Need Your Advice!

[coolslugs]

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Hello Pre-dents,
Here is my situation. I just finished my 3rd year of college and about 190 quarter units. I have about 60 quarter units left. I am a Biology major and my overall GPA:3.00, Science GPA: 2.70, BCP: 2.60. I have about 200 dental internship hours. I am studying for the DAT this summer, and planning on taking it in Aug. I am not applying to dental schools until next cycle, or June 2008. I fear that I won't have a good enough GPA by next spring. I know that I will have at least 1-2 year gaps after graduation, and I am not sure what to do. Grad programs? Post-bacc? Any good 1 year programs? EMT or Biotech classes? Please help! Thanks!

 

[yorkiepoo]

if you get 23+ DAT on all sections, then you might not have to worry about GPA.

 

[jigabodo]

Hello Pre-dents,
Here is my situation. I just finished my 3rd year of college and about 190 quarter units. I have about 60 quarter units left. I am a Biology major and my overall GPA:3.00, Science GPA: 2.70, BCP: 2.60. I have about 200 dental internship hours. I am studying for the DAT this summer, and planning on taking it in Aug. I am not applying to dental schools until next cycle, or June 2008. I fear that I won't have a good enough GPA by next spring. I know that I will have at least 1-2 year gaps after graduation, and I am not sure what to do. Grad programs? Post-bacc? Any good 1 year programs? EMT or Biotech classes? Please help! Thanks!

Hey fellow Aggie! You sure have a lot of units...I am about to graduate this summer and by the time I grad i will only have 184...

Anyways, I would suggest maybe staying an extra year so you have total of 2 years to boost your GPA before you apply. Be careful that UC Davis has a unit cap of 225 though, so try to petition to drop your AP courses if you have any to avoid exceeding the cap limit.

2 years imo is plenty of time to boost your GPA within the competitive range. By the end of my junior year my overall GPA was around yours. If you do full-time both summer sessions, and take at least 14 units each quarter, you maybe able to boost it up to ~3.3, pbb even higher if you decide to take 2 yrs.

Another thing you should consider doing is making your application stand out from others. Take advantage of UC Davis and start participating in research opportunities if you havent. This way, you will have both research experience and possibly even a letter of rec from your PI.

Good luck!

 

[remify]

step1) focus on the DATs and ace them
step2) if DATs didn't go so well, retake them and/or take some additional classes to boost gpa.

remain active in the dental field - get certifications if you can

 

[coolslugs]

Hey fellow Aggie! You sure have a lot of units...I am about to graduate this summer and by the time I grad i will only have 184...

Anyways, I would suggest maybe staying an extra year so you have total of 2 years to boost your GPA before you apply. Be careful that UC Davis has a unit cap of 225 though, so try to petition to drop your AP courses if you have any to avoid exceeding the cap limit.

2 years imo is plenty of time to boost your GPA within the competitive range. By the end of my junior year my overall GPA was around yours. If you do full-time both summer sessions, and take at least 14 units each quarter, you maybe able to boost it up to ~3.3, pbb even higher if you decide to take 2 yrs.

Another thing you should consider doing is making your application stand out from others. Take advantage of UC Davis and start participating in research opportunities if you havent. This way, you will have both research experience and possibly even a letter of rec from your PI.

Good luck!

Thanks that was very helpful. I am going to max out the 225 unit limit for sure, because I took a lot of non-major classes at a JC during high school. I am taking NPB 101L this summer, and focusing on studying for the DAT. Since that test score is good for 2 years, I will try to apply next summer, and possibly the summer after if I have to.

Also, I have been trying to find research oppotunities, but all of the labs I contacted were full. Any advice?

 

[coolslugs]

I want to take the DAT this summer, and I am wondering should I study by myself first then take a Kaplan course, or take the course first the study after. Any advice?

 

[coolslugs]

Well...that's why I want to take it this summer when I have 3 months free taking on a 3 unit class. I don't want to wait until fall or winter when I am taking 15 units. Also, the DAT score is good for 2 years right? Does that make sense or am I over my head?

If you aren't applying until next year, why do you want to take the DAT this summer. Why not wait until January to allow more time to study since your science GPA indicates you aren't strong in the sciences? There is no need to rush taking the DAT. Allow yourself more time to prepare so you can ace the DAT since you are low in the GPA scores. If you do't do as well in January asyou like, then you can take it three months later in April without it affecting your application. If you didn't do as well that time, the you could take it again in JUL - still enough time to get the scores to AADSAS without it affecting you getting an interview.

Just my thoughts on a better plan than to take the DAT this summer when you aren't ready and have no need to rush it.

 

[jigabodo]

Hey, sorry to reply you so late, but here are some labs in Davis you can try:

Prof. Simon Chan(Chen?) - He is a fairly new professor that name isn't even on the phonebook yet. I know for sure he was looking for undergrads 1 month ago since he just started running his lab.

Prof. Henning Stahlberg - This was the lab that I worked in. He does a lot of EM, mainly cryo/negative staining. There are currently 2 projects going on I believe, one for K+ channel Mlok and the other for chloride channel ClC.

Prof. Oliver Fiehn - I think he just got promoted to a full fledged professor. He does metabolomics but his lab is in the genome center, which is hella far away from campus.

If you did well in BIS 1C, you can also try to be a proctor for that class. I know there are always looking for proctors to help out new TAs.


Botton line is, don't be afraid to email professors for the opportunities. I asked 30+ professors before there was spaces available.


Hope it helps.