Dental Based on stats, are these schools good for my list + Am I competitive for HPSP?

[Mr.Smile12]

Hi,

I'm planning on applying to dental school this year, and am fairly uncertain of my chances. I have started to create a school list, and was wondering if anyone had any comments or criticism on schools I should cut or consider based on my application.

GPA: 3.43 (3.56 at my 4 year university, but weighed down by some Cs in math courses from sophomore year of high school at a community college).
SGPA: ~3.6
DAT: 22AA/21TS/18PAT
Volunteer: Next to none, working on it now and hope to apply with around 100 hours (I got my CNA certification, and unpaid clinical rotations were involved for this. Does this count as volunteering? If not, where would this fit in my application?)
Research: 500 hours
Shadowing: 100 hours (periodontist and general dentist)
LORs: Professor letters will probably be fairly generic/average. I don't have close relationships with any of my past professors, and my PI is a psychology professor. My dentist letter will likely be pretty good.

School List:
Reach: Michigan, Penn, Columbia, UCSF
In range?: NYU, Boston, Tufts, Pitt, USC, Maryland, Colorado, OHSU (OR resident), LSU, Western

The two things I'm most worried about are how my low PAT and volunteer hours will affect me.

I am also considering applying for the Navy HPSP if anyone could provide insight into my competitiveness for the 4-year scholarship.

State residency?

Volunteering usually comprises service to others, so I don't think your rotation time will count.

The PAT score is borderline so you'll need to be sure the schools you are applying view that score in context.

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[Mr.Smile12]

I am an Oregon Resident. Would the CNA cert fit into work experience or another section of the application then? How would I go about making sure that schools view the score in context?

I would check with any tutorials in filling out the ADEA AADSAS application, but there is a section on certifications and licenses. Your employment as a CNA would go under employment IMO, but I'd read the tutorial's general guidelines for classifying your experiences.

Have you gotten in contact with the local recruiter for Navy HPSP? Many of those recruiters show up at health professions recruitment fairs, or your on-campus prehealth advisor should know. If not, ask the financial aid person at the schools you are targeting to give you contact information of the representatives they work with to disburse the HPSP money. See if there are any students you can connect with who have HPSP scholarships.