Low GPAs and high DATs

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MaxwelltheDentist

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I am really worried about my horrid gpa and I am going to retake my DATs in the second week of May and hoping to shoot for a 23 AA, 20 PAT, 26 TS, and 19 RC with no section lower than a 17. Am I still in good shape to get accepted to dental schools like Western, UIC, Marquette, and UDM? I am a VA resident btw.
 
MaxwelltheDentist said:
I am really worried about my horrid gpa and I am going to retake my DATs in the second week of May and hoping to shoot for a 23 AA, 20 PAT, 26 TS, and 19 RC with no section lower than a 17. Am I still in good shape to get accepted to dental schools like Western, UIC, Marquette, and UDM? I am a VA resident btw.
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How "horrid" is your GPA?
 
MaxwelltheDentist said:
I am really worried about my horrid gpa and I am going to retake my DATs in the second week of May and hoping to shoot for a 23 AA, 20 PAT, 26 TS, and 19 RC with no section lower than a 17. Am I still in good shape to get accepted to dental schools like Western, UIC, Marquette, and UDM? I am a VA resident btw.
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What was your first test? Would let us know how realistic your goal of 23 AA would be. Also different versions are easier/harder than others so a bit of it will be left up to chance. Not every test is easier than bootcamp/destroyer.
 
Medin2017 said:
What was your first test? Would let us know how realistic your goal of 23 AA would be. Also different versions are easier/harder than others so a bit of it will be left up to chance. Not every test is easier than bootcamp/destroyer.
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What do you mean by not every test is easier than destroyer/bootcamp? Are you talking about the real one?
 
MaxwelltheDentist said:
2.9 science and overall.
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A high DAT doesn't compensate for a 2.9 GPA. 21 AA+ is like the average for those matriculating nowadays. And that's under the assumption you actually get a 23.
 
I was in your shoes this cycle, but let me tell you, a high DAT did not compensate for a low GPA.
You will need a high master's GPA or do additional undergrad work to raise your GPA.
 
Last edited:
I got 5 interviews with a 3.2 overall, 3.1 science, 23 AA/24TS. No acceptances yet though.
 
Stay optimistic. I had 5 interviews and 3 acceptances with a 22DAT and 3.0 cGPA/sGPA this last cycle. So a masters/post-bac is not necessary to gain an acceptance with a low GPA. You have to make yourself standout and be able to sell yourself during the interviews.

Sent from my XT1575 using Tapatalk
 
Another quality Maxwell thread. He changes his DAT score everytime he makes a new thread. Claimed he recently got those scores on a retake and now hes hoping to score that? Come on man...
 
osker246 said:
You have to make yourself standout and be able to sell yourself during the interviews.
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This is key imho. Stats will get your app looked at, but in the interview, you really need to show why you have earned a seat at the dental school if you want an acceptance.
 
osker246 said:
Stay optimistic. I had 5 interviews and 3 acceptances with a 22DAT and 3.0 cGPA/sGPA this last cycle. So a masters/post-bac is not necessary to gain an acceptance with a low GPA. You have to make yourself standout and be able to sell yourself during the interviews.

Sent from my XT1575 using Tapatalk
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Where did you get accepted? What were you shadowing and volunteering hours like?
 
MakeIT2018 said:
Where did you get accepted? What were you shadowing and volunteering hours like?
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I was accepted to UNLV, Roseman, and Touro. I had about 100 hours shadowing and about 80 hours volunteering on a dental bus when I submitted by application.

Sent from my XT1575 using Tapatalk
 
osker246 said:
Stay optimistic. I had 5 interviews and 3 acceptances with a 22DAT and 3.0 cGPA/sGPA this last cycle. So a masters/post-bac is not necessary to gain an acceptance with a low GPA. You have to make yourself standout and be able to sell yourself during the interviews.

Sent from my XT1575 using Tapatalk
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Which schools u apples and which one u accepted?
 
Simply improving an already impressive DAT score won't compensate for a poor GPA. You'd need to add several community service hours and shadowing hours to your application as well. If you are applying again, you should really improve multiple areas of your application to show that you can put in the effort to do better this time around.
 
