Hi there, if you are looking for the last check-offs before you hit that submit button, you are at the right place! This blog will elaborate on some pointers to remember before you ‘final submit’ your CAAPID or supplemental applications.
☐ Personal Details
Now would be a good idea to check your details like contact information, visa/immigration status (any updates to these from the time you started the application process)
☐ Statement of Purpose
Although you would like to make some more edits to your SOP and you are forcing yourself to get over it, stay within the character or word limit! I remember having to edit for a few more days because I went over the character limit. Word vs character limits makes a huge difference, the latter also considers spaces as characters (sometimes!). Add any recent experiences that are significant to you as an applicant and dentist which showcases your interest in DDS applications.
There are two different places where you can enter your SOP or Personal Statement (PS). PS is a general document, not specific to any school. Remember to keep those separate and add your documents accordingly.
☐ Letter of Recommendations
Make sure you have sent the requests to your recommenders requesting a letter from them. It would be a good idea to remind the evaluators if you are waiting on them to proceed. Check the deadline in the request you sent, if expired already, send another request with an updated deadline.
☐ Additional Questions
Some schools ask questions within CAAPID and are needed to be answered before you submit the application. Some questions might be tough and you need extra time to respond, take your time, in the meanwhile if you have answered all the questions for a particular school, go ahead and submit just that school. Don't wait around until you are ready with all the other applications to submit. Remember you need to be fast at turning these guys in!
☐ Additional Documents
This section provides us with an opportunity to showcase any additional information or proof of knowledge that we might have gathered over the last years. In this section, you can submit, a CV or resume, additional LORs, certificates, experience letters, etc. If you have a fourth or a fifth evaluator who is ready to open their letter and scan it for you, you can submit these scanned letters in this section. Don't hesitate to add extra LORs but a variety of evaluators would add value to your profile.
Read my previous blogs for profile building that includes CV writing for competitive profile strategies.
☐ Reporting Scores
Submitting scores of INBDE/ NBDE Part I & II, TOEFL, ECE or other evaluations, ADAT, or any other exams that are applicable to each school can be a grueling yet important task. The only caveat to remember while reporting these scores would be you can always update these even after you have submitted your application!
This is all I have for you to keep track of while submitting the CAAPID applications! And if you are done with this step, don't worry about another blog coming up about what can you do while waiting for the schools to respond. Stay tuned and follow us on Instagram @apurvadabak where I share the latest updates about Dental Pathways, Dental School, and my life. Take care!