Horrible Grades, which school should i apply to??

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firenoodle

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Fellow SDN

i am currently a biology graduate student in California, to tell you guys the truth i have a horrible undergraduate GPA. For my major we are not required to take many of the human or animal classes so those courses were not taken. my undergrad GPA is about 2.67 and i am guessing my science GPA is lower than that. over the years i have learned how to study and after being in graduate school i have been keeping my grades up, As of now i have a 3.7 in Graduate school and i should be graduating June of next year.

my question is:

1. i know school in CA is a really really competitive to apply for, but do i have a chance?
i have been working with the USC school of dentistry for over 2 years i have meet numorous professors and dental assistance while i was in the clinic and i have been a active memeber of a volunteer group for the past 7 years, also i have presented my research at 3 different national conferences across the country.

2. becuase of my major i have not taken Anatamy or Vert or invert biology is it gonna effect me?

3. also when i was an undergrad i had some classes with a letter grade D do i have to retake them while i am already in grad school?

4. when i apply do i need my DAT score ? or is it something you guys want after the first round of applications?

5. Assuming i have a fair DAT score somewhere in the 19 range, which school should i apply for? or should i just be realistic and get a job and forget about dental school?

Thank you so much for taking your time to read through this.

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if you want to be a dentist, and you're willing to work for it, and i mean WORK, then don't give up.

try nyu, and maybe uop (really stretching it) if you get KILLER DAT's ie ~25.

you don't have to have taken the DAT's when you initially apply BUT with your grades, I would just to make sure you've got super scores, other wise you'd be wasting your money.

Good luck!
 
firenoodle said:
Fellow SDN

i am currently a biology graduate student in California, to tell you guys the truth i have a horrible undergraduate GPA. For my major we are not required to take many of the human or animal classes so those courses were not taken. my undergrad GPA is about 2.67 and i am guessing my science GPA is lower than that. over the years i have learned how to study and after being in graduate school i have been keeping my grades up, As of now i have a 3.7 in Graduate school and i should be graduating June of next year.

my question is:

1. i know school in CA is a really really competitive to apply for, but do i have a chance?
i have been working with the USC school of dentistry for over 2 years i have meet numorous professors and dental assistance while i was in the clinic and i have been a active memeber of a volunteer group for the past 7 years, also i have presented my research at 3 different national conferences across the country.

2. becuase of my major i have not taken Anatamy or Vert or invert biology is it gonna effect me?

3. also when i was an undergrad i had some classes with a letter grade D do i have to retake them while i am already in grad school?

4. when i apply do i need my DAT score ? or is it something you guys want after the first round of applications?

5. Assuming i have a fair DAT score somewhere in the 19 range, which school should i apply for? or should i just be realistic and get a job and forget about dental school?

Thank you so much for taking your time to read through this.
i'm in the same situation...i think i will apply to:
Louisville,
UNLV
ASDOH
VCU
Temple
Tufts
UoP
NYU
Meharry
Howard

than too really push my luck - columbia-stoneybrook-
 
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a) if you are going into dental school half-hearted, like you are not willing to retake your classes- than get another job anyways. I doubt you'll ever make it.

b) if you really wanna be a dentist, retake those bad grade classes and than take all those biology prereqs, maybe get a masters or something.

I'm not on an adcom, im just a predent, but I have pretty good anecdotal evidence to make those above statements. But this is SDN, take it for what its worth.
 
firenoodle said:
Fellow SDN

i am currently a biology graduate student in California, to tell you guys the truth i have a horrible undergraduate GPA. For my major we are not required to take many of the human or animal classes so those courses were not taken. my undergrad GPA is about 2.67 and i am guessing my science GPA is lower than that. over the years i have learned how to study and after being in graduate school i have been keeping my grades up, As of now i have a 3.7 in Graduate school and i should be graduating June of next year.

my question is:

1. i know school in CA is a really really competitive to apply for, but do i have a chance?
i have been working with the USC school of dentistry for over 2 years i have meet numorous professors and dental assistance while i was in the clinic and i have been a active memeber of a volunteer group for the past 7 years, also i have presented my research at 3 different national conferences across the country.

2. becuase of my major i have not taken Anatamy or Vert or invert biology is it gonna effect me?

3. also when i was an undergrad i had some classes with a letter grade D do i have to retake them while i am already in grad school?

4. when i apply do i need my DAT score ? or is it something you guys want after the first round of applications?

5. Assuming i have a fair DAT score somewhere in the 19 range, which school should i apply for? or should i just be realistic and get a job and forget about dental school?

Thank you so much for taking your time to read through this.



Have you tried applying to med school? imagine if you score a 19 in each section of the MCAT...WOW you could have a score of....ummm...19 times 3....ummm carry the 2....57 :eek:
 
sumozmom said:
i'm in the same situation...i think i will apply to:
Louisville,
UNLV
ASDOH
VCU
Temple
Tufts
UoP
NYU
Meharry
Howard

than too really push my luck - columbia-stoneybrook-

Hi, so did you re took those classes? wat about USC?
 
firenoodle said:
Hi, so did you re took those classes? wat about USC?
my science gpa is like a 3.0...I have 6 more courses to take for a Sci gpa
so we'll see
 
USC is your best shot because of the connections you've made
 
Honestly...Keep your head up and apply to alot of schools. I think you'll get in somewhere b/c every school looks at applicants differently from what I'm learning. Of course its the whole GPA/DAT/volunteer/blah blah blah. Just try to get a high DAT score and make yourself unique on your application..you'll be fine. One more thing.....APPLY EARLY!! I think you'll be more competitive b/c you're in a little pool not huge one. If you apply late, you'll be in the huge pool..not good. ;)

firenoodle said:
Fellow SDN

i am currently a biology graduate student in California, to tell you guys the truth i have a horrible undergraduate GPA. For my major we are not required to take many of the human or animal classes so those courses were not taken. my undergrad GPA is about 2.67 and i am guessing my science GPA is lower than that. over the years i have learned how to study and after being in graduate school i have been keeping my grades up, As of now i have a 3.7 in Graduate school and i should be graduating June of next year.

my question is:

1. i know school in CA is a really really competitive to apply for, but do i have a chance?
i have been working with the USC school of dentistry for over 2 years i have meet numorous professors and dental assistance while i was in the clinic and i have been a active memeber of a volunteer group for the past 7 years, also i have presented my research at 3 different national conferences across the country.

2. becuase of my major i have not taken Anatamy or Vert or invert biology is it gonna effect me?

3. also when i was an undergrad i had some classes with a letter grade D do i have to retake them while i am already in grad school?

4. when i apply do i need my DAT score ? or is it something you guys want after the first round of applications?

5. Assuming i have a fair DAT score somewhere in the 19 range, which school should i apply for? or should i just be realistic and get a job and forget about dental school?

Thank you so much for taking your time to read through this.
 
tissy said:
Honestly...Keep your head up and apply to alot of schools. I think you'll get in somewhere b/c every school looks at applicants differently from what I'm learning. Of course its the whole GPA/DAT/volunteer/blah blah blah. Just try to get a high DAT score and make yourself unique on your application..you'll be fine. One more thing.....APPLY EARLY!! I think you'll be more competitive b/c you're in a little pool not huge one. If you apply late, you'll be in the huge pool..not good. ;)

hey guys, i know about applying early, originally i was thinking about applying around june 1st but then like everyone suggested i should re take some classes which i want to do in the summer, so i think i will actually apply sometimes in september. is that still early? or too late already??

Also, what kind of classes should i retake? pre req for dental school with D and C-? or all the C and D?
 
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