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- Dec 25, 2016
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BIGGEST red flag is your Master's GPA. Your undergrad GPA was low but not too terrible, and doing a Master's should have shown you can handle rigorous coursework but that showed the opposite, even if you were working. Have you already completed your Masters? If so, then I would maybe look into a 2nd Masters ? But that's another cost on its own and may not even be worth it.Greetings,
I have just recently received a rejection from dental school. As most have received interviews and acceptances already by this point, I was not expecting to get in this cycle but it definitely stings to say the least. With only one school left that hasn't rejected (officially) my application, I am not holding my breath to wait and see if I get into this program. Instead, I am seeking advice with regards to my application to dental school.
To begin, I am a non-traditional student at this point as I am turning 30 this year. My GPA throughout college has not been anything fantastic. My Bachelors is in Cellular/Molecular Biology and my Masters is in Medical Sciences. My GPA information is as follows:
Total Undergraduate with +/- : 3.21
Total Graduate with +/- : 2.87
My graduate GPA is especially low due to having to work in addition to taking a full course load and completely underestimating the difficulty this would bring.
My DAT Scores were not completely terrible, but could likely use improvement. I unfortunately had to completely guess on a large number of questions in the Quantitative Reasoning and Perceptual ability portions of the exam because I did not gauge my time properly. My DAT breakdown is:
For extra curricular activities on my application I have:
- Academic Average: 21
- Perceptual Ability: 19
- Quantitative Reasoning: 18
- Reading Comprehension: 25
- Biology: 21
- General Chemistry: 20
- Organic Chemistry: 21
- Total Science: 21
I am currently just at a loss as to what to do. In my rejection email, it states that I should most definitely improve my application if I plan on reapplying. Any advice would be infinitely appreciated!
- 260 Hours Volunteer/Observe at a Dental Clinic
- 430 Hours Research during my Masters Program
- 210 Hours Volunteer at a Medical Clinic
21 on your DAT isn't too bad, but if you bumped that up to a 24+, I think that could really help because the DAT is an equalizer. Schools grade differently and some schools are harder than others, and that's why dental schools use the DAT as an equalizer. To schools, an applicant with a low GPA and a high DAT is a student that knows the material but went to a difficult school that brought their GPA down. Right now, I don't believe your DAT is high enough to show this, and that's why you may not have heard anything this cycle.
How many schools did you apply to? It doesn't sound like too many.