Hello fellow SDN people!
I'm going to try to keep this short that way people aren't faced with a giant wall of text, causing their eyes to glaze over and navigate away from the page. Bare with me people :\
I just recently graduated from college with my b.s. in biology, and I am 100% positive that I want to be a dentist. My sGPA isn't amazing, approximately a 3.2 (from what I calculated myself) and my overall gpa is higher ~3.33. I know it isn't the best of GPAs, but there is a small story behind it. I came away from my first year of college with a 3.5 GPA. At the end of my first year, my grandfather passed away and our family was going through rough times. We then proceeded to move to a separate state (the one my grandfather lived and died in) and I attended a new college for engineering. Leaving out any excuses, I managed to fail two of my classes and ended up attending a smaller college from then on. Since then I have definitely exhibited an upward trend in my grades, retaking the classes I failed and making As in them. The last 45 hours (three semesters) of college I walked away with a 4.0 taking my major level classes (biochem, genetics, molecular bio etc...) I did all this while volunteering as a lab tech, and performing molecular bio research on the side with one of my professors. I was also observing a few different dentists.
I know an endodontist through mutual friends (that I've observed with several times) that said he would write me a LOR, and he happens to be closely affiliated with the school he graduated from (which is also the school I want to attend). He assures me that he can help me get accepted, and also offered to me the chance to participate in research at that particular dental school, seeing as how he knows the research coordinator.
I haven't taken my DAT yet, but I plan on taking it in the next two months. I am confident I can do above average, but I'm not so sure it will be noteworthy if I were to post on here (compared to everyone else's). My EC's are decent, I was involved with several clubs in school and volunteered through these clubs(though I know I can improve this part). I have approximately 60 hours of observing time, and I plan to observe and possibly volunteer as an assistant.
Sorry for the life story, but I felt it was important to include details so that you guys could critique me more precisely. What do you guys think my chances are? I obviously am going to apply to more than just one school, but my heart is set on my instate school.
Thanks in advance
I'm going to try to keep this short that way people aren't faced with a giant wall of text, causing their eyes to glaze over and navigate away from the page. Bare with me people :\
I just recently graduated from college with my b.s. in biology, and I am 100% positive that I want to be a dentist. My sGPA isn't amazing, approximately a 3.2 (from what I calculated myself) and my overall gpa is higher ~3.33. I know it isn't the best of GPAs, but there is a small story behind it. I came away from my first year of college with a 3.5 GPA. At the end of my first year, my grandfather passed away and our family was going through rough times. We then proceeded to move to a separate state (the one my grandfather lived and died in) and I attended a new college for engineering. Leaving out any excuses, I managed to fail two of my classes and ended up attending a smaller college from then on. Since then I have definitely exhibited an upward trend in my grades, retaking the classes I failed and making As in them. The last 45 hours (three semesters) of college I walked away with a 4.0 taking my major level classes (biochem, genetics, molecular bio etc...) I did all this while volunteering as a lab tech, and performing molecular bio research on the side with one of my professors. I was also observing a few different dentists.
I know an endodontist through mutual friends (that I've observed with several times) that said he would write me a LOR, and he happens to be closely affiliated with the school he graduated from (which is also the school I want to attend). He assures me that he can help me get accepted, and also offered to me the chance to participate in research at that particular dental school, seeing as how he knows the research coordinator.
I haven't taken my DAT yet, but I plan on taking it in the next two months. I am confident I can do above average, but I'm not so sure it will be noteworthy if I were to post on here (compared to everyone else's). My EC's are decent, I was involved with several clubs in school and volunteered through these clubs(though I know I can improve this part). I have approximately 60 hours of observing time, and I plan to observe and possibly volunteer as an assistant.
Sorry for the life story, but I felt it was important to include details so that you guys could critique me more precisely. What do you guys think my chances are? I obviously am going to apply to more than just one school, but my heart is set on my instate school.
Thanks in advance
