Need Opinions on My 2026 Dental School List + HPSP Chances
Hey guys! I have about finalized my application, school list, and scholarship list, and I was curious as to if you guys had any critiques regarding my school list. Do you think it's too top heavy? Will my lack of publications and presentations hold me back? Is there anything you think I should work on to maximize my chances of acceptance into dental school and the HPSP?
State of Residence: NY
cGPA: 3.95
sGPA: 3.90
DAT: 530AA, 580TS, 480 PAT
Research: ~250 hours at a dental school. Heavily involved independent completion of surgical procedures ranging from thoracotomies to lymphadenectomies (on mice). Unfortunately, no publications or presentations at this time.
Shadowing: 128 hours (Primarily General Dentistry, but some Ortho, Perio, and OMFS as well)
Volunteering: ~600 hours (food shelter, tutoring children, organizing local festivals, and so on...)
Dental Assisting: 60 hours of general dentistry assisting at the time of applying, however, I will continue accruing 30 hours per week for the entirety of the cycle due to this being my full time job. Therefore, I will be continuously updating AADSAS with my newly acquired hours.
Awards:
- Top 1% in organic chemistry award from my university
- Dean's list every semester except one
LORs:
- 1 very strong LOR from PI
- 1 very strong LOR from dentist
- 1 moderately strong LOR from genetics professor
- 1 generic LOR from evolutionary biology professor
Degrees:
- BS in Biomedical Sciences
- AAS in Business
School List:
- UB
- Stony Brook
- Columbia
- UPenn
- Harvard
- UConn
- UMich
- UNC
- UPitt
- UIowa
- NYU
Scholarship List:
- Army HPSP
- Navy HPSP
- Air Force HPSP