masters program

[gem779]

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I'm not confident that I will get into a dental schools since my GPA is in the low 3's and DAT score isn't competitive. I do have a lot of experience and and shadowing though. I've read that an alternative would be to start a master's degree for a year and get a 4.0 then reapply. I'm also going to be retaking the DAT. How would I go about applying for a masters program and which one should it be? Also, would improving my DAT and excelling for a year in a masters really make that much difference since my GPA will be the same?

thanks in advance

 

[artanis]

I'm not confident that I will get into a dental schools since my GPA is in the low 3's and DAT score isn't competitive. I do have a lot of experience and and shadowing though. I've read that an alternative would be to start a master's degree for a year and get a 4.0 then reapply. I'm also going to be retaking the DAT. How would I go about applying for a masters program and which one should it be? Also, would improving my DAT and excelling for a year in a masters really make that much difference since my GPA will be the same?

thanks in advance

Do some research on which masters program is the best for you. In my case, I am applying to a masters as a back up due to the lateness of my application(still not complete) and just incase of bad luck. It only costs me $100 to apply to a masters program and i'll get in that for sure. I am applying to a masters program called M.Eng which is a masters in engineering, its course based with the option of doing a thesis in lieu of like 3 courses out of the 10 required. It is not as bad as the MASc which is the masters of applied science which is 2 years and more heavily research based, and by that point the professor would try to convince you to finish up and do a PhD. If you are in fourth year, like my case and ONLY your 1-2-3 year marks have gone in to AADSAS during this cycle, by time next cycle comes around the most that will be in your application is year 1-2-3-4 and that your "planned/inprogress" is your Masters courses, so there's no way for them to see a 4.0 except at the coursework update. They will most likely try to keep the averages high in your grad school classes since most of the students are on scholarships and the only way they keep the scholarships is by maintaining an 80+. The more money you get from scholarship the less money needed to be provided from your supervisor. To add to this, the one year M.Eng I am doing, the classes are typically once a week, 5-7 PM so that means I can add in some upper level bio's that I didnt get to do, like anatomy, microbio, second half of biochem stuff like that. Hope this helps.

 

[gem779]

bump, can i have more opinions on the masters program?

 

[Unbreakable]

I'm assuming that when you're thinking of a master's program you don't want to do one of those 2-4 yrs long programs.

What you would be looking for are "special master's programs". These programs are geared for people who are your shoes. I too, am in your situation as well and I'm going for this program coming next year. You should refer to this thread
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=346106

IMPORTANT: Make sure you're looking for SPECIAL master's programs. These programs are usually 1 year long and some of them don't require a thesis by the end of the program. ALSO, a special master's program in comparison to a regular master's is harder to do simply because you are taking classes with 1st year medical/dental students. Normal master's programs are easier because the grades are ridiculously inflated, and you are expected to do well by your university, thus they curve your grade high and make it relatively easy to get a good grade. Dental schools look more favorably on the special master's as opposed to reg. masters because they know that good grades are significantly harder to get.

For anymore info, just refer to the "Post-bacc" section of these forums or throw me a PM.

EDIT: To answer your last question, doing a master's would definitely help your chances because your GRAD GPA is separated from your undergrad GPA; they do not get combined. So if let's say you got a 3.1 undergrad and 4.0 grad, on your application these two GPA's would be shown separately. THIS, will look nicer, on top of your improved DAT score.