Needing Encouragement

[pdas]

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Dear SDN,

Hey, I am new here! I have been a lurker for some time now and have been reading posts from you guys that were helpful, encouraging, realistic, and most of all supportive. I am at finals crunch time now and have been feeling really down in the dumps due to what my gpa is. I am just finishing up my sophomore year Biochemistry & Molecular Science major with cpga of 3.0-3.1 and sgpa around 3.0-3.1 and I am not proud of it. I've wanted to be a dentist since little, however recent events reaffirmed this dream of mine. I'm planning on taking the DAT next summer and currently shadowing a dentist. However, realizing now what I want to be, I feel like my gpa is going to be my downfall. I am an ordinary student with an extraordinary dream. I definitely plan on working my butt off for the next two years. My question to you is: what do I do next? If you have been in my position, what did you do to pick yourself up and become successful? If any body have any stories to share, that would be great. I just need some words of encouragement.

 

[Faux]

Still got four more whole semesters of grades to go. You can definitely make changes but you gotta get your gears going. Do the math by ADEA standards to see what grades you need and how much it would affect your GPA. After I failed general chemistry, thats what I started to do. When you see how much of a difference a 5 credit course can make if you can an A, you definitely start putting in that work.

 

[pdas]

Thanks! I'll definitely look into that!

 

[cutedoge123]

Let's do a simple math.
2 years of college credits are about 60 credits. Let's simply make it a 3.0
If you do well for the next 2 years getting all 4.0's,
then the avg will be 3.5 then.
I know it sounds hard, and you don't necessarily need to get all A's.
However, getting as many A's as you can will be very helpful from now on.
I want you to do well in your school now so that you do not regret it later in the future.
Good luck and never give up on your dream!

 

[pdas]

Hey @cutedoge123 , that's totally looking at the circumstance through a new perspective. Thank you! I will do my best. This means I am definitely taking a gap year. But, should I apply senior year cycle if I manage to get 4.0 for Junior year? I am from GA, so only one state school, if that helps.

 

[cutedoge123]

Theoretically if you get all A's in your junior year, your GPA will be around 3.33. I am not sure--it is your call. You can see people getting in with that GPA, but I think it is safer to get in with GPA around 3.4~3.5. So I am not sure.

 

[cutedoge123]

http://www.gru.edu/dentalmedicine/admit/documents/classof2015profilesheet.pdf
http://www.gru.edu/dentalmedicine/admit/documents/2016-grads.pdf
http://www.gru.edu/dentalmedicine/admit/documents/classof2017profilesheet.pdf
http://www.gru.edu/dentalmedicine/admit/documents/classof2018profilesheet.pdf

For Georgia Regents University College of Dental Medicine, their avg GPA seems to be around 3.6... but other dental schools can have lower avg GPA.

 

[ICUrunning]

Plenty of time to revamp yourself.

 

[Gen. Beauregard]

 

[LizLemongrab]

Some schools care a lot about the "trend" so if you pick up your performance now and ace the DAT, build good EC, and have an interesting story to tell, I'm certain you can get in somewhere. For reference, 120 credits at a 3.64 brought me to a whopping ~3.17 from the grades I had previously and I got in somewhere.

Strategize your classes better so you won't have to work quite as hard. That means keeping all the classes interrelated to each other. Certain classes like genetics, cell biology, evolution, and biochemistry talk about the same things but not necessarily at the same time but the overlaps let you spend less time "learning" new things or refreshing because it was sufficiently recent. Sometimes, stuff you learn in a higher upper division will help you understand the pre-req class you should have taken before it.