Can you take a look at my credentials? Please.

[Dentaldiamond]

Can someone please examine my credentials and give an honest opinion of my situation. I would greatly appreciate it, I am stressing out. Thanks!!

I have taken ( at Middlesex County college)
Physics I and II - C, C+
BIO I and II - B , C+
PRE CALC, CALC, CALC II, A,A,B
GEN CHEM I - C+
ANATOMY I & II- B , B+

Now that I have transferred to Rutgers, I am not working full time so I will have much more time to devote to my studies and I have also matured!..My question is what are my chances of getting in of I do very well on my DAT and gen chem II, Orgo I and II and all of the upper level sciences. Will they overlook the fact that I messed up on my pre reqs? What should I do its coming time to apply in June? I am taking the DAT in August when I finish orgo II.

I want to go to UMDNJ.Does it look like I will need to do a masters in Biotechnology?

My uncle graduated from UMDNJ, does that increase my chances? And what else should I do to make my application stand out?

THANK you so much to anyone who responds!!!

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[dentalWorks]

lol, why are you worried? Your SOOOO far away from the application cycle that the ONLY thing that should be on your mind right now is GPA GPA GPA. From looks of things, You haven't done terrible in your sciences so far, but you haven't done too hot either. You need to take your upcoming pre-dental courses more seriously.

You don't need to worry your self about getting accepted to dental schools, DAT, masters programs, or anything of that nature. Just worry about your upcoming pre-dental courses first. When you ace them, then you move on to the next big thing on your list and start the worrying process lol.

Aside from your GPA and your upcoming science courses, try to do some volunteering, any volunteering would be good, it DOES NOT have to be healthcare related. It just shows that you care about you community. Another thing you can do for the time being is some dental shadowing, so in the future when adcoms review your application, they realize that you got early expore to the field and became interested.

 

[Dentaldiamond]

lol thank you for the advice I will be sure to follow it! But I am taking Orgo I and II over the summer and I will graduate next May. That means I should apply this June right? Thats what makes me worried, because they are only going to see my bad grades when I submit my application in June. Should I wait until August to submit?? Ahh!! lol

 

[12345a]

what dentalWrks he said

Now that I have transferred to Rutgers, I am not working full time so I will have much more time to devote to my studies and I have also matured!.....

this is my favorite part of this thread.

 

[dentalWorks]

lol thank you for the advice I will be sure to follow it! But I am taking Orgo I and II over the summer and I will graduate next May. That means I should apply this June right? Thats what makes me worried, because they are only going to see my bad grades when I submit my application in June. Should I wait until August to submit?? Ahh!! lol

lol your looking to apply this June? I mean thats okay you can still apply this june and when your new grades come out in auguest you can do a modification to your application.

The only problem your going to have is, you need to have a DAT score or none of the schools you apply to will even look at your application. So how are you going to apply in June, take orgo I and II in the summer, and still have time to take the DAT?

Remember, Orgo I and II in the summer are going to be a nightmare, those classes are pretty fast pase in a normal fall/spring term, add to it summer time and it becomes 2x as fast.

 

[Dentaldiamond]

@ 12345A....can I ask why that is your favorite part??

 

[Dentaldiamond]

@ DentalWorks.......Yeah your right! I was thinking I would study everything but orgo 1 and 2 now and then take the test in August while i have them fresh in my head. I though I could add my DAT score to my application, but I understand that that early application would be pointless since they wouldn't look at it anyway until they received my DAT.

 

[dentalWorks]

Yeah your right! I was thinking I would study everything but orgo 1 and 2 now and then take the test in August while i have them fresh in my head. I though I could add my DAT score to my application, but I understand that that early application would be pointless since they wouldn't look at it anyway until they received my DAT.

exactly.... So even tho your applying early, your not taking your DAT until late (august).... and in my opinion, maybe august is too early. I mean yeh the orgo will be freash in your head but what about biology and general chemistry? PAT? Math?.... There is alot of s*** to cover in the DAT

 

[Bman1047]

Do you not have an advisor??

 

[Dentaldiamond]

Thank you so much for all your help. You are right I need to make sure I put in enough time so that I do my best on the test!! What would be the latest date you would suggest taking it without jeopardizing admission??
(this is my last ? I promise and Thank you1!!!!)

 

[Dentaldiamond]

Do you not have an advisor??

