Help!!! Need serious advice

[flyingforever]

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I need serious advice. English is not my first language by the way.

I did my bachelors degree in Biochemistry. Here are my science grades as an undergrad.

Gen Biology-A
Gen Chem I-A
Gen Chem II-A
Organic Chem I- D-first time (repeat B)
Organic Chem I Lab- D-first time (repeat B)
Organic Chem II- B
Organic Chem II lab- A
Physics I- C
Physics II- D-first time (repeat C)
English Composition- C
English Literature- A
Microbiology-A
Cell Biology-B
Anatomy and Physiology I- B
Anatomy and Physiology II-B
Nutrition- B
Physiologic Pathology-C
Bacterial Physiology-B
Analytical Chemistry- C
Physical Chemistry-B
Biochemistry I-B
Biochemistry II-B
Biochemistry Lab-A
Toxicology-B
Calculus I-C
Calculus II-B
Linear Algebra-A

I achieved a 2.99 cumulative GPA as an undergrad. I was not happy with my grades so I decided to do Masters' in Biology.

Biotechnology-A
Neuroscience-B
Med. Microbiology-A
Eco/Evolution-C
Endocrinology-B
Membrane Biology-C
Biostatistics-A

What are my chances of getting into the dental school? I screwed my masters' school GPA at the end of my second semester. I earned two Cs, I am feeling so bad right now.

I have done 1200 hours of research at dental school. I have done 400 hours of shadowing. I have done more than 600 hours of volunteer work. I am getting a dentistry publication this coming October.

I have taken DAT once, I did poorly (17AA/19PAT). I am planning to take it over again this summer. What are my chances?

 

[foxi02]

Looking at your experience, I think you have a good chance getting in. Admission committee looks at over all picture, not just grades. with number of hours you spend shadowing and volunteering you showing your great commitment and interest in dentistry.
You said that English is not your native language, did you receive your degrees here in US or overseas? English is not my native language as well. I might be in the same boat as you are. ;o)) I just opened a new thread for non-traditional pre-dents who got their degrees from overseas, so people could share their experiences and challenges. Hope you will take a look.

 

[flyingforever]

I graduated from US, I came to US six years ago. Any more advices?

 

[pacific2013]

I graduated from US, I came to US six years ago. Any more advices?

1) What is the following GPA?
a) Overall GPA including grad school GPA
b) Science GPA including grad school GPA
c) Science GPA only for grad school GPA

2) You definitely need to retake your DAT. I'm going to assume your GPA is barely above 3.0 so you should be aiming a minimum of 22Academic average and total science. Don't skimp on the reading comprehension as Dental school cares about this section and also because you mentioned English is not your native language.

3) You have excellent extracurricular so you need to buckle down and smoke the DAT. Depending on how your GPA is, you should probably take more Grad level science courses ( I'm assuming you went for the 1 year masters instead of 2 years).

 

[flyingforever]

1) What is the following GPA?
a) Overall GPA including grad school GPA- 3.10 (22 credits completed, I need one more semester to finish the MS degree).
b) Science GPA including grad school GPA- 2.97
c) Science GPA only for grad school GPA- 3.10

2) You definitely need to retake your DAT. I'm going to assume your GPA is barely above 3.0 so you should be aiming a minimum of 22Academic average and total science. Don't skimp on the reading comprehension as Dental school cares about this section and also because you mentioned English is not your native language. (English is not my first language, I got 20 on my first DAT try, I can rock that section).

3) You have excellent extracurricular so you need to buckle down and smoke the DAT. Depending on how your GPA is, you should probably take more Grad level science courses ( I'm assuming you went for the 1 year masters instead of 2 years).

Any other advice, I am planning to take one grad school class this summer. Do you suggest to apply this cycle or wait for next summer?

 

[sfrice80]

It looks like you keep coming up a bit short in certain classes but whats done is done. You have great supporting attributes with all of your shadowing and research but the core of your application which is your gpa and DAT are lacking a bit. You really need to pull off a great DAT score. You need to really give it your all this next DAT attempt. If you can pull that up and maybe pull your GPA up in the meantime, you might want to give it a good try next cycle. You really need a year to improve your GPA and give yourself the best chance possible to score well on the DAT. Remember, its not a race, one year wont kill you and you can potentially drastically improve your chances by waiting a year.

 

[flyingforever]

Any more suggestions from other people?

 

[DDSTX]

there is no alternate for good GPA/DAT (period) and if you don't have those the only thing left is to show them that you can handle upper level science classes by doing masters or something like that...

The reason I'm saying this is that dental school workload can be overwhelming for some and ds want to make sure you can handle that

Here is an example of different courses you would take in your first semester at UTDB: I'm sure other schools have the similar workload...

Fall Semester 2009
DENF 1501 - General Histology
DENF 1521 - Biochemistry
DENF 1541 - Physiology I
DENF 1551 - Microbiology & Immunology
DENF 1601 - Dental Anatomy I
DEPF 1602 - Dental Anatomy Lab I pp. 1-12
DEPF 1602 - Dental Anatomy Lab I pp. 13-23
DEPF 1602 - Dental Anatomy Lab I pp. 24-40
DENF 1621 - Ethics in Dentistry
DENF 1651 - Foundationial Skills for Clinic I
DENF 1931 - Basic and Applied Nutrition
DENF 1934 - Introduction to Prevention of Oral Diseases
DENF 1991 - Introduction to Dental Informatics​

http://www.db.uth.tmc.edu/student-acad/Courses/DDS/index.htm

good luck!