I need help

[futudent]

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Hi, long time sdn surfer, first time posting.
Ok... I need your help guys. I am currently going to be a 4th year student about to graduate. My freshman year and sophomore year were horrible, I got a 2.1 gpa my first year and a 2.4 gpa my second year. Now that I am focused, it seems impossible to raise my gpa. Last year I had a 3.1 gpa (2.8 first quarter, 3.0 second quarter, and 3.4 last quarter), I tried to calculate my gpa including a F and a D that I got my first 2 years and I have an overall and science gpa of 2.56🙁. I believe I can bring it up to a 2.8 my last year because I am taking easy science classes (they are upperdivision but they are all for my neuroscience minor and I consider that subject easy, I have gotten an A on the ones Ive taken so far). Do you guys think I should apply this year or wait till next and take a year off? I have not taken the DAT but I am preparing for it and I am not sure of taking it on september to apply for this year or maybe taking it in June of next year and apply early next year.
I am from california, I am hispanic and I have a lot of EC/volunteer/shadowing. The only reason why I was thinking about applying this year is because maybe I could get into one of those reapplicant postbacs for disadvantaged students. What do you guys think? Thanks

 

[SugarNaCl]

Being hispanic will help you big time but your GPA is REALLY low for dental school. Pulling it up to a 2.8 would be good. Maybe enrolling in a post bacc wouldn't hurt... at least that counts as your uGPA. If you can get it to a 3.0 or so and get decent DAT scores, I think you have a shot given that you are a minority and you would have an upward trend. It's not negative. I screwed up my Junior year of college due to the desire to have fun over study...and I'm in D-school.

Call some schools and see what they say.

 

[futudent]

Thanks... has anybody else had a similar situation like me and been able to pull it off?

 

[Jumpman87]

Honestly I kinda of went trogh a slump as well, my gpa did this... it went down to like a 2.6 at one pt becuase I was eathing **** and hanging out like crazy and treating college like high school, then in this past year I joined my pre-dental club, started hanging with the right people, got focused, and my last two semesters I ahd a 3.1 and a 3.7 respictecly, and I was taking pretty good classes in terms of work, the semester i got a 3.7, I was tkaing physics 2, genetics , ecology, intro. to psy, and two labs. Dude you if this is what you want get focused and motivate yourself inside to be what youw ant to be.


"Excellence is not a singular act, but a habit. You are what you repeatedly do."


Push one dude and if it takes for you to get a Masters degree to get into dental school, do it, if it what you really want it is all worth it.

p.s.
Make sure you work hard at it.

 

[Chyling8]

Being hispanic will help you big time but your GPA is REALLY low for dental school. Pulling it up to a 2.8 would be good. Maybe enrolling in a post bacc wouldn't hurt... at least that counts as your uGPA. If you can get it to a 3.0 or so and get decent DAT scores, I think you have a shot given that you are a minority and you would have an upward trend. It's not negative. I screwed up my Junior year of college due to the desire to have fun over study...and I'm in D-school.

Call some schools and see what they say.

Hello Sugar NaCl

I am new to this forum and do not know how to post new msgs so I'm just making a reply to your post. I just took the DAT today. Could you (or anyone who reads this) please give me your opinion about whether I should retake the test b/c of the QR section?

PA: 19
QR: 13
RC: 21
Bio: 22
GC: 20
OC: 19
TS: 20
AA: 19

Thanks!

 

[somethinpositiv]

Sure, being Hispanic will help you, but only if you are a reasonable candidate... With the field as competitive as it is right now, you should enroll in a PostBac or a non-thesis Masters program and rock it with a 3.5+

 

[Contach]

Why don't the pre-med forums get as many people who "****ed up" in earlier years. It seems like they all come running to become a pre-dent.

 

[dent2009]

Why don't the pre-med forums get as many people who "****ed up" in earlier years. It seems like they all come running to become a pre-dent.

Probably because if you f'ed up in your earlier years (and of course it depends how much you f'ed up as well and for how many semesters), it's difficult to bring up your GPA to a 3.6ish to be competitive for med school. As opposed to getting away with a 3.3, 3.4 at a good number of dental schools. And why not make dental school your top choice if you put yourself in that situation? I don't blame 'em...

 

[bustedgrill]

I think that having a bad start (not too bad) and finishing strong says a lot about a person. YOu see some people with their heads burried in a book everyday of their lives. I got all my partying out of my system and wont have to worry about being 40 year old Doc writing scripts out for pain killers to myself because I was at a party at some golf course with my associates and they dared me to do a body shot off a half dead stripper then I went into the back room with her where we were huffing VCR cleaner and she offered me a pain killer so I took the whole bottle now I have a drug addiction-hence me writing out the scripts to myself. See- people like us already got that out of our systems and we can focus on whats important. School.


Whatever. To the OP. Do a post bac my man. Or maybe a one year SMP. Do whatever it takes to get that GPA up. Just know that people who had lower GPAs were able to get on track and grt into D school- so you can too. Good luck!

 

[dent2009]

....I got all my partying out of my system and wont have to worry about being 40 year old Doc writing scripts out for pain killers to myself because I was at a party at some golf course with my associates and they dared me to do a body shot off a half dead stripper then I went into the back room with her where we were huffing VCR cleaner and she offered me a pain killer so I took the whole bottle now I have a drug addiction-hence me writing out the scripts to myself....

Sounds like somebody partied a little too much in their first year in college, eh? Anyways, what's wrong with being 40 and doing that?

 

[bustedgrill]

Whats wrong doing that at 40!? Dude..... the problem is your not 35 anymore! Grow up already!

 

[grami001]

Why don't the pre-med forums get as many people who "****ed up" in earlier years. It seems like they all come running to become a pre-dent.

dude, how do you know that futudent was pre-med? you dont know that and i guess that you are assuming that because of his neuroscience minor. Well there is a reason why he is getting a minor in neuroscience... its because it can help raise the overall and science gpa. I am probably gonna do the same thing but with chemistry.