GPA Blues

[Jaba]

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Hi, I am interested in going into the dental profession and have been for as long as I can remember. I am currently entering into the 3rd year biology program in a Canadian university. I also shadow many hours a week at a local dental office. I am a bit worried however because my first year marks were quite low (C's and D's) but I have been continuing to get better marks ever since. This was because I lived in a house by myself and many tasks ie. cooking/paying bills had to be learned and were time consuming. We generally do not use GPA calculations in Canada and this is all so new to me. I was looking over the requirements and gpa>3 is good to have?.... but my question is, if you succeed in ie years 3, 4, and 5 is necessary and achieve high gpa for example 3.4+ in the later years, would they recognize this despite having a bad first year? or should I repeat courses? I dislike the idea of a "cGPA" because this makes it extremely hard to raise your overall average. In Canada we are required to take 5 courses/semester and all science courses include labs and sometimes tutorials. How does this get converted into the credit hours?

ie
physics I& II: 3hours/week lecture +2 hour seminar + 3 hours/every 2nd week lab.
chemistry I &II: 3 hours/week lecture + 3 hours/every 2nd week lab.

I am very hard working, but courses such as Organic chemistry II and Biochemistry are extremely difficult with class averages that are in the C range.

I will be writing the DAT (Canadian one) next summer and I want to prepare for it now. I am going on vacation for a week now and I was just wondering what everyone thinks, do I have a chance? I get the occasional C grade due to the course workload.... but also I often get 80's and 90's in courses. I just hope that this is considered. Also, would a lower gpa be explainable? have people with a lower gpa from Canada been accepted?...Any advice/comments would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

 

[busupshot83]

Hi, I am interested in going into the dental profession and have been for as long as I can remember. I am currently entering into the 3rd year biology program in a Canadian university. I also shadow many hours a week at a local dental office. I am a bit worried however because my first year marks were quite low (C's and D’s) but I have been continuing to get better marks ever since. This was because I lived in a house by myself and many tasks ie. cooking/paying bills had to be learned and were time consuming. We generally do not use GPA calculations in Canada and this is all so new to me. I was looking over the requirements and gpa>3 is good to have?.... but my question is, if you succeed in ie years 3, 4, and 5 is necessary and achieve high gpa for example 3.4+ in the later years, would they recognize this despite having a bad first year? or should I repeat courses? I dislike the idea of a "cGPA" because this makes it extremely hard to raise your overall average. In Canada we are required to take 5 courses/semester and all science courses include labs and sometimes tutorials. How does this get converted into the credit hours?

ie
physics I& II: 3hours/week lecture +2 hour seminar + 3 hours/every 2nd week lab.
chemistry I &II: 3 hours/week lecture + 3 hours/every 2nd week lab.

I am very hard working, but courses such as Organic chemistry II and Biochemistry are extremely difficult with class averages that are in the C range.

I will be writing the DAT (Canadian one) next summer and I want to prepare for it now. I am going on vacation for a week now and I was just wondering what everyone thinks, do I have a chance? I get the occasional C grade due to the course workload.... but also I often get 80's and 90's in courses. I just hope that this is considered. Also, would a lower gpa be explainable? have people with a lower gpa from Canada been accepted?...Any advice/comments would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

Canadians tend to get into private dental schools easier than public ones.

 

[Audio]

Hi, I am interested in going into the dental profession and have been for as long as I can remember. I am currently entering into the 3rd year biology program in a Canadian university. I also shadow many hours a week at a local dental office. I am a bit worried however because my first year marks were quite low (C's and D’s) but I have been continuing to get better marks ever since. This was because I lived in a house by myself and many tasks ie. cooking/paying bills had to be learned and were time consuming. We generally do not use GPA calculations in Canada and this is all so new to me. I was looking over the requirements and gpa>3 is good to have?.... but my question is, if you succeed in ie years 3, 4, and 5 is necessary and achieve high gpa for example 3.4+ in the later years, would they recognize this despite having a bad first year? or should I repeat courses? I dislike the idea of a "cGPA" because this makes it extremely hard to raise your overall average. In Canada we are required to take 5 courses/semester and all science courses include labs and sometimes tutorials. How does this get converted into the credit hours?

ie
physics I& II: 3hours/week lecture +2 hour seminar + 3 hours/every 2nd week lab.
chemistry I &II: 3 hours/week lecture + 3 hours/every 2nd week lab.

I am very hard working, but courses such as Organic chemistry II and Biochemistry are extremely difficult with class averages that are in the C range.

I will be writing the DAT (Canadian one) next summer and I want to prepare for it now. I am going on vacation for a week now and I was just wondering what everyone thinks, do I have a chance? I get the occasional C grade due to the course workload.... but also I often get 80's and 90's in courses. I just hope that this is considered. Also, would a lower gpa be explainable? have people with a lower gpa from Canada been accepted?...Any advice/comments would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

The Canadian DAT isn't offered in the summer. And a lot of schools in Canada use the GPA system.

 

[JaysonKail]

Hi, I am interested in going into the dental profession and have been for as long as I can remember. I am currently entering into the 3rd year biology program in a Canadian university. I also shadow many hours a week at a local dental office. I am a bit worried however because my first year marks were quite low (C's and D’s) but I have been continuing to get better marks ever since. This was because I lived in a house by myself and many tasks ie. cooking/paying bills had to be learned and were time consuming. We generally do not use GPA calculations in Canada and this is all so new to me. I was looking over the requirements and gpa>3 is good to have?.... but my question is, if you succeed in ie years 3, 4, and 5 is necessary and achieve high gpa for example 3.4+ in the later years, would they recognize this despite having a bad first year? or should I repeat courses? I dislike the idea of a "cGPA" because this makes it extremely hard to raise your overall average. In Canada we are required to take 5 courses/semester and all science courses include labs and sometimes tutorials. How does this get converted into the credit hours?

ie
physics I& II: 3hours/week lecture +2 hour seminar + 3 hours/every 2nd week lab.
chemistry I &II: 3 hours/week lecture + 3 hours/every 2nd week lab.

I am very hard working, but courses such as Organic chemistry II and Biochemistry are extremely difficult with class averages that are in the C range.

I will be writing the DAT (Canadian one) next summer and I want to prepare for it now. I am going on vacation for a week now and I was just wondering what everyone thinks, do I have a chance? I get the occasional C grade due to the course workload.... but also I often get 80's and 90's in courses. I just hope that this is considered. Also, would a lower gpa be explainable? have people with a lower gpa from Canada been accepted?...Any advice/comments would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

sure many people with low gpa's get into dental school. you're only entering your 3rd year and I know that most Canadian schools look at your best 2 years of University including your senior year. plus you have lots of time to pull up your gpa above a 3.0. if you want it bad enough, you'll find a way to get into dental school. best of luck!