Influence of Ivy in admissions?

[penny4]

---

Members do not see this ad.

Hi all,
I just decided for sure that I want to go dental (after being pre-med/pre-dental for a while)! So here's the thing, I'm a junior at Penn, and I ended up having a rough sophomore year (medical problems which are now under control) and going into my junior year I have a 2.9 overall GPA. I know I still have time to raise the average, but obviously this is going to stick out in admissions. I'm wondering if a slightly lower GPA from Penn will be competitive against higher GPAs from other schools. Also if I do well on the DAT could that compensate for a lower GPA? Thanks all in advance! Still trying to figure out this dental admission stuff. Excited to have a plan though 🙂

 

[dbangell]

Hi all,
I just decided for sure that I want to go dental (after being pre-med/pre-dental for a while)! So here's the thing, I'm a junior at Penn, and I ended up having a rough sophomore year (medical problems which are now under control) and going into my junior year I have a 2.9 overall GPA. I know I still have time to raise the average, but obviously this is going to stick out in admissions. I'm wondering if a slightly lower GPA from Penn will be competitive against higher GPAs from other schools. Also if I do well on the DAT could that compensate for a lower GPA? Thanks all in advance! Still trying to figure out this dental admission stuff. Excited to have a plan though 🙂

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505145_...colleges-with-the-easiest-and-hardest-grades/
dont see your school up there

 

[ktran17]

I do though lmao! I didn't even know my school was considered tough 👍

 

[dbangell]

I do though lmao! I didn't even know my school was considered tough 👍

lol mine is too, the 1st one....

 

[penny4]

That wasn't really my question 😕 I just wanted to know if a low GPA can be compensated for through other parts of the application. I'm just a nervous student

 

[dbangell]

That wasn't really my question 😕 I just wanted to know if a low GPA can be compensated for through other parts of the application. I'm just a nervous student

I am not trying to be mean but your question title is "Influence of Ivy in admissions". Just trying to help and of cuz DAT gona help it is standardized test

 

[upcomingcycle]

The top two important factors are probably going to be your GPA and DAT scores. You are going to have to do a helllaaa lot of work to get your GPA up in 2 years, and even so, it probably won't be too much. Keep in mind that some schools have GPA cut offs at 3.2 and the average enrollees' GPA seem to hover around 3.5 last year. With that in mind, if you can somehow get your GPA up to ~3.4 and do really well on your DAT 22+ in all sections you should have a decent chance.

As someone on here has said before - low GPA/high DAT v high GPA/low DAT : you have a decent chance of getting in.

Also, I think there was a section on the app where you can explain things that may have adversely affected your academics.

 

[lmr9y]

If I were you, I wouldn't apply this cycle and possbily wait till next. In the mean time- do a post-bacc or Master's to prove you can do well in upper level sci courses. It does help you went to UPenn but thats not gonna completely make up for a below 3.0 GPA. I do know people who thought just because they went to an Ivy they'd be able to get in even though, their stats were slightly lower. And as usually, an awesome DAT does make up for a sub-par GPA.

 

[penny4]

okay great. that's more what i was looking for. Thanks all! I was considering taking a year off and get a RA job while taking classes.

 

[Glimmer1991]

The top two important factors are probably going to be your GPA and DAT scores. You are going to have to do a helllaaa lot of work to get your GPA up in 2 years, and even so, it probably won't be too much. Keep in mind that some schools have GPA cut offs at 3.2 and the average enrollees' GPA seem to hover around 3.5 last year. With that in mind, if you can somehow get your GPA up to ~3.4 and do really well on your DAT 22+ in all sections you should have a decent chance.

OP, you can still have an extremely competitive DAT score and not literally make a 22 in every section.

 

[shootingstar7]

In theory you could get 4.0 for the 2nd half of undergrad and finish with a 3.5..which is right where you need to be. Have you worked on your pre-reqs much? If so, what kind of grades have you been making in them?

 

[upcomingcycle]

OP, you can still have an extremely competitive DAT score and not literally make a 22 in every section.

What I was trying to say is that if s/he wants a chance with a below average GPA, s/he should try and make that up a little with DAT scores (AA, PAT, TS) that are above average.

I will, however, take back the 22+ and change that/clarify that to make 20+ on your AA/TS/PAT scores. I was only thinking about the schools I'm applying to, which all have average DAT scores of 21-22. I guess the average DAT scores across the board for ALL DS is 19-20.

 

[penny4]

Yeah part of the problem is I took of a lot of the prereqs during my sophomore year. Then when I started to have health problems I decided to push through and finish the year (probably should have taken a semester off in retrospect). So a lot of my science prereqs are where the lower grades are :/ I know there's a place to explain why your grades aren't representative, but it just makes me nervous.

 

[upcomingcycle]

If you received less than a C in those pre-reqs, you will have to retake them for some schools (some have cut-offs at Cs (C+,C, C-). But say a school wants 12 credits of biology and you took
-Intro to biology I, 3 credits (B)
-Intro to biology II, 3 credits (B)
-Cell biology, 3 credits(D)
-Anatomy, 3 credits (B)

You could technically just take another biology course and get a C or higher to still get 12 credits I think. Or re-take the class...?

A concerning thing is your science/BCP GPAs. If you received low grades for your pre-reqs, I'm afraid that your sGPA and BCP GPA aren't going to look pretty or make cut off lines. Try calculating those to see what you get.

 

[penny4]

They were all Cs or higher. But yeah my science GPA is going to be a problem... I still have more science to take so I will have an opportunity to bring it up.. But orgo isn't exactly known as a GPA booster.

 

[upcomingcycle]

I'm guessing you were taking basic science classes during your first two years in college. I suggest you take as many HIGHER level science classes starting now to show them that you CAN handle sciences without medical issues - if you can handle tougher science classes now, obviously your medical issue was what was holding you back earlier.

With that said - don't load up on so many that you end up getting bad grades in those courses, too.