Is this Possible?

[jpwfku]

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Hi all,
To start off I have looked for an answer to this question already and have found some answers, but honestly every situation is different. In my particular situation I'm faced with deciding between taking on a new career with better opportunities or sticking with my present employer which is very conducive to continued education. In the past year I have had an overwhelming desire to help people and unfortunately this is hard to do in my current field of software development.

So you may ask why this is an issue? Well ten months before my freshman semester, my father had passed away after a long three year battle with cancer. For the next three years my mother tried multiple times to commit suicide. Luckily it never worked! The effect this had on me, was loss of direction, which led to passing grades in pre-med before deciding to switch to civil engineering in my sophomore year. After a year of civil engineering I had enough when my CE internship was ended due to the closing of the company. At this point my grades hand tanked to a 2.49 overall GPA. Prior to this I had a 3.2. At this point I was so far in debt and without family support, I decided that I had to at least get a degree. I decided on IST. Within this curriculum I thrived and was able to bring my overall GPA to a 2.87, while working two jobs as a teaching assistant and administrative assistant. So yeah I got my degree and was able to repair at least some of the damage that my depression, lack of direction and consequential drinking had caused the first two years.

So here I am, 25 with a desire to help people. I have been taking night classes at the community college, since I work a full time job during the day. I have 33 more hrs to take before I can apply and It looks like a 3.6 across the board will get me a 3.0 GPA. So here's my question, is this feasible, considering all of the classes are chem, physics and bio? And that I'm only taking 6 hrs a semester while working 40-45 hrs a week? Do I have a good shot or should I just let this go? Also, while in college I took an active role in two clubs, and currently I am very involved within my church.

Thanks for any advice or wisdom you can impart.

 

[Seamonkey Doc]

Hi all,
To start off I have looked for an answer to this question already and have found some answers, but honestly every situation is different. In my particular situation I'm faced with deciding between taking on a new career with better opportunities or sticking with my present employer which is very conducive to continued education. In the past year I have had an overwhelming desire to help people and unfortunately this is hard to do in my current field of software development.

So you may ask why this is an issue? Well ten months before my freshman semester, my father had passed away after a long three year battle with cancer. For the next three years my mother tried multiple times to commit suicide. Luckily it never worked! The effect this had on me, was loss of direction, which led to passing grades in pre-med before deciding to switch to civil engineering in my sophomore year. After a year of civil engineering I had enough when my CE internship was ended due to the closing of the company. At this point my grades hand tanked to a 2.49 overall GPA. Prior to this I had a 3.2. At this point I was so far in debt and without family support, I decided that I had to at least get a degree. I decided on IST. Within this curriculum I thrived and was able to bring my overall GPA to a 2.87, while working two jobs as a teaching assistant and administrative assistant. So yeah I got my degree and was able to repair at least some of the damage that my depression, lack of direction and consequential drinking had caused the first two years.

So here I am, 25 with a desire to help people. I have been taking night classes at the community college, since I work a full time job during the day. I have 33 more hrs to take before I can apply and It looks like a 3.6 across the board will get me a 3.0 GPA. So here's my question, is this feasible, considering all of the classes are chem, physics and bio? And that I'm only taking 6 hrs a semester while working 40-45 hrs a week? Do I have a good shot or should I just let this go? Also, while in college I took an active role in two clubs, and currently I am very involved within my church.

Thanks for any advice or wisdom you can impart.

I commend you for getting through the tough obstacles you mentioned in your post.

Take your pre reqs and see what your GPA comes out to when you're done. Take the DAT and score really high (22+) to make up for the low GPA. After taking the DAT and having a final GPA to work with, you'll have a better idea as to apply and when to apply.

 

[omnipoDent]

Hi all,
To start off I have looked for an answer to this question already and have found some answers, but honestly every situation is different. In my particular situation I'm faced with deciding between taking on a new career with better opportunities or sticking with my present employer which is very conducive to continued education. In the past year I have had an overwhelming desire to help people and unfortunately this is hard to do in my current field of software development.

