Wow, I have been waiting to be able to write this post for such a long time. What a tremendous relief. Just a little background, my first application cycle was in 2008 as a junior in undergrad, all rejections. Senior year I continued to struggle and received a bunch of C's, along with a lot of life problems. As I became a stronger person through the personal struggles, I also became more persistent and confident, which was honestly the key towards making it through. However, as my science gpa fell well into the 2 range, I began losing hope and switched from pre dent to my long time backup plan of going to law school. However, a post bacc program (sfsu) that I had applied to many months earlier and which I had forgotten about called me and gave me an interview. This tiny bit of good news completely revamped my sense of hope and I soon decided that I needed to stick to dentistry and not settle for a backup no matter how much I was struggling. I eventually got rejected from the sfsu post bacc program. However, I decided to enroll in science courses at sfsu through open enrollment anyway. I decided to take as many classes as I could during that year and reapply to dental school the next summer, thereby skipping an application cycle in order to better my application. Getting into classes was very difficult, especially in the times of furloughs and extremely impacted science courses. Fortunately, I was able to scramble and get into some challenging upper division biology courses. I did well during this year, and decided the next summer that it was time to apply again, with a newfound sense of accomplishment and stronger credentials. I finally received an interview. However, i was subsequently waitlisted for many months, and never got off the waitlist. So then, even though I was so confident that my post bacc work would be enough to get me over the hump, I decided to not give up quite yet. I found an opportunity to apply for a 1 year masters of medical science program at the school that I was waitlisted at. So I applied, and got in. THe program has been challenging and helpful so far. A couple of weeks ago, I had the opportunity to once again at this same dental school. This morning, I received a phone call letting me know that I was being offered a spot in the class of 2016. It is an extreme relief and the fact that it has taken so long and has taken so many uncertain paths, only adds to the feeling. I hope this can offer any struggling predents out there to keep on trucking along and find any way possible, even if that way seems unconventional or uncertain. All the best
-pupsingh
-pupsingh
