Nervous - GPA

[phamula]

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I am about to take my DAT and am trying to stay positive....

This is my situation:

After my freshmen year, I transferred from a public state school to a competitive private school. I am a bio major with a minor in psychology and a minor in art with a focus on ceramics.

I learned what a college education really meant when I transferred schools. At the state school, I did my normal studying routine and did well. At the private college, I didn't do so well. Academically, it was very challenging my first year there...soo I had to figure out a new studying strat. My grades show overall improvement from when I transferred till now.

Transferring was for the better (learned much more), but it sucked and killed my GPA. My cum. GPA between both school is between 3.1-3.2...with a 2.9-3.0 science GPA.

I have worked at a nursing home for 5 years. I am also an accountant for a local business. I also run a small business with my grandpa and grow, package, deliver, sell produce to the local community.

During my senior year, I did a "health care study" internship thing I petitioned to create (got credit for it on transcript) and shadowed about 40 hrs in different fields ranging from optometry, dentistry, dermatology, radiology, orthodontics. I decided I actually enjoyed dentistry. I ended up shadowing 2 dentists at a clinic for a week and a half straight (45 hrs) to get a feel if whether or not I'd like waking up to this every day and getting a feel of how my feelings were towards "going to work" in that field of work. I know I like science and for the longest time I didn't know specifically what I liked about science in terms of a career until these experiences.

My GPA really freaks me out. I don't know if this matters or not, but I also have 3 members of my family (my mom's brothers and sisters) that have all graduated from the same dental school. I plan on applying to their school and as well as a few other in the mid-west.

I am Vietnamese and the oldest of 3 children. My family is low income-single mom.

I've been hardcore studying for the DAT so I can do well and help compensate for my GPA.

How rough might the path to dent school be for me? I feel like I have a lot going against me w/ the GPA.

 

[TamHLe]

Im in a similar situation, my gpa is the only thing holding me down 3.15. So for me it all comes down to the DAT Im aiming for a 21 and if iam lucky get some interviews. My shadow,ec is all great its just the dat score is the only thing i can work at right now. To be honest Im also vietnamese and we have it going against us, because we are competing with other asians who haver higher scores. So its tough.

 

[smiley89]

I really don't think your gpa is THAT bad, yeah it's low but like you said it's all going to come down to the DAT. With an upward trend in gpa and great DAT scores (21+) along with your ECs you should manage a few interviews, and that's where you'll really have a chance to shine. Good luck with the DAT and apply early!

 

[shiftypoptart]

yup I'm in same position as you barely graduated with a bachelor's in biology at UCI 3.3cum, 3.2BCP, 3.1sGPA calculus owned my face (3.7 non-science lol wtf right? dunno how the heck I'm going explain this one) and a DAT coming up in two weeks. My thoughts are that a lot of people are also in the same position as us and not everyone applying has the amazing GPAs (3.8s) and DAT (22+s) scores that get posted here. On a side note I am the first person in my entire family (not just nuclear) to go to college in the united states (both parents immigrated from Mexico) so I had a chance to have something to write about in my personal statement. As long as you took advantage of your situation and mentioned it in your personal statement you got an edge up. So just stay positive its hard I know cause I'm in the same position and don't let other people's scores get you down. It definitely all comes down to more than just #'s (although it is a big part) or else how can people with high gpas and dats get rejected and others with just average scores get accepted. Lets just make sure that if when we get interviews (yes when) we do everything possible to show them we are excellent candidates for their program. Good luck!

 

[gorrillaunit18]

Im in a similar situation, my gpa is the only thing holding me down 3.15. So for me it all comes down to the DAT Im aiming for a 21 and if iam lucky get some interviews. My shadow,ec is all great its just the dat score is the only thing i can work at right now. To be honest Im also vietnamese and we have it going against us, because we are competing with other asians who haver higher scores. So its tough.

DUDE! Stop using your "asianness" as an excuse. Wow, you are pretty ridiculous.

