Depression Tanked a Year's GPA... What to do?

[asdfhhadsf234]

Hi all,

I didn't know I wanted to do dentistry until after my sophomore year of undergrad. My first semester I did well as a chemistry major, getting a 3.46. However, my mental health my second and third semester contributed (not trying to make an excuse just put it in perspective) to me getting a 2.7 and 2.8 respectively. I did much better my fourth semester with a 3.6, and retook a 4 credit Bio class. I am now sitting at a 3.15 GPA, and I am studying the DAT one year in advance to maximize scores, as well as studying for my upcoming organic chemistry class to hopefully get an A. Will that year of bad GPA totally destroy me, or will Adcoms see an upward spike as being significant enough to justify two horrible semesters. I would do anything to change the past but I can't now.

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[jg4318]

If you could bring your overall GPA up to a 3.3 in the next two semesters and score high on the DAT, you'll still have a really good shot of getting into dental school. They'll definitely consider the upward spike as significant especially since you do have a real reason of why you did poorly in those two semesters.

 

[Universitygeek]

You're still ok if you bring that gpa up to the 3.3/3.4 range. I don't see the need to start studying for the DAT a year in advance when you could use that time for clubs, shadowing, volunteering, etc since you won't retain the information you're currently reviewing anyway. Maybe start studying half a year beforehand maximum?

 

[Craig_Sherwood234]

Nothing you can do now but keep treading, OP. I had issues as well during undergrad but I made sure to maintain my GPA as my top priority.

 

[FeralisExtremum]

Hi all,

I didn't know I wanted to do dentistry until after my sophomore year of undergrad. My first semester I did well as a chemistry major, getting a 3.46. However, my mental health my second and third semester contributed (not trying to make an excuse just put it in perspective) to me getting a 2.7 and 2.8 respectively. I did much better my fourth semester with a 3.6, and retook a 4 credit Bio class. I am now sitting at a 3.15 GPA, and I am studying the DAT one year in advance to maximize scores, as well as studying for my upcoming organic chemistry class to hopefully get an A. Will that year of bad GPA totally destroy me, or will Adcoms see an upward spike as being significant enough to justify two horrible semesters. I would do anything to change the past but I can't now.

Is the 3.15 factoring in the retaken class with grade replacement? AADSAS doesn't do grade replacement, so you may want to do your own GPA calculation to figure out where it currently sits in terms of dental school application.

That said, you can absolutely recover from one bad year if you continue to do great in all of your classes, show an upward trend, and do well on the DAT.

 

[asdfhhadsf234]

Is the 3.15 factoring in the retaken class with grade replacement? AADSAS doesn't do grade replacement, so you may want to do your own GPA calculation to figure out where it currently sits in terms of dental school application.

That said, you can absolutely recover from one bad year if you continue to do great in all of your classes, show an upward trend, and do well on the DAT.

My school has a policy that allowed me to retake this class and have it completely replace the original grade (it doesn't even shOw up on my transcript. What's the deal in this case?

 

[FeralisExtremum]

My school has a policy that allowed me to retake this class and have it completely replace the original grade (it doesn't even shOw up on my transcript. What's the deal in this case?

You'd still end up being obligated to report both grades, unfortunately. Your school's internal policy may be to replace completely on the transcript but there are other tracking methods where that may not be the case (e.g. National Student Clearinghouse).

 

[fit2]

You'd still end up being obligated to report both grades, unfortunately. Your school's internal policy may be to replace completely on the transcript but there are other tracking methods where that may not be the case (e.g. National Student Clearinghouse).

Haha my school uses NSC too. Funny enough I don't think all schools use that. My CC school used something else. Also they delivered transcripts 3 times faster