Masters for a low GPA?

[DoctorEngineer]

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Hi all,

Hope this is in the right place! Totally new here (even though I created the account a while ago), and I'm in what I believe to be a unique situation. I graduated from a small, rigorous and relatively prestigious engineering school with a 2.84 GPA last December. My degree is in mechanical engineering, and while I like the area, I've been realizing that dentistry is something that I'm very interested in pursuing. I completed some of the prerequisites (chemistry, some biology, physics) early in undergrad, but I still have some incomplete.

I understand that this GPA is unacceptable and not competitive for any dental school, regardless of school reputation or rigor. I won't sugarcoat it, I made a lot mistakes in undergrad. There were bad influences galore, substance issues, and anxiety surrounding the feeling that mechanical engineering wasn't really where I wanted to be. Toward the end of my time in undergrad, I fixed a lot of these things and my grades improved tremendously, making honor roll and Dean's List for last few semesters.

Just to clarify what I've been doing since graduating, I've been searching for engineering jobs with little avail. I had a couple interviews, but none of them amounted to anything. Whether this was due to the pandemic or due to my lackluster credentials, I'm not sure. But one thing I can be sure of-- during this time, I revisited the idea of dental school, and it struck a chord. I began to explore options to complete the prerequisites, and I think one viable option may be to pursue a masters degree in the same field of mechanical engineering-- but with a subtrack focus on biomedical/biomechanical engineering. I think it would be so cool, and intriguing to a dental admissions board, to pursue research in an area of mechanical/biomedical engineering that has practical application in dentistry. Perhaps something like failure mechanisms of prosthodontic implants.

I am aware of the presence of my past mistakes on the minds of admissions boards, and that I will need to be able to not only explain them to a future committee, but also knock this masters program out of the park if I am to have any chance at all. I am fully prepared to treat this like two full time jobs, while also engaging in shadowing and extra curriculars. Sorry for all the rambling, but I guess my question is... what do you guys think? Do I have a chance? What would you do differently if you were me? Thanks for any thoughts!

EDIT: Whoops, sorry, posted this accidentally before finishing typing. Should be done now.

 

[2thPirate🦷]

Hi all,

Hope this is in the right place! Totally new here (even though I created the account a while ago), and I'm in what I believe to be a unique situation. I graduated from a small, rigorous and relatively prestigious engineering school with a 2.84 GPA last December. My degree is in mechanical engineering, and while I like the area, I've been realizing that dentistry is something that I'm very interested in pursuing. I completed some of the prerequisites (chemistry, some biology, physics) early in undergrad, but I still have some incomplete.

I understand that this GPA is unacceptable and not competitive for any dental school, regardless of school reputation or rigor. I won't sugarcoat it, I made a lot mistakes in undergrad. There were bad influences galore, substance issues, and anxiety surrounding the feeling that mechanical engineering wasn't really where I wanted to be. Toward the end of my time in undergrad, I fixed a lot of these things and my grades improved tremendously, making honor roll and Dean's List for last few semesters.

Just to clarify what I've been doing since graduating, I've been searching for engineering jobs with little avail. I had a couple interviews, but none of them amounted to anything. Whether this was due to the pandemic or due to my lackluster credentials, I'm not sure. But one thing I can be sure of-- during this time, I revisited the idea of dental school, and it struck a chord. I began to explore options to complete the prerequisites, and I think one viable option may be to pursue a masters degree in the same field of mechanical engineering-- but with a subtrack focus on biomedical/biomechanical engineering. I think it would be so cool, and intriguing to a dental admissions board, to pursue research in an area of mechanical/biomedical engineering that has practical application in dentistry. Perhaps something like failure mechanisms of prosthodontic implants.

I am aware of the presence of my past mistakes on the minds of admissions boards, and that I will need to be able to not only explain them to a future committee, but also knock this masters program out of the park if I am to have any chance at all. I am fully prepared to treat this like two full time jobs, while also engaging in shadowing and extra curriculars. Sorry for all the rambling, but I guess my question is... what do you guys think? Do I have a chance? What would you do differently if you were me? Thanks for any thoughts!

EDIT: Whoops, sorry, posted this accidentally before finishing typing. Should be done now.

Been seeing a lot of you engineering folks around here lately haha. But on a serious note, you absolutely have a shot, but you HAVE to ace that Master’s Program (3.7+ GPA) and you gotta do well on the DAT. You also have to take the rest of those pre-reqs, so make sure you have a way of getting that done. Overall, I think you have a good story and background, and as long as you get some good ECs and shadowing hours, you should make for a good candidate! Best of luck!

 

[DoctorEngineer]

Been seeing a lot of you engineering folks around here lately haha. But on a serious note, you absolutely have a shot, but you HAVE to ace that Master’s Program (3.7+ GPA) and you gotta do well on the DAT. You also have to take the rest of those pre-reqs, so make sure you have a way of getting that done. Overall, I think you have a good story and background, and as long as you get some good ECs and shadowing hours, you should make for a good candidate! Best of luck!

Thanks so much for the kind words! By the way, and I can't seem to find a consistent answer for this: would you know how long prerequisites last before schools ask you to retake them? Some of my prerequisites were completed in 2015 and I won't be applying until at least Fall 2023! Also, congrats on getting into ECU!

 

[striveforgreatness10]

Tbh, depending on how many prerequisite courses you haven’t taken yet, I would look into/consider post bac programs (formal/informal) before considering a masters.

 

[2thPirate🦷]

Thanks so much for the kind words! By the way, and I can't seem to find a consistent answer for this: would you know how long prerequisites last before schools ask you to retake them? Some of my prerequisites were completed in 2015 and I won't be applying until at least Fall 2023! Also, congrats on getting into ECU!

Thank you! And from what I’ve read it depends on the school, some say up to 10 years and others 5 years, so you might have to ask the schools you’re looking to apply to after you’ve got your plan worked out so you know if you have to retake those!