How F'd am I (with an F grade?)

[gyoku]

Hi everyone this is my first time posting. I am open to all thoughts, opinions, and advice as I'm just trying to get a general temperature of what would could be beneficial in my situation.

Brief rundown: Went to college & graduated with a liberal arts degree, totally bombed freshman year due to mental health issue that is no longer an issue. After that first year I got it together and had a great upward trajectory but my early record of withdraws, Ds, and even an F grade, is obviously very undesirable. My overall gpa from that time is 2.8. Worked in my field a year and decided to pursue dentistry. Went back to a different university and have done all my prereqs for dental school with 3.75 gpa. Since I never took any STEM classes originally, my science GPA is also 3.75. I have lots of leadership roles, good volunteering hours (100+), shadowing (50), and work as an RDA. I am studying for the DAT now and expect to do completely average.

I am aware of dental-specific postbac programs, some that award masters, at schools tied to dental schools such as NSU. I am wondering if I could be competitive enough for Dschool with another year of undergrad sci electives or if doing a masters would make a significant difference. I am willing to show I can do work at the next level! But the reality is I would have to shell out more money & move. Not sure if the cost-benefit is there. Then again my overall undergrad gpa remains a trainwreck and it might be a waste of time to persist in augmenting it. Thanks again!!

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[macsak]

Hi everyone this is my first time posting. I am open to all thoughts, opinions, and advice as I'm just trying to get a general temperature of what would could be beneficial in my situation.

Brief rundown: Went to college & graduated with a liberal arts degree, totally bombed freshman year due to mental health issue that is no longer an issue. After that first year I got it together and had a great upward trajectory but my early record of withdraws, Ds, and even an F grade, is obviously very undesirable. My overall gpa from that time is 2.8. Worked in my field a year and decided to pursue dentistry. Went back to a different university and have done all my prereqs for dental school with 3.75 gpa. Since I never took any STEM classes originally, my science GPA is also 3.75. I have lots of leadership roles, good volunteering hours (100+), shadowing (50), and work as an RDA. I am studying for the DAT now and expect to do completely average.

I am aware of dental-specific postbac programs, some that award masters, at schools tied to dental schools such as NSU. I am wondering if I could be competitive enough for Dschool with another year of undergrad sci electives or if doing a masters would make a significant difference. I am willing to show I can do work at the next level! But the reality is I would have to shell out more money & move. Not sure if the cost-benefit is there. Then again my overall undergrad gpa remains a trainwreck and it might be a waste of time to persist in augmenting it. Thanks again!!

what is your combined overall gpa?

 

[gyoku]

what is your combined overall gpa?

Its 3.01 now lol

 

[0Mik3cho]

Its 3.01 now lol

Before taking your pre-reqs, what was GPA of the previous semester? An upward trajectory is always good.

Also, an F will not kill your application. I have one F and that didn't prevent me from getting multiple acceptances. Many schools will look at applications holistically and strong points in some areas can overcome weak points in others. Case in point, one school to which I was accepted had an overall GPA 0.1 points higher than my own but my DAT score probably made up for that.

As for the DAT, what I would do is aim to get above average. While your post-bacc GPA helps, a solid DAT will help further. Don't rush to take the DAT until you are confident you can destroy it. If you cannot distinguish yourself with your overall GPA, you need to distinguish yourself elsewhere.

 

[gyoku]

Before taking your pre-reqs, what was GPA of the previous semester? An upward trajectory is always good.

Also, an F will not kill your application. I have one F and that didn't prevent me from getting multiple acceptances. Many schools will look at applications holistically and strong points in some areas can overcome weak points in others. Case in point, one school to which I was accepted had an overall GPA 0.1 points higher than my own but my DAT score probably made up for that.

As for the DAT, what I would do is aim to get above average. While your post-bacc GPA helps, a solid DAT will help further. Don't rush to take the DAT until you are confident you can destroy it. If you cannot distinguish yourself with your overall GPA, you need to distinguish yourself elsewhere.

Thank you for sharing, I love to hear that! My senior year gpa was 4.0 (but again no sciences there). I will absolutely double down on DAT practice.

 

[0Mik3cho]

Thank you for sharing, I love to hear that! My senior year gpa was 4.0 (but again no sciences there). I will absolutely double down on DAT practice.

That is awesome. In my humble opinion as an incoming D1, you are very far from being F'd. It won't be easy but you can make it.

 

[gyoku]

Oops neglected to notice you basically got a perfect DAT score. Props to you haha. I'll see if I can pull off something even remotely close to that

 

[luisfigo]

Think I had 2 F's and 2 D's... post bacc and kill the DAT

 

[PerioDont]

Hi everyone this is my first time posting. I am open to all thoughts, opinions, and advice as I'm just trying to get a general temperature of what would could be beneficial in my situation.

Brief rundown: Went to college & graduated with a liberal arts degree, totally bombed freshman year due to mental health issue that is no longer an issue. After that first year I got it together and had a great upward trajectory but my early record of withdraws, Ds, and even an F grade, is obviously very undesirable. My overall gpa from that time is 2.8. Worked in my field a year and decided to pursue dentistry. Went back to a different university and have done all my prereqs for dental school with 3.75 gpa. Since I never took any STEM classes originally, my science GPA is also 3.75. I have lots of leadership roles, good volunteering hours (100+), shadowing (50), and work as an RDA. I am studying for the DAT now and expect to do completely average.

I am aware of dental-specific postbac programs, some that award masters, at schools tied to dental schools such as NSU. I am wondering if I could be competitive enough for Dschool with another year of undergrad sci electives or if doing a masters would make a significant difference. I am willing to show I can do work at the next level! But the reality is I would have to shell out more money & move. Not sure if the cost-benefit is there. Then again my overall undergrad gpa remains a trainwreck and it might be a waste of time to persist in augmenting it. Thanks again!!

I think you definitely still have a chance, like the other posters mentioned d schools will look at your app holistically. You may need to do a post bac.

I would start with doing well on the DAT. Do not aim for average. Set your goals much higher and really take the test as seriously as you can. If you can possibly take some time off work too and just focus a lot on studying for 6-8 weeks, I think you can get a great score.

Your experience as an RDA will also be invaluable to your app and exposure to the dental field.

 

[gyoku]

I think you definitely still have a chance, like the other posters mentioned d schools will look at your app holistically. You may need to do a post bac.

I would start with doing well on the DAT. Do not aim for average. Set your goals much higher and really take the test as seriously as you can. If you can possibly take some time off work too and just focus a lot on studying for 6-8 weeks, I think you can get a great score.

Your experience as an RDA will also be invaluable to your app and exposure to the dental field.

Thanks for your reply, I'm more motivated than ever to do well on the DAT.