Well since you are talking about Marquette, which was my school of choice the past 4 years of applying, I'll just tell you about my experience applying and interviewing there. My stats were not that greatest when I applied the first year and I didn't even get an interview. I spoke with the director of admissons that year, retook my DAT (didn't improve much, got a 19 PAT and AA of 17, but it was because my QR was 16, which luckily for me he said was ALMOST a negligible section of the DAT, and my other sections were 18 or better). My GPA was a 3.5 overall by the end of last summer and a sGPA of around 3.2. I took summer courses each year to get my GPA up to prove that my first 2 years of undergrad were clearly a mistake and I was capable of actually being a good student (first 2 years GPA was around 3.2, last 2 years including summer classes Post Bac was around 3.8 or 3.9). I believe the one thing that got me interviews the last 3 years was my work experience as a dental assistant, since my DAT and GPA were only average. Currently I have 6 years of experience working at the same office. Some people here say you HAVE to have a backup plan, but after working in a dental office for this long and really realizing that I wanted to do dentistry, I also did not have a backup plan, and I was going to keep applying till I got in. I suppose you could say my backup plan was to keep working as a dental assistant, but I'm assuming when people say "backup plan" they mean a different profession. Long story short, I finally got in this year and it was absolutely worth it applying the last 4 years because I finally have the opportunity to prove myself and do what I actually wanted all along in being a dentist.
Now, OP, when I was in high school I had the same goals as you for college, but it simply did not work out that way as I put myself in a pretty deep hole my first 2 years of undergrad. BUT, I will tell you that if dentistry is really what you want to do, you will do whatever you can to keep trying and show the admissons committee you want to go to dental school. There are no guarantees EVER in terms of applying to anything. The director of admissions told me after my first year interviewing they rejected a guy with a 22 DAT and 4.0 GPA because during the interviews he was a complete horse's ass (his exact words no joke!). So, your stats are one thing, but the interview is also half the battle.
Sorry for rambling on and on, but the more you know before you begin this journey, the better off you will be.
Good luck to you!
