- Joined
- Sep 10, 2020
- Messages
- 10
- Reaction score
- 15
Hi guys, I will be starting dental school this coming August and I thought I could help some pre-dents out there who have a very low GPA and want to apply to dental school! I hope my mistakes can help guide you through to a dental school acceptance! This post will be my experience in depth so feel free to "command F" if you are looking for something specific.
A very brief summary so y’all know what you’re getting into: I got into three dental schools on my first application cycle with a 3.0 sGPA, a 3.27 oGPA, 20AA DAT score.
I am not considered disadvantaged in any way and nothing technically life-altering happened to me that could explain my poor grades to adcoms.
My undergrad experience/hitting GPA rock-bottom
I remember looking countless times at SDN over the last several years searching for people who landed a seat in a dental school class with a GPA as low as mine. For some background, I started undergrad in 2014 at my state's big university school. I took a few honors classes in high school, but definitely not in STEM subjects. I grew up loving science (biology, anatomy) so I had taken those in high school but didn't think about how I could apply that to a career until I got to college. So in typical freshman noob fashion, I announced that I would be pursuing medicine. Researching medicine as a career scared me after a few months because it seemed like they work all the time and I knew I wanted time for kids/a family one day. Now that I am much older, I realize you can definitely be a doctor and balance a family life as well. Nevertheless, once I was steered towards dentistry, there was no going back. As many of you know, the prereqs for the med track are very similar to the dental track so this switch didn't change my day-to-day much. After originally selecting physiology as my major, my first semester included general chemistry, molecular biology, nutrition, and labs. I was struggling to adjust to college as many students do, and ended my first semester with zero A's. Fast forward to second semester and I had accumulated a C-, an F and a W. I had a 1.967 GPA at the conclusion of my freshman year. Yep, you read that correctly.
Over the next two years I struggled through more prerequisites with highs and lows. I changed my major to psychology so my non-dental courses felt more manageable. What I really want to stress in this thread is the way that I previously neglected my mental health. In undergrad, I often felt really down. The shame I felt because I kept doing poorly in school made me feel horrible about myself. I felt like I had to hide it from everyone. I was too embarrassed to ask for help from classmates, professors or advisors. Please don't do this! Now that I am 25, I realize that getting into professional school is a long, challenging and rewarding marathon. I wish I would've taken a semester to focus on getting A's in my core courses and psychology courses and developing those good study habits, then going back and attacking those challenging dental prereqs. I wish I would've asked for help. I wish I would've realized that with almost no prior experience taking chemistry, biology or anatomy it wasn't just going to come naturally, no matter how interesting I found it to be. Just like learning any new skill, my brain wasn't accustomed to working an ICE table, or memorizing all the steps in glycolysis, etc. If this is you, BE NICE TO YOURSELF. Don't compare yourself to your peer who never seems to study, but gets straight A's on every exam. Trust me, that person put the work in somewhere at some point. My argument is that our brains learn much like a muscle. You wouldn't go try to compete in a half marathon when you've only ever run one mile at a time! I think that is what happens to a lot of students when they enter college and want to pursue the pre-med or pre-dental track. If this feels like you, know that it is going to take your brain time to learn the critical thinking, problem solving skills and discipline to become one of those straight A students. If I went from a 1.9 GPA to a 3.9 in my post-bacc, then I am proof that anyone can learn and succeed at this stuff. I will go more into detail about my post-bacc later in this post.
Extracurriculars
Although I was failing miserably academically, I was stubborn and felt certain that dentistry was my dream. I figured if I couldn't get a handle on my grades, that I could at least get involved in dental-related extracurricular activities. I joined a student-led group on campus called Global Brigades. This club entailed weekly meetings, fundraisers and gathering supplies so that we could organize a trip to provide free dental care to an underserved community in Central America. Many schools have opportunities like this, and if you have to be the first to organize one, even better! I learned SO MUCH going on these trips (I went my sophomore and junior year). I shadowed practitioners that our group recruited from the US and dentists in-country, I brushed, flossed and provided fluoride to patients, I solidified my love for dentistry. I met some amazing friends. Still, it was challenging being around students who were doing so much better than me in school. It was hard but if this is you, KEEP GOING. For the second trip, I served as vice president. Yes, I ran for president and I lost but I was still in an officer's position which allowed me to be more deeply involved in organizing the trip and recruiting new members.
