Appreciate the advice

[SayAahh]

Advertisement - Members don't see this ad

Okay, since many of you have gained first hand insight as to what is looked favorably on and what isn't, I thought I might as well learn from your opinions. I spent my first 2 years at a community college and my last 2 yrs at a 4-yr university. My first year cc grades were horrific, 1 F, 1 W, few C's and D's although I retook all the science classes and got solid A's. It was a negative social influence ordeal. Anyhow, I graduated from my 4-yr school with a 3.65 GPA and solid A's in semesters in which I took 3-4 upper level bio classes and an additional core (5 classes per sem). Both schools combined give me an overall GPA of 3.25 and sGPA 3.17...weak, I know. I'm in the process of having my F appealed for a W, since I got an A the 2nd time taking the class, which would bump my GPA to a 3.35ish. Good LOR's, plenty of shadowing, volunteering, dental assistant hours, and def one heck of a transformation. I'm taking the DATs in 2 months. Here's the typical question... How do you think this is going to be looked upon by the adcomms for the 2009 app cycle. Any feedback would be most helpful, thanks guys.

 

[SuperDuper]

I think showing the positive trend in grades is very important.
It sounds like you've managed very well to get your stuff together (in academics), and I think you should definitely talk about what made you do better in school, etc. I think you will be competitive for the admission process as long as you do well on your DAT 🙂😀😎

Okay, since many of you have gained first hand insight as to what is looked favorably on and what isn't, I thought I might as well learn from your opinions. I spent my first 2 years at a community college and my last 2 yrs at a 4-yr university. My first year cc grades were horrific, 1 F, 1 W, few C's and D's although I retook all the science classes and got solid A's. It was a negative social influence ordeal. Anyhow, I graduated from my 4-yr school with a 3.65 GPA and solid A's in semesters in which I took 3-4 upper level bio classes and an additional core (5 classes per sem). Both schools combined give me an overall GPA of 3.25 and sGPA 3.17...weak, I know. I'm in the process of having my F appealed for a W, since I got an A the 2nd time taking the class, which would bump my GPA to a 3.35ish. Good LOR's, plenty of shadowing, volunteering, dental assistant hours, and def one heck of a transformation. I'm taking the DATs in 2 months. Here's the typical question... How do you think this is going to be looked upon by the adcomms for the 2009 app cycle. Any feedback would be most helpful, thanks guys.

 

[laugh]

I am basically in the same boat as you. I have about a 3.1ish CC GPA and a 3.43 University GPA. I have an upward trend that will hopefully look good. Combined I have the same GPA and sGPA as you. I too, have great LOR's, and dental assisting experience. I hope my state school (Cali) will give me an edge when applying for the 2009 cylce. I scored an 18 on the DAT recently and am going to retake it this summer, hoping for at least a 19. Good luck and Im sure with your determination you will get in somewhere.

 

[SayAahh]

Thanks to the both of you! I was honestly expecting "Do a post-bacc" kind of response, which may very well be the case. Just hope I am fortunate enough to avoid that..

 

[stdmufin27]

I have all that extra junk like you. Got an 18 on the DAT. But my GPA hovered right around a 3.0. I spent 4 rocky years in CC and another 3 in 4-year just trying to fix my mistakes. Trust me, each school will notice your transformation. I've had 4 interviews, 2 more scheduled, and an acceptance so far. You rock and it shows from the work you put in.

 

[laugh]

studmuffin-do you mind sharing all your stats so I can actually feel somewhat excited about mine....

 

[stdmufin27]

Was that a wise crack? 😀 No, I don't care. Check out one of the threads I started. It gives my whole lame stat run down.

 

[SayAahh]

I am under the impression that the "messing up" is not THAT bad if you can straighten yourself out efficiently. Don't understand how I could've done terribly at a community college and so much better at a 4-year. I guess I can only handle a challenge haha 😛

 

[SayAahh]

I agree!

 

[blankguy]

There are plenty of people who have screwed up early on and managed to straighten themselves out. That didn't stop them from getting into dental school. Schools will note that but given the competition it's going to boil down to numbers in a lot of cases. You may not be the individual to rack up interviews like some of the more academically accomplished but as long as you get A interview and A acceptance your job is accomplished. I am one such case of screwed up early on but matured.

 

[mathaihurts]

your story is pretty awesome...i have a 3.69 GPA, 19/19 DAT, and have only received 2 interviews, one from my state school and one from UPenn. I was rejected outright from Nova and NYU, and haven't heard from anyone else, even though I also have a lot of dental shadowing experience (roughly 200 hrs) and volunteering experience (i live in post-katrina new orleans), and some pretty cool extracurriculars, etc. that i am legitimately passionate about. I really have no idea what i could do right now to get an acceptance somewhere. the whole process is kindof baffling me somehow. The other private schools I applied to were Tufts, BU, Pacific, and Temple, but again, I haven't heard back.

Any suggestions? It seems like people with comparable or lower stats are doing much better in the sdn network, so i wonder if i have something wrong. i write really well and had an admissions advisor read my essay, and i generally interview well too, so i shudder to think that admissions committees have some really negative perception of me coming through or something, lol.

thanks, and good luck to all.