Do I have a Chance.

[nondescriptive]

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So I took my DAT last week and did pretty good:

AA:21
TS:21
BIO:20
GCHEM:22
OCHEM:21
RC:25
QR:18
PAT:21

But my undergraduate GPA from 6 years ago was a 2.5 for business degree. I recently went back and did my classes for science and got a 4.0 with 40 hours total. So now my GPA is about a 2.8 and my sGPA including some from undergrad is about 3.8. What are my chances this year? You can be brutally honest; my feelings wont be hurt.

 

[LetsGo2DSchool]

It's good that you trended up and your most recent work will weigh more than your undergrad.

However, there are two things going against you. First, there are a lot of post-bacs in similar shoes: poor undergrad GPA, matured after college, great post-bac GPA with high DAT scores. Second, which will be harder to overcome: your overall GPA is sub 3.0 and schools hate reporting sub 3.0 GPAs to ADEA which will get averaged and published into their stats. The sub 3.0 GPAs you find in the ranges reported to ADEA are mainly legacy applicants with serious connections.

One solution is to continue taking science courses in your Post-Bac if it's reasonably possible to raise the GPA over 3.0 with a certain number of additional credits. This you will have to figure out yourself. Some people may recommend attending a Masters program, however any grades received in graduate school will be calculated separately, and not into your overall undergrad GPA and you will still be left with a 2.8.

You still have a chance in this cycle so keep your fingers crossed. And getting rejections from schools this cycle will actually help you get into those schools in the next cycle if you can demonstrate you improve your candidacy (more classes, higher GPA, community service, dental experience, etc.).

Anyway, congrats on a great score!

 

[nondescriptive]

I need a second opinion

 

[Philippines03j]

I say a 1 in 8 chance of getting in 🙂

No but in all seriousness it is going to depend on how many schools you apply too and which schools those are. No one is going to be able to tell you if you are going to get in to dental school except for the admissions. I could say that you have a "chance" but everyone has a "chance". I know people that got in with low dat and average gpa and I know others who did not get in and they had good DATs and good gpas... The processes is somewhat unpredictable.

There is a thread in the predental forum that is made for applicants with sub 3.0 gpas. Maybe they have some good info there that could boost your confidence and give you a little insight.

Good luck👍

Otherwise I agree with the majority of what LetsGo2Dschool said.

 

[dwelee]

So I took my DAT last week and did pretty good:

AA:21
TS:21
BIO:20
GCHEM:22
OCHEM:21
RC:25
QR:18
PAT:21

But my undergraduate GPA from 6 years ago was a 2.5 for business degree. I recently went back and did my classes for science and got a 4.0 with 40 hours total. So now my GPA is about a 2.8 and my sGPA including some from undergrad is about 3.8. What are my chances this year? You can be brutally honest; my feelings wont be hurt.

My opinion ( if you have time ) you may think of a Bachelor degree/ Biology major. You have 40 credit hours of science with 4.0 GPA + the general education hours that you have already taken through your undergraduate business major, So I think you will need about 2 or 3 additional semesters as a full time student to get your biology degree. If you maintained your GPA, your new undergraduate GPA(as a biology major) will be around 3.5. At the same time you can still be to able apply for dental schools , if you get lucky and get accepted , then you don't need to finish these semesters.

Good Luck 🙂




.

 

[LetsGo2DSchool]

My opinion ( if you have time ) you may think of a Bachelor degree/ Biology major. You have 40 credit hours of science with 4.0 GPA + the general education hours that you have already taken through your undergraduate business major, So I think you will need about 2 or 3 additional semesters as a full time student to get your biology degree. If you maintained your GPA, your new undergraduate GPA(as a biology major) will be around 3.5. At the same time you can still be able apply for dental schools , if you get lucky and get accepted , then you don't need to finish these semesters.

Good Luck 🙂




.

His 40 hours is from his post-bac studies. Since he already has an undergrad degree, he cannot obtain a second undergrad degree.

Plus, a bachelor degrees requires 120 credits. Thus, even if he could obtain an additional degree, it would require at least another 4 semesters (80 additional credits).

 

[dwelee]

...........................

 

[nondescriptive]

I think there is a misunderstanding when I wrote it. I took another 40 hrs of undergraduate prerequisite work, so I had to declare a second undergrad major, which is biology. So the school thinks I'm trying to get a bio degree when in actuality I'm taking classes to fulfill my requirements and then some; but if I get a degree while applying, then I'll take it. I think all these classes do improve my undergrad GPA, and I'm trying to get to at least a 3.0, but the more classes you have the slower the increase.

 

[LetsGo2DSchool]

Assuming you get all A's in your future classes, how many more credits will you need to get over that 3.0 mark?

 

[nondescriptive]

probably about 6 more classes or 24-30 hours. I stand at 170 hours right now.

 

[LetsGo2DSchool]

No he can. I am here on the same boat. I already have a Bachelor degree and I have transferred 72 credit hour from my previous degree to my new biology major that I am studying for. in addition, he doesn't need 80 credit hours because some of his previous credit hours could be transferred to his new Bachelor degree especially the general education ones for this reason i said his new GPA will be around 3.5 if he maintain 4.0 GPA if we presumed his transferred credit hours are less than 3.0 GPA




.

This is so lame if it is possible. It's basically a do-over. So if I graduated with a 2.0 GPA, then I can enroll in a different college, transfer over any decent grades I scored in gen. education classes from my previous degree, graduate with a 3.8 GPA, and apply to dental school fooling them into thinking that I achieved a 3.8 on a first college degree?

 

[LetsGo2DSchool]

probably about 6 more classes or 24-30 hours. I stand at 170 hours right now.

That's about 2 more semesters. You mind as well keep going because if you don't get accepted in this cycle and decide to apply next cycle, then at least you won't waste this fall semester when you could've been taking classes. So by the end of next spring, you'll have a 3.0+ GPA just in time for the next app cycle.

 

[nondescriptive]

No, not any grade. They will see all my academic records. You cant fool Adcom. I graduated 6 years ago, and the dean of admissions at one school said he didnt care what I did 6 years ago and told me to take for classes to get it to a 3.0. They don't want my GPA bringing down the class average when it gets published by the ADA.

 

[LetsGo2DSchool]

No, not any grade. They will see all my academic records. You cant fool Adcom. I graduated 6 years ago, and the dean of admissions at one school said he didnt care what I did 6 years ago and told me to take for classes to get it to a 3.0. They don't want my GPA bringing down the class average when it gets published by the ADA.

Does this mean you can take courses such as Nutrition, Weightlifting and other easy ones? Because it will make life easier.

 

[nondescriptive]

No, they're not stupid. He wanted me to take comparative anatomy, genetics, cell biology. He was impressed by my DAT for some reason and sounded like he was recruiting me. Same thing with another school; like they want to use me as an example. I say, "use me please!"

 

[dwelee]

....................................

 

[LetsGo2DSchool]

Take it easy man . I am not trying to fool anyone. I have got my degree from out side USA with 3.8 GPA (which is not accredited here). For this reason I had to re-apply for an undergraduate degree to fulfill the undergraduate degree requirements so I thought this could be possible for a regular student.





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I wasn't saying that you were trying to pull a fast one. I was speaking in general terms that this would be a loop hole for anyone to overcome a low GPA.

 

[nondescriptive]

But they see all this on paper; they understand. This is also a way to absolve and redeem yourself. Look at it like a second chance; something which rarely comes in life. But when it does, few take advantage of it. I think they like to see people who do.