeding into feelings of inadequacy. Instead, I used blue if I was a match, green if I was above average, and purple if I was below average. This majorly kept me from catastrophising my stats.
A good rule of thumb for stats is this: GPA is a match if you are +/- 0.10 from the average and DAT scores are a match if you are +/- 1 point from average.
Filling in your list
Now that the sheet is all set up, start filling in data! You can start looking on individual school websites or you can use the ADEA Dental School Explorer to have everything in one place. I used the Explorer and I found it really handy.
As a helpful tip: when you first start looking at schools, there’s no need to fully research them. First, it takes a lot of time (I learned that the hard way). Second, you’ll overwhelm yourself with information really quickly. Instead, start by looking at the school’s average stats, required courses, and if they are out-of-state friendly to see if you’re a match or not. Then, when you have a list of around 20 schools, dig deeper into each program to narrow down your list. Normally, you’ll want to end up with between 8-14 schools.
Finally, it helps to get a bit of feedback. This was really helpful for me to double check how realistic everything was. By posting your list on the DAT Bootcamp Dental School Admissions Facebook group or SDN, you can get feedback from dental students on how accurate your list is. They might also suggest some schools that might have gone under your radar!
Conclusion
And there you go! Now you’ll have a complete dental school list! With application season starting up, it’s really important to feel confident in where your applying to. Dig deep into your schools’ programs and find what makes them all special!
You can check out my other dental school blog posts here!
