Need Advise

[LazyAzn815]

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Hi everyone, this is my first time using this forum so I dont know if I'm doing this right or anything. But I am a graduating 4th year at UCD and just decided on dental like last year. However my GPA is only 2.5 and major is 2.95. Can anyone tell me what I should do to get into dental for fall 07?
Besides trying to get no lower than a 25 on my DAT XD.... If anyone have any advise, please post back or e-mail me at [email protected]... Thanks

 

[golfmontpoker]

Hi everyone, this is my first time using this forum so I dont know if I'm doing this right or anything. But I am a graduating 4th year at UCD and just decided on dental like last year. However my GPA is only 2.5 and major is 2.95. Can anyone tell me what I should do to get into dental for fall 07?
Besides trying to get no lower than a 25 on my DAT XD.... If anyone have any advise, please post back or e-mail me at [email protected]... Thanks

Only way u are getting in with a GPA like that is a KILLER DAT, extremely underprivelaged or minority, or an ungodly amount of shadowing and community service hours... Dont wanna be a downer or anything, im usually not, but im being realistic. You need to do a Post-bacc or masters program and make stellar grades.

 

[whiskeysour]

you should probably learn how to spell first.

seriously though, i'm assuming you have no shadowing done, correct? your gpa is poor. what makes you think you can get a 25 on the dat if you don't even have a 3.0 gpa?

i know i'm being a d*ck, but i'm just being honest.

start by setting realistic goals...enroll in a masters/post-bacc program, get a job as a dental assistant, etc.

 

[LazyAzn815]

Can anyone tell me how the post bac works for dental school or what schools have post bacc?? thanks

 

[food4thots]

many schools have postbacs.. you should check their website.. just to name a few from the west coast: ucsf, ucla, usc, loma linda.

 

[EyeAmCommi]

Hi everyone, this is my first time using this forum so I dont know if I'm doing this right or anything. But I am a graduating 4th year at UCD and just decided on dental like last year. However my GPA is only 2.5 and major is 2.95. Can anyone tell me what I should do to get into dental for fall 07?
Besides trying to get no lower than a 25 on my DAT XD.... If anyone have any advise, please post back or e-mail me at [email protected]... Thanks

Hey fellow Aggie.

I recommend that you do a post-bacc and not a Masters program.

This is a website with information about post-bacc programs. It's specifically for med school but I think it works just the same for dental. http://career.berkeley.edu/article/050211b-hh.stm

Good luck! You made the right choice, dentistry is the place to be!

 

[12YearOldKid]

You will hear different opinions on this, so take mine for what it is - just an opinion.

First, it can't hurt to apply to dental school if you can stomach the very likely possibility of losing all your application money. Are you a gambler?

Second, where your GPA is soooo low I don't think a post-bacc will do much for you. Even if you get a 4.0 during your post bacc year/s it will not boost your GPA enough to raise it past that magic 3.0 threshold.

A better approach would be earning a Master's degree in a medical science field. In many Master's programs it is very unusual to get lower than a B in a course. The big benefit here is that grades from your Master's program are reported separately from your undergrad. And on the AADSAAS your most recent grades are reported first.

Imagine you are on the admissions committee and see two applicants equal in all ways except these:

Applicant A (did a post-bacc):

*2.8 GPA

*6 years of college and a bachelor's degree to show for it

*significant improvement the last 2 years, (but for the most part he was just repeating courses he had already taken)


Applicant B:

*3.75 Graduate GPA

*2.5 Undergrad GPA

*Master's degree in Biotechnology with an emphasis on materials research.

*Bachelor's degree in biology.

My money is on applicant B getting the green light over applicant A every time.

 

[diagnodent]

I'm sorry to be offensive but I'm drunk

Isn't it funny to hear of someone with less than a 3.0 applying to dental school, more than likely b/c they heard its good money and not that hard?

 

[polarnut]

I'm sorry to be offensive but I'm drunk

Isn't it funny to hear of someone with less than a 3.0 applying to dental school, more than likely b/c they heard its good money and not that hard?

whats more funny is you nosing around SDN while drunk. i mean come on, you are drunk and you are still on your computer? man....

 

[HermeytheElf]

I would tend agree with 12yearold...a Masters is probably the only thing that will work for you. A post-bacc won't significantly alter 4 years of undergrad GPA and it's not even time to really prove that you've changed and that you could handle the work-load of dental school.

 

[INFNITE]

you can get back on the right track by first doing one thing:

stop being a LAZY Asian Is your GPA this low due to your laziness?

 

[phremius]

1) A-D-V-I-C-E. Jesus christ if you're going to try to be a doctor your spelling/language arts abilities should reflect a doctorate-level education.

2) Definitely Masters. Post-bacc wouldn't boost your GPA much at all.

3) I would recommend you to not waste your money applying unless you get 25s on your DAT, even then make secondary plans.

 

[EyeAmCommi]

I didn't know a post-bacc was simply for raising your GPA. I was under the impression that it was just a 1 year program where you retake your basic science courses and that the GPA earned there is seperate from the GPA earned in undergrad.

If I'm wrong then stop me there. But if that is the case, then a 1 year post-bacc would be better than a 2 year Masters program.