Another thing I did in undergrad was shadow. I got in contact with a few dentists but ultimately connected with one and collected about 60 of my 105 hours at his practice. I really got to know him and his staff and he wrote me a letter of recommendation when I was finally ready to apply. Try to build relationships with dental professionals if you can. It will make shadowing so much more fun and comfortable and these connections will help you. Be professional and polite with patients and staff when you shadow, offer to help clean up, sanitize, etc.
I also attended events at the dental school in my area while in undergrad. If you look up the school's ASDA (American Student Dental Association) page on Google or Instagram, they often set up pre-dental events so that you can go to the school, meet faculty and current dental students. It was a lot of fun to attend these events! I got to drill and fill plastic teeth, listen to lectures from the admissions faculty, etc. Much later, I put these events on my application and it showed effort and interest in the school to which I was ultimately accepted at and will be attending.
Undergrad Graduation Stats/ Post-Bacc
I graduated undergrad with around a 2.3 sGPA, a 3.1 oGPA and a major in psychology. I was also missing physics and had not taken the DAT. I knew I would need to go back to school to fix my science GPA and prove to dental schools that I could handle the workload. Rather than staying in the state I had always lived in, I yearned to get away and experience something new. It wouldn't be a blank slate but it would allow me to start fresh. So I packed up and moved to a different state. This was a personal choice, and for financial reasons I realize going back to my undergrad school or a local school would've cost a lot less. You do not need to do a formal dental post-bacc to fix your GPA and get into dental school! I literally picked a city I was interested in and picked a school that would have the classes I needed, and enrolled as a "non-degree seeking post-bacc student". Yes I had to apply, but you can pretty much take individual classes at any university. I met with a pre-health advisor at my new school. My goal at this point was to take upper division science courses and to finish prereqs (I had to retake general chemistry for the THIRD time, I had to retake biochem (got a D the first time), and I still needed physics I & II. Once my sGPA hit a 3.0, I could apply. This school was on a quarter system so for each quarter, I took two science classes. I took things slow and steady. Yes, it was a lot of pressure knowing that I had to get all A's. I had 125 credits at this point so making an "A" barely moved my GPA up at all. Guess what! I got two B's in my post-bacc. I just kept pushing and learning and taking care of myself. I got involved in my new home, I met new friends, I got a job part-time at a coffee shop. It was hard at first, but I was happy and learning so much.
Here is a quick table to show how I structured my post-bacc over the course of three years:
The DAT ( I took it twice)
I pretty much set aside an entire summer to study for the DAT my first time. I bought DAT Bootcamp, and followed Ari's schedule. I worked at my job way too much, and ended up studying for three months into my fall quarter because I pushed the test back due to not feeling ready. I scored a 19AA,19 TS, 23 RC, 19 BIO, 18 GC, 19 OC, 17 QR, 20 PAT. Ultimately not bad and if I had a stronger GPA I probably would've kept it. I feel like the first time I took the DAT, I was a nervous wreck most of the time. I cried most days because I felt overwhelmed and I just let the pressure get to me. Looking back, I would've kept things in perspective and reminded myself that as long as I was trying my absolute best to focus during designated study time, that the results would come.
My attitude was completely different the second time around. I felt very relaxed all summer until maybe four days before the test which I was obviously feeling nervous, but not so much that it crippled me. For my 2nd attempt I used DAT Bootcamp again but added Anki flashcards for biology and the conceptual parts of ochem & gen chem. I highly recommend checking out "The AnKing" on YouTube to learn how to design amazingly helpful Anki flashcards. I woke up Monday-Friday at 7am and studied 8-5 with an hour break for lunch. I kept away from my phone and employed the pomodoro technique to keep my brain fresh. I did not work a job. Saturdays I took for myself and just had fun! On Sundays I prepped food for the week, cleaned my space and did some light studying. I did my flashcards 7 days a week. My results were a 20AA, 20TS, 20 BIO, 19 OC, 18 GC, 24 RC, 20 PAT, 18 QR. I studied way fewer hours than the previous year but scored higher. I think this was because I used my time more effectively and took better care of my mental health. I know my scores aren’t mind blowing, but it goes to show that you can still get into dental school even if you don’t have a 25AA. I think adcoms liked my perseverance and the fact that I did improve in most sections.
Application & Interview Season
I applied very early and had submitted by June 20th. I already had all of my letters of recommendation on hand because I used Interfolio and sent my letter writers a request in February. Knowing that my stats were below average, I researched dental schools extensively. The best tool for this is the ADEA Dental School Explorer. You can get this in book form from the ADEA website or the online version for $25. You want to look at the range of GPAs and DAT scores that schools have accepted that past year. Many schools accept < 5% with a 3.0 or lower but the key here is they do accept people with that low of a GPA. Your state school is a good bet because many schools get 1000-3000 applications a year and they will fill 40-60% of their class with in-state applicants. That gives you a much better chance of being chosen for an interview. In my opinion, your best bet other than where you are considered in-state would be private schools.
