First semester coming to an end...

[Dr Dimbsa]

Hey guys,

Most of you guys are nervously awaiting for your interviews, but here I am having anxiety attacks over my first semester of ungdergrad. Finals are in two weeks which means the semester is just about to end for me and I feel that I'm heading in the wrong direction. I came into college with high expectations of me getting amazing grades and it just isn't working out that way. As of now, it looks like I will finish my first semester with a GPA of about 3.4-3.5. I was hoping for a much higher GPA since I figured these will be some of my easier courses throughout college since they will only get more advanced. Aside of grades, I have not become too involved on campus partially because I have not found much that interests me. I do plan on starting shadowing next semester as well as working with my dentist during semester break. What else should I be doing right now? I just feel like I can do much better and it just is not going my way right now. Thanks for any advice!

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[Dent_2016!]

If you're a freshman all you really need to be doing is getting good grades. A 3.4-5 is fine... (unless you're at a super easy school because they do consider the source of your grades). It's great you're starting shadowing so early, relax you're fine! Just don't drop below that 3.4

 

[hoppingpre]

It is true that you typically want to have a higher GPA in your first two years of undergrad, so that they can buffer the inevitable (?) drop in grades as you tackle the higher level courses. But it is your first semester of undergrad. It's a difficult transitional period, and dental admissions will understand this. So long as you demonstrate a rising trend in grades in your next few semesters, the 3.4/3.5 is more than fine. Besides, there's no point in crying over spilt milk. What's done is done. You did well enough, and you can do even better from this point on.

Other than that, I think you should definitely look into getting involved with an extracurricular, even if it's just pre-dental society. Schools typically look for a well-rounded candidate who can commit in the long-term, so you want to get a foot in somewhere as soon as you can.

 

[SableFire]

If you're a freshman all you really need to be doing is getting good grades. A 3.4-5 is fine... (unless you're at a super easy school because they do consider the source of your grades). It's great you're starting shadowing so early, relax you're fine! Just don't drop below that 3.4

Not necessarily true. A 3.67 (A-) at an easy school isn't going to be considered on par with a 3.33 (B+) at a prestigious school. Now if you get a 3.5 overall at an easy school and are compared to someone with a 3.5 at a prestigious school the prestigious school may pull more weight but I bet that ECs pull more weight than that. SDN over emphasizes the role a school plays in GPA factoring.