Help! What are my chances of getting into dental school?

[benitojeong]

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Hi everyone,

Hello fellow dental hopefuls 🙂 I just wanted to get your input on how competitive a candidate I look like and what would be my chances of getting interviews.

GPA - 3.49 / sGPA - 3.50
I was basically getting 3.75~4.00 for the first two years. But then in the following semesters, my cumulative GPA took quite a beating as my semester GPAs would fluctuate somewhere between 1.5 and 3.

DAT - 23 PAT, 26 TS, 26 AA
So I spent a good half year preparing for the DATs, thinking that might make up for the disastrous GPA decline. Hopefully it does...

Extracurriculars
VP of a student organization (non-premedical or predental)
1 year lab assistant Chemistry lab
2.5 years student teaching (like help room)
1.5 years patient care technician in ER

Volunteer Hours
Hospital volunteer (200) - about 100 or so back in 2005 and another 100 this year.

Shadowing
About 120 as of now (50 from a general dentist, others vary from 4 hours to 32 hours each). Maybe I can pick up a few more and bring it up to 150 by the time I apply.

LoRs
I'm pretty tight with my professors. I'm sure they would write me positive letters, if not great.

Any feedback or tips as to how I can improve my application would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks everyone.

 

[super frank]

Lol, seriously? You have a 26 AA and a 3.6 GPA. Even if you dropped the ball one semester it won't affect you. If anything, it'll help you in your interviews by providing an interesting talking point that you can discuss.

 

[benitojeong]

Lol, seriously? You have a 26 AA and a 3.6 GPA. Even if you dropped the ball one semester it won't affect you. If anything, it'll help you in your interviews by providing an interesting talking point that you can discuss.

The problem is that I dropped the ball many semesters (low GPAs, bunch of drops, switching to Pass/Non-passes, Cs and Ds retaken). Here's what years 3, 4, and 5 look like.
3.42 - 1 dropped
2.75 -2 dropped
3.75 -1 dropped, 1 switched to P/NP and got P, 1 retake
3.12 - 1 switched to P/NP and got NP, 1 retake
1.40 -1 fail, 1 switched to P/NP and got P
2.33 - 1 retake

I know... It looks nasty.

 

[pgex2t]

Hi everyone,

I'm a dental hopeful who wants to apply to dental schools this June. I just wanted to get your input on how competitive a candidate I look like and what would be my chances of getting interviews. I'm a non-traditional applicant who got his bachelor's back in 2010. I spent the next 3 years working as a research associate in a biomedical research lab (no paper came out that bears my name, unfortunately!) . Since quitting the lab, I worked miscellaneous part time jobs, went back to school for one semester to take dental pre-req courses, etc., but nothing substantial. Due to some personal circumstances, I needed a break from everything. I wonder if that might be looked upon by ADCOMs as a detrimental flaw that might hinder my admission.


Below are my stats. I'm worried mostly about the fact that it's been 6 years since I graduated and my GPA showed steady decline since Junior year.


GPA - 3.6 / sGPA - 3.5
I was basically getting 3.75~4.00 for the first two years. But for the next 3 years (Yes, I did my undergrad in 5 years...) my cumulative GPA took quite a beating as my semester GPAs would fluctuate somewhere between 1.5 and 3.
I finally graduated with a GPA of 3.5 in 2010, but I recently went back to school for 1 semester (19 credits) and managed to get 4.0 on everything and my GPA arrived to where it is now.
I hope schools don't reject me because of my GPA. I've taken quite a few upper level Bio and Biochem courses so I don't have that many courses left I can take... unless I do Master's, which I really hope I don't have to.

DAT - 23 PAT, 26 TS, 26 AA
So I spent a good half year preparing for the DATs, thinking that might make up for the disastrous GPA decline. Hopefully it does...

Extracurriculars
VP of a student organization (non-premedical or predental)
1 year lab assistant Chemistry lab
2.5 years student teaching (like help room)
1.5 years patient care technician in ER

Jobs
3 years research associate in Biomedical research lab (following undergrad)
A number of lowly part time jobs... probably won't mention in my resume...

Volunteer Hours
Hospital volunteer (200) - about 100 or so back in 2005 and another 100 this year.

Shadowing
About 120 as of now (50 from a general dentist, others vary from 4 hours to 24 hours each). Maybe I can pick up a few more and bring it up to 150 by the time I apply.

LoRs
I'm pretty tight with my professors. I'm sure they would write me positive letters, if not great.


So to summarize, my main concerns are...
1. Having not done anything substantial in terms of work or academics in the past 3 years.
2. Great GPA for years 1 and 2, but terrible GPA for years 3, 4, 5.


Any feedback or tips as to how I can improve my application would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks everyone.

The problem is that I dropped the ball many semesters (low GPAs, bunch of drops, switching to Pass/Non-passes, Cs and Ds retaken). Here's what years 3, 4, and 5 look like.
3.42 - 1 dropped
2.75 -2 dropped
3.75 -1 dropped, 1 switched to P/NP and got P, 1 retake
3.12 - 1 switched to P/NP and got NP, 1 retake
1.40 -1 fail, 1 switched to P/NP and got P
2.33 - 1 retake

I know... It looks nasty.

