Hello all,
I've been lurking the forums for a while but this will be my first post. Sorry if its too long
Any advice will be greatly appreciated!
I graduated from a high school program that allows its students to take college level courses at a 4-yr university. While attending this program, I completed most of the core curriculum required (such as bio 1 & 2, gen chem 1 & 2, physics 1 & 2, pre-cal & cal, etc.) and was able to transfer 57 credit hours to college.
I admit I was immature going into and out of college and these are not excuses to justify my actions in college but rather to explain my situation. When I was applying to college in high school, I only applied to one state college thinking that I will get in (I thought that I was the smartest person ever b/c I was taking college courses atm), and got waitlisted. In the end, they came through and I was very fortunate to be admitted as an undeclared major. During orientation, the school told me I could pick any major from the college of natural sciences. At the time, I was pursuing medicine following my friends. I picked my major as biochemistry during orientation b/c I thought biochemistry major sounded cooler than bio major.. stupid me. Starting my freshman year, I took mostly upper-division sciences b/c I had the 57 credit hours transferred previously. Did OK fall semester (3.2). At this point, I should've made changes to my study habits and strive to improve my grades, but me being me, I decided to join a social/service fraternity the following spring semester. My reason for joining a fraternity was to make connections and improve my social skills (I was a bit awkward in HS). While my social skills did improve a huge amount, my grades suffered tremendously. By this time, pursuing medicine was out the window. Throughout sophomore and junior year, my grades were erratic, ranging from D- to As. During the spring semester of my junior year, my family's financial situation wasn't looking great so I started working part-time to help pay for living expenses and worked the rest of the college until graduation. At this point, my goal was to graduate on time with no loans.
Graduated with a B.S. in Biochemistry (uGPA: 2.6 sGPA: 2.37) and a minor in Computer science in May 2015.
Following graduation, I've been working at a dental school in my city as a research assistant under the immunology professor of the school for a little over a year now. Also, I will have 2 publications by the end of this year. My decision to pursue a career in health-care was sparked again while working as a research assistant. With the suggestion of dentistry as a career from my professor, I began to seriously consider dentistry (his reason was that I had good hands and interpersonal skills) and thought it was a great fit for me. With a new-found motivation and direction, I prepared for the DAT while working full-time and got a AA 24/ TS 22/ PAT 22/ QR 29/ RC 23/ Bio 21/ GC 22/ OC 24.
In terms of EC/volunteering/shadowing: Volunteering (~200 hrs) from college but no volunteering since graduating from college. I started shadowing a general dentist in the area but only once a week for 3-4 hrs as they are not open on weekends and I work full-time on weekdays. I plan to continue shadowing until I rack up ~50 hrs at this clinic.
I do realize my GPA is way below competitiveness and a post bacc or a master program is a must to get there. I have researched many different programs out there and made a list of which might be best fit for me. I am worried that my stats are not good enough for these programs but I will give it a shot for this upcoming spring applications. My list of post bacc/masters programs are (in no particular order)
1. Tulane MS
2. SFSU Post Bacc
3. UNT HSC MS
4. Rutgers MBS (Newark and Piscataway)
5. Mississippi College MS
6. Boston U OHS
7. LECOM
8. G2
9. NOVA
10. Baylor A&M (URM only?)
11. UPenn
12. Rosalind Franklin
I guess my main 2 questions are:
1. Has anyone gotten into programs mentioned above with credentials similar to mine?
2. In calculating GPA, does undergraduate course work done in high school count towards your uGPA and sGPA?
Thanks in advance!
I've been lurking the forums for a while but this will be my first post. Sorry if its too long
Any advice will be greatly appreciated!
I graduated from a high school program that allows its students to take college level courses at a 4-yr university. While attending this program, I completed most of the core curriculum required (such as bio 1 & 2, gen chem 1 & 2, physics 1 & 2, pre-cal & cal, etc.) and was able to transfer 57 credit hours to college.
I admit I was immature going into and out of college and these are not excuses to justify my actions in college but rather to explain my situation. When I was applying to college in high school, I only applied to one state college thinking that I will get in (I thought that I was the smartest person ever b/c I was taking college courses atm), and got waitlisted. In the end, they came through and I was very fortunate to be admitted as an undeclared major. During orientation, the school told me I could pick any major from the college of natural sciences. At the time, I was pursuing medicine following my friends. I picked my major as biochemistry during orientation b/c I thought biochemistry major sounded cooler than bio major.. stupid me. Starting my freshman year, I took mostly upper-division sciences b/c I had the 57 credit hours transferred previously. Did OK fall semester (3.2). At this point, I should've made changes to my study habits and strive to improve my grades, but me being me, I decided to join a social/service fraternity the following spring semester. My reason for joining a fraternity was to make connections and improve my social skills (I was a bit awkward in HS). While my social skills did improve a huge amount, my grades suffered tremendously. By this time, pursuing medicine was out the window. Throughout sophomore and junior year, my grades were erratic, ranging from D- to As. During the spring semester of my junior year, my family's financial situation wasn't looking great so I started working part-time to help pay for living expenses and worked the rest of the college until graduation. At this point, my goal was to graduate on time with no loans.
Graduated with a B.S. in Biochemistry (uGPA: 2.6 sGPA: 2.37) and a minor in Computer science in May 2015.
Following graduation, I've been working at a dental school in my city as a research assistant under the immunology professor of the school for a little over a year now. Also, I will have 2 publications by the end of this year. My decision to pursue a career in health-care was sparked again while working as a research assistant. With the suggestion of dentistry as a career from my professor, I began to seriously consider dentistry (his reason was that I had good hands and interpersonal skills) and thought it was a great fit for me. With a new-found motivation and direction, I prepared for the DAT while working full-time and got a AA 24/ TS 22/ PAT 22/ QR 29/ RC 23/ Bio 21/ GC 22/ OC 24.
In terms of EC/volunteering/shadowing: Volunteering (~200 hrs) from college but no volunteering since graduating from college. I started shadowing a general dentist in the area but only once a week for 3-4 hrs as they are not open on weekends and I work full-time on weekdays. I plan to continue shadowing until I rack up ~50 hrs at this clinic.
I do realize my GPA is way below competitiveness and a post bacc or a master program is a must to get there. I have researched many different programs out there and made a list of which might be best fit for me. I am worried that my stats are not good enough for these programs but I will give it a shot for this upcoming spring applications. My list of post bacc/masters programs are (in no particular order)
1. Tulane MS
2. SFSU Post Bacc
3. UNT HSC MS
4. Rutgers MBS (Newark and Piscataway)
5. Mississippi College MS
6. Boston U OHS
7. LECOM
8. G2
9. NOVA
10. Baylor A&M (URM only?)
11. UPenn
12. Rosalind Franklin
I guess my main 2 questions are:
1. Has anyone gotten into programs mentioned above with credentials similar to mine?
2. In calculating GPA, does undergraduate course work done in high school count towards your uGPA and sGPA?
Thanks in advance!
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