Does He Have a Chance!!

[here atlast]

My Boyfriend applied to dental school for 2004, but so far there is no news but rejections, so now he is thinking about alternatives. His problem is his low GPA. He is planning on doing post-bac program at a state university and apply for 2006 with the new GPA. I told him that he should re-apply for 2005 meanwhile that he is working on his postbac, but the thing is not-much is going to change on his application except that he is going to mention that he is in a postbac. So my question is... Do you guys think he should reapply for next year and meanwhile work on his post bac or is that going to be waste of money? He did good on DAT, got a 22, but his GPA is 2.8. So what do you guys think he should do next!
I appreciate any insight!!

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[Mo007]

I think his postbac grades (if they are good) can bring up the low cumulative GPA. Applying early for the next cycle (next month) will also give him a better chance if he applies to many schools. Re-applying also shows how committed he is to the profession, he needs to update his LOR's and Personal Essay.

 

[Aurora]

My Boyfriend applied to dental school for 2004, but so far there is no news but rejections, so now he is thinking about alternatives. His problem is his low GPA. He is planning on doing post-bac program at a state university and apply for 2006 with the new GPA. I told him that he should re-apply for 2005 meanwhile that he is working on his postbac, but the thing is not-much is going to change on his application except that he is going to mention that he is in a postbac. So my question is... Do you guys think he should reapply for next year and meanwhile work on his post bac or is that going to be waste of money? He did good on DAT, got a 22, but his GPA is 2.8. So what do you guys think he should do next!
I appreciate any insight!!

When did he apply for 2004 admissions? Did he apply early or was his application late? Did any of the dental schools comment on what he should try to improve? I assume he had some interviews. I think he should call the schools he is interested in and talk to them...ask their opinion of what he should do.

Aurora

 

[here atlast]

He did call some schools and they said he needs to improve his GPA. His application i think was completed in August. he applied to 25 schools and got no interviews. what is the earlies date to apply?

 

[Bickle]

What do you mean by a 22 on the dat? Is that the average of all the sections?

If he applied to 25 school and didnt get one interview, he should seriously consider doing a post-bacc or retaking some of the pre-reqs he may have done poorly in the past. All hope isnt lost, just a little more work needs to be done to make up for a low gpa.

 

[Aurora]

He did call some schools and they said he needs to improve his GPA. His application i think was completed in August. he applied to 25 schools and got no interviews. what is the earlies date to apply?

Well...in that case I would definately wait until he is done with his masters degree to reapply. If he applied early and got no interviews for this year then there really is not point applying again for next year. It's kind of strange that he didn't get any interviews! Especially since his DAT scores were good.

Other factors that are important:
-Shadowing a dentist/volunteering at a dentist office
-Other volunteer experience
-Research Experience (depends on the school he applies to...some schools are more research oriented than others)
-Personal statement

If he didn't get any interviews with a 22 on the DAT then he probably needs to improve more than just his GPA to be competitive. He was probably lacking in other areas as well...because a 22 on the DAT is GREAT!

Also I wouldn't apply to 25 schools. That's a lot of money and there's probably a lot of schools he probably wouldn't want to go to even if he got accepted. Apply to some private schools as a backup. Most of the time there's no point applying to out-of-state state schools because they take a very small amount of out of state students.

BTW...Why isn't he on this forum? Why are you doing this for him. Tell him to get on this forum...he will get a lot of valuable information.

Aurora

 

[Aurora]

He did call some schools and they said he needs to improve his GPA. His application i think was completed in August. he applied to 25 schools and got no interviews. what is the earlies date to apply?

Also when you say his GPA is 2.8....did he improve his GPA each year? Is his GPA this low because he messed up as a freshman?

Because the admissions committee will overlook the low GPA if it's because he did horrible his freshman yr and then he did really well. But if his GPA was consistantly low...even his junior and senior year...well...then that's a whole different story!

