Low GPA Dental Schools

[nyiheartit]

Has anyone applied to dental schools with a GPA slightly below 3.0? If so, is there a list of dental schools that look at applications holistically, and accept low GPAs but high DAT scores?

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[artist2022]

Has anyone applied to dental schools with a GPA slightly below 3.0? If so, is there a list of dental schools that look at applications holistically, and accept low GPAs but high DAT scores?

You've posted quite a bit about your story and ultimately I think you need to let dentistry go. You not only have a low undergrad GPA, but a low SMP GPA after 3 years. You're thinking of doing a post-bacc to raise your undergrad GPA but schools will not look upon this favorably since those are undergraduate-level courses, and you could not perform well in graduate-level courses in your SMP, which are more similar in difficulty to dental school (but still not quite yet there - if an SMP is taking 5 grad courses in one semester, dental school is like taking 8-10). You also keep bringing up high DAT scores, those are not at all easily attainable. There's a reason why the average DAT score is around 18 and why only 5-10% of all test takers score above a 24. It's hard. And should you do well, a high DAT score with a low undergrad AND grad GPA will not mean much because it will show that you are great at short-term studying and doing well, but your academic performance over a long period of time (4yrs undergrad + 3yrs SMP) isn't great.

I think you've invested a ton of time and money but ultimately dental schools (and other healthcare professional schools) are getting more competitive each year and schools will pass over an app like yours where your reinvention with an SMP was not successful and instead pick an applicant with a good academic track record.

I really wouldn't put any more effort into dentistry and would instead look into a different career...

 

[nyiheartit]

You've posted quite a bit about your story and ultimately I think you need to let dentistry go. You not only have a low undergrad GPA, but a low SMP GPA after 3 years. You're thinking of doing a post-bacc to raise your undergrad GPA but schools will not look upon this favorably since those are undergraduate-level courses, and you could not perform well in graduate-level courses in your SMP, which are more similar in difficulty to dental school (but still not quite yet there - if an SMP is taking 5 grad courses in one semester, dental school is like taking 8-10). You also keep bringing up high DAT scores, those are not at all easily attainable. There's a reason why the average DAT score is around 18 and why only 5-10% of all test takers score above a 24. It's hard. And should you do well, a high DAT score with a low undergrad AND grad GPA will not mean much because it will show that you are great at short-term studying and doing well, but your academic performance over a long period of time (4yrs undergrad + 3yrs SMP) isn't great.

I think you've invested a ton of time and money but ultimately dental schools (and other healthcare professional schools) are getting more competitive each year and schools will pass over an app like yours where your reinvention with an SMP was not successful and instead pick an applicant with a good academic track record.

I really wouldn't put any more effort into dentistry and would instead look into a different career...

Your response doesn’t necessarily answer my question, but thank you for the input.

 

[Chicago_predental]

I would highly recommend purchasing the ADEA Dental School Explorer. Youll be able to find the DAT/GPA ranges of every dental school in the US and Canada, and this can give you an idea of where you stand as compared to other accepted applicants. Holistic review is fairly normal now with many schools, but I definitely think the guide will really help you. Good luck!

 

[Big Time Hoosier]

Your response doesn’t necessarily answer my question, but thank you for the input.

You want a straight answer? Look at the private dental schools that have a cost of attendance of $650,000+. They have the lowest barrier to entry...for a reason. But what you’d be entering is a student loan nightmare. You really want that? And I’m gonna be a devil’s advocate here and say that even if you manage to get in, there’s a real chance you drop out or fail out. So, you might drop out of dental school after your first year and all you’ve got to show for it is another $150,000 in educational debt. Then what?

Big Hoss

 

[Big Time Hoosier]

There's a reason why the average DAT score is around 18 and why only 5-10% of all test takers score above a 24. It's hard.

http://www.ada.org/~/media/ADA/Education%20and%20Careers/Files/dat_users_manual.ashx

It’s harder than that. Scoring a 24+ would put you in the top 3% in 2019.

Big Hoss

 

[PerioDont]

You want a straight answer? Look at the private dental schools that have a cost of attendance of $650,000+. They have the lowest barrier to entry...for a reason. But what you’d be entering is a student loan nightmare. You really want that? And I’m gonna be a devil’s advocate here and say that even if you manage to get in, there’s a real chance you drop out or fail out. So, you might drop out of dental school after your first year and all you’ve got to show for it is another $150,000 in educational debt. Then what?

Big Hoss

Honestly I am at a loss why people are willing to do so much to become dentists. Esp in the pre-dent community it is fetishized way too much.

It is a job at the end of the day, there are pros and cons. Personally, I would not spend thousands of dollars and many years trying to improve my GPA just for the privilege of then spending another 4 years of my life and hundreds of thousands.

OP there are lots of paths to a successful and meaningful life.