MaxwelltheDentist said:
I am really worried about my horrid gpa and I am going to retake my DATs in the second week of May and hoping to shoot for a 23 AA, 20 PAT, 26 TS, and 19 RC with no section lower than a 17. Am I still in good shape to get accepted to dental schools like Western, UIC, Marquette, and UDM? I am a VA resident btw.
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Is the purpose of listing such specific scores to imply that you got 22 AA, 19 PAT, 25 TS, and 18 RC the last time you took the DAT?

TairyHesticles said:
I was hoping y'all could give me similar advice... here's my situation:
2.789 GPA and I haven't taken the DAT yet.

I'm in my 6th year of undergrad now because something was just wrong in my head before... I had no motivation to do anything. I won't use the term depression because I don't want to normalize it but it was something like that. Anyway, I know this sounds crazy, but I failed Gen chem 1 twice before passing on the third try, failed Cal 1 three times before petitioning to take it a fourth time and passing, and a lot of other bumps here and there. I basically screwed up all of my lower level classes and now I only have upper level classes left. Over my last 23 hours, I've gotten a 4.0 and this includes Organic Chemistry 1 and 2. This semester, I'm enrolled in 16 hours, including upper level classes like Biochemistry and Physical Chemistry. The total is 39 hours after this semester, just doing the math for you. I need to petition to take 21 hours next semester in order to finish all my prerequisites for dental school as well as my major/minor. That brings us up to 60 hours.

I just want to ask, theoretically, if I can get 37 hours of 4.0 in addition to the 23 that I've gotten so far, do I have a decent shot at getting into dental school? Let's say I get around a 23 DAT as well. Please don't tell me to be realistic because I'm 100% sure I can do the GPA part if I just keep myself going the way I'm going. DAT, I'm not so sure, we'll see.

The issue here is that I have so many hours already that all these 4.0s will still not get me to a 3.0 cumulative GPA. It'll be like 2.96 or so.

Thank you so much in advance.
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Your username makes you look like a troll but....how many units do you need to take to bring your overall and science GPA above 3.0?

ayC2W1J.png

(source)
 
TairyHesticles said:
I was hoping y'all could give me similar advice... here's my situation:
2.789 GPA and I haven't taken the DAT yet.

I'm in my 6th year of undergrad now because something was just wrong in my head before... I had no motivation to do anything. I won't use the term depression because I don't want to normalize it but it was something like that. Anyway, I know this sounds crazy, but I failed Gen chem 1 twice before passing on the third try, failed Cal 1 three times before petitioning to take it a fourth time and passing, and a lot of other bumps here and there. I basically screwed up all of my lower level classes and now I only have upper level classes left. Over my last 23 hours, I've gotten a 4.0 and this includes Organic Chemistry 1 and 2. This semester, I'm enrolled in 16 hours, including upper level classes like Biochemistry and Physical Chemistry. The total is 39 hours after this semester, just doing the math for you. I need to petition to take 21 hours next semester in order to finish all my prerequisites for dental school as well as my major/minor. That brings us up to 60 hours.

I just want to ask, theoretically, if I can get 37 hours of 4.0 in addition to the 23 that I've gotten so far, do I have a decent shot at getting into dental school? Let's say I get around a 23 DAT as well. Please don't tell me to be realistic because I'm 100% sure I can do the GPA part if I just keep myself going the way I'm going. DAT, I'm not so sure, we'll see.

The issue here is that I have so many hours already that all these 4.0s will still not get me to a 3.0 cumulative GPA. It'll be like 2.96 or so.

Thank you so much in advance.
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Lol I totally understand the no motivation part. Happened to me. Had sub 3 before my last year of school but I totally turned that around with straight As and petitioned to take 8 classes last quarter before graduation to push my GPA higher. Got 24 on DAT after graduating. Since I'm still in the cycle, I can't say how exactly it will go for me. I guess follow me and I can keep you updated. Good luck getting more As and scoring well on DAT!
 
TairyHesticles said:
Ok first off thank you for those stats! Possibly the most helpful thing I've come across on SDN! Sooooo to my surprise I actually just recalculated some stuff and if I can manage a 3.9 average through my last 37 hours, 16 from this semester and 21 from the next, my GPA would be at a 3.013. Yea the name was ill advised and I realized that when I made it at 3am last night but no ragrets.