I applied to 14 schools, got interviews at 3 and was accepted at all 3 that I interviewed at.
Two were private schools and the other was my state school.
I wrote 10 or so drafts of my personal statement. I highly recommend “Your Essential Guide to Dental School Admissions: 30 Successful Application Essays and Collective Wisdom from Young Dentists”. Edited my Dr. Helen Yang, DMD. This book helped me so much to learn the structure of a personal statement. What a lot of applicants don’t realize is that on their application there is a whole section called “experiences” where you will fill in every extracurricular activity you feel adcoms should know about to show your dedication to understanding this field. Therefore, to re-summarize your experience again in your personal statement should not be the goal. I chose a special memory in which I built a relationship with a patient and her family when I was in an underserved community volunteering. I told the story of how I was able to help this patient, and how fulfilled that made me feel. How dentistry is perfectly matched for me because of its similarity to the other passions I have in my life such as painting, and connecting with others. Tell a story that shows adcoms that dentistry is your passion, rather than trying to sell them on how great you are at acing a test or how many hours you wracked up volunteering - there are other spaces to do this on your application.
Finally, COVID meant that my interviews were conducted over Zoom. Regardless of this, I still prepared in the same way that I would’ve had I flown out to do them in person. SDN has a page for every single dental school where over the years, interviewees have posted interview questions that they were asked by adcoms. I copied and pasted all of them, and filled out how I would answer them. Then, I practiced them aloud with my SO for 3-4 days leading up to the interview. In all three of my interviews, I was rarely surprised by a question, I felt very prepared. That being said, the interviews shouldn’t be “scripted”. What comforted me is that, if adcoms asked you for an interview, they already like you, they just want to get to know your personality and make sure you can hold a conversation. They know you’re nervous and they are not out to get you. Everyone I met was very nice and put me right at ease.
If you made it this far, thank you for reading! This journey has meant so much to me, and has made me grow as a person more than anything in my life so far. It sounds cliche, but what got me through all the struggling and all the longing for the past seven years was that I never stopped believing in myself. I knew that just because I wasn’t ready “today”, that someday I would be ready and that I would get in. That day finally came! Have faith in yourself! Good luck
A very brief summary so y’all know what you’re getting into: I got into three dental schools on my first application cycle with a 3.0 sGPA, a 3.27 oGPA, 20AA DAT score.
I am not considered disadvantaged in any way and nothing technically life-altering happened to me that could explain my poor grades to adcoms.
My undergrad experience/hitting GPA rock-bottom
I remember looking countless times at SDN over the last several years searching for people who landed a seat in a dental school class with a GPA as low as mine. For some background, I started undergrad in 2014 at my state's big university school. I took a few honors classes in high school, but definitely not in STEM subjects. I grew up loving science (biology, anatomy) so I had taken those in high school but didn't think about how I could apply that to a career until I got to college. So in typical freshman noob fashion, I announced that I would be pursuing medicine. Researching medicine as a career scared me after a few months because it seemed like they work all the time and I knew I wanted time for kids/a family one day. Now that I am much older, I realize you can definitely be a doctor and balance a family life as well. Nevertheless, once I was steered towards dentistry, there was no going back. As many of you know, the prereqs for the med track are very similar to the dental track so this switch didn't change my day-to-day much. After originally selecting physiology as my major, my first semester included general chemistry, molecular biology, nutrition, and labs. I was struggling to adjust to college as many students do, and ended my first semester with zero A's. Fast forward to second semester and I had accumulated a C-, an F and a W. I had a 1.967 GPA at the conclusion of my freshman year. Yep, you read that correctly.