No, I just transferred and I have not yet met with my advisor. I figured that since I have not taken any science classes at my current school they would not be able to help me yet with LOR's ect. I was going to meet with my advisor in summer. I also didn't want them to judge me for my low CC grades so I was going to wait to show them that I could make good grades in their school. I have heard of advisors dropping students who they don't believe will gain admission into dental school. I was afraid that would happen to me!! Should I contact my advisor now or wait?

 

[Bman1047]

No, I just transferred and I have not yet met with my advisor. I figured that since I have not taken any science classes at my current school they would not be able to help me yet with LOR's ect. I was going to meet with my advisor in summer. I also didn't want them to judge me for my low CC grades so I was going to wait to show them that I could make good grades in their school. I have heard of advisors dropping students who they don't believe will gain admission into dental school. I was afraid that would happen to me!! Should I contact my advisor now or wait?

Yes, I would def contact your advisor...that is their job, to advise. They can most likely tell you things and options for you that you will never learn on here. Don't worry about them "dropping you" (still kinda confused on what that actually means), but if they do...thats fine, thats why they typically hire more than one. Go talk to an advisor and start focusing on the present. People (we pre-dental) tend to get caught up thinking about tomorrow so much, we waste today and then wish they could go back...looks like your headed that way. Just calm down, and take it day-by-day.

Best of luck...

 

[Dentaldiamond]

You are absolutely right! Thank you!!!

 

[AmpedUp]

My advice to you is to not apply this coming June, because of outstanding courses (OChem 1,2 and GChem 2) and no DAT score. If you apply & take the test post-August, I think you'd be wasting time and money. Like everyone has mentioned here, it might be a worthwhile to schedule something with your counselor. Personally, I would be nowhere without one. Work hard in the remaining courses to bring up the GPA and find some volunteering opportunities that interest you. Good luck!

 

[doc toothache]

Now that I have transferred to Rutgers, I am not working full time so I will have much more time to devote to my studies and I have also matured!..My question is what are my chances of getting in of I do very well on my DAT and gen chem II, Orgo I and II and all of the upper level sciences. Will they overlook the fact that I messed up on my pre reqs? What should I do its coming time to apply in June? I am taking the DAT in August when I finish orgo II. I want to go to UMDNJ.Does it look like I will need to do a masters in Biotechnology? My uncle graduated from UMDNJ, does that increase my chances? And what else should I do to make my application stand out?

So half of pre reqs qualify as "credentials"? And unless your uncle is willing to buy UMDNJ you may be out of luck.

 

[Dentaldiamond]

So half of pre reqs qualify as "credentials"? And unless your uncle is willing to buy UMDNJ you may be out of luck.

My bad.

 

[Dentaldiamond]

My advice to you is to not apply this coming June, because of outstanding courses (OChem 1,2 and GChem 2) and no DAT score. If you apply & take the test post-August, I think you'd be wasting time and money. Like everyone has mentioned here, it might be a worthwhile to schedule something with your counselor. Personally, I would be nowhere without one. Work hard in the remaining courses to bring up the GPA and find some volunteering opportunities that interest you. Good luck!

Yeah I think I may just wait until I graduate next May to apply. But then I may be waiting around for a year. I guess I could just do a post bacc during that year to increase my chances? Thank you for the advice I appreciate it.

 

[AmpedUp]

Yeah I think I may just wait until I graduate next May to apply. But then I may be waiting around for a year. I guess I could just do a post bacc during that year to increase my chances? Thank you for the advice I appreciate it.

Don't think about a post bacc now. You should evaluate that after you've finished all required classes for dental school. I think if you can ace the remaining classes, you'll have a decently competitive GPA.

But like I mentioned before (and others as well), meet with a pre-health (or dental) counselor to discuss all of this. They'll help you put a plan together, which is something all of us cannot do here on SDN. So use your counselor for this.

Anyway, good luck to you! If you maintain a positive attitude and work hard now, you'll go pretty far.

 

[Dentaldiamond]

Don't think about a post bacc now. You should evaluate that after you've finished all required classes for dental school. I think if you can ace the remaining classes, you'll have a decently competitive GPA.

But like I mentioned before (and others as well), meet with a pre-health (or dental) counselor to discuss all of this. They'll help you put a plan together, which is something all of us cannot do here on SDN. So use your counselor for this.

Anyway, good luck to you! If you maintain a positive attitude and work hard now, you'll go pretty far.

Yeah thats true. I made an appointment with my advisor for Monday.. I am so excited! Thank you!!!

