Advice on my plan of doing an Informal Post-bac and SMP

[JustNeedAdvice]

Hello SDN peers!

I'm looking for any advice & truthful honesty on my dream to becoming a Dentist.

Just graduated from UCI with a degree in Public Health Sciences.
My current numbers are:

Overall GPA - 2.936
BCPM - 2.647
Non science - 3.381

DAT - 18 AA

Shadowing/Dental Intern - 173 hours
Homeless Shelter Volunteer - 30 hours
Hospital Volunteer - 70 hours
Undergraduate Research Experience - 640 hours
Tons of hours as a tutor & caretaker

Looking to start an informal post-bac at Cal State Fullerton at around 13 units for 2 semesters. I then plan to retake my DAT's the summer after Cal State Fullerton and praying I get into a SMP that has a Dental School (in hopes that I can be better acquainted with the faculty for an interview).

I am currently in a work interview to becoming a Dental Assistant. I feel that even if I do extremely well at Fullerton, I still need more experience. The Dental Assistant office will be having me working 27 hours a week with a 13 unit workload. I am thinking to volunteer more hours at the hospital, but am still trying to figure out how to balance doing well.

Even if I get all A's at Fullerton my GPA numbers will look like:

Overall GPA - 3.060
BCPM - 2.885

Do you all feel I should work as a Dental Assistant, but less hours a week (18 hours as opposed to 27?) while having a 13 unit workload? Or, should I focus all my energy into getting my GPA up without assisting?

Do you all feel even with 1 year of excellent grades at Fullerton, it is still not enough to increase my undergraduate GPA & I should consider a second year? (my concern is that I will have completed most of the upper division coursework, or should I consider retaking the Dental School pre-requisite classes in which I obtained C's in?) Counselors have told me that as long as I have a good 1 year trend, it should be enough for me to get into a SMP as long as I reach above that 3.0 mark.

Apologies if this post is long or if it is in the wrong section, but any advice or tips will be gratefully appreciated!

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[darknightzzz]

Hello SDN peers!

I'm looking for any advice & truthful honesty on my dream to becoming a Dentist.

Just graduated from UCI with a degree in Public Health Sciences.
My current numbers are:

Overall GPA - 2.936
BCPM - 2.647
Non science - 3.381

DAT - 18 AA

Shadowing/Dental Intern - 173 hours
Homeless Shelter Volunteer - 30 hours
Hospital Volunteer - 70 hours
Undergraduate Research Experience - 640 hours
Tons of hours as a tutor & caretaker

Looking to start an informal post-bac at Cal State Fullerton at around 13 units for 2 semesters. I then plan to retake my DAT's the summer after Cal State Fullerton and praying I get into a SMP that has a Dental School (in hopes that I can be better acquainted with the faculty for an interview).

I am currently in a work interview to becoming a Dental Assistant. I feel that even if I do extremely well at Fullerton, I still need more experience. The Dental Assistant office will be having me working 27 hours a week with a 13 unit workload. I am thinking to volunteer more hours at the hospital, but am still trying to figure out how to balance doing well.

Even if I get all A's at Fullerton my GPA numbers will look like:

Overall GPA - 3.060
BCPM - 2.885

Do you all feel I should work as a Dental Assistant, but less hours a week (18 hours as opposed to 27?) while having a 13 unit workload? Or, should I focus all my energy into getting my GPA up without assisting?

Do you all feel even with 1 year of excellent grades at Fullerton, it is still not enough to increase my undergraduate GPA & I should consider a second year? (my concern is that I will have completed most of the upper division coursework, or should I consider retaking the Dental School pre-requisite classes in which I obtained C's in?) Counselors have told me that as long as I have a good 1 year trend, it should be enough for me to get into a SMP as long as I reach above that 3.0 mark.

Apologies if this post is long or if it is in the wrong section, but any advice or tips will be gratefully appreciated!

Hello Fellow Anteater UCI ,

I just graduate from there in the summer and applying now.

What I dont understand from your post is that why you still try to work so many hours of dental assistant and even hospital volunteering when you have enough already? 173 hours of dental shadowing/intern is well above the required hours. They just want you to be sure what you get into. Not like you have to know how to assist and know all the dental procedures before dental school interviews and be able to articulate that well (though some schools ask this).

your primary focus now should be the GPA, then the DAT. when you ask this, you should list how many science units you took at UCI and your grades in prereq theres (bio year 1 year 2, g chem ochem, etc) and what classes you plan to take at fullerton?

from your EC, I am sure you must dedicate more than 15 hours a week on a long term to EC, do you notice in first or second year that your grades slip? and you still don't stop? I understand very well the academic culture at UCI and how students are expected to participate in so much EC (they feel obligated to) and cant quit even if their grades drop, they just continue.

PM me if you like to discuss anything further that you otherwise feel too personal to post here.

I know the position you are in and hope you don't find my post sensitive and offensive. I

 

[JustNeedAdvice]

Hello Fellow Anteater UCI ,

I just graduate from there in the summer and applying now.

What I dont understand from your post is that why you still try to work so many hours of dental assistant and even hospital volunteering when you have enough already? 173 hours of dental shadowing/intern is well above the required hours. They just want you to be sure what you get into. Not like you have to know how to assist and know all the dental procedures before dental school interviews and be able to articulate that well (though some schools ask this).

your primary focus now should be the GPA, then the DAT. when you ask this, you should list how many science units you took at UCI and your grades in prereq theres (bio year 1 year 2, g chem ochem, etc) and what classes you plan to take at fullerton?

from your EC, I am sure you must dedicate more than 15 hours a week on a long term to EC, do you notice in first or second year that your grades slip? and you still don't stop? I understand very well the academic culture at UCI and how students are expected to participate in so much EC (they feel obligated to) and cant quit even if their grades drop, they just continue.

PM me if you like to discuss anything further that you otherwise feel too personal to post here.

I know the position you are in and hope you don't find my post sensitive and offensive. I

Greetings fellow anteater!

Thank you for your response and I do not find your post offensive at all, the more honest the better! Well, I transferred from a community college and that's where I did my volunteering. The primary reason I am looking into Dental Assisting is because I know my GPA isn't competitive even if I do extremely well at CSUF as opposed to other applicants and hopefully Dental Schools will notice the hours of experience and "hands on experience" as a paid Dental Assistant that will sort of distinguish me from other applicants.

My plan at CSUF is to take:

Anatomy
Intermediate Cell Biology
Intermediate Molecular Biology
Immunology
Advances in Cell Biology
Cellular Neurobiology
Advances in Microbiology
Advances in Cell Biology

Anything that Dental Schools lists as "Recommended"

Do you recommend I try and do a 16 unit workload every semester to get my GPA up instead of doing 12 while working part time as a Dental Assistant? I do not know actually if you can call me a Dental Assistant hence if i'm getting paid to sterilize, break down rooms and prep rooms for procedures (I guess we all have to start somewhere until they feel more comfortable with me helping alongside the dentist)

 

[darknightzzz]

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