GPA, DAT, ECs Advice Please!

[brushthis]

Hey guys, I need some advice for pre-dent works, I graduated from an ivy-institution in 2004 with a bio major/fine arts minor, here's my stat:

age: 23
cum GPA: 3.29
non sci GPA: 3.59
sci GPA: 3.03 (had one bad semester but made up for it by getting 3.5-3.7 for the last 3 remaining semesters)
research: 4 years w/ 3 publications (1 first author)
volunteer: 1 year
shadowing: plan to this summer
others: 4 years collegiate club sport + 2 art exhibitions + a bunch of ecs.

Current Plans:
Postbac to raise Science GPA and plan to take the DAT this summer or fall.

Advice:
1) What's should I aim for in DAT? [I'm very good at PAT thanks to my fine arts background (they are fun!) but going to need some work in chem]

2) What schools should I apply to?

3) Should I apply this year or wait until I get my postbac grades then apply next year?

4) Anything I missed?

Thanks for reading and input!!!

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[jk5177]

I wonder why nobody replied to your post. My hunch tells me that you are an overachiever who is overly worried about getting into a dental school (which you would have no problem with), and thus nobody replied.

 

[onetoothleft]

I have to agree with the fact that your stats will probably be good enough to get into school. Although your sci gpa is lower, you have research experience including a 1st author (which as an undergrad is very meaningful as i am sure you know).

I would apply this cycle and not worry all that much about raising your GPA. It should be fine. Look for schools who don't emphasize GPA that much. Do well on the DAT.

 

[mvs04]

Hey guys, I need some advice for pre-dent works, I graduated from an ivy-institution in 2004 with a bio major/fine arts minor, here's my stat:

age: 23
cum GPA: 3.29
non sci GPA: 3.59
sci GPA: 3.03 (had one bad semester but made up for it by getting 3.5-3.7 for the last 3 remaining semesters)
research: 4 years w/ 3 publications (1 first author)
volunteer: 1 year
shadowing: plan to this summer
others: 4 years collegiate club sport + 2 art exhibitions + a bunch of ecs.

Current Plans:
Postbac to raise Science GPA and plan to take the DAT this summer or fall.

Advice:
1) What's should I aim for in DAT? [I'm very good at PAT thanks to my fine arts background (they are fun!) but going to need some work in chem]

2) What schools should I apply to?

3) Should I apply this year or wait until I get my postbac grades then apply next year?

4) Anything I missed?

Thanks for reading and input!!!

take it easy type A.

 

[EyeAmCommi]

I think you have a very valid concern. Ivy league GPAs are heavily inflated so your gpa leaves you at a distinct disadvantage to your fellow classmates. Even with buttloads of research, your mastery of the basic core material is questionable. If I were an adcom, I'd look at your GPA and wonder what you have learned in college. It wouldn't matter to me if you were a single, double, or a triple major or if you were class president of Harvard; what matters is whether or not you can handle the science coursework in d-school. Your science GPA is very questionable so now your DATs need to be looked at. What you need is: 19+ on the AA, plain and simple. This will get you into most schools but probably not the Ivy leagues or California schools. You're gonna need to boost that Science GPA, if not, score 20+ on the AA minimum. Your research sounds impressive, but to me it only makes the outstanding truly outstanding. Sorry for introducing you to my 'grim reality.' However, this is just how I view admissions into dental school; not everyone is a stickler like me

 

[netsn06]

I think you have a very valid concern. Ivy league GPAs are heavily inflated so your gpa leaves you at a distinct disadvantage to your fellow classmates. Even with buttloads of research, your mastery of the basic core material is questionable.

just want to clarify to many sdners who lump all ivy institutions together as "inflating students' grades." some ivies, such as princeton and penn, do the exact opposite, and grade many of the introductory courses using a bell curve. i'd say 80% of all classes i took as an undergrad were graded with this system...from introductory science courses to smaller engineering ones. all grade values are normalized such that the majority of the students receive b's and c's, and a smaller percentage receive a's and d's. thus you are acquiring grades directly based on the quality of your classmates, which imo isnt bad at these universities, and you can only get good grades by outperforming others. think through this logic and you'll see how tough it is to earn a's w/i this system.

first-hand proof - the average gpa for my class of bioengineers was 2.75. heh.

 

[EyeAmCommi]

just want to clarify to many sdners who lump all ivy institutions together as "inflating students' grades." some ivies, such as princeton and penn, do the exact opposite

That's great for UPenn and Princeton but my point is that it is important to maintain a high gpa regardless of the institution you come from. GPAs are biased toward their respective schools so the DATs is the only objective information that dental students can be evaluated by. What the GPA does tell adcoms is how hard working a person is, not how prepared one is for d-school. I wouldn't expect a 3.0 student, from lets say Columbia, to be held to a different standard than lets say a 3.3 student from some state school if their DAT scores are the same would you? The DATs put them on an equal basis.

I wouldn't rely on your Ivy League status to carry you into dental school. You might, however, have a better chance of getting into the dental school from which you are enrolled as an undergraduate. To the OP, your ECs look great, I wouldn't do anymore except for studying for the DATs.

