Advice on applying

[nickledoux01]

Hello everybody! My name is Nick LeDoux and I’m planning on applying this upcoming cycle. After my first year of college I had a 2.4 GPA (yeah not good) and by the time I graduated I worked it all the way up to 3.2 overall GPA. I took the DAT 2 times. First time got a 15AA second time 18AA. 500+ hours of shadowing 150+ volunteering. I worked at a dental office as an assistant for an internship for 4 months and shadowed other specialty dentists. I was also apart of a medical professions association at our school.

I was wondering if I apply broadly would I stand a chance of getting an interview or should I retake my DAT? I’m also at a crossroad of taking a post bacc program because my gpa isn’t terrible but it’s not the best.

I was wondering if someone could give me some advice because I’m really anxious and stressed about my scores and just not sure what to do or plan. Thank you very much.

Nick

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Flossaraptor]

IMO, if your GPA and DAT are both on the lower end you need to bump one of them. Clearly, the cheaper option to do that is the DAT, so if I were you, id aim for a 21+ to have a more realistic shot. Just my opinion though, I’m sure others have different thoughts.

 

[NavyBlueSuit]

Cheapest thing to do is retake the DAT. How have you been studying for it? Bootcamp helped me get a more competitive score.

The post bacc idea is not a bad one. It always looks good to schools if you are crushing science classes. You can always reach out to admissions and ask for their opinions.

You will have to work on something. Just choose one and crush it then reassess your application.

 

[nickledoux01]

Cheapest thing to do is retake the DAT. How have you been studying for it? Bootcamp helped me get a more competitive score.

The post bacc idea is not a bad one. It always looks good to schools if you are crushing science classes. You can always reach out to admissions and ask for their opinions.

You will have to work on something. Just choose one and crush it then reassess your application.

I used to datbooster, I’ll probably retake the dat and use dat bootcamp for my third attempt. My first couple years of school were not great but I did crush all my pre reqs and harder level courses. Hoping dental school admissions will notice that upward trend even though my gpa isn’t great. Thanks

 

[mkhazana]

Concur on pursuing the DAT with a lot of preparation. A post-bacc will only raise your GPA nominally and will cost a lot of money. You could pursue the the BU or Rutgers post-bacc "masters in oral health degree" programs to show your commitment to dentistry along with expanding your shadowing hours and dental-specific experience as 150 still appears quite low compared to a lot of applicants who have higher GPAs and scores.