Are my stats good enough to get in?

[McNursey]

I'm a nurse wanting to go dental......I have a Bachelor's of Science in Nursing but dean told me that my nursing courses won't count........so that drops my hours down from 146 to 74 but brings my GPA up from 3.27 to 3.39. He told me that of course I need at least 90 credit hours to be considered for admission and to take some upper level bio classes. I need 8 hours of physics and 8 hours of organic to meet the minimum course requirements (and I would have 90 hours) though he said that they have never accepted anyone with just the bare minimum. So I need to take some more upper level bio classes for sure to be competitive.My science GPA is currently 3.19. I am taking organic 1 and physics 1 this summer. I plan to take the DAT in August. Applications for the school I'm shooting for go out Sept.1. I'm trying to get in fall 09'. I have been a registered nurse for nearly 2 years (June will be 2 years). I am worried about my GPA. I'm gonna go to school full time in fall 08' and spring 09' to take upper level bio classes. I'm taking three months off from work starting 2nd week of May so I can study more intensely for the DAT
plus summer school starts in June and I want to do well on my two classes. Right now I am working nights and try to do 4-5 hours of studying a day but when I take off in a few weeks I plan on 8-10 hours daily til summer school starts in June and re-vamp my schedule due to the two classes I'm taking.........Ok, do I have a chance with my GPA? I'm gonna try hard to get A's and B's in my classes this summer and in fall and spring. Any and all honest advice welcome.

 

[jigabodo]

Unfortunately, the Nursing courses will count. AADSAS requires you to send in transcripts for all post secondary institutions ever attended.

 

[alanan84]

I'm a nurse wanting to go dental......I have a Bachelor's of Science in Nursing but dean told me that my nursing courses won't count........so that drops my hours down from 146 to 74 but brings my GPA up from 3.27 to 3.39. He told me that of course I need at least 90 credit hours to be considered for admission and to take some upper level bio classes. I need 8 hours of physics and 8 hours of organic to meet the minimum course requirements (and I would have 90 hours) though he said that they have never accepted anyone with just the bare minimum. So I need to take some more upper level bio classes for sure to be competitive.My science GPA is currently 3.19. I am taking organic 1 and physics 1 this summer. I plan to take the DAT in August. Applications for the school I'm shooting for go out Sept.1. I'm trying to get in fall 09'. I have been a registered nurse for nearly 2 years (June will be 2 years). I am worried about my GPA. I'm gonna go to school full time in fall 08' and spring 09' to take upper level bio classes. I'm taking three months off from work starting 2nd week of May so I can study more intensely for the DAT
plus summer school starts in June and I want to do well on my two classes. Right now I am working nights and try to do 4-5 hours of studying a day but when I take off in a few weeks I plan on 8-10 hours daily til summer school starts in June and re-vamp my schedule due to the two classes I'm taking.........Ok, do I have a chance with my GPA? I'm gonna try hard to get A's and B's in my classes this summer and in fall and spring. Any and all honest advice welcome.

I think you should be careful about rushing it. If I understood correctly you're going to be taking the DAT without Orgo 2 which is ok, but you would have to really study it to be prepared. You would have less time to brush up on your Bio, Gen Chem, PAT, and OR sections and possibly not do as well there. You're definitely going to need to do a number of upper level Bio classes and schools are going to want to see those grades before admitting you.

Basically the point I'm trying to make is that it is a pretty lengthy process to prepare yourself for dental school. You're GPA isn't that bad but dental schools need to see how you will perform in upper level Biology classes as those will be what you will be taking your first two years of school. You can apply this cycle, but be careful that it doesn't hurt you in the long run if you don't get in.

 

[McNursey]

Unfortunately, the Nursing courses will count. AADSAS requires you to send in transcripts for all post secondary institutions ever attended.

Oh I know they will see my nursing grades. The dean of the school told me that they wont count towards admissions because they are "specialty courses" and they only take regular academic course (math, science, english etc) but he said having a biomedical degree does help. The school I'm applying to (LSU) requires you to fill out a regular application, they dont use AADSAS. I plan on taking organic and physics this summer with parts 2 in the fall and in the fall also take 3 upper level bio courses and aim for A's and B's mostly A's, that way I will have some upper level courses by the time the deadline to apply (feb.28th) arrives. I graduated with my BS in nursing in 06. A few of the classes I took as pre-reqs for nursing include Biology 1/2 w/ labs, Microbiology w/ labs, A/P 1 and 2 w/ labs . and 2 semesters of General Chem w/ labs. And I took Trig and Algebra......and I know alot of that is on the DAT so it is a matter of refreshing my memory....I just have to work hard and be diligent with studying

 

[TempleDMDKrazd]

i have never heard anyone apply to dental school at the "deadline". I thought applying at the deadline is suppose to hurt you because at that time a majority of the class is already filled?

also LSU doesnt do AADSAS?....thats new to me...

 

[McNursey]

i have never heard anyone apply to dental school at the "deadline". I thought applying at the deadline is suppose to hurt you because at that time a majority of the class is already filled?

also LSU doesnt do AADSAS?....thats new to me...

Well, I plan to apply early in September if my DAT scores are decent if not I will decide when to retake and re-apply. I dont mean that I will apply by the deadline so to speak, just that I want to have more upper level classes on file so that my application will be more competitive........They admit on a rolling basis, first acceptances supposed to go out as early as in December last in April. Yeah, LSU doesnt use AADSAS.........you have to request an application.

