extracurrics- important for dental schools?

[Maroon]

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are extracurrics that important?

entering junior..my gpa is really on the low end, 3.0 cum and <3.0 sci. i intend to shadow and perhaps volunteer but right now i wanna focus on my GPA and DAT this semester. what do you guys think?

 

[jtsai256]

In my opinion, I would say that raising your GPA and studying hard for the DATs is much more important than doing a bunch of extracurriculars. Perhaps you can do some of them at a later time and focus on your studies for the time being. Pick and choose your battles!

 

[mspaic]

do something useful, something where you can show off certian skills to the schools

i'm volunteering now at a learning centre where i teach classes to small kids about various topics (culture, space..)
its only a few hours/week so its not a big deal and i love it

 

[drPheta]

While grades aren't the be all, end all decision maker, they're a HUGE part of it. With competition being so hard now, you need to bring up that science GPA up quite a bit. Extra curriculars help, but you gotta think of it this way; if everyone applying has great grades and some extra currics, what do you think ECs are going to do for you?

Not everyone does them, but MOST do. My word of advice is see how your grades are this fall (your senior year). If they're aren't up to par, take on a second major and add on another year. You need to make yourself stand out amongst the other 2000 students applying to each school. 2000 students for 100 seats...

Some tips.
1. shadow your dentist
2. research
3. hospital volunteer
4. other non-health related activities (i.e. sports, music, etc.).