 

[Yeyyy]

another thing is to get rid of that whole "lazy azn @ yahoo" email address. just seriously, get something different to put on your dental app.

 

[EyeAmCommi]

Okay here is a good guide for post-baccs. OP: see if this works for you http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=114425

 

[Driller23]

another thing is to get rid of that whole "lazy azn @ yahoo" email address. just seriously, get something different to put on your dental app.

Wow, people, for f**k sake, can you all try be a LITTLE nicer?
What do u care what her email address is? (assuming its a 'her' and not a him)
How do you know this is the address she will use for her d-school applications?

Just cause she is new to this whole pre-dental world doesn't mean you can abuse and make yourself look wittier and cooler.

 

[crazy_sherm]

Go for the masters and make sure to do well. Your GPA is way too low for post-bac classes to make a dent. Even if you were to take just as many units as you did in undergrad and get a 4.0 all the way, the maximum cumulative GPA obtainable is a 3.25 when you average it with your 2.5.

Check out Yah-E's under 3.0 thread for some inspiration.
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=28491

 

[Yeyyy]

Wow, people, for f**k sake, can you all try be a LITTLE nicer?
What do u care what her email address is? (assuming its a 'her' and not a him)
How do you know this is the address she will use for her d-school applications?

Just cause she is new to this whole pre-dental world doesn't mean you can abuse and make yourself look wittier and cooler.

i'm telling him to NOT make a joke about it. so he got a bad grade and should try to work around it, stop flaunting it like its a little game. and i was serious, considering he has both his SDN username and email address as lazyazn. if he lets it slip on his app, those guys will ream him out for it

 

[pkossak]

I haven't even applied yet, but I'm pretty sure a dental school wouldn't discount you because of an e-mail address.

 

[12YearOldKid]

The typical post-bacc that I am familiar with is meant for students who are borderline on their applications. It helps raise GPA and shows a trend of improvement.

I hope I don't offend LazyAzn, but he is not even close to being a borderline applicant. He needs something that will make him unique enough for the committee to look past his undergrad GPA. A well chosen master's degree can do that for him.

Not all Master's programs are 2 years. Some are a little shorter and some a little longer. In any case, I think a Master's is a MUCH better use of his time. Even if means an extra semester or two over a post-bacc. Just my opinion.

 

[polarnut]

[email protected] would be a nice email address to put on AADSAS

 

[12YearOldKid]

That's funny you guys ripping him for his email address. My guess is that most of the admissions committe is so old they wouldn't even understand that cyber shorthand. They would transcribe it letter by letter like when you type in a credit card number.

Still, it's always a good idea to have a more professional email address for important correspondence. I have an email that is just my name - no numbers, underscores, funny puns, etc... It is easy to remember and looks very professional when typed out.

I know it sounds kind of pretentious but sometimes it is important to present the most professional image you can : bank loan applications, networking at dental conferences, dental school applications, etc...

 

[12YearOldKid]

[email protected] would be a nice email address to put on AADSAS

That's funny, PolarNut. I had actually started the above post before I saw yours. The phone rang while I was typing. When I got back I hit submit and then saw your post.

 

[LazyAzn815]

ok guys i get the picture on the screenname thing and dont worry, I'm not useing this name on my application and such... so give it a rest ok. Pluse, I'm a he not a she, lol. And for post bac, does anyone know if there is a data base site where I can find all the schools that have post bac for dental school or can I go to the one that is for pre-med? And If i really decided to apply for dental school with this GPA what DAT score do you guys think I need to even be a competative aplicant?

"PS: I know Im bad with spelling as well, I'm trying to improve it along the way"

 

[marinojones]

ok guys i get the picture on the screenname thing and dont worry, I'm not useing this name on my application and such... so give it a rest ok. Pluse, I'm a he not a she, lol. And for post bac, does anyone know if there is a data base site where I can find all the schools that have post bac for dental school or can I go to the one that is for pre-med? And If i really decided to apply for dental school with this GPA what DAT score do you guys think I need to even be a competative aplicant?

"PS: I know Im bad with spelling as well, I'm trying to improve it along the way"

http://services.aamc.org/postbac/

good luck.

 

[Chuck1441]

There seems to be a number of threads with this similar jist "I have bad GPA/DAT, what should I do to get into dental school"
and I was wondering when it would be appropriate to let some people know the harsh reality of the situation. Dental school is highly competitive, some people will not make it even if they really want to. Plenty of qualified applicants won't make it, what hope does an unqualified one have?

 

[crazy_sherm]

And If i really decided to apply for dental school with this GPA what DAT score do you guys think I need to even be a competative aplicant?

Even if you get a 30 on the DAT, your GPA is in the gutter. Unless you're really good buddies with a dean at one of the schools, you are not a competetive.

 

[Dutchboy]

There seems to be a number of threads with this similar jist "I have bad GPA/DAT, what should I do to get into dental school"
and I was wondering when it would be appropriate to let some people know the harsh reality of the situation. Dental school is highly competitive, some people will not make it even if they really want to. Plenty of qualified applicants won't make it, what hope does an unqualified one have?

I agree. If you plan on getting a masters, get it in something that you can use when you don't get into dental school. I would just hate for you to put in a ton of work for nothing. The truth is you have no shot in hell, don't waste your time and start down a different career path. Good luck.