Am I Doing Enough?

[idunnowhattonamemyself]

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Hello SDN!

I have been lurking this forum for the longest time, and it is my first post!

I'm currently about to wrap up my third semester at college, halfway done with sophomore year. I recently decided that I wanted to go the predental route, after spending a year of uncertainty and looking into every health profession.

Because of this new decision, I have no mentors or anyone to guide me in this predental path - I do hope to join my university's predental organization in the future, but I want to make sure I am going in the right path and what more could I do or if this predental decision is not the best for me. Any help will be appreciated!

Here are my current stats:
overall GPA: 3.66
science GPA: 3.53
I know this semester will bring down my GPA due to two potential, and highly likely, Bs in two science classes. However, I will pick up the slack next semester and strive for As.
I also ended up taking a W for my organic chemistry class. I will be retaking it next semester.

Extracurricular Activities
- research experience (January 2018 - December 2018) with a summer 2018 fellowship. I will be presenting my project at an undergraduate research forum at my school next semester. after December, I do not plan to do research anymore as it is time consuming and takes away time from shadowing dentists, which I have not done yet.
- leadership position in a mental health advocacy organization (fall semester 2018 - spring semester 2019)
- committee member of campus awareness initiative in mental health advocacy organization (spring semester 2018)
- member in service fraternity, committee member for one program (fall 2018)
- stem ambassador for an environmental program (spring 2018) - i finished off the semester, completing it - but I dropped that as it didn't align with my interests
- part time job at an on campus office, doing filing and clerical work

Over the summer, I plan to study for the DAT and do extremely well to make up for my less than average GPA. I plan on taking the DAT around December of my junior year. I will also be shadowing dentists and continuing to volunteer. Also, I will be studying abroad spring semester of my junior year, before applications open.

Compared to others, I feel as if I'm disadvantaged because I am not involved as much as everyone at my school is (everyone I meet is premed and their resumes and GPAs are extensive and great, while mine is quite lackluster). I was wondering what I could be doing early to increase my chances of getting in dental school.

Any help or guidance will be greatly appreciated! What did you do to get into dental school or prepare yourself? Thanks!!

 

[956139]

Google what school you want to get into and see their average GPA. You should be fine. But double check.

 

[idunnowhattonamemyself]

Google what school you want to get into and see their average GPA. You should be fine. But double check.

I ideally would want to stay in Texas and go to a Texas dental school, but according to TMDSAS, the average overall GPA is 3.68 and science GPA is 3.64. I'm below those and my GPA will go down this semester, so I'm wondering if there's more I should be doing to make up for a less than average GPA.

 

[956139]

You're halfway done with sophmore year-meaning you have 3 more semesters to up your gpa before applying. Don't focus on extracurriculars to offset your gpa- focus on getting your gpa up in the next three semesters.

 

[DSchoolorBust202X]

Once you start shadowing and building a rapport with a dentist, I think you’ll get a little more comfortable. My current dentist is a great mentor and has been very encouraging. Shoot for 100+ hours in both shadowing and volunteering.

I think you’re doing a great job so far. Keep up the good work!

 

[idunnowhattonamemyself]

Once you start shadowing and building a rapport with a dentist, I think you’ll get a little more comfortable. My current dentist is a great mentor and has been very encouraging. Shoot for 100+ hours in both shadowing and volunteering.

I think you’re doing a great job so far. Keep up the good work!

Thank you! I hope to contact my pediatric dentist over the summer to shadow her; she always offered to help with any undergrad college application stuff when I was back in high school - so I hope the offer still stands many years later, but for dental school! 🙂

In your opinion, is it better to find a continuous volunteering opportunity, or just doing many sporadic events is okay? My service fraternity requires many hours, and a good amount of that is different, unrelated events. I am over 40 volunteering hours right now, and should be over 80 hours by the beginning of summer.

 

[DSchoolorBust202X]

Thank you! I hope to contact my pediatric dentist over the summer to shadow her; she always offered to help with any undergrad college application stuff when I was back in high school - so I hope the offer still stands many years later, but for dental school! 🙂

In your opinion, is it better to find a continuous volunteering opportunity, or just doing many sporadic events is okay? My service fraternity requires many hours, and a good amount of that is different, unrelated events. I am over 40 volunteering hours right now, and should be over 80 hours by the beginning of summer.

Great! Sounds like you will have a wonderful mentor. Just be aware that schools also want to see you shadow in general practice offices as well. Specialties are good, but they should not be your main focus.

I prefer continuous volunteer opportunities because it shows you can commit, and it also demonstrates that you fight for causes you’re passionate about (i.e. ending child hunger/homelessness, raising mental health awareness, etc.). I think sporadic events are fine too, but keep in mind that you will have to enter each volunteer experience separately, and it may get tedious.