need some advice ladies and gents

[pbure]

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I'll make this quick. I have 93 credits right now..my school requires 90 to graduate so technically I'm done. I also finished all my prereqs and have several advanced science courses on my records. Since I am applying for the Fall 2005 cycle and will be at school all the time now studying for the November 6th Canadian DATs and working in my professors research lab I figured I'd do maybe 2-4 extra courses to boost the GPA. They would be Exercise Science courses and not total bird courses.
Would you recommend this method or do dental schools look down on people who do a few extra courses to 'inflate' their GPA? I'm not sure if I should register or not..my school does allow it tho, no problem. (current gpa=3.20..would prob climb to a 3.35 if I did the extra courses).
thanks 'eh'!

 

[justletmein]

from what admissions coordinator at UOP told me, taking non related science classes "such as botany or astronomy, etc" will not make a difference, although your total GPA does go up... with your GPA i'd say you are good to go, unless you like to take those classes, then by all means..

 

[UMDeeMan]

exercise science courses are a breeze. i'm that major and find the required core courses for that major rather elementary, biomechanics being the hardest only because it requires physics but the physics involved is a joke. i hope adcom's look at ex. sci as a respectable major.

 

[onetoothleft]

Nevertheless, I don't think adcoms think you are inflating your GPA, unless you are taking obviously easy courses or something. taking extra science courses (justletmein's advice is good--make sure it counts toward sci-GPA) will only show preparation dedication to dentistry, and if you do well, will increase your GPA which is very important.

But your GPA is competitive for most schools, so you may not want to bother.

 

[amanmann]

if you plan to apply to any Canadian schools sub 4.0 will probably not get you in esp. at Western or Toronto. your GPA is already competitive for most schools in the states, if i were you I'd save my time unless you are really interested about some the courses you want to take and want to learn more about the subject

 

[pbure]

Thanks for the help boys and girls. The main reason why I want to do these 3 EXCI courses is because my science GPA is only 2.985. I'd just sleep better bringing it to a solid 3.10 with these exercise science courses. Since I will be applying a little late, by the time my interviews start (should I get any..) they will have access to my improved GPA which will hit 3.3..pretty solid. I've been hitting 20's on DAT practises so far (except for PAT) so I'd feel pretty confident going in to battle..especially with a slightly upgraded GPA.
They are basic exercise science courses btw..nothing advanced. I can't take advanced since I'm specializing in Biology..
later