This is a little bit of a rant so I really appreciate anyone who makes it to the end and gives me feedback. Background info:
I graduated from the University of Maryland in May 2016 with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering and have been working at NASA for the past year. However, I recently have become very intrigued with the idea of going to dental school. I would need to go back and take all of the dental pre-reqs (approx. 12-15 classes). Fortunately, my job has kind of weird hours which allows me a lot of free time to study and attend lectures.
I've heard that Maryland has a great Dental program, which is part of the reason I think it would be a good move for me, given that I have lived in the state my whole life and attended the school for my undergrad. But before I commit to this move I wanted to gauge if I really have a shot or if I'm starting too far behind the 8 ball.
My concern is my undergrad GPA/transcript. From my quick research, Maryland Dental has an average GPA acceptance of 3.4. I graduated with a 2.83. At the time I was going through engineering, I obviously had no idea that I would think about applying to any kind of medical school in the future, and admittedly at times had a "C's get degrees" attitude.
I know it's hard to gauge something like this because it's dependent on a lot of other factors (such as my DAT), but my main question is: If I were to go back and take all of the necessary pre-reqs and achieve competitive stats (let’s say a 3.5 GPA in all my pre-reqs and a 20 on the DAT (I’m obviously aiming for higher but I’m trying to be conservative/realistic)), in addition to all of the necessary hours of shadowing, etc… would I be a competitive candidate, or has my sub-par undergrad transcript already eliminated me?
Some things that I HOPE would work in my favor:
I’m way more focused and mature now than when I was going through undergrad and I’m confident that if I were to take all of the pre-req courses now I would do fairly well, but I’m worried that my past GPA has already eliminated me.
Also, if I were to not make it into Maryland Dental, is it possible I could go to a “lesser” dental program, and try to transfer into Maryland Dental after a semester/year? Or is that not very plausible once you get into a dental program? I am thinking of this as my backup plan in case I do decide to go the dental route but don’t get into Maryland initially.
Once again, thanks to anyone who took the time to read through all of this and leave feedback!
***BONUS QUESTION***
In my engineering curriculum there were a couple classes that I took that are part of the dental pre-reqs (Chem I and PHYS 1 & 2). I got an (A) in CHEM I, a (B) in PHYS I, and unfortunately a (C) in PHYS II. But as I stated earlier, all of these classes will have fallen out of the 5 year windows by the time I apply and I would have to take them again. Even though I would have to take the course again (and hopefully do much better in my PHYS courses) would my first grade still reflect poorly on me even though they fall out of the 5 year window? An advisor I spoke to at my University said if I re-take one of the pre-reqs, the dental school will average out the two grades, (meaning if I re-took PHYS II and got a B they would consider that a 2.5) but that was before either of us knew about the “5 year rule.”
I graduated from the University of Maryland in May 2016 with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering and have been working at NASA for the past year. However, I recently have become very intrigued with the idea of going to dental school. I would need to go back and take all of the dental pre-reqs (approx. 12-15 classes). Fortunately, my job has kind of weird hours which allows me a lot of free time to study and attend lectures.
I've heard that Maryland has a great Dental program, which is part of the reason I think it would be a good move for me, given that I have lived in the state my whole life and attended the school for my undergrad. But before I commit to this move I wanted to gauge if I really have a shot or if I'm starting too far behind the 8 ball.
My concern is my undergrad GPA/transcript. From my quick research, Maryland Dental has an average GPA acceptance of 3.4. I graduated with a 2.83. At the time I was going through engineering, I obviously had no idea that I would think about applying to any kind of medical school in the future, and admittedly at times had a "C's get degrees" attitude.
I know it's hard to gauge something like this because it's dependent on a lot of other factors (such as my DAT), but my main question is: If I were to go back and take all of the necessary pre-reqs and achieve competitive stats (let’s say a 3.5 GPA in all my pre-reqs and a 20 on the DAT (I’m obviously aiming for higher but I’m trying to be conservative/realistic)), in addition to all of the necessary hours of shadowing, etc… would I be a competitive candidate, or has my sub-par undergrad transcript already eliminated me?
Some things that I HOPE would work in my favor:
- On Maryland Dental’s website it states: “All Science Courses must be taken within 5 years of the year you wish to enroll into the program.” I started my undergrad degree in the Fall 2011, and finished in May 2016. If I were to start on my pre-reqs now, it would take me about 3 years to finish everything before I started to apply to dental schools. So essentially, more than 5 years will have passed between the majority of my undergrad coursework and my dental applications. Since so much time has passed, will that lead the admissions committee to put less stock into my undergrad transcript, and focus more on the recent work I did in my pre-dental classes?
- Mechanical Engineering is a pretty difficult major (and UMD has a strong engineering program), and I don’t think it’s a very common major amongst dental applicants. Would they take that into account when comparing me to someone who has a higher GPA but majored in something like Bio? (Not that Bio is a cakewalk, but I think most would agree Engineering is tougher)
- Do they look favorably upon work experience (even if it’s not relevant to dentistry)? Because by the time I apply I will have been working as a professional engineer for about 3 years. I also believe that this would make me a diverse candidate, which these professional schools always claim they are looking for, as opposed to the typical candidate coming straight out of undergrad with a bio major. I would definitely try to play this angle up in my personal statement.
I’m way more focused and mature now than when I was going through undergrad and I’m confident that if I were to take all of the pre-req courses now I would do fairly well, but I’m worried that my past GPA has already eliminated me.
Also, if I were to not make it into Maryland Dental, is it possible I could go to a “lesser” dental program, and try to transfer into Maryland Dental after a semester/year? Or is that not very plausible once you get into a dental program? I am thinking of this as my backup plan in case I do decide to go the dental route but don’t get into Maryland initially.
Once again, thanks to anyone who took the time to read through all of this and leave feedback!
***BONUS QUESTION***
In my engineering curriculum there were a couple classes that I took that are part of the dental pre-reqs (Chem I and PHYS 1 & 2). I got an (A) in CHEM I, a (B) in PHYS I, and unfortunately a (C) in PHYS II. But as I stated earlier, all of these classes will have fallen out of the 5 year windows by the time I apply and I would have to take them again. Even though I would have to take the course again (and hopefully do much better in my PHYS courses) would my first grade still reflect poorly on me even though they fall out of the 5 year window? An advisor I spoke to at my University said if I re-take one of the pre-reqs, the dental school will average out the two grades, (meaning if I re-took PHYS II and got a B they would consider that a 2.5) but that was before either of us knew about the “5 year rule.”