 

[ummjoey]

why hasnt anyone said apply as early as possible? isnt that like in almost every thread?

i say apply as early as possible..............

it sound like you are only applying to one school. i dont think thats a good idea? try to apply to 15-20.

i agree with alanan84 that taking the dat without orgo 2 will be a bit hard? but i dont know you and your study habits. if you have the correct discipline and time management i think you will be able to teach yourself orgo 2.

i would recommend applying the 2010 cycle? by this time last year i already asked my professors for lors and i finished my personal statement? do you have your lors and personal statement ready to go? the application is going to be out in less than a month?

just from looking at your gpa i can tell you it is a bit low, but i think its relatively decent. if you do well on the dat and everything else on your application is good, then i think you will have a pretty good shot of getting in.

when i say everything else i mean getting your application in early and your ECs are good too. good dental experience? volunteer work? maybe research? make sure to get your transcripts and lor in to AADSAS asap?

 

[McNursey]

why hasnt anyone said apply as early as possible? isnt that like in almost every thread?

i say apply as early as possible..............

it sound like you are only applying to one school. i dont think thats a good idea? try to apply to 15-20.

i agree with alanan84 that taking the dat without orgo 2 will be a bit hard? but i dont know you and your study habits. if you have the correct discipline and time management i think you will be able to teach yourself orgo 2.

i would recommend applying the 2010 cycle? by this time last year i already asked my professors for lors and i finished my personal statement? do you have your lors and personal statement ready to go? the application is going to be out in less than a month?

just from looking at your gpa i can tell you it is a bit low, but i think its relatively decent. if you do well on the dat and everything else on your application is good, then i think you will have a pretty good shot of getting in.

when i say everything else i mean getting your application in early and your ECs are good too. good dental experience? volunteer work? maybe research? make sure to get your transcripts and lor in to AADSAS asap?

Thanks for the insight.........the applications will be out Sept 1st. I'm extremely focused with my studying. This is something I really want. I am still narrowing down other schools to possibly apply to. Like I said, I'm gonna see how I feel in a couple months and my practice DAT scores on whether to proceed with 09' cycle. Its not set in stone...........Right now I'm starting from scratch studying from the bottom up what is on the dat to refresh my memory and re-learn stuff. If I am not making good scores on practice tests after I'm done reviewing and re-learning, I will probably post-pone applying this year. So only time will tell. I do have my personal statement and have 2 of my teachers on hand to write LORs. I will probably apply to at least 10-15 schools. I'm just looking for some insight from those who have been where I am and made it...........if my practice DAT scores arent really hot, then that will let me know that I need more time to ace the test. I'm not gonna take it in August unless my practice test scores are good.

 

[jay47]

i have never heard anyone apply to dental school at the "deadline". I thought applying at the deadline is suppose to hurt you because at that time a majority of the class is already filled?

also LSU doesnt do AADSAS?....thats new to me...

Okay, let's just put it this way, at the "deadline" almost all of the spots will be filled. At least here in Texas, all three of the deans of the admissions said that they filled almost all positions, 95%, after the first round of interviews. So unless you are a very, very qualified candidate, or hae some sort of very unique background, I would definitely save your money and wait for next year. If you don't get a stellar DAT score, then definitely save your money.
However, I suppose that this doesn't necessarily apply for LSU.

 

[McNursey]

Been researching, read old post here, weighing pros and cons last couple of hours and I think I will just wait for 10' cycle so I can beef up my application, it is gonna be way too stressful to try to rush and cram, ah. I'd rather spend a year taking upper level classes and being better prepared for the DAT and increase my GPA up to at least 3.5 overall and science-wise. It would be a waste of time money and energy to rush and do everything so fast in so little time when I can easily pace myself and be more likely to get in and succeed in d-school. Thanks for the insight!

 

[rose786]

Been researching, read old post here, weighing pros and cons last couple of hours and I think I will just wait for 10' cycle so I can beef up my application, it is gonna be way too stressful to try to rush and cram, ah. I'd rather spend a year taking upper level classes and being better prepared for the DAT and increase my GPA up to at least 3.5 overall and science-wise. It would be a waste of time money and energy to rush and do everything so fast in so little time when I can easily pace myself and be more likely to get in and succeed in d-school. Thanks for the insight!

This is a good plan. D-school will still be there in 2010. And it's a lengthy/time-consuming process so it's better to put out the best app you possibly can. Good luck to you.

 

[stdmufin27]

Having some experience in waiting an additional year (mine because my son was born just when I wanted to apply the first time....so I waited an extra year to give my fam the chance to be around him) I feel that waiting to the '10 cycle will give you ample to raise your GPA and subsequently your DAT score. Also, it will give you some time to give you dental shadowing hours. The nursing experience will help you but you should the schools that you are interested in the work that dentists do by getting in your shadow hours. An extra year will also help you to set everything up financially as far as saving for the app./interview(s)/and subsequent move. Way to think it out though. I think it's cool that you realized that an extra year can only help.

 

[Dan3223]

Been researching, read old post here, weighing pros and cons last couple of hours and I think I will just wait for 10' cycle so I can beef up my application, it is gonna be way too stressful to try to rush and cram, ah. I'd rather spend a year taking upper level classes and being better prepared for the DAT and increase my GPA up to at least 3.5 overall and science-wise. It would be a waste of time money and energy to rush and do everything so fast in so little time when I can easily pace myself and be more likely to get in and succeed in d-school. Thanks for the insight!

Good call. I was gonna give the same advice... but I see you've gotten there on your own Good luck with everything