Need Advice

[Snake Doc]

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Hello everyone
I recently graduated with a B.S. in Bio and a cGPA of 3.29 and sGPA ~3.36. Im worried because I have C's in pre-cal, cal1, cal2, physics1, orgo2 and genetics and my 1st semester GPA was 1.6. Most of these bad grades were early on in my undergrad career and I had to work hard in order to raise my GPA. I took many upper-level bio courses like microbiology and neuroscience and got A's but i did not take biochem. The reason for most of these bad grades is that I was working at the time and traveling out of state a lot, leaving little time to study or write papers.

My question is that since Im thinking of applying to dental school next year, what should I do in the meantime? I have volunteer experience, work experience and research experience but none of them dental related. I am looking for dentists to shadow but I feel ashamed when I look at my transcript. Should I go back to school and do masters? Will getting a 20+ DAT score and shadowing be enough to get me in dental schools in the North East if I dont do Masters. I'm currently working full time as a lab-tech so going back to school might be a bit difficult since I need the money to support the family.
Any advice will be much appreciated.

 

[dentiist2be]

As long as your GPA shows an upward trend, i think you should be fine as long as you get a 20+ on your DAT and rock the science portion esp the Orgo portion. Also, some schools require biochem, so you may want to take it. But other than that, find a dentist or a few to shadow about 100 hrs or so & there isin't anything to be ashamed of. You started off a little rocky, but to pull up your GPA to over 3.0 after having a 1.6, must have been really tough, so that pretty respectable.

Good luck!

 

[Snake Doc]

As long as your GPA shows an upward trend, i think you should be fine as long as you get a 20+ on your DAT and rock the science portion esp the Orgo portion. Also, some schools require biochem, so you may want to take it. But other than that, find a dentist or a few to shadow about 100 hrs or so & there isin't anything to be ashamed of. You started off a little rocky, but to pull up your GPA to over 3.0 after having a 1.6, must have been really tough, so that pretty respectable.

Good luck!

Thanks for your advice, I'm just freaking out about my GPA. I hope the schools look past my low GPA b/c Im working as hard as I can to make other parts of my application better. Many people here I see have GPAs ~ 3.7 and that scares me a lot.

 

[alanan84]

Thanks for your advice, I'm just freaking out about my GPA. I hope the schools look past my low GPA b/c Im working as hard as I can to make other parts of my application better. Many people here I see have GPAs ~ 3.7 and that scares me a lot.

The best thing you can do right now is kill the DAT. Getting a 20+ is easier said than done. Good luck!