Advice about getting in to dental school

[kidflip]

Hi there:

My question pertains to my girlfriend who just completed a Business degree (with a psychology minor) part time while working full time. Her GPA was 2.9 (straight A's for the last 10 courses with big upward trend) She has decided to go into dentistry and is taking the prereq science courses right now and getting 85%+ in everything. My question is does she have a shot of gaining acceptance given her previous poor GPA. Since she did the degree partime while working she is also a bit older at turning 30-31 when she applies. Will this pose a problem for her?

Thanks alot to everyone, I wish you lots of luck

kidflip

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[al]

her gpa is a tad bit low, but I've seen lower gpa's easily get into a school. This is because they have other strengths to balance out this gpa (strong dat, volunteering, research, good interview, etc). So I would advise her to study her butt off for the dat, and look into joining a research project or community outreach/volunteering, (if she doesn't have this already) etc. And make sure she keeps up the good work with her science requirements, the adcoms will be pretty meticulous when looking at these. Also, her streak of A's in gpa will definitely be appreciated by the adcoms, after all "everyone falls, but its how you get up that determines who you are". as far as age, age is nothing but a number. Her business/psych degrees will definitely come in handy in a running a practice and understanding patient's feelings, respectively. -good luck to your girly

 

[NYNOLE2]

ditto to what Al said, if she keeps up her work in the classroom and compliments it with a good DAT score and some experience she should be fine

 

[brianm74]

I agree with the above. I had a GPA of 2.7 undergrad, and was accepted into dental school this fall. Since undergrad, I started a masters program and graduate this August. A low GPA can be counter-balanced by other things- but the DAT is the deciding factor. If your friend gets 20 and above on the sections, she should be able to get into dental school.

 

[markymark]

i'm sure that the school's will take into account that she was working full-time while taking those classes that she did somewhat ok-to-poorly on. like someone has said before, make sure she has some extra-curricular activities. personally, i think volunteering is the best because not only are you doing something, you're getting an idea if the field of dentistry is right for you. also, tell her to study hard for the DATs because she can use that as a strong point in her application.

 

[Gianuzzi]

In addition to above post, I would reiterate importance of DAT. Above average DAT scores(20 or up) will aid her to gain interview spots.

Best regards.