needs info

[olive]

I am currently a student getting ready tocomplete my BS in Biology at a university. However, my GPA is extremely low to the point I know I wouldn't be considered into a dental school. I had some major family problems back in 1998 that lasted well over a year which lead to a poor GPA. I am barely graduating right now but going into dental school has always been what I have wanted to do. I have heard of crazy stories of how students get in, in a round about way. I have heard of colleges having post bac programs that students might enlist in and then from there taking the DAT and applying using that GPA as well as DAT score. I am currently looking at a school that has a masters program that allows you to study science and after the first year you are pretty much allowed to choose if you want to enter into a med. profession, in my case the dental program. My question is, have you heard of this and do you possibly know of alternative routes that someone might take to increase their GPA and then get into a dental school? I feel that anything is possible if you truely set yourself up to it, and I am unfortunate that my current GPA doesn't reflect what I may be capable of succeeding in doing in the future. Please give me nay helpful info or suggestions on different routes I make take in getting accepted in the future into a dental school. Thank-you for your time and look forward to hearing from someone real soon

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[jjs2004]

olive, I have met several students whose GPA warranted them to go postbac. As far as an alternative route into dental schools go, I'm not sure there are any. What I know for certain is some of my classmates applied to dental school with GPA's between 2.8-and 3.0 and got in. There DAT scores were nothing spectacular, 18's and 19's. My advice to you is to focus on the road ahead of you. Take classes to bring up your GPA. Look at the courses dental schools suggest you take before applying, and take them. Get A's in those courses and focus your attention on the DAT. If you have a preprofessional health advisor at your university go speak with that person. See what they can do for you. The main thing is not to let yourself get discouraged over your past grades. What you want to show, and what dental schools like to see, is an academic turn around. Believe it or not, many dental schools do take the time to look at the complete file of their applicants and take notice of things like an academic turn around. I hope this offers you some encouragment, good luck!

 

[smiledoc2004]

I am always disheartened to hear of a student who possesses a passion for something (in your case dentistry) but has their aspirations hindered by poor academics. This should in no way cause you to compromise your goals, but should fuel the fire. Granted, I know nothing of your situation, but it really boils down to two things:

1) How much time do you realistically wish to spend improving your GPA?
2) Does it matter which school you go to?

This is all extremely simplified, but if you think about these questions, you?ll find they cover a lot of ground. So, how much time can you devote to improving your grades? Schools love academic turnarounds. By demonstrating a strong academic turnaround, you show maturity, direction, and focus. Going from a 3.0 to a 3.5 in two years in very doable?It will be a rough two years, but success demands sacrifice. I think postbac is a good idea, especially if you can get into a program at the school you want to attend. Regarding ?roundabout? acceptances, these students have a lot going for them to offset their lower GPA?s. So if you are one of those students with an electric personality, tons of dental experience, strong leadership skills, high DAT scores, etc., they your chances of getting into a school with lower grades improve exponentially. Now, do you want to be a dentist or do you want to go to Harvard? Look at the numbers of all the schools out there and you?ll see that there?s a lot of variation. If you application is not as strong as you would like it, don?t apply to top 10 schools; you?ll just be throwing money away. Also, don?t apply to schools that took one student from your state in the last 4 years?play the numbers game. On a final note, when you?ve done all you can to improve your grades and gained all the dental experience you possibly can, turn your attention to two things: obtaining STRONG letters of recommendation and writing a kick-ass personal statement. These are two of the things that the admissions office will look at first. First impressions can make or break you. I wish you the best of luck! I think ?Whitey? Ford said it pretty good, ? the road less traveled sure gotta lotta stones?.


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Your talent is God's gift to you.
What you do with it is your gift back to God.
--Leo Buscaglia