 

[iamgosu]

Im in a similar situation, my gpa is the only thing holding me down 3.15. So for me it all comes down to the DAT Im aiming for a 21 and if iam lucky get some interviews. My shadow,ec is all great its just the dat score is the only thing i can work at right now. To be honest Im also vietnamese and we have it going against us, because we are competing with other asians who haver higher scores. So its tough.

lol
i'm Chinese, and my GPA is only a 3.19. My 2nd year killed me, GPA of 2.75 lol...
Omit that crap year and I would have a 3.4 or so hahah.
Not to mention I'm a Canadian applicant, so that makes it even harder for me!! 🙄
At least my cDAT wasn't bad, got a 23AA and a 21 PAT with a 17 carving 😡

 

[gorrillaunit18]

lol
i'm Chinese, and my GPA is only a 3.19. My 2nd year killed me, GPA of 2.75 lol...
Omit that crap year and I would have a 3.4 or so hahah.
Not to mention I'm a Canadian applicant, so that makes it even harder for me!! 🙄
At least my cDAT wasn't bad, got a 23AA and a 21 PAT with a 17 carving 😡

Apparently it's not the fact that you're asian that's holding you back...it's the fact that you have a poor daily work ethic...which is shown by your GPA. Don't make excuses.

 

[chimm]

Apparently it's not the fact that you're asian that's holding you back...it's the fact that you have a poor daily work ethic...which is shown by your GPA. Don't make excuses.

Great advice. You know you don't have to respond if their excuses are unworthy of your attention.

No need to bitch them out because you are getting trolled by them. Jerk.

 

[TamHLe]

1+

 

[LaFleur]

Apparently it's not the fact that you're asian that's holding you back...it's the fact that you have a poor daily work ethic...which is shown by your GPA. Don't make excuses.

I'm sorry, but there's no reason to be rude or outright mean. If you don't have anything constructive to say, don't respond.

 

[komradrobot]

They are just being mean because they want to crush your spirit so there is less competition for them when they apply LOL

 

[iamgosu]

Apparently it's not the fact that you're asian that's holding you back...it's the fact that you have a poor daily work ethic...which is shown by your GPA. Don't make excuses.

i thought i was clearly being sarcastic when i put in the emoticons
guess not eh? hahaha

wait...unless you're being sarcastic too? 😉

 

[sfoksn]

I think you have a shot at your state schools if your DAT scores come out high!

Just make sure to write a good PS and get some good epideictic writers to finish your LoRs and you should be okay.

Which state are you residing in?

 

[phamula]

South Dakota, no in-state dent schools. I was thinking of applying to Creighton (Omaha, NE), U of Minn Twin Cities (this is where my all 3 of my family went), and U of Colorado Denver.

 

[flyingforever]

I am Asian too, please don't apply, too many 😱😱 Asians applying this year. (jk)

 

[iluvdentistry]

South Dakota, no in-state dent schools. I was thinking of applying to Creighton (Omaha, NE), U of Minn Twin Cities (this is where my all 3 of my family went), and U of Colorado Denver.

I really hate to burst your bubble on this one, but UCD highly favors in state applicants. It does help that South Dakota is part of the WICHE system, so you do have that going for you. Have you checked into private schools? I have found in researching schools that most state schools give preference to residents and you have to be spectacular to get accepted if you are a non-resident. It's just something you may want to look into. Best of luck to you and seriously, there are some really stuck up people on this site so try to not let them get you down. Just think about the number of people in the country applying compared to the number of posters on this site. Chances are you (and me) are not doing as bad as we feel by looking at other people's stats. Just rock out on your DAT and keep shadowing and doing anything that will help your application.

 

[phamula]

I really hate to burst your bubble on this one, but UCD highly favors in state applicants. It does help that South Dakota is part of the WICHE system, so you do have that going for you. Have you checked into private schools? I have found in researching schools that most state schools give preference to residents and you have to be spectacular to get accepted if you are a non-resident. It's just something you may want to look into. Best of luck to you and seriously, there are some really stuck up people on this site so try to not let them get you down. Just think about the number of people in the country applying compared to the number of posters on this site. Chances are you (and me) are not doing as bad as we feel by looking at other people's stats. Just rock out on your DAT and keep shadowing and doing anything that will help your application.

Creighton is the only private one I am aware of in this area. I guess I forgot to add U of Nebraska Omaha too. I want to say Nebraska?, Iowa, Minnesota, and South Dakota have a reciprocity thing, so to Minnesota I'd be considered in-state. And the 3 family members that went to UMinn are SD residents they got in first try....but then again they are all FOB with a drive like non-other to get in, but then again that was almost 10 years ago, things were probably very different for them (paper+pencil😍).