Over the next two years I struggled through more prerequisites with highs and lows. I changed my major to psychology so my non-dental courses felt more manageable. What I really want to stress in this thread is the way that I previously neglected my mental health. In undergrad, I often felt really down. The shame I felt because I kept doing poorly in school made me feel horrible about myself. I felt like I had to hide it from everyone. I was too embarrassed to ask for help from classmates, professors or advisors. Please don't do this! Now that I am 25, I realize that getting into professional school is a long, challenging and rewarding marathon. I wish I would've taken a semester to focus on getting A's in my core courses and psychology courses and developing those good study habits, then going back and attacking those challenging dental prereqs. I wish I would've asked for help. I wish I would've realized that with almost no prior experience taking chemistry, biology or anatomy it wasn't just going to come naturally, no matter how interesting I found it to be. Just like learning any new skill, my brain wasn't accustomed to working an ICE table, or memorizing all the steps in glycolysis, etc. If this is you, BE NICE TO YOURSELF. Don't compare yourself to your peer who never seems to study, but gets straight A's on every exam. Trust me, that person put the work in somewhere at some point. My argument is that our brains learn much like a muscle. You wouldn't go try to compete in a half marathon when you've only ever run one mile at a time! I think that is what happens to a lot of students when they enter college and want to pursue the pre-med or pre-dental track. If this feels like you, know that it is going to take your brain time to learn the critical thinking, problem solving skills and discipline to become one of those straight A students. If I went from a 1.9 GPA to a 3.9 in my post-bacc, then I am proof that anyone can learn and succeed at this stuff. I will go more into detail about my post-bacc later in this post.
Extracurriculars
Although I was failing miserably academically, I was stubborn and felt certain that dentistry was my dream. I figured if I couldn't get a handle on my grades, that I could at least get involved in dental-related extracurricular activities. I joined a student-led group on campus called Global Brigades. This club entailed weekly meetings, fundraisers and gathering supplies so that we could organize a trip to provide free dental care to an underserved community in Central America. Many schools have opportunities like this, and if you have to be the first to organize one, even better! I learned SO MUCH going on these trips (I went my sophomore and junior year). I shadowed practitioners that our group recruited from the US and dentists in-country, I brushed, flossed and provided fluoride to patients, I solidified my love for dentistry. I met some amazing friends. Still, it was challenging being around students who were doing so much better than me in school. It was hard but if this is you, KEEP GOING. For the second trip, I served as vice president. Yes, I ran for president and I lost but I was still in an officer's position which allowed me to be more deeply involved in organizing the trip and recruiting new members.
Another thing I did in undergrad was shadow. I got in contact with a few dentists but ultimately connected with one and collected about 60 of my 105 hours at his practice. I really got to know him and his staff and he wrote me a letter of recommendation when I was finally ready to apply. Try to build relationships with dental professionals if you can. It will make shadowing so much more fun and comfortable and these connections will help you. Be professional and polite with patients and staff when you shadow, offer to help clean up, sanitize, etc.
I also attended events at the dental school in my area while in undergrad. If you look up the school's ASDA (American Student Dental Association) page on Google or Instagram, they often set up pre-dental events so that you can go to the school, meet faculty and current dental students. It was a lot of fun to attend these events! I got to drill and fill plastic teeth, listen to lectures from the admissions faculty, etc. Much later, I put these events on my application and it showed effort and interest in the school to which I was ultimately accepted at and will be attending.
Undergrad Graduation Stats/ Post-Bacc
I graduated undergrad with around a 2.3 sGPA, a 3.1 oGPA and a major in psychology. I was also missing physics and had not taken the DAT. I knew I would need to go back to school to fix my science GPA and prove to dental schools that I could handle the workload. Rather than staying in the state I had always lived in, I yearned to get away and experience something new. It wouldn't be a blank slate but it would allow me to start fresh. So I packed up and moved to a different state. This was a personal choice, and for financial reasons I realize going back to my undergrad school or a local school would've cost a lot less. You do not need to do a formal dental post-bacc to fix your GPA and get into dental school! I literally picked a city I was interested in and picked a school that would have the classes I needed, and enrolled as a "non-degree seeking post-bacc student". Yes I had to apply, but you can pretty much take individual classes at any university. I met with a pre-health advisor at my new school. My goal at this point was to take upper division science courses and to finish prereqs (I had to retake general chemistry for the THIRD time, I had to retake biochem (got a D the first time), and I still needed physics I & II. Once my sGPA hit a 3.0, I could apply. This school was on a quarter system so for each quarter, I took two science classes. I took things slow and steady. Yes, it was a lot of pressure knowing that I had to get all A's. I had 125 credits at this point so making an "A" barely moved my GPA up at all. Guess what! I got two B's in my post-bacc. I just kept pushing and learning and taking care of myself. I got involved in my new home, I met new friends, I got a job part-time at a coffee shop. It was hard at first, but I was happy and learning so much.
