chances of acceptance

[SweetTooth07]

Hello,

I am planning to apply next cycle and I finished my undergrad with a public health degree and now doing the prereqs as an open university student. Right now I have a cGPA of 3.33 and I think my science GPA is the same but I still have to take ochem, microbio, genetics, physics II, and anatomy. I have an upward trend in my GPA. I started getting B's and C's and then got straight A's for a year and got A's and B's in the last couple years. Last semester I took three science courses but this semester I am only taking 2. I am going to try to take 3 again in the fall if I can get into the classes. Would I be a competitive candidate and have a chance to get into dental school? What can I do to be a more competitive candidate and increase my chances of standing out?

Extra curricular: volunteer at Children's Hospital (2 years), dental coordinator for flying samaritans (1 year), organized health fair
Shadowing: about 200 hours total from general dentist, perio, and ortho
work experience: no dental experience but worked 2 different jobs over the last 6 years while doing undergrad

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[axiumgod]

Tbh I don’t think anyone will be able to gauge your chances with so many pre-reqs left and without a DAT score. For now I’d just focus on getting good grades/scores so you’ll be as competitive as possible when the time comes

 

[SweetTooth07]

Thank you for your response. Do you have any advice on how to get more shadowing hours and LOR from dentists?

 

[axiumgod]

You have way more shadowing than I did so I’m not the best to answer that one haha but I’d just keep up what you’ve been doing since it seems like it’s working. Something else you could think about is becoming a dental assistant, you’ll learn a lot about general dentistry and you’ll get a ton of hours

 

[SweetTooth07]

Yea I'm going to try to become a dental assistant. The only thing is that most of them want me to be full time but won't be able to do that with school as well

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Get all A's in the remaining prereqs and study hard for your DAT. The work and shadowing experience are fine but should now be considered important but lower in priority. No bets until an official DAT score is reported.

 

[gettingbread]

Yea I'm going to try to become a dental assistant. The only thing is that most of them want me to be full time but won't be able to do that with school as well

Hmm, most dentist in my area at least aren’t even open full time right now (due to COVID-19). Trying talking to more offices and find someone who isn’t already fully up and functioning. During the shelter in place (which I recognize not all counties are participating in) I went into the dental office and kinda just learned where everything was since business was (and is) really slow.

 

[SweetTooth07]

I didn’t mean right now lol definitely after covid and everything calms down. I was thinking next year after I’m done with my prereqs