Bad undergrad GPA.. should I give up?

[sportspay14]

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Hi,

I graduated from one of the University of California as a Cell Biology major and my stats are bad as they can be seen below
- 2.9 overall GPA and 2.9 science GPA
- 8 withdraws from many science courses
- 4-year U.S. military service
- ~100 hour community service (helping handicapped people)
- no research experience nor medical experience
- No DAT score yet

It was not long ago I finally made up my mind to go onto dentistry. However, I am independent myself and do not get any financial support from anyone. So, I really doubt that I can go formal post bacc program or master's program. Because of my financial issues, I started informal post bacc starting this year to boost my gpa by re-taking classes that I did poorly in OR taking some upper division classes that I haven't taken yet at local community college. I plan to use this year to shadow doctors and add more volunteering hours. Now, my questions is..

Is it even a good idea to do informal post bacc because I am a cell biology major already? If there is hope, what can I do to improve myself to be a competitive applicant? Please advise.. or if I can personally message anyone, that would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance.

 

[osker246]

If dentistry is what you truly want to do then never give up. You may have to take a different road to get there but you eventually will get there.

Don't let the students with great GPAs, research, EC's discourage you. Before this cycle I was in your shoes having doubts about a non traditional 3.0gpa student getting any invites to schools. Well to date I've been accepted to 3 of the 5 schools I interviewed at. You may not get into Harvard or other top schools but that's okay. In the end you are still a dentist.

Are you still in undergrad or did you finish? Did you do undergrad before or after military? Try and bump up that GPA above a 3.0 if you can.

Also try and get your foot in the door volunteering in a dental related setting. I volunteered in a Mobile dental clinic that serves underrepresented community members for roughly 100 hours and wrote in my PS that it was my inspiration to enter the field.

I don't think research is really as important as people make it out to be. My research experience consisted of doing bitch work in a chemistry lab like cleaning glassware. I didn't even do it for credit. I volunteered in the lab because I had spare time. However if you are going to try and apply to research oriented schools and go into academia it does help.

When it comes to your DAT aim for a 30! This is your chance to show schools that you have what it takes to be successful academically. Don't rush your studying. I personally wouldn't even schedule your exam until you are starting to feel comfortable with the material. I didn't even call to schedule my exam until the month before I took the exam. I think my score is what saved me on my application. So take this part of the application process like your life depends on it.

I'd be more than happy to answer any questions if you have any. Just PM me.



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