Need Some Advice (Badly)

[unsure student]

Hey everybody I have posted a couple of times and would like to get some additional info about the dental school admissions process. First off, my stats are as follows: 3.38 overall g.p.a. I have just recently decided to go into dentistry and so I have pre-reqs to take. The only science courses I have taken thus far is Chem 1 and got an "A". I also took Cell Bio and got a "D". lastly, I took plant bio and got a "B" Obviously, I would need to retake the cell bio course and do really well. Assuming I take my sciences and do really well on them ending up with a science g.p.a of like 3.7 or better, study very very hard and get a 20/20 on my DAT's, what are my chances of getting into ny dental schools such as NYU and Columbia. The biggest problem with my transcript is three fold: First, my first semester grades were a freaking 0.250. (I know I know that is really pathetic and ridiculous.) I also didn't take that many creidts each semester although my last three yeras I consistently took 16 and up and worked full itme and raised a family. Secondly, I have three withdrawals and they are all in the science courses I took and listed above. The reason for the withdrawals is that my grandfather passed away during midterms and he had to fly overseas to be with his family and so I needed to run his business for the remainder of the semester. I am petitioning my school to have those grades taken out of my transcript. Lastly, I graduated in 5 years. Does that have any effect on admissions? Finally, does anybody know if a grade of a "No Credit" is computed as an "F" grade? I truly apologize for this long rambling post. I am just looking for some honest advice and suggestions and wanted to lay out all the details of my academic career thus far in order to receive some objective assessment. Thanks in advance and I greatly appreciate any advice or comments.

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[Biogirl361]

if you got your gpa turned around to a 3.7 with the rest of your prereqs and a 20/20 dat, you should have a good chance of getting into most dental schools. schools basically just want to know that you are capable of handling the rigorous curriculum for 4 years. if your low gpa is truly because of all your life situations, just explain that in your personal statement and then point out that you have gotten A's ever since you got your issues straightened out. by the way, a 3.38 isn't that low for a dental school candidate, especially with good dat scores. so yeah just get A's and B's in the rest of the science classes and you should be fine.