Most Epic Under 3.0 Acceptance

[OU11BB]

I think it was a combination of my upwards trend, DAT score, VERY STRONG LORs, and a well written personal statement that had a very moving story.

I will think twice now before posting any kind of success story in fear of getting reamed.

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[xaznxcountx]

Do not let these jokers on SDN take anything away from you. You deserve to be where you are, hold your head up high

Likewise Alex, congrats to you too! I'm not going to let a few comments get me down.

 

[dymm]

Alex and xazn you guys truly are my inspiration, because I can relate to you guys more then other ppl on here who have always done well in school. I had countless pre-med/dent student advisers, and bio/health-profession advisers tell me that I had no chance of getting into dental schools with what I had on my "resume" a few years back. I was so down at the time, I really did believe in them like Alex did at one point. But just needed to have faith in hard work, and understand that different people have different life circumstances over these years.

I am applying this cycle and hoping for the best !

 

[TheToothsayer]

First off, I'd like to congratulate the OP. Your story is very much an inspiration to those who have strayed off the standardized path.

However, I want to add something about the flame wars that go on in this section of SDN.

It's one thing to claw your way through higher education and become successful. One will surely be commended on such an accomplishment. For example, there was a post here about how a student from York University had to work to pay for his sister's tuition. This is commendable and remarkable. However, it's another to have partied your freshman year away. The argument that everyone matures at a different rate is not valid. We hold a standard in society, so that we can move forward as a whole. We don't adjust to individuals. It's the truth.

Someone who got in to dental school on top off intentionally preforming poorly does not need to be commended as much as they are. I agree with the previous poster. Accolade is in order because they realized their mistake and worked towards being successful instead of giving up.

It's important everyone realize this. Not everyone is equal and life isn't fair. We should avoid filling our heads with such notions, "I only need this gpa to get in." Instead, we should push ourselves to do our best and preform as dentists.

I just wanted to say that.

Again, congratulations to the OP. Your story is much appreciated by those who are in a similar situation-by luck and by actions.

 

[nadia1984]

Congratulations!!! I am not quite sure if the story is epic or inspirational but I liked that you worked hard.
Also, I think Midwestern is accepting students with lower than average GPAs and DATs. A couple of my friends who got accepted there have kind of a similar story.
Good luck! Happy for ya!

 

[youknowthedrill]

To the OP, thank you for posting your story. It is inspirational to me! I am applying this summer with a sub 3.0 GPA. I'm an older non-trad and I returned to school 3 years ago. Unfortunately I had an extremely low GPA with lots of hours and it's almost impossible to vastly improve my overall GPA. Since my return, I have done well, 8 hours of B's and over 90 hours of A's. Unfortunately, my overall GPA will still be below a 3.0 when I apply. It is nice to know that adcoms take the time to look at the whole picture and not just the overall GPA. Congrats on your acceptance!

 

[bumpntrunk]

"To the OP, thank you for posting your story. It is inspirational to me! I am applying this summer with a sub 3.0 GPA. I'm an older non-trad and I returned to school 3 years ago. Unfortunately I had an extremely low GPA with lots of hours and it's almost impossible to vastly improve my overall GPA. Since my return, I have done well, 8 hours of B's and over 90 hours of A's. Unfortunately, my overall GPA will still be below a 3.0 when I apply. It is nice to know that adcoms take the time to look at the whole picture and not just the overall GPA. Congrats on your acceptance!"...

You are not alone, this is me exactly as well, except I have been doing this 4 years. My GPA in college was so low but I didnt care and was a business major, graduated, got a masters in business and did the work thing for almost 10 years at a bank. I was good in math and science but took the easy way out in business (fairly simple use of my math skills). Working almost 10 years and not enjoying it is like a punishment. The only positive about all of it is I wont be taking any student loans. Finally I made the sacrifice and went back to retake/take my science courses and pursue the dream. This meant working 6 days a week, being primary caregiver for my daughter, and taking one course a semester for the first 3 years. Finally I quit my job and went school full time taking 8 science courses this year. Since I went back I crushed all the courses but with so many credit hours of garbage from 15 years ago, it has been a long uphill battle. I applied last year with a 2.7 OGPA and a 2.3 SGPA (DAT 17,PAT 22) and guess what, no interviews (well actually one but that was before they had all my transcripts processed). This year I will have gotten it up to a 2.8 SGPA and should be 3.1 OGPA, so hopefully will see something positive (plus retaking DAT to try and get into the 20's which should be easier now that I have actually taken some Biology courses)."And is there enough magic out there in the moonlight to make this dream come true?" from movie Field of Dreams

 

[xaznxcountx]

Congratulations!!! I am not quite sure if the story is epic or inspirational but I liked that you worked hard.
Also, I think Midwestern is accepting students with lower than average GPAs and DATs. A couple of my friends who got accepted there have kind of a similar story.
Good luck! Happy for ya!

I don't think that's true. Our average GPA was 3.5 and 19 DAT for my class. The national average. In each entering class you will find a spectrum of low GPA's that are offset by really high GPAs (3.7+) and about 3.5's in between. So don't let a few people make you think Midwestern is any easier to get into.

I know all the faculty that conducts interviews, and you better have not only the stats, but also the interpersonal / communication skills. I knew many people who had stellar stats (3.5 GPA, 22 DATs) who received many interviews but never got in. Why? Cause of the inability to communicate effectively or personality flaw that the adcoms saw. Trust me, the faculty interview thousands of people, they've seen and heard it all. Dental school is getting so competitive now, I wish you all the best of luck.