Here is a quick table to show how I structured my post-bacc over the course of three years:
The DAT ( I took it twice)
I pretty much set aside an entire summer to study for the DAT my first time. I bought DAT Bootcamp, and followed Ari's schedule. I worked at my job way too much, and ended up studying for three months into my fall quarter because I pushed the test back due to not feeling ready. I scored a 19AA,19 TS, 23 RC, 19 BIO, 18 GC, 19 OC, 17 QR, 20 PAT. Ultimately not bad and if I had a stronger GPA I probably would've kept it. I feel like the first time I took the DAT, I was a nervous wreck most of the time. I cried most days because I felt overwhelmed and I just let the pressure get to me. Looking back, I would've kept things in perspective and reminded myself that as long as I was trying my absolute best to focus during designated study time, that the results would come.
My attitude was completely different the second time around. I felt very relaxed all summer until maybe four days before the test which I was obviously feeling nervous, but not so much that it crippled me. For my 2nd attempt I used DAT Bootcamp again but added Anki flashcards for biology and the conceptual parts of ochem & gen chem. I highly recommend checking out "The AnKing" on YouTube to learn how to design amazingly helpful Anki flashcards. I woke up Monday-Friday at 7am and studied 8-5 with an hour break for lunch. I kept away from my phone and employed the pomodoro technique to keep my brain fresh. I did not work a job. Saturdays I took for myself and just had fun! On Sundays I prepped food for the week, cleaned my space and did some light studying. I did my flashcards 7 days a week. My results were a 20AA, 20TS, 20 BIO, 19 OC, 18 GC, 24 RC, 20 PAT, 18 QR. I studied way fewer hours than the previous year but scored higher. I think this was because I used my time more effectively and took better care of my mental health. I know my scores aren’t mind blowing, but it goes to show that you can still get into dental school even if you don’t have a 25AA. I think adcoms liked my perseverance and the fact that I did improve in most sections.
Application & Interview Season
I applied very early and had submitted by June 20th. I already had all of my letters of recommendation on hand because I used Interfolio and sent my letter writers a request in February. Knowing that my stats were below average, I researched dental schools extensively. The best tool for this is the ADEA Dental School Explorer. You can get this in book form from the ADEA website or the online version for $25. You want to look at the range of GPAs and DAT scores that schools have accepted that past year. Many schools accept < 5% with a 3.0 or lower but the key here is they do accept people with that low of a GPA. Your state school is a good bet because many schools get 1000-3000 applications a year and they will fill 40-60% of their class with in-state applicants. That gives you a much better chance of being chosen for an interview. In my opinion, your best bet other than where you are considered in-state would be private schools.
I applied to 14 schools, got interviews at 3 and was accepted at all 3 that I interviewed at.
Two were private schools and the other was my state school.
I wrote 10 or so drafts of my personal statement. I highly recommend “Your Essential Guide to Dental School Admissions: 30 Successful Application Essays and Collective Wisdom from Young Dentists”. Edited my Dr. Helen Yang, DMD. This book helped me so much to learn the structure of a personal statement. What a lot of applicants don’t realize is that on their application there is a whole section called “experiences” where you will fill in every extracurricular activity you feel adcoms should know about to show your dedication to understanding this field. Therefore, to re-summarize your experience again in your personal statement should not be the goal. I chose a special memory in which I built a relationship with a patient and her family when I was in an underserved community volunteering. I told the story of how I was able to help this patient, and how fulfilled that made me feel. How dentistry is perfectly matched for me because of its similarity to the other passions I have in my life such as painting, and connecting with others. Tell a story that shows adcoms that dentistry is your passion, rather than trying to sell them on how great you are at acing a test or how many hours you wracked up volunteering - there are other spaces to do this on your application.
Finally, COVID meant that my interviews were conducted over Zoom. Regardless of this, I still prepared in the same way that I would’ve had I flown out to do them in person. SDN has a page for every single dental school where over the years, interviewees have posted interview questions that they were asked by adcoms. I copied and pasted all of them, and filled out how I would answer them. Then, I practiced them aloud with my SO for 3-4 days leading up to the interview. In all three of my interviews, I was rarely surprised by a question, I felt very prepared. That being said, the interviews shouldn’t be “scripted”. What comforted me is that, if adcoms asked you for an interview, they already like you, they just want to get to know your personality and make sure you can hold a conversation. They know you’re nervous and they are not out to get you. Everyone I met was very nice and put me right at ease.
If you made it this far, thank you for reading! This journey has meant so much to me, and has made me grow as a person more than anything in my life so far. It sounds cliche, but what got me through all the struggling and all the longing for the past seven years was that I never stopped believing in myself. I knew that just because I wasn’t ready “today”, that someday I would be ready and that I would get in. That day finally came! Have faith in yourself! Good luck
