- Joined
- Feb 10, 2015
- Messages
- 1
- Reaction score
- 31
It’s never too late guys…
I was your average “I’m too smart for school” high school graduate. I performed at the top of my class with little effort, but I couldn’t hack it in extra-curriculars or the interview process to get into the top undergrads of my choice. Eventually, I settled for an in-state university. Before I matriculated at this school, I suffered a debilitating ACL injury that immobilized me for quite some time. I’ll be honest here; I became morbidly depressed, overweight and socially reclusive. I went through 4 years of flunking, hiding my grades, and alienating myself from family and friends. Eventually, I was dismissed, and I moved out of my house in shame. I found work immediately, and I moved my brother out with me. We had very controlling Asian parents, and for a long time I constantly blamed them from my failures. The biggest lesson that I learned as I became independent was the importance of emotional responsibility and to internalize my shortcomings so that I could overcome my own self.
I re-enrolled at a local low-key university, and I decided to just aim for the best grades that I could since I was the one footing the bill this time. I went through years of struggling to balance work and school, accumulating random withdrawals here and there. Ultimately, I graduated with a 3.93 GPA at this school, but I knew what sort of failures lay hidden in my closet. I was going to completely give up on Dental school aspirations. Still though, I had friends studying for the DAT exam, so I decided to try anyways. I pulled together many breakdowns here on SDN and pooled together DAT Destroyer resources, Chad’s videos, DAT Bootcamp, and DATQVAULT (let me know if I should post a breakdown). After 2 months of studying, I scored a 23 AA 24 BIO 23 GC 23 OC 22 PAT 24 RC 23 QR. Even with these scores, I was not sure about my grades. I went down to the university that I flunked from and brought all my grades, dat scores, and a huge slice of humble pie. After speaking with my college’s deans honestly, they agreed to redact my three last semesters at their school (of which I completely flunked all classes). This saved my BCP GPA. Then, I underwent rigorous shadowing and spent a long time pouring my heart and soul into my personal statement. I sent out applications in late October and awaited responses. I received interviews to MWU-IL and NYU-CD. I studied each college’s curriculum, general goals, programs, and style of interviews so that I could give the best answer to, “Why Dentistry?” and “Why here?” As of today, I’ve been accepted to both schools, and this sort of achievement was beyond my wildest dreams years ago. My acceptances are validations that I am a legitimate candidate, and that the sins of my past do not define the present self. So please, I implore anyone who’s had my sort of rocky past to realize that it’s never too late. Get out there, get started. Never again have a “Zero Day.” By that, I mean, never let a day pass by that you didn’t do something substantial towards one of your goals. Those days are called “Zero Days”. Don’t let them pass you by. Good luck guys.
I was your average “I’m too smart for school” high school graduate. I performed at the top of my class with little effort, but I couldn’t hack it in extra-curriculars or the interview process to get into the top undergrads of my choice. Eventually, I settled for an in-state university. Before I matriculated at this school, I suffered a debilitating ACL injury that immobilized me for quite some time. I’ll be honest here; I became morbidly depressed, overweight and socially reclusive. I went through 4 years of flunking, hiding my grades, and alienating myself from family and friends. Eventually, I was dismissed, and I moved out of my house in shame. I found work immediately, and I moved my brother out with me. We had very controlling Asian parents, and for a long time I constantly blamed them from my failures. The biggest lesson that I learned as I became independent was the importance of emotional responsibility and to internalize my shortcomings so that I could overcome my own self.
I re-enrolled at a local low-key university, and I decided to just aim for the best grades that I could since I was the one footing the bill this time. I went through years of struggling to balance work and school, accumulating random withdrawals here and there. Ultimately, I graduated with a 3.93 GPA at this school, but I knew what sort of failures lay hidden in my closet. I was going to completely give up on Dental school aspirations. Still though, I had friends studying for the DAT exam, so I decided to try anyways. I pulled together many breakdowns here on SDN and pooled together DAT Destroyer resources, Chad’s videos, DAT Bootcamp, and DATQVAULT (let me know if I should post a breakdown). After 2 months of studying, I scored a 23 AA 24 BIO 23 GC 23 OC 22 PAT 24 RC 23 QR. Even with these scores, I was not sure about my grades. I went down to the university that I flunked from and brought all my grades, dat scores, and a huge slice of humble pie. After speaking with my college’s deans honestly, they agreed to redact my three last semesters at their school (of which I completely flunked all classes). This saved my BCP GPA. Then, I underwent rigorous shadowing and spent a long time pouring my heart and soul into my personal statement. I sent out applications in late October and awaited responses. I received interviews to MWU-IL and NYU-CD. I studied each college’s curriculum, general goals, programs, and style of interviews so that I could give the best answer to, “Why Dentistry?” and “Why here?” As of today, I’ve been accepted to both schools, and this sort of achievement was beyond my wildest dreams years ago. My acceptances are validations that I am a legitimate candidate, and that the sins of my past do not define the present self. So please, I implore anyone who’s had my sort of rocky past to realize that it’s never too late. Get out there, get started. Never again have a “Zero Day.” By that, I mean, never let a day pass by that you didn’t do something substantial towards one of your goals. Those days are called “Zero Days”. Don’t let them pass you by. Good luck guys.