 

[amartins02]

Not to offend you but, what are you worried about exactly? Even if you did average or slightly above average on the DAT you'll get in. Don't lose any sleep over it.

 

[Sprgrover]

1) 20+ (get ahold of Kaplan's blue book and study solid for a few weeks prior to taking the test)

2) Any school that you wish

3) Go ahead and apply this year

4) Nope - you have some good stats and should have no trouble getting in somewhere.

 

[JavadiCavity]

I agree with Sprgrover. Get a 20+, apply where you want, and don't worry about your grades--you're average. That being said, you won't be the most competitive applicant in the pile, but you shouldn't have any troubles getting a spot in December!

 

[aceking]

Hey guys, I need some advice for pre-dent works, I graduated from an ivy-institution in 2004 with a bio major/fine arts minor, here's my stat:

age: 23
cum GPA: 3.29
non sci GPA: 3.59
sci GPA: 3.03 (had one bad semester but made up for it by getting 3.5-3.7 for the last 3 remaining semesters)
research: 4 years w/ 3 publications (1 first author)
volunteer: 1 year
shadowing: plan to this summer
others: 4 years collegiate club sport + 2 art exhibitions + a bunch of ecs.

Current Plans:
Postbac to raise Science GPA and plan to take the DAT this summer or fall.

Advice:
1) What's should I aim for in DAT? [I'm very good at PAT thanks to my fine arts background (they are fun!) but going to need some work in chem]

2) What schools should I apply to?

3) Should I apply this year or wait until I get my postbac grades then apply next year?

4) Anything I missed?

Thanks for reading and input!!!

Honestly,
U have about 3.0 in sci gpa with 4 years of reseach.... to me it sounds like you have more Cs than Bs in sci lectures because u probably got like at least 50 units of sci credit with 4.0 for your research. Am i right or wrong????

i hope i am not right.

but if i am, then you probably want to get those Post-bac credits on top of your transcript. But if you are confident about your resume then just go All In and get you Dat this summer and apply to bunch of private schools in the East Coast and some public schools from your state.
for DAT anything equal or above 20 is cool

Good luck man

 

[Pikeyman]

brushthis,

You make me sick with your female-reproductory-organ'ness.

 

[brushthis]

Honestly,
U have about 3.0 in sci gpa with 4 years of reseach.... to me it sounds like you have more Cs than Bs in sci lectures because u probably got like at least 50 units of sci credit with 4.0 for your research. Am i right or wrong????

hey everyone, first off, thanks for the sincere advice and comments both negative and positive. I'm grateful enought for your time to type and respond to my post.

aceking - you are only partially right, I didn't get 50 units with research, I only took research as a class for 2 semester (equal to 1 class each semester), and I have more Bs than Cs, here's the breakdown of the sci:

bio1 = A
bio2 = B
biochem = C
bio-neuro = B
bio-evodevo = A
chem1 = B+
chem2 = B-
phys1 = B
phys2 = B-
orgo1 = C-
orgo2 = B+
orgolab = B
calc1 = B-
calc2 = C
stats = B+
bio-researchthesis1 = A+
bio-researchthesis2 = A+

i'm just concern with my C's, 2 in dental pre-req and 1 in biochem...(very important courses) I got them all in the same semester, no legit reason, i just screwed up. it's due to my immaturity and poor time management skill - spread myself too thin with ecs and social activities. that's why i want to repeat the course again during postbac.

it seems that 20 on the DAT is the golden number.

thanks again everyone for the input

 

[organichemistry]

hey everyone, first off, thanks for the sincere advice and comments both negative and positive. I'm grateful enought for your time to type and respond to my post.

aceking - you are only partially right, I didn't get 50 units with research, I only took research as a class for 2 semester (equal to 1 class each semester), and I have more Bs than Cs, here's the breakdown of the sci:

bio1 = A
bio2 = B
biochem = C
bio-neuro = B
bio-evodevo = A
chem1 = B+
chem2 = B-
phys1 = B
phys2 = B-
orgo1 = C-
orgo2 = B+
orgolab = B
calc1 = B-
calc2 = C
stats = B+
bio-researchthesis1 = A+
bio-researchthesis2 = A+

i'm just concern with my C's, 2 in dental pre-req and 1 in biochem...(very important courses) I got them all in the same semester, no legit reason, i just screwed up. it's due to my immaturity and poor time management skill - spread myself too thin with ecs and social activities. that's why i want to repeat the course again during postbac.

it seems that 20 on the DAT is the golden number.

thanks again everyone for the input

if i were you, i would definitely retake organic chemistry I. you will probably ace it since you made a B+ in organic II. retaking biochem probably wouldn't hurt either.

but really, you will probably get into some lower and mid tier schools because the fact is, your GPA is somewhat competitive, you have great dental experience and research... so if you score a 19 on the DAT, i'd say you'd be in good shape to get in somewhere.

 

[jk5177]

Remember a general rule in life... what's past is past, and there is nothing you can do about it. You can only make your future better, and maybe retaking O-chem will make your future better. Who knows?