Not to be rude, but did you calculate retakes into your GPA as AADSAS requires? (As in both GPAs of any classes you took twice or more) I get that you did well your first 2 years, but since you said you had consistency issues the next three, and provided examples, I'm finding it puzzling you ended up with a 3.5/3.6. If the math checks out however, your grades might raise a few eyebrows, but won't be too large of an issue if you finished strong.

 

[benitojeong]

Not to be rude, but did you calculate retakes into your GPA as AADSAS requires? (As in both GPAs of any classes you took twice or more) I get that you did well your first 2 years, but since you said you had consistency issues the next three, and provided examples, I'm finding it puzzling you ended up with a 3.5/3.6. If the math checks out however, your grades might raise a few eyebrows, but won't be too large of an issue if you finished strong.

I did not know that AADSAS takes into consideration both the original and repeated grades when calculating GPAs! :-0
You were correct about your suspicion. In the original post (now edited and shows correct GPAs), I used the GPAs that I see on my transcript.
I just re-calculated my GPA including the retakes (both original and repeated) and my oGPA comes out to about 3.49 and sGPA 3.50.
Am I still considered okay GPA-wise...?

 

[pgex2t]

I did not know that AADSAS takes into consideration both the original and repeated grades when calculating GPAs! :-0
You were correct about your suspicion. In the original post (now edited and shows correct GPAs), I used the GPAs that I see on my transcript.
I just re-calculated my GPA including the retakes (both original and repeated) and my oGPA comes out to about 3.49 and sGPA 3.50.
Am I still considered okay GPA-wise...?

You're fine. Your DAT more than balances those few quarters/semesters and your GPA in general is in the acceptable range.

 

[A Pre-dent]

.

 

[benitojeong]

Which classes did you drop? Why did you drop them? This is important--might be worth mentioning in your PS, or potentially in the disadvantaged section on the AADSAS. You must be smart and knowledgeable enough to get into the best dental schools according to your DAT scores and GPA, but, even though it is quasi-illegal, you also have to prove that you're a stable student/person.

What kind of school did you go to? My school had an anti-grade-inflation policy (which fortunately the adcoms acknowledged), so 3.0 semesters were normal for even the best premed students in 200- & 300-level courses. Furthermore, there was a latent policy by which the deans would force struggling students to drop classes right before final exams so, officially, 0% of students failed out of the school. (Yeah, it was pretty f*cked up.) I only bring this up because I know there are a couple other schools that do this, resulting in academic records that mirror yours.

I went to a regular 4-year state school. I don't think there was any measure against grade inflation at my school, nor was there a reason for it to have one.
No one was forced to drop any course at my school as far as I know.
I dropped and re-took a couple upper level science courses. They were required courses for graduation and I dropped them because I was afraid I might not get As or even Bs.
Yes, I most definitely have some explaining to do as to why my GPA tanked, I guess!

 

[A Pre-dent]

.

 

[Tonya]

Hi everyone,

I'm a dental hopeful who wants to apply to dental schools this June. I just wanted to get your input on how competitive a candidate I look like and what would be my chances of getting interviews. I'm a non-traditional applicant who got his bachelor's back in 2010. I spent the next 3 years working as a research associate in a biomedical research lab (no paper came out that bears my name, unfortunately!) . Since quitting the lab, I worked miscellaneous part time jobs, went back to school for one semester to take dental pre-req courses, etc., but nothing substantial. Due to some personal circumstances, I needed a break from everything. I wonder if that might be looked upon by ADCOMs as a detrimental flaw that might hinder my admission.


Below are my stats. I'm worried mostly about the fact that it's been 6 years since I graduated and my GPA showed steady decline since Junior year.


GPA - 3.49 / sGPA - 3.50
I was basically getting 3.75~4.00 for the first two years. But for the next 3 years (Yes, I did my undergrad in 5 years...) my cumulative GPA took quite a beating as my semester GPAs would fluctuate somewhere between 1.5 and 3.
I finally graduated with a GPA of 3.4 in 2010, but I recently went back to school for 1 semester (19 credits) and managed to get 4.0 on everything and my GPA arrived to where it is now.
I hope schools don't reject me because of my GPA. I've taken quite a few upper level Bio and Biochem courses so I don't have that many courses left I can take... unless I do Master's, which I really hope I don't have to.

DAT - 23 PAT, 26 TS, 26 AA
So I spent a good half year preparing for the DATs, thinking that might make up for the disastrous GPA decline. Hopefully it does...

Extracurriculars
VP of a student organization (non-premedical or predental)
1 year lab assistant Chemistry lab
2.5 years student teaching (like help room)
1.5 years patient care technician in ER

Jobs
3 years research associate in Biomedical research lab (following undergrad)
A number of lowly part time jobs... probably won't mention in my resume...

Volunteer Hours
Hospital volunteer (200) - about 100 or so back in 2005 and another 100 this year.

Shadowing
About 120 as of now (50 from a general dentist, others vary from 4 hours to 24 hours each). Maybe I can pick up a few more and bring it up to 150 by the time I apply.

LoRs
I'm pretty tight with my professors. I'm sure they would write me positive letters, if not great.


So to summarize, my main concerns are...
1. Having not done anything substantial in terms of work or academics in the past 3 years.
2. Great GPA for years 1 and 2, but terrible GPA for years 3, 4, 5.


Any feedback or tips as to how I can improve my application would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks everyone.

I am sure you will get in. I wish I had stats like yours

 

[SXCoronado]

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