Low gpa! Need advice! Please help!

[panDUHtv]

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Hi everyone, the name's, Lee, and the reason why I'm posting this thread is because I REALLY NEED HELP AND ADVICE WITH WHAT ACTIONS I SHOULD TAKE TO GET INTO DENTAL SCHOOL!! I'm in a world of hurt right now and would REALLY appreciate the advice, feedback & support from other students.

Before I start talking about my situation, here's a little bg info about myself:

• Currently 20 y.o. biochem undergrad (Junior) @ University of the Pacific in Stockton, CA
• Transferred from a CC in SRING 2012 with a 3.5 overall GPA
• First generation college student; no family members with jobs in medical field
• Earned around 30 hours of dental experience (majority of time was shadowing General Dent, others were shadowing Oral Surg. & experience @ a pre-dent club event)
• Spend around 11 hours/wk (since HS frsh yr. - current) of church (e.g community service events, leadership)
• Have NOT applied to any dent schools nor have taken the DAT yet (will explain later)

So here's what happened: I SCREWED UP BIG TIME MY FIRST SEMESTER @ UOP (Junior Fall 2012)!! My grades were: D+, C, C- for Gen. Chem II, Gen. Physics I, & Biophysical Chem., respectively. These are the WORST grades I've ever had! I'm in a world of hurt right now; I feel like I've seriously RUINED my chances of getting into dental school and that I've let a lot of my friends and family down.

How did I get these grades? It was because I was UNMOTIVATED, LAZY, NOT HARD-WORKING; just straight up IRRESPONSIBLE. From middle to end of Fall 2012 semester, I felt like GIVING UP and not wanting to go to school anymore. I did not keep up with my daily studies, seek any help from friends, family, teachers; I did not utilize my time wells, and even purposely missed lectures and lab days.

You must now be wondering: so why did all of this happen? What caused my school performance to plummet? The reason is because of what my family and I were experiencing for the first time: losing our home to foreclosure. Throughout the WHOLE YEAR 2012, the majority of my time was devoted in trying to help my parents to not lose our home. I can literally WRITE A NOVEL about all the stuff that happened that year, but here's like a general timeline of events:

January - May 2012 (Spring 2012 sem @ CC) was helping parents come up with a backup plan (home mod. attempts, where will we live next?, is there any possible way we can avoid losing the house).

June - August 2012 were our moving days. Everyday from morning-evening, it was driving back and forth, loading/unloading the uhaul from our home to our new home as fast as we could before the exp. date. Everyday was 24/7 parents fighting, yelling, and arguing with each other. I was used to seeing my parents fight alot, but this time it was scary different. They were at the brink of splitting up; my dad almost deciding to leave us to live with one of his brothers.

September - December 2012 (Fall 2012 sem @ UOP) The work, stress, and fighting wasn't over yet. The fam still needed help getting the new place fixed and set up, which took lots of school-devoted time and sleep away. That semester was pretty much LESS TIME STUDYING & MORE TIME FAMILY MATTERS. Everyday working, feeling tired, stressed, and seeing my family just break down ruined me. I felt like not working or going to school; all I wanted was to take a break from it all. Seeing all of us fight and about to split up ruined my motivation and mindset to work hard in school. Obviously, my grades suffered as a result.

I only wish you guys could've been in my shoes so you can have a better understanding; it's hard to put all of this into words. And it's even harder for me to post something like this in public because I'm the type of person that doesn't really open up to others. Instead, I tend to keep all of my problems and struggles to myself; not seek help or advice from other people when needed and rather try to solve it on my own; putting up a smile in front of others when really deep down I was a complete mess. I know this isn't the right way to deal with problems and I'm working on trying to change my mindset, which is why I decided to take this time to write to you with an open heart.

As of right now, we're all doing fine, but still recovering. There's surely a lot less fighting and stress, the house doesn't need anymore setting up, everyone is getting enough sleep; things are slowly, but surely getting back to normal. All that and seeing smiles, laughter, and love from my family (things that We've been missing out on for a while) has allowed me to regain my motivation and willingness to work hard. I know i messed up last semester, but I promised myself now that I will do my best to not let myself, my school performance and grades to breakdown again. I'm going to work harder from now on so I can make up for my losses last semester.

