Advisor advises against Post-Bac/Masters...

[paradigm2200]

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I was talking to my advisor today about not getting many interviews this application cycle...and he suggested that i not re-take my DAT (i wasn't planning on doing this - AA 21, TS 21, Bio 23, GC 21, OC 19, PAT 20, RC 24, QR 16) and he advised against me taking any post-bacs/masters programs (i have sub 3.0 gpa)...

anyway...all she suggested was that i continue shadowing/working and applying early the next round (early may)....since i applied to AADSAS in early September (appliction was mailed out in early/mid October). I was seriously considering doing a postbac/masters to at least keep my self busy during the year and boosting the GPA a bit....now i'm really confused on what i should do....

any thoughts...much appreciated...

 

[Cold Front]

I concur with the advisor's suggestion.

 

[Beta Blocker]

From my experience, dental schools don't like to see academic inactivity. I'm not sure about your counselor's reasoning, but I would say enroll in a post bacc.

 

[aggie-master]

My opinion means nothing, but it seems to me that enrolling in a post-bacc and raising your GPA would help.

Your DAT score looks good.

 

[munbue]

Personally I made the decision to do an excellerated masters or plan B, if you go to Colorado State U. When I graduated from CSU undergrad. I had a 3.25 gpa and decided to complete a 1 yr masters degree in biomedical sciences and then apply to dental school. My masters gpa was 3.75 (well when I went to my interviews for dental school it was 4.0 but after acceptance I let it fall a little during finals....) Anyway, not only did the courses I took during the masters make 1st and 2nd year dental much easier for me I also feel it was an aid in my acceptance. You should look into whether your school offers anything like this or the school which you want to go for dental. I know Nova has a masters program that almost guarantee's acceptance the following year.

 

[karntrev]

Personally I made the decision to do an excellerated masters or plan B, if you go to Colorado State U. When I graduated from CSU undergrad. I had a 3.25 gpa and decided to complete a 1 yr masters degree in biomedical sciences and then apply to dental school. My masters gpa was 3.75 (well when I went to my interviews for dental school it was 4.0 but after acceptance I let it fall a little during finals....) Anyway, not only did the courses I took during the masters make 1st and 2nd year dental much easier for me I also feel it was an aid in my acceptance. You should look into whether your school offers anything like this or the school which you want to go for dental. I know Nova has a masters program that almost guarantee's acceptance the following year.

What is the masters program at Nova?

 

[munbue]

I believe it is a master's in Biomedical Science as well, here is the website:

http://medsciences.nova.edu/aboutus.html

 

[Grasshoper]

I agree with the majority, you should do a master/post-bac program. I did one myself, raised my overall gpa from 3.2 to 3.4 and raised my science gpa to a 3.8. Post-bac is the way to go.

 

[dentwannabe]

Maybe I can help. I had basically the same DAT as yours, except my bio was a little higher. And instead of a 16 in QR i got a 16 in PAT and a 18 in QR. My gpa was a 3.0 and sci was a 2.9.

I applied in early June and interviewed at 2 schools, my state school and NYU. Temple, Houston, Boston all rejected me. In the end, UMDNJ (my state school) rejected me also, telling me taking post-bacc courses would HELP me for next cycle. However, NYU accepted me.

Basically, you WILL get into a school like BU or NYU, but if you want to pay $150,000 less and get into your state school, i suggest doing post-bacc.

 

[Sprgrover]

One of the things that worked against you was your late application. Another was your sub 3.0 gpa. The number of applicants to dental schools has been increasing, and along with them, so has the average for gpa's and DAT scores (your scores are golden, by the way). Doing some post-bac work to raise your gpa isn't a bad idea. You don't even have to formally enroll in such a program. When I decided to pursue dentistry my university didn't have a formal post-bac program so I just enrolled as a degree-seeking undergrad (degree-seeking was my advisor's move as it enabled me to register before the rest of the kiddies and ensure that I was able to take what I needed) and simply took the classes that I wanted/needed. Doing something like that will keep you busy and boost your numbers. I wish you the best of luck during this next cycle!