Do you know if I'll need to report +/- scores to dental schools? Like A- as opposed to A. Sorry if I'm asking questions that I should know the answers to! Thanks a ton for replying and please let me know where you think I stand with a 23-24 DAT, which I know I can get, and a (hopefully) 3.013 GPA. Even if you don't believe I can get that DAT score, just tell me theoretically what if I did. I promise I'm not a troll.
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AADSAS definitely counts +/- grades (eg. A+ -> 4.33). Personally, I'm not a big believer in the benefit of the upward trend (but I'm in the minority on that one). This is in part because dental schools won't send you their secondary if you don't meet their GPA minimums. They won't even have the chance to appreciate your upward trend until you meet their GPA minimums.

Many people in your situation will consider using an SMP/post-bacc to improve their GPA. I think the chart shows (and what most people will tell you is) that a 3.0 is a very important minimum to hit. You have to be careful with SMPs because the courses go into your "graduate GPA" instead of undergraduate GPA. I feel like the general rule is that you shouldn't do an SMP until after you've brought your undergraduate GPA to a 3.0.

I've seen so many people with lower GPAs (in the 3~3.3 range) get great DAT scores (22+) because they knew they had to compensate for their GPAs. Whenever I'm talking to struggling premeds/predents, I always tell them that they should take the MCAT/DAT before they give up. If you try your hardest on the DAT and get a 17...you're kind of screwed regardless of GPA.
 
Noice said:
AADSAS definitely counts +/- grades (eg. A+ -> 4.33). Personally, I'm not a big believer in the benefit of the upward trend (but I'm in the minority on that one). This is in part because dental schools won't send you their secondary if you don't meet their GPA minimums. They won't even have the chance to appreciate your upward trend until you meet their GPA minimums.

Many people in your situation will consider using an SMP/post-bacc to improve their GPA. I think the chart shows (and what most people will tell you is) that a 3.0 is a very important minimum to hit. You have to be careful with SMPs because the courses go into your "graduate GPA" instead of undergraduate GPA. I feel like the general rule is that you shouldn't do an SMP until after you've brought your undergraduate GPA to a 3.0.

I've seen so many people with lower GPAs (in the 3~3.3 range) get great DAT scores (22+) because they knew they had to compensate for their GPAs. Whenever I'm talking to struggling premeds/predents, I always tell them that they should take the MCAT/DAT before they give up. If you try your hardest on the DAT and get a 17...you're kind of screwed regardless of GPA.
Click to expand...

A+ and As are 4.0 from this cycle and onwards btw. no more 4.3's
 
Noice said:
Is the purpose of listing such specific scores to imply that you got 22 AA, 19 PAT, 25 TS, and 18 RC the last time you took the DAT?



Your username makes you look like a troll but....how many units do you need to take to bring your overall and science GPA above 3.0?

ayC2W1J.png

(source)
Click to expand...
Hi all, I'm the person with the previously troll username lol... I just wanted to give an update in case someone else with similar stats comes across this thread looking for advice. I've applied for the third time this cycle and have had 7 interview offers so far (2 in Texas). I know I was saying I was aiming for a 23 DAT and funny enough I ended up getting a 25. It took a few years of near perfect grades to get my GPAs above a 3.0.

You can read a bit more here: Looking for advice. 2.96 cumulative GPA, 2.76 science GPA, 25AA DAT.

Please don't give up if you really want to be a dentist and reach out to me if you want to talk.

PS: I think I deleted my original comment a couple years ago because of the username I had but you should be able to read it still since some people quoted it in their replies.
 
Craig_Sherwood234 said:
21 AA+ is like the average for those matriculating nowadays.
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For many state schools a 21 AA is usually average, but if you take into consideration all dental schools excluding the most competitive (Harvard, UPenn, UCLA), the statistics show 19 - 20 consistently being the average for matriculation from year to year. Regardless, even a 23 AA+ probably will not reinforce the 2.9 GPA.
 
natemckeown2 said:
For many state schools a 21 AA is usually average, but if you take into consideration all dental schools excluding the most competitive (Harvard, UPenn, UCLA), the statistics show 19 - 20 consistently being the average for matriculation from year to year. Regardless, even a 23 AA+ probably will not reinforce the 2.9 GPA.
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The comment literally right above you proves you wrong.
 
Startingover123 said:
The comment literally right above you proves you wrong.
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To be fair, schools didn't really give me a chance until my overall and science GPA were both at 3.0 (my last 3.5 years have been 3.7+, including a 3.8 in my masters degree, and after all that I'm sitting at a 3.1). A 2.9 GPA without a massive upward trend probably won't be overlooked just because of a high DAT score.
 
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