 

[TheToothsayer]

3.41 overall GPA and a 19 AA, I don't think this is the case. Midwestern ill is not an "easy" school to get into. It is very much an average d-school when it comes to selectivity. It certainly isn't on the level of Howard or Meharry. It's GPA average is a little low, but the DAT score is good.

 

[xaznxcountx]

3.41 overall GPA and a 19 AA, I don't think this is the case. Midwestern ill is not an "easy" school to get into. It is very much an average d-school when it comes to selectivity. It certainly isn't on the level of Howard or Meharry. It's GPA average is a little low, but the DAT score is good.

Can you provide me your credible source please?

 

[nadia1984]

I don't think that's true. Our average GPA was 3.5 and 19 DAT for my class. The national average. In each entering class you will find a spectrum of low GPA's that are offset by really high GPAs (3.7+) and about 3.5's in between. So don't let a few people make you think Midwestern is any easier to get into.

I know all the faculty that conducts interviews, and you better have not only the stats, but also the interpersonal / communication skills. I knew many people who had stellar stats (3.5 GPA, 22 DATs) who received many interviews but never got in. Why? Cause of the inability to communicate effectively or personality flaw that the adcoms saw. Trust me, the faculty interview thousands of people, they've seen and heard it all. Dental school is getting so competitive now, I wish you all the best of luck.

Yes! I know all about Midwestern. I got accepted there and declined their offer. I know way too much about the school and I am just stating the obvious. I didn't say the average is low, I said they accept students with low stats. Here is an example of how the average turned out to be a 19. DAT16+ DAT22= 38/2 =DAT19. So, don't let an average of 19 make you think that there are not people in your class with a 16 or 17 on their DAT! As the matter of fact, Midwestern was the only school who accepted my friends with low stats. They didn't get accepted anywhere else and they have great "interpersonal skills" ; ). I am not bashing the school and I am not saying anything about your stats. Obviously, you worked hard and I appreciate that.Good luck!!

 

[xaznxcountx]

Yes! I know all about Midwestern. I got accepted there and declined their offer. I know way too much about the school and I am just stating the obvious. I didn't say the average is low, I said they accept students with low stats. Here is an example of how the average turned out to be a 19. DAT16+ DAT22= 38/2 =DAT19. So, don't let an average of 19 make you think that there are not people in your class with a 16 or 17 on their DAT! As the matter of fact, Midwestern was the only school who accepted my friends with low stats. They didn't get accepted anywhere else and they have great "interpersonal skills" ; ). I am not bashing the school and I am not saying anything about your stats. Obviously, you worked hard and I appreciate that.Good luck!!

I know you're not bashing the school. I'm sure many many dental schools do happen to accept applicants with low GPA or DATs because perhaps their overall application was impressive.

 

[nadia1984]

I know you're not bashing the school. I'm sure many many dental schools do happen to accept applicants with low GPA or DATs because perhaps their overall application was impressive.

There are not "many many" schools. Maybe just a few.

 

[Hesamdna]

I know you're not bashing the school. I'm sure many many dental schools do happen to accept applicants with low GPA or DATs because perhaps their overall application was impressive.

haha first, there are not many many applicants with low stats yet impressive applications. Secondly, there are not many many schools that accept those students. Please don't send the wrong message to pre-dents. They are going to think it's ok to have low stats, I guess you forgot how competitive it is to get in. Just because some people get lucky and get in, doesn't mean that everyone will.

 

[MentalFloss2012]

Although there is some "luck" in the acceptance process, it does not mean that someone on the lower range was accepted due to luck.
It is competitive and difficult to get an acceptance anywhere. However, schools strive to choose a balanced class and some students have extremely high stats, most are in the middle, and then there's some who have "come a long way" from a sub-3.0 and proven themselves.
When in dental school, everyone starts from scratch. Nothing is taken for granted.
Sometimes the underdogs with the lower stats have taken additional advanced courses (to try and boost their GPA) and the side effect is that they often end up doing well in dental school. They may even end up in the top 10% of the class.
My friend's older brother had low stats and applied to dental school four times. By the time he got accepted he had become very intent on succeeding. Armed with every biology course under the sun. He graduated at the top of his dental class and is now a successful OMFS.
So the message is that : if you have low stats, you have a huge uphill battle to get an acceptance. You have to work hard to prove you can succeed in dental school, whether it is showing an uphill trend by senior year, post bac, masters, killer DAT, etc.

 

[doglovernonesto]

Your story is very inspiring. Thank you for sharing! I am in a similar situation and will be starting a masters program at UMDNJ in the fall. Do you mind sharing the list of schools you applied to? I'm applying again this cycle and really hope to get in. Thanks!!

 

[KittySquared]

Interesting how many people bash new schools and an inspiration. Tis true that SDN is filled with haters. Hahaha

I know a dental school adcom who was part of the preliminary accreditation process at Midwestern IL and he actually encouraged me to apply to Midwestern IL. He was quite impressed with the clinics. Many didactics are also taught by the DO instructors in their DO program. Sounds pretty freaking good to me.

 

[Scrub007]

You just made my day. I am in a similar predicament, first 3 years of my apathy towards school and therefore an atrocious GPA.

I switched gears fourth year got 3.7gpa and now I'm in my last year and on track to finish with a 3.85gpa.

Where do I go from here though as a Canadian student looking to apply abroad (Canada is out of the Question)