 

[Rambunctious]

Honestly I am at a loss why people are willing to do so much to become dentists. Esp in the pre-dent community it is fetishized way too much.

It is a job at the end of the day, there are pros and cons. Personally, I would not spend thousands of dollars and many years trying to improve my GPA just for the privilege of then spending another 4 years of my life and hundreds of thousands.

OP there are lots of paths to a successful and meaningful life.

Because its a high paying career that allows you to be a business owner and spend time with your family regardless of debt. You dont let debt or the fear of debt change your direction for a career. This is a career that you can wake up every day and not have to worry about being replaced by someone else, you can be your own boss. Stop trying to downplay our field, theres a reason it has been ranked top for so many years.

 

[PerioDont]

Because its a high paying career that allows you to be a business owner and spend time with your family regardless of debt. You dont let debt or the fear of debt change your direction for a career. This is a career that you can wake up every day and not have to worry about being replaced by someone else, you can be your own boss. Stop trying to downplay our field, theres a reason it has been ranked top for so many years.

Would you spend 5+ years of your life in limbo trying to repair your GPA in hopes of getting in? Paying thousands of dollars each year before dental school and after undergrad?

then take out another 3-400k+ for dental school if you get in. You can call it fear of debt, I will call it financial cost benefit analysis. And for me the cost is too high.

I agree with your benefits to dentistry. (though being a business owner and dentist is not exactly a cakewalk either). My personal opinion is that it doesn’t make sense to invest that much time, money and energy at this point for the OP. From OP’s post I am also guessing best case scenario OP will be in their 30s before even starting dental school.

I would rather not be a dentist than be 500k+ in debt.

 

[LaughingGas]

Honestly I am at a loss why people are willing to do so much to become dentists. Esp in the pre-dent community it is fetishized way too much.

It is a job at the end of the day, there are pros and cons. Personally, I would not spend thousands of dollars and many years trying to improve my GPA just for the privilege of then spending another 4 years of my life and hundreds of thousands.

OP there are lots of paths to a successful and meaningful life.

Some have office ready to take over when they graduate from their parents.

 

[JMK77]

Just my opinion. It really depends on people's financial situation and background. For someone from low income family, becoming a dentist could be life changing even with all the debt. Someone might be rich and will have parent paying for the cost of attendance. Someone might be covered by scholarships. Someone might have saved up enough money to pay for the dental school. From what I have heard, chances are that dental students come from rich families, which I think makes sense due to the cost barrier to apply and fly around for the interview, so not everyone will have debt problem.

I somewhat sympathize that 400k+ debt/cost might be too much for a job that pays 150k since I have seen existing retail business that sells for 400k + inventory/supply and net you 200k~300k annually. You don't even need a degree to run a business; just need some common sense. (acquisition is the hard part) But then again, dental degree is relatively stable/less risky than running a retail business that is susceptible to competition, policy change, etc. If you lose the business, you are unemployed, period. So there's always pros and cons.

But back to OP, if you really want to, you can try. Another thing to consider is your ethnicity because Howard and Meharry, from what I know, heavily favors African American descendants. Then, there's private dental schools, but considering the quality of applicants I have seen, <3.0 GPA might be too big of a red flag for adcom to overlook. But I saw one person last cycle who had 2.7 or 2.8 GPA get into UDM so there's always a slim chance, but if I were you, I wouldn't count on it.

Just curious though. You say you are looking for schools that look at applicants "holistically", but are other areas in your application that much exceptional compared to other applicants? You have low GPA so you have to have high DAT and a lot of ECs. I don't know your DAT or ECs, so I can't really say. You can look through WAMC posts, and then ask yourself this question: "if you were in an adcom, would you accept an applicant with your stat over other applicants?" If yes (realistic yes, that is), you can look through ADEA school explorer to narrow down your list of schools. I think someone also posted excel file that has all the school stats somewhere in the forum, but you have to look for it.

 

[9ss]

If this is really what you want to do, never give up and continue to improve yourself as an applicant.
Here is a helpful excel sheet that someone updated recently for 2021 cycle. All credits goes to them. Hope this helps!

 

[ssdeku]

I was in a similar position to you when I applied in 2017. sGPA was around 2.99-3.01 cGPa was a 3.2ish. DAT taken multiple times with the highest being a 20AA and ORM from CA. Received no interviews for 2 cycles while applying broadly. Finally decided to bite the bullet and enroll in Loma Linda University's Bridge Program. Essentially, it is a 2 year SMP where you complete a dental hygiene degree. If you maintain good grades (1 C or less ) and complete all the requirements entailed in the program you are essentially guaranteed a spot in their DDS class. If you cannot meet the required grades or program standards you are still left with a Dental Hygiene degree at the end so you can work as a hygienist. I believe of the 11 that were in my program, 10 were accepted to the DDS class, so as long as you apply yourself it is not an impossible task. Now as a disclaimer this road is not for everyone. Loma Linda is already an extremely expensive dental school and the bridge program is an additional 100K. On top of that, it is a religious institution so that atmosphere may not be for everyone. If you calculate the total cost of attendance before interest is applied it would come out to around $650k once you graduate dental school (assuming you finish in 4 years). Some of my classmates applied for military scholarships so their financial burden was greatly alleviated. I would take some time to do some deep introspection and consider if this is something that you truly want. $650k is a soul-crushing amount of debt and not a decision that should be taken lightly. However, if this is something you truly want to do, this could be an alternative path. If you are interested, just message me and I would be happy to answer any questions you might have.

