For borderline students....

[Dr. Dai Phan]

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Hello,

If you apply with borderline credentials and feel that you may not make the cut for the interviews or did NOT get one, you can request for one and MAY be granted such request. This is reserved in exceptional cases such as poor grades due to sickness, family death and so forth and you need to plea your case. If you call the secretary and ask for one, you will end up with the answer " we offer the interviews through invitation only". So you need to write a letter addressing to the admission commitee explain your situation and politely request for a personal interview. Too many often, the applicant deserves to be heard but was passed over. Please take my advice but ask yourself if you would grant that request if you were the AC. Don't ask if you feel you do not have a case as that would ruin for others who deserve the chance to be heard. I know from personal experience. While I was in grad school (engineering), I also prepared for my predent requirement and guess what? I FLUNKED organic chemistry !!! and at the time I was applying to dental school, I was repeating that class (under a different instructor thank GOD!). Knowing my chance for an interview offer with an F, I wrote a letter explaning why I recieved such grade to all schools I applied to. Well, when I went to the office with different professors for interview, the FIRST thing I saw when they opened a folder was that letter on top! ALL of them inquire about how that F comes about. Now, almost 16 years later, I wondered if that letter really made a difference and I have no doubt in my mind that it did. I firmly believe that there is much much more than just grades and you should by all means let your situation heard. Remember that getting in is everything right now so go for it. DP

 

[SirShagaLot]

Hello,

If you apply with borderline credentials and feel that you may not make the cut for the interviews or did NOT get one, you can request for one and MAY be granted such request. This is reserved in exceptional cases such as poor grades due to sickness, family death and so forth and you need to plea your case. If you call the secretary and ask for one, you will end up with the answer " we offer the interviews through invitation only". So you need to write a letter addressing to the admission commitee explain your situation and politely request for a personal interview. Too many often, the applicant deserves to be heard but was passed over. Please take my advice but ask yourself if you would grant that request if you were the AC. Don't ask if you feel you do not have a case as that would ruin for others who deserve the chance to be heard. I know from personal experience. While I was in grad school (engineering), I also prepared for my predent requirement and guess what? I FLUNKED organic chemistry !!! and at the time I was applying to dental school, I was repeating that class (under a different instructor thank GOD!). Knowing my chance for an interview offer with an F, I wrote a letter explaning why I recieved such grade to all schools I applied to. Well, when I went to the office with different professors for interview, the FIRST thing I saw when they opened a folder was that letter on top! ALL of them inquire about how that F comes about. Now, almost 16 years later, I wondered if that letter really made a difference and I have no doubt in my mind that it did. I firmly believe that there is much much more than just grades and you should by all means let your situation heard. Remember that getting in is everything right now so go for it. DP

Hey, good post. What do u think would be the best course of action for borderline students that get interviews but no acceptances (i've applied twice to the school i want to go to, i had an interview but haven't heard anything else as of yet). I'm thinking of going back this spring semester to my local university to take a full load of graduate courses to improve my gpa, but perhaps more importantly to demonstrate that i can handle graduate level courses and that I'm not going to quit just b/c i haven't been accepted yet. I would also be working 30-35 hours a week to pay my rent and other stuff. So i guess what i'm really wondering here is if you feel this is appropriate (if so, what classes would u recommend) and what else could I do in addition to taking grad. classes to improve my chances (i've done some shadowing ~20 hrs). I feel this is my best option:

cumm. gpa = 3.3
science gpa = 3.22
BCP = 3.10

aa/ts/pat = 20/21/17
organic chem. = 25
gen. chem. = 21
Biology = 20
QR = 17
RQ = 19

Thanks for any advice u may have 😀

 

[Dr. Dai Phan]

Hello,

Your GPA and DAT are certainly within the bell curve for acceptance. I would apply to as many schools as I can within my funding to get as many interviews as you can. Then polish up your interview skills such as asking lots of questions and appear eager and excited to be a part of the upcoming class. Then write the thank you letter immediatetly to the ones who interview you while you are still fresh in their mind. From my experience as the interviewer for post graduate aplicants, there are too many who appear passive and only answer questions when asked. This won't fly as you need to connect with that person to MAKE YOU STAND OUT!!!. Ask questions to show interest, answer with the air of confidence but HUMBLE!!! If you get the interviews but no acceptance, then you need to let your strength at the interviews push you to the other side. If you are percieved well in the interviews and you apply to enough schools (10-15), you WILL get in somewhere. DP

 

[patientlywaitin]

Hey, i think your gpa is good... maybe you want to re-take the DAT instead of having to take more classes at school! 😉

 

[Dr. Dai Phan]

Hello,

A word of advice for retaking the DAT. I would only retake the DAT if:

1. The current score IS why you are rejected.
2. You WILL raise your score by retaking it.

I knew of one person who scored lower when he retake it so it turned out to be disaster. Unless I am wrong, I think your score is suffice though... Others may want to chime in on this. DP

 

[SirShagaLot]

Hello,

A word of advice for retaking the DAT. I would only retake the DAT if:

1. The current score IS why you are rejected.
2. You WILL raise your score by retaking it.

I knew of one person who scored lower when he retake it so it turned out to be disaster. Unless I am wrong, I think your score is suffice though... Others may want to chime in on this. DP

Hey thanx for the replies everyone

I'm pretty sure i'm not going to retake the DAT, like the Doc said, its possible to do worse, plus, i never want to take that damn test again, ever. lol 🙂!!!! From what i've heard directly from admissions comm. chairmen (even the dean of admissions himself at one particular school) is that I need to take more classes. Perhaps it has to do with my age. I'm 25, and in May, it will be 3 yrs since i graduated undergrad. school. They really want to see me take some classes. Mabye they want to see if my brain still works. 🙄 .
So, i've got about 2 weeks here to decide (regardless of whether or not i've heard back about my d-school status) what graduate courses (granted there is a lot of courses that no longer have any seats available) and how many credits to take in the upcoming spring semester. By the way, excellent interview advice. I think it's also important to note here that I botched a couple of important classes in undergrad., regardless of the reason why (which i've explained to one school) it still tends to raise a few eyebrows, and for good reason, i'm not denying that.

Thanks for your help everyone. 😎

 

[Clovers]

This question is for Dr. Dai Phan. I have just graduated from colllege and is going back to school in the spring to take more science classes to boost up my GPA for the 2007 cycle. I realized that only my spring semester grades will be included in AADSAS and not my summer or fall semester grades. Should I still bother to take classes in the summer and fall semester? Dental schools make their decision on who to accept in December so by the time I can update my summer and fall semester grades, it'd be too late already.

 

[Dr. Dai Phan]

Hello,

Whether or not you should take some more science classes after sending your application depends on many factors:

1. Your current GPA, if you feel that it NEEDS improvement or you know that it WILL go up, then do it. This is incase you are rejected and need to reapply.

2. The difficulty of the classes that you may plan to take. Say you have an adequate GPA ( >3.5), but those classes appear hard (you can tell from asking former students) then you should not. The reason is that you certainly do NOT want the final GPA to go down in CASE you need to re-apply. Second, most schools (from my experience) require that the student maintain a minimum GPA of the classes that they plan to finish before entering dental school. If they are easy, then go for it as it will only increase the overall GPA.

As a rule, MAXIMIZE your GPA. While I was at the University of Kansas doing my pre-dent requirements, many students wait out a semester or so to allow them to get a good grade with an easier instructor. I did not and ended up with an F! in the Spring class. The summer class was PACKED since it not only contained flunkies (like me) but also people who waited for this "easier" professor. DP