SO now here's the part where I need help with: WHAT DO I DO? WHAT ARE SOME PLANS OR ROUTES THAT I SHOULD TAKE? So far I've thought of two options:

• Plan A: Take DAT & Apply to Dental School in 2014 -
  I have not taken Organic Chem I or II yet, but I do plan on fulfilling both of those requirements this Summer 2013 @ Santa Clara University or some other institution. I can't apply to dental schools now because of my GPA from last semester, behind on fulfilling prereqs; nor can I take the DAT this summer because I need to take O-Chem @ SCU this summer. So my plan is to: 1.) Hopefully achieve good grades from now on til I graduate and show dental schools a positive trend in GPA. 2.) Take DAT in Summer 2014 and try to do well. 3.) Apply to dent schools Fall 2014
• Plan B: Post Bac Programs -
  If I still fall under a 3.0 GPA when I graduate, then I will have to enroll in Post Bac Programs. Are there any good post-bac programs for predents? So far I’ve heard of University of San Francisco and San Francisco State University having these certain programs. There’s also San Jose State University’s Post Bac Pre-Health Program.. Which one would you recommend?

Sorry for the long thread, but I really would appreciate the advice anyone would like to offer. And if you were able to read about my experience, that means a lot too. Thanks!!

 

[Ferneezy]

1) you had a rough semester, it happens. mention it in your PS and you'll be solid.


2) don't take the DAT until your pre-reqs are completed. it's just the smart thing to do.

3) are you enrolled in spring classes now? how are those going? you might have mentioned it but i was heavily inclined to skim that tidal wave of text. i would strongly suggest you don't enroll in courses until you know you're in a headspace to do well. any further substandard performance will put your goal further away.

 

[timmytim]

im sorry that you had to go through foreclosure

ive been in a similar situation where i didn't care much about school for various reasons. (although i still managed to get b's in all my science classes)

if i were you i would retake those classes but spread them out throughout a year or so.

3 science classes in one semester requires buttload of work.

you can start studying for the dat after you take all your science classes.

 

[panDUHtv]

Hey Ferneezy! Yes, I'm currently taking Gen. Physics II, Genetics, and Microbiology and glad to say I'm doing very well in all of them!

 

[panDUHtv]

Thanks Tim. I don't know if I can retake those classes now or during the time til I graduate, but thats what post bacs are for, right?

 

[Ferneezy]

there's no question you need to retake gchem2. it would probably be better to do it while you're still technically an undergrad as there might be a difference regarding financial status between true undergrad and taking undergrad courses as a postbac.

 

[dentalWorks]

Its the overall GPA performance that matters... individual bad grades / bad semesters aren't a big deal assuming ofc, it doesn't become the norm.

You need to bring up GPA and sGPA. Basically, every future course you take at this moment should not be less than B+ (especially the sciences)

As far as mentioning this in your personal statement... I say thats a big NONO. You never wanna draw any type of negative attention to urself ESPECIALLY in a personal statement, this is a spot where you talk "why dentistry" as a career... not a place to talk about your shortcomings and giving out the "here is why it happened".

 

[UCSFx2017]

Dental schools like to see that you can overcome adversity. It shows that you can adapt to challenges that you might face while in dental school. Work something along these lines into your secondary applications.

Get only upward trends from now on. Obviously complete all of your prerequisites and possibly take some upper-level science courses if you can fit them into your schedule. Don't default to post-bacc. so soon. Doing well in undergrad. just takes effort and awesome time-management skills. Treat it like a full-time job. It makes things easier if you're really curious in learning.

Good luck!

 

[ryansgs]

Its the overall GPA performance that matters... individual bad grades / bad semesters aren't a big deal assuming ofc, it doesn't become the norm.

You need to bring up GPA and sGPA. Basically, every future course you take at this moment should not be less than B+ (especially the sciences)

As far as mentioning this in your personal statement... I say thats a big NONO. You never wanna draw any type of negative attention to urself ESPECIALLY in a personal statement, this is a spot where you talk "why dentistry" as a career... not a place to talk about your shortcomings and giving out the "here is why it happened".

