In need of advice

[futuredoctor91]

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[hungrydentist]

Hey guys,

So I'm in my senior year of college and my G.P.A. is at a 3.02 and my science gpa lower than that at around 2.8. My extracurriculars are not that the best, +130 hrs shadowing experience, academic frat, and some research experience.

My plan is to graduate a semester late to boost my undergrad gpa as much as possible. What do you guys recommend me to do after? apply for post bacc or masters?

Master's or a SMP. Unless you can get yourself into one of those dental post-bac programs.

 

[aggiegirl12809]

Honestly, by the time you reach your senior hours, it's VERY difficult to raise your GPA significantly. From experience, I can tell you that increasing your GPA to a desirable number can not be achieved in 1 semester. I would recommend doing a post-bacc program. That way you can take those undergrad level courses, and have a separate post bacc GPA. You also have the benefit of joining clubs, such as pre-dent society, etc. It also depends on when you plan to apply to dental school. A masters program is usually 2 years vs. post bacc which usually around 1.

Hope that helps a little!

 

[Surgeon_cowboy]

apply for SMP and before you get in, study hard for the DAT and take it once to see how ya do... who knows if you get 23s or higher across the board, you can apply to a handful of schools that may consider you before you start your SMP. In addition, do plenty of ECs and volunteer work, try to work in a Dental office as an assistant, rather than just shadowing. I have a 3.2 overall now, and a sGPA of less than a 3.0 and luckily had 2 interviews pre-dec.... Cross my fingers for acceptance. But you have a chance!

 

[lnngu]

Hey guys,

So I'm in my senior year of college and my G.P.A. is at a 3.02 and my science gpa lower than that at around 2.8. My extracurriculars are not that the best, +130 hrs shadowing experience, academic frat, and some research experience.

My plan is to graduate a semester late to boost my undergrad gpa as much as possible. What do you guys recommend me to do after? apply for post bacc or masters?

You'll find that people here differ on the value of a post-bacc vs masters, mostly depending on what worked for them. Personally, and this is from conversations I've had with a couple of deans of admissions, I tend to believe that a master program is slightly better: the post-grad experience holds more cache, and you'll get a separate GPA, which ought to be much higher than your undergrad's. It's a bit of a dual edge sword though: because it's easier to get higher grades in post grad school, anything but excellent scores will reflect badly on you. Also, some schools have an absolute cut off for UG GPA below which they'll simply reject you before even looking at your application. This is a little bit anecdotal, but since none of us are on adcoms, here, you'll find nothing besides n=1 evidence on SDN.

This is what I would do, in your shoes. For the rest of your UG career, go nuts. Max out your units every semester with upper level science courses, and get great grades. Then get into a post grad program if you can (post-bac if not), and do the same thing. Take the DAT, and do well. Then when you have at least a year's worth of high GPA + heavy course load (the longer, the better, but you don't need to have finished the master), apply and make sure the application is in early. Again, anecdotal, but doing that landed me a handful of pre-dec interviews and multiple acceptances, with similar stats.

 

[KittySquared]

Having looked through several dozen threads, I think it's a great idea to boost that 2.8 to a 3.0, and THEN take a masters on top of it. That way, when AADSAS calculates everything, nothing is below a 3.0, the cut off for a lot of schools. And try to get a 3.7+ of 30 some credits of grad GPA really boosts your application. Many of these 1 year or 2 year masters programs are between 30-40 some credits with thesis being optional. Evaluate your extracurriculars in undergrad - did you do any research at all? If your answer is no, then you really should consider doing a thesis program, which is more than likely going to be a 2 year masters program. You are usually encouraged to finish your science core classes the first year, which means you can apply the summer after masters year 1 with a much stronger science background, while you've already started your thesis research in late spring/early summer. This is a great route. Many of my classmates have succeeded in getting into MD, DO and pharm schools this way.

Topics of said masters programs are science heavy ones - like biology, physiology, etc. Try not to do public health (MPH) if you're looking to boost science GPA, because am MPH degree have mostly non-science classes.

 

[jb1836]

Hey guys could you help point me in the direction of some post-bacc or master programs in the northeast? I have a sub 3.0 sGPA and a 3.2 GPA overall in Biology. Thanks!