 

[UBTom]

My Boyfriend applied to dental school for 2004, but so far there is no news but rejections, so now he is thinking about alternatives. His problem is his low GPA. He is planning on doing post-bac program at a state university and apply for 2006 with the new GPA. I told him that he should re-apply for 2005 meanwhile that he is working on his postbac, but the thing is not-much is going to change on his application except that he is going to mention that he is in a postbac. So my question is... Do you guys think he should reapply for next year and meanwhile work on his post bac or is that going to be waste of money? He did good on DAT, got a 22, but his GPA is 2.8. So what do you guys think he should do next!
I appreciate any insight!!

If I was in your SO's shoes, I would:

- Research which school to apply to. Forget any out-of-state public schools; with his GPA he will have virtually no chance at the vast majority of those. Always apply to the public school in one's state of residency. And add several private schools, especially those with large number of seats available, such as NYU or Boston U. This should narrow down the number of schools he is applying to to maybe 6 or 7.

- Apply NOW. Submit the AADSAS for the 2005 cycle right when they start accepting the apps late this May. One of the keys to getting in somewhere is to apply as early as possible. Send everything in pronto-- LORs, transcripts, secondaries.

- And do postbac at the same time AND GET GOOD GRADES.

HTH.

 

[Aurora]

- Apply NOW. Submit the AADSAS for the 2005 cycle right when they start accepting the apps late this May. One of the keys to getting in somewhere is to apply as early as possible. Send everything in pronto-- LORs, transcripts, secondaries.

HTH.

UBTom,

But it's not really going to help him if he applies this year I don't think because he won't even have any grades from his post bac classes. Don't you think he should wait until next year to apply...when he has grades from his post bac classes? Becauses really...nothing in his application has changed since last year...except for saying "I'm taking post-bac classes" I think adcom's would want to see something solid...like grades from the post-bac classes.

Well...just my opinion.

Aurora

 

[Mo007]

He did call some schools and they said he needs to improve his GPA. His application i think was completed in August. he applied to 25 schools and got no interviews. what is the earlies date to apply?

The earliest date you can apply for 2005 is MAY 17, 2004! - about 2.5 weeks from now.

 

[The Musketeer]

Also when you say his GPA is 2.8....did he improve his GPA each year? Is his GPA this low because he messed up as a freshman?

Because the admissions committee will overlook the low GPA if it's because he did horrible his freshman yr and then he did really well. But if his GPA was consistantly low...even his junior and senior year...well...then that's a whole different story!

Also, what is his science GPA? I know there are some applicants in the under 3.0 forum who also got around 2.8 Overall GPA got in, so I am wondering whether dental schools are questioning his science GPA.

 

[blankguy]

Because the admissions committee will overlook the low GPA if it's because he did horrible his freshman yr and then he did really well. But if his GPA was consistantly low...even his junior and senior year...well...then that's a whole different story!

If that were the case what would the best remedial action be?? Or is it a hopeless situation?

 

[sxr71]

UBTom,

But it's not really going to help him if he applies this year I don't think because he won't even have any grades from his post bac classes. Don't you think he should wait until next year to apply...when he has grades from his post bac classes? Becauses really...nothing in his application has changed since last year...except for saying "I'm taking post-bac classes" I think adcom's would want to see something solid...like grades from the post-bac classes.

Well...just my opinion.

Aurora

IMHO, since AADSAS sends out an additional information form around January he can update it with his grades from summer and fall. If he goes to a quarter school he'll even have grades from summer, fall and winter (which is almost enough to complete the entire set of pre-dent requirements at a quarter school). I actually wonder why he didn't get it with his DATs, since some people have gotten in with under 3.0 GPAs and 22 DAT averages. So applying early will get him on the radar with his DATs, and as information comes in about his grades his application will get stronger as the cycle progresses. He can even update individual schools as he finishes each quarter/semester by sending them a transcript directly. At some point his stats may become attractive enough for a school to offer him an interview. So I think it can work to his advantage to apply right now for the 2005 cycle.

 

[Thaxil]

I had slightly worst stats and received 5 interviews. A 22 on the DAT is great, but what is the TS section. Also, be careful about who he gets letters of Recs from. I heard stories of professors writing very poor and sometimes negative statements. I was extremely selective of who wrote me my letters of Rec. In addition, revaluate his personal statement. I feel that the personal statement can help very little but can hurt quite a lot if something stupid is said.