So you may ask why this is an issue? Well ten months before my freshman semester, my father had passed away after a long three year battle with cancer. For the next three years my mother tried multiple times to commit suicide. Luckily it never worked! The effect this had on me, was loss of direction, which led to passing grades in pre-med before deciding to switch to civil engineering in my sophomore year. After a year of civil engineering I had enough when my CE internship was ended due to the closing of the company. At this point my grades hand tanked to a 2.49 overall GPA. Prior to this I had a 3.2. At this point I was so far in debt and without family support, I decided that I had to at least get a degree. I decided on IST. Within this curriculum I thrived and was able to bring my overall GPA to a 2.87, while working two jobs as a teaching assistant and administrative assistant. So yeah I got my degree and was able to repair at least some of the damage that my depression, lack of direction and consequential drinking had caused the first two years.

So here I am, 25 with a desire to help people. I have been taking night classes at the community college, since I work a full time job during the day. I have 33 more hrs to take before I can apply and It looks like a 3.6 across the board will get me a 3.0 GPA. So here's my question, is this feasible, considering all of the classes are chem, physics and bio? And that I'm only taking 6 hrs a semester while working 40-45 hrs a week? Do I have a good shot or should I just let this go? Also, while in college I took an active role in two clubs, and currently I am very involved within my church.

Thanks for any advice or wisdom you can impart.

I am sorry for all that you have been through. It does sound like it has been very difficult, and you are to be commended for having the drive to still want to make this dream happen. I believe, though, that there is still too much known about your application to give a prediction. A prediction itself is obviously not completely accurate, but with 33 hours left of the prerequisite courses and no DAT score it is very hard to give any thoughts on yours chances. If you want this, then go for it. You will need to do well in your courses, as the better you do in raising your gpa the less you will have to kill the DAT to make up lost ground. It's not going to be easy, but it sounds like you have the drive to make it happen. While you are doing the courses, I also suggest you find time to do some shadowing. It's important to have familiarized yourself with the profession and to be able to reference how you've taken the initiative to observe dentists when it comes time for personal statements, applications, and interviews. Best of luck.👍

 

[Kentuckylover]

Hi all,
To start off I have looked for an answer to this question already and have found some answers, but honestly every situation is different. In my particular situation I'm faced with deciding between taking on a new career with better opportunities or sticking with my present employer which is very conducive to continued education. In the past year I have had an overwhelming desire to help people and unfortunately this is hard to do in my current field of software development.

So you may ask why this is an issue? Well ten months before my freshman semester, my father had passed away after a long three year battle with cancer. For the next three years my mother tried multiple times to commit suicide. Luckily it never worked! The effect this had on me, was loss of direction, which led to passing grades in pre-med before deciding to switch to civil engineering in my sophomore year. After a year of civil engineering I had enough when my CE internship was ended due to the closing of the company. At this point my grades hand tanked to a 2.49 overall GPA. Prior to this I had a 3.2. At this point I was so far in debt and without family support, I decided that I had to at least get a degree. I decided on IST. Within this curriculum I thrived and was able to bring my overall GPA to a 2.87, while working two jobs as a teaching assistant and administrative assistant. So yeah I got my degree and was able to repair at least some of the damage that my depression, lack of direction and consequential drinking had caused the first two years.

So here I am, 25 with a desire to help people. I have been taking night classes at the community college, since I work a full time job during the day. I have 33 more hrs to take before I can apply and It looks like a 3.6 across the board will get me a 3.0 GPA. So here's my question, is this feasible, considering all of the classes are chem, physics and bio? And that I'm only taking 6 hrs a semester while working 40-45 hrs a week? Do I have a good shot or should I just let this go? Also, while in college I took an active role in two clubs, and currently I am very involved within my church.

Thanks for any advice or wisdom you can impart.

Man, you went through tough times. Sorry to hear that. You know, ground only gets harder after heavy rain. 🙂

I see that you are trying to help people.There are many jobs out there that could satisfy your "desire to help people." Some good examples could be joining military, becoming a pharmacist, etc. Ask yourself whether dentistry is what you want to do. Once you know for sure, you need to take classes at a 4 year university, because many dental schools don't accept community college credits. Then, take your DAT. I think you will be fine as long as you score around 19s on DAT since science wasn't your major.

Good luck!