Need Advice

[anonmon]

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I just finished my first semester of my senior year and currently have a 2.6 GPA.
I haven’t taken the DAT but I plan on studying extremely hard and crushing it this spring (23+). Although I’ve worked at a dental clinic for 2 years as an assistant and volunteered numerous hours, I know that my GPA is too low for even a consideration to dental schools.
Do Post-Bacc or Masters programs even accept students with such a low GPA? If so, which ones and if not, what should I do?
I know I need to do either or in order to improve my chances, and I’m not even sure which one I should do.
The only dream in my life is to go to dental school and although it’s no excuse but Covid tanked my GPA because I had so much going on at home. After such a hard time in my life I feel like my dream is ruined so any advice would be helpful to me. Thank you!

 

[Ryxndek]

Yeah you pretty much need to do a post bacc and masters. If you don’t have at least a C in your prerequisites then a post bacc and then a masters to help give dental schools an idea of how you fare with high level classes.

I’m not sure if you can just do a post bacc since your gpa won’t be high enough. You need to hit the 3.0 mark to be considered at most schools. Masters will help differentiate your undergrad gpa so you’ll have to kill it there.
Is there an upward trend in your undergrad gpa?

 

[anonmon]

Yeah you pretty much need to do a post bacc and masters. If you don’t have at least a C in your prerequisites then a post bacc and then a masters to help give dental schools an idea of how you fare with high level classes.

I’m not sure if you can just do a post bacc since your gpa won’t be high enough. You need to hit the 3.0 mark to be considered at most schools. Masters will help differentiate your undergrad gpa so you’ll have to kill it there.
Is there an upward trend in your undergrad gpa?

My undergrad GPA is all over the place, when looking at each semesters grades it fluctuates so much that there’s no trend to say it’s going upward. This semester I failed a class which was the main reason my GPA tanked so hard, and last semester I had only A’s and B’s.
Your advice is helpful and I’ll definitely consider doing both, but with such low grades will I even be able to be accepted into a post-bacc/ masters program?

 

[Ryxndek]

My undergrad GPA is all over the place, when looking at each semesters grades it fluctuates so much that there’s no trend to say it’s going upward. This semester I failed a class which was the main reason my GPA tanked so hard, and last semester I had only A’s and B’s.
Your advice is helpful and I’ll definitely consider doing both, but with such low grades will I even be able to be accepted into a post-bacc/ masters program?

If you have the money, yes. First the post-bacc since most programs I would assume know that you're trying to do it to raise your GPA and retake prerequisites. It's most likely the post-baccs at more prestigious universities that would be a little harsher on requirements, but going to your local university I don't see being as big of an issue, but maybe it is? I'm not sure, I never did a post-bacc as I'm graduating this spring.

I can't say for certain about master's programs. I would assume they have minimums but I don't know. I'm going to dental school straight from undergrad so my path will be different than yours. You could try and look at an SMP masters program with linkages to dental schools but again, I don't know what their requirements are and what kinds of students they take. I would start with a post-bacc if you can to help get your prerequisites back on track, C's and above, repair your GPA, and show programs you're able to manage the classes now. A Master's program will also help show you can maintain those high-level courses.

Hopefully, someone who's more familiar with the master's programs and the requirements can help. Honestly, you could probably still apply for a master's, but you'd probably end up paying a lot of money to get in given your GPA.

 

[PerioDont]

You need to improve your GPA

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Search for an SMP and talk with their admissions staff. Having such a low GPA can be a challenge unless you can show an upward trend in your GPA and have enough experience to show you are serious in your career pursuit. Don't take the DAT since some programs may have test prep.