Do some shadowing definitely and apply early. Also retake the DAT if there are poor scores in TS.

 

[hossaiaa]

I agree with Thaxil. It seems to me that other people with similar or worse stats got atleast a few interviews here and there. I'd guess his letters are where part of the problem is. I'd recommend a post-bac program but he has to prove himself there. That way he can try to raise the GPA and get to know a few professors who can write better recommendations for him. Give it another shot buddy!

 

[here atlast]

Thanks everyone for the input!
I am a pre-med, but with the limited knowledge that i have about the dental school admission process, i was pretty confident that he would get at least some interviews.
He doesnt have any research experience, but has volunteer/shadowing experience. And lot of health related work experience.
But i think he is going to take the advice and apply to few schools for next year and work on his post-bac, and hopefully get new lor for 2006 app. if he has too!
Ohh, and he is on SDN also, It is just that I decided to post the question for him, since he has a super busy schedual and never enough time !
Thanks again!

 

[robliski]

This is Here At Last's Boyfriend...Yeah the guy you've been talking about.

The fact is I have been on the forum. To clarify a few things my DAT score is as follows: Bio 23, PAT 21, GChem 20, OChecm 18, Reading and Math the suckiest part of the test 16 and 16 (respectively!) Academic Avg 19 (because of the damn English and Math) and Science Average of 20.

I did horribly at the beginning of college then I shot up to A's then later plateaued at about B+ average.

I spoke to USC admissions councelor and she said with my current grades (GPA) my chances are zip not even slim. So my alternative is post-bac or master's. I am seriousely considering a master's. By the way, do they care whether you do a thesis or take the test?

Additionally, due to my wonderful luck, all the professors (three in particular) that I had really good relation with and did well in their classes (upper division courses) have retired and to make things jucier one has moved to Mexico the other to Seattle or something and one has died! Great ha. So I had to get rec letters from professors that I did well in their class but they didn't really know me!

That's the full 7 course meal right there!

Any ideas?

 

[Mo007]

robliski

Your DAT scores are attractive, so as you recent positive trend on your GPA. If you are currently taking courses, and have more to take summer/fall, and you do good in them (A's and B's), I think you can slightly change your GPA to maybe 3.0. At that point, many private schools (BU, NYU and others ) will give you a chance.

The effort you put in will be noticed by the adcoms, and your circumstances will be understood. Apply early, and stay in touch with the schools of your choice.

Good Luck

 

[ToothMonkey]

Additionally, due to my wonderful luck, all the professors (three in particular) that I had really good relation with and did well in their classes (upper division courses) have retired and to make things jucier one has moved to Mexico the other to Seattle or something and one has died! Great ha. So I had to get rec letters from professors that I did well in their class but they didn't really know me!

If you need quality recommendations FAST then nothing beats summer classes at the local community college. Just enroll in a handful of classes, spend time impressing your profs and getting to know them on a personal level (it's easy at a CC), and voila--instant LOR's. It should run you a few hundred per class...IMHO well worth the investment if you're really lacking in the LOR department.

 

[robliski]

Thanks. I was told by Temple that my DAT scores are reasonable. But I am still wondering master's via thesis or via test? Do they care?

 

[UBTom]

Masters via test (i.e. non-thesis program) is good enough. I took that route.

Also, your experience with USC is not representative of all private schools... California schools are always very competitive, including the private ones.

Apply to some east coast private schools... Unless you really, really need to stay on the west coast for some reason or other.

 

[blankguy]

Thanks. I was told by Temple that my DAT scores are reasonable. But I am still wondering master's via thesis or via test? Do they care?

Who did you talk to? Brian Hahn?

 

[robliski]

No I didn't talk to Biran Hahn. As a matter of fact I have no idea who I talked to.

But I do prefer to stay in SOCAL b/c of "here atlast," the lady who started this thread!

Thanks