Agreed. I have a sob story as well that caused me almost 2 yrs of bad grades. I didn't mention it in my personal statement. But I will mention it if the probe and ask why my grades experienced a sudden jump.

Put your all into the DAT if you get a high score it may be able to save you when you apply.

 

[LaughingGas]

Its the overall GPA performance that matters... individual bad grades / bad semesters aren't a big deal assuming ofc, it doesn't become the norm.

You need to bring up GPA and sGPA. Basically, every future course you take at this moment should not be less than B+ (especially the sciences)

As far as mentioning this in your personal statement... I say thats a big NONO. You never wanna draw any type of negative attention to urself ESPECIALLY in a personal statement, this is a spot where you talk "why dentistry" as a career... not a place to talk about your shortcomings and giving out the "here is why it happened".

👍👍

OP. I'm sorry you had to go through that. IMO, as long as you do well on your DAT and keep relatively high GPA for the remaining terms, you would not need to do postbac. Regarding the courses, use ratemyprofessor, or pick classes that are known to be easy at your institution.
Ultimately, if you have a very hard situation that you can't focus academically, it's always nice to take a break for a semester or a year. I have couple of friends who actually did that.
Best luck

 

[toyotasupra]

You will need to retake the D+ course... or anything that was below a C; like say a C-. I got a F once, retook the class and got a A-. I got into dental school, so it's not the end of the world.

Will it limit your school choices? Yes, but eh who cares it's only 4 years and change is always good. 😉

 

[Hawkteeth]

Most schools will not accept any prerequisite course grades lower than a C, so retake those then kill the DAT you'll be set.

 

[joshwake]

You are really not in that bad of a spot. I graduated with a 3.1 gpa and a 2.7 sgpa. I got a 17 on the DAT twice. I wasn't getting in with that so I did an MPH and got near straight As and retook the DAT and got a 19 (not spectacular, but good enough). I added lots of good service and got 4 interviews, (2 accepted and 3 wait listed so far, one was wait list without an interview).

My advice would be to not do what I did. By far the easiest route for you now is to focus on the classes you have left and get a really good DAT score. If you do that you will be fine. Study for more than 3 weeks because I really took a stupid risk only getting a 19.

If you mess up like I did, look into a post bacc. I would recommend doing a masters in biomedical science, many schools offer 1 year programs. If you have good SGPA and just need to improve your overall GPA an MPH is a good choice. I really liked mine and helped me realize I want to do some public health work. There are online options for an MPH or even something else like an MBA. Just make sure your grades are excellent. It's never too late to do dental school, it all depends on how much you want it.

 

[GAdawg94]

I'm in a similar situation.. 3.3 overall GPA, 2.7 science, 21 PAT / 18 QR / 22 RC / 20 BIO / 17 GC / 21 ORGO / 19 TS / 20 AA. Currently working on my MPH, concentrating in health policy and management. Was seriously looking at some of the oral bio-focused masters programs but decided an MPH would be more versatile, should I not get into dental school. Currently have a 3.9 in the program, planning on applying to schools this June. Any advice?

The only thing I can think of is that you are going to be screened out of a lot of schools. I was told that before I needed to have above a 3.0 BCP. Your BCP is way too low to really have a good chance anywhere.

Take some science courses to get the GPA up over a 3.0 and the MPH courses will not count in BCP. Don't bother applying to Nova Southeastern.

 

[fogorvostan]

The only thing I can think of is that you are going to be screened out of a lot of schools. I was told that before I needed to have above a 3.0 BCP. Your BCP is way too low to really have a good chance anywhere.

Take some science courses to get the GPA up over a 3.0 and the MPH courses will not count in BCP. Don't bother applying to Nova Southeastern.

17 credit hours from my MPH program counted towards BCP and 26 towards science. But I agree, I wouldn't do an MPH for the purpose of bringing up your science GPA. I did my MPH because I have a strong interest in community health.

 

[zoey1234]

Since this thread is from 2013, I wonder what happened to the op..