Question about how the GPA is calculated in the application?

[wh0thenathan]

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Hi, I currently switched my goal from med school to dental school, so I am pretty new to this whole process for dental school.
Currently I am taking a break from 4 year college and going to a community college in California to retake all the pre-health prereqs I didn't do well; I stopped in the middle of my 3rd year. To be more detailed, I have couple F's in science courses and couple C's and D's. My cumulative GPA adds up to 2.6. I was wondering if the dental schools will take the most recent grades if I do better in those repeated courses? or... do they just not care and just average them up? Let me know. Thank you =) Also I am volunteering in a hospital currently, and is clinical experience a plus for dental schools...?
Is there anything else I must be doing in order to be considered a strong applicant for dental schools other than high GPA and high DAT scores...?

 

[theragu]

AADSAS will take both grades from the same class, basically taking an average, but with all credit hours counting. So make sure to do well and it will bring up that average alot.

Assuming you mean you are volunteering at a medical hospital, then yeah thats great, it shows you are sure you want dentistry, but you obviously need to be in dental settings/volunteer at a clinic/etc. to show that that decision is founded.

 

[sfrice80]

You really gotta boost that GPA up and keep in mind some schools don't accept CC credits. AADSAS will just average the grades. So if you got an F the first time and an A the second time, it will simply average out to a C. I would start volunteering in a dental office, just because its more relevant but a hospital will work too. There isn't really any opportunities to get clinical experience unless you were previously a dental assistant or hygienist or if you were lucky enough to have a dentist let you do chairside assistance. If I were you, I would re-enroll in a University and start re-taking classes and if you can get your GPA above a 3.1 after 2 years, take DAT and hopefully apply. Don't try to rush it. Do it right this time and take your time.