I need advice please!!

SDN Members don't see this ad. (About Ads)

I will be graduating from college in two weeks and was thinking about applying to dental school this june. I have no taken the DATs and my GPA is 3.0 with a science GPA of 2.85. Should I waste the time/energy/money to apply this cycle? If so, any options of schools that might be suitable for my GPA range? Also, for my year off...any advice on doing a proper post bacc program or if it would be helpful to take undergraduate level science classes at my state school? ANY ADVICE WOULD BE GREAT!! thanks!

I think my opinion would have to be based on when you were planning to take the DAT, and how well you did on it.

As of now, it sounds like you yourself think it would be a bad idea to apply (or that you don't feel ready), given that you believe it'll all be a waste of time. Given your sGPA, I'd probably focus on doing some post-bacc sciences, and doing extremely well on them (you know, the ones all the schools typically recommend in addition to their pre-reqs: biochem, histo, immuno, A&P, etc).

As for which schools might accept you with your GPA/sGPA, take a gander at doc toothache's spreadsheet here:

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=901073

It shows for almost every school the range of their accepted student's GPA and science GPA, and from the looks of it, there are quite a number of schools that took applicants with GPAs in your range (looking at the low end). One thing to keep in mind is that some of these schools are state schools that are mostly in-state friendly, so even if they took someone with a 2.30, that person might've had an in-state advantage.

Originally Posted by steppingstone

I will be graduating from college in two weeks and was thinking about applying to dental school this june. I have no taken the DATs and my GPA is 3.0 with a science GPA of 2.85. Should I waste the time/energy/money to apply this cycle? If so, any options of schools that might be suitable for my GPA range? Also, for my year off...any advice on doing a proper post bacc program or if it would be helpful to take undergraduate level science classes at my state school? ANY ADVICE WOULD BE GREAT!! thanks!

read this guy story. you should do something similar.

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=795448

Your GPA is way too low. You can't just say hey I'm going to apply to dental school on a whim... Way more competitive than that!

Your GPA does not make you a competitive candidate but it does meet the minimum requirements. Without a DAT score, there is no advice that can really be given. If you take the DAT and do great, it is up to you if you want to apply. Odds aren't in your favor but there have been people that have gotten in. If you don't do to hot on the DAT or do average on the DAT, than you'd probably should just save the effort/time/money.