 

[dentalWorks]

Yeah thats true. I made an appointment with my advisor for Monday.. I am so excited! Thank you!!!

just hold your horses for a sec. Alot of the pre-dent/pre-med advisors are *****s, most of them seriously don't know what theyr talking about. The last advisor I went to told me that "most dental schools these days only accept students with minimum 22 on the DAT and 3.7+ GPAs".... umm ??? again, many of them are *****s so dont' take everything they give you to the heart.

The best thing you can do now is just to slow down about this whole application thing. I think its best to just worry about your upcoming courses. Try to 4.0 EVERYTHING from this point forward. And I don't think you should apply this cycle at all, you are not ready for the DAT.... And to answer your question, the latest You can take the dat and still be considered an "early" applicant is late June / early July.

Good luck to ya, and honestly, the BEST place to get great pre-dental advice is this SDN forum.

 

[Heretotalk]

Since you pretty much screwed up the core science courses, you need to ace everything from now on. I mean ACE (with a stern face!). Take as much science courses you can without destroying the grades to pull your science GPA up. Definetly get 20 or above on your DATs then it'll be golden. Otherwise, with that low of a start, and no tremendous upward trend, dental school adcoms will be worried if you'll even make it alive out of dental school's rigorous courses.

 

[Dentaldiamond]

just hold your horses for a sec. Alot of the pre-dent/pre-med advisors are *****s, most of them seriously don't know what theyr talking about. The last advisor I went to told me that "most dental schools these days only accept students with minimum 22 on the DAT and 3.7+ GPAs".... umm ??? again, many of them are *****s so dont' take everything they give you to the heart.

The best thing you can do now is just to slow down about this whole application thing. I think its best to just worry about your upcoming courses. Try to 4.0 EVERYTHING from this point forward. And I don't think you should apply this cycle at all, you are not ready for the DAT.... And to answer your question, the latest You can take the dat and still be considered an "early" applicant is late June / early July.

Good luck to ya, and honestly, the BEST place to get great pre-dental advice is this SDN forum.

wow thank god you told me that! If an advisor said that to me I would be so discouraged but at least now I know its typical of them! Yeah that is what I am going to do. I will 4.0 everything and that way I will have an upward trend and more of a chance of getting in and more time to do well I the DAT so that I don't have to take it twice. Yeah, I feel like people on SDN are the only ones who understand that if you are anything less than perfect you can still get in with persistence and education. if it wasn't for this forum I would probably be listening to all of my PA student friends who are telling me that I should be a PA because the only way I will get into dental school if I go international!!! Thank you so much for the advice, I feel like I will do much better in school now that I know I seriously have a chance!

 

[Dentaldiamond]

Since you pretty much screwed up the core science courses, you need to ace everything from now on. I mean ACE (with a stern face!). Take as much science courses you can without destroying the grades to pull your science GPA up. Definetly get 20 or above on your DATs then it'll be golden. Otherwise, with that low of a start, and no tremendous upward trend, dental school adcoms will be worried if you'll even make it alive out of dental school's rigorous courses.

Yeah, I completely agree and thats what I am worried about But I will deff 4.0 everything from now on. I know that I shouldn't be worried about a post bacc or masters at this point but I have a serious problem with planning ahead! I feel like that because I will have a year to wait for admissions to make their decision, I want to continue to do things to improve my chances so that maybe I could add my masters courses to my application late. That way they will see my dedication and hopefully I will get in 1st try! Do you agree?

 

[dentalWorks]

wow thank god you told me that! If an advisor said that to me I would be so discouraged but at least now I know its typical of them! Yeah that is what I am going to do. I will 4.0 everything and that way I will have an upward trend and more of a chance of getting in and more time to do well I the DAT so that I don't have to take it twice. Yeah, I feel like people on SDN are the only ones who understand that if you are anything less than perfect you can still get in with persistence and education. if it wasn't for this forum I would probably be listening to all of my PA student friends who are telling me that I should be a PA because the only way I will get into dental school if I go international!!! Thank you so much for the advice, I feel like I will do much better in school now that I know I seriously have a chance!

Fa Sho !!
You haven't even finished your pre-dental courses, of course you still have a chance, actually, you have a very strong chance
Take your college more seriously from this point forward and you'll thank yourself later in your adult life

 

[Dentaldiamond]

Fa Sho !!
You haven't even finished your pre-dental courses, of course you still have a chance, actually, you have a very strong chance
Take your college more seriously from this point forward and you'll thank yourself later in your adult life

Thank you I needed to hear that! I am in such a good mood now!!!