 

[nyiheartit]

I was in a similar position to you when I applied in 2017. sGPA was around 2.99-3.01 cGPa was a 3.2ish. DAT taken multiple times with the highest being a 20AA and ORM from CA. Received no interviews for 2 cycles while applying broadly. Finally decided to bite the bullet and enroll in Loma Linda University's Bridge Program. Essentially, it is a 2 year SMP where you complete a dental hygiene degree. If you maintain good grades (1 C or less ) and complete all the requirements entailed in the program you are essentially guaranteed a spot in their DDS class. If you cannot meet the required grades or program standards you are still left with a Dental Hygiene degree at the end so you can work as a hygienist. I believe of the 11 that were in my program, 10 were accepted to the DDS class, so as long as you apply yourself it is not an impossible task. Now as a disclaimer this road is not for everyone. Loma Linda is already an extremely expensive dental school and the bridge program is an additional 100K. On top of that, it is a religious institution so that atmosphere may not be for everyone. If you calculate the total cost of attendance before interest is applied it would come out to around $650k once you graduate dental school (assuming you finish in 4 years). Some of my classmates applied for military scholarships so their financial burden was greatly alleviated. I would take some time to do some deep introspection and consider if this is something that you truly want. $650k is a soul-crushing amount of debt and not a decision that should be taken lightly. However, if this is something you truly want to do, this could be an alternative path. If you are interested, just message me and I would be happy to answer any questions you might have.

For some reason, I’m not able to send you a private message. If you don’t mind, can you please send me a message? Thank you in advance!

 

[Rambunctious]

Would you spend 5+ years of your life in limbo trying to repair your GPA in hopes of getting in? Paying thousands of dollars each year before dental school and after undergrad?

then take out another 3-400k+ for dental school if you get in. You can call it fear of debt, I will call it financial cost benefit analysis. And for me the cost is too high.

I agree with your benefits to dentistry. (though being a business owner and dentist is not exactly a cakewalk either). My personal opinion is that it doesn’t make sense to invest that much time, money and energy at this point for the OP. From OP’s post I am also guessing best case scenario OP will be in their 30s before even starting dental school.

I would rather not be a dentist than be 500k+ in debt.

Yes, I would spend 5+ 10+ years trying to reach my goal because i dont have the mentality to quit. I was in a similar situation as OP spent 5 years working after undergrad, got a masters, got into dental school and became a dentist. Now own a practice with 1.2 million a year in production. Do I have debt, yes i sure as hell do, but like every type of investment in life you have to spend money to make money. You and I are two different people, and if you're ok going to work everyday working for someone else, clocking in and out, with little or no debt that's fine too. I want more for myself and i'm sure a lot of people on this forum do too.

 

[PerioDont]

Yes, I would spend 5+ 10+ years trying to reach my goal because i dont have the mentality to quit. I was in a similar situation as OP spent 5 years working after undergrad, got a masters, got into dental school and became a dentist. Now own a practice with 1.2 million a year in production. Do I have debt, yes i sure as hell do, but like every type of investment in life you have to spend money to make money. You and I are two different people, and if you're ok going to work everyday working for someone else, clocking in and out, with little or no debt that's fine too. I want more for myself and i'm sure a lot of people on this forum do too.

Not pursuing dentistry doesn’t mean you cannot be a business owner…

I started my perio residency at 24, believe me I understand working towards goals. However my personal opinion is there is times when it is better to change your goals. When that is will be different for each person like you mentioned. For me 500k+ just in student loans is just not worth it.

practice loans etc I consider a different category in my mind.

 

[Rambunctious]

Not pursuing dentistry doesn’t mean you cannot be a business owner…

I started my perio residency at 24, believe me I understand working towards goals. However my personal opinion is there is times when it is better to change your goals. When that is will be different for each person like you mentioned. For me 500k+ just in student loans is just not worth it.

practice loans etc I consider a different category in my mind.

of course you can be a business owner doing other things, but dentistry has been successful for many years. I also have assistants working for me that are small business owners that sell candles. You dont have to reinvent the wheel to be successful. Anyways, as long as you're successful none of this talk really matters.