Chances of getting into dental school/should I re-take courses?

[Btttay]

I know this might be silly to ask, but I'm honestly not sure at all what my chances are of getting into dental school. I'm a senior in undergrad at a large university majoring in business. After 3 long years of suffering through business courses, I realized it wasn't what I wanted to do. I've always had a strong inclination toward working in healthcare and my mom and brother are both dentists, so I decided to shadow them both throughout the summer and fell in love with dentistry. I'm in my last semester at this university before I graduate (I'm planning on doing a post-bacc program to finish pre-reqs) and am taking Gen Chem 1 and Microbio currently. I'm expecting to get a B in Gen Chem and a B or C in microbio. It was tough for me to jump back into science courses at first after having not taken any for a few years, so I didn't do well on my first few tests. I'm planning on doing a post-bacc program starting this winter at a smaller school (my school doesn't have a pre-health post-bacc program and the one I'm planning on attending offers accelerated courses) and am hoping I can do better on the rest of my pre-reqs. I currently have a GPA of 3.5, but am unsure how it will change after this semester... my main question is-

Is it ok to get low B's or C's in pre-req courses, so long as I continue to improve my grades and do well in the other courses throughout my post-bacc program, or should I plan on re-taking Gen Chem 1 and Microbio?

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[DentalHopeful16679]

I think there are a whole slew of factors at play here, with GPA being just one piece of the pie and regarding your concerns about GPA, its hard to say and really depends on DAT, LOR, personal statement among others along with the schools you apply to. With that bing said, GPA's are slowly rising over the years and I would shoot for a 3.4 or above in the sciences but I hope thats helpful even though it's hard for me to say from the distance but shoot for the stars and do as best as you could and I'm sure you'll do great!

 

[Michael_Scott]

If you only got a B and C in those 2 classes, it is fine. BUT plan to ace all your other pre-reqs. D-school is ultra competitive. Also, your aim should be 20+ DAT.