Research and Internships?

[umrk]

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Hi guys,

I'm a junior hoping to take the DAT this summer with pretty average GPAs. I have lots of shadowing and volunteer hours under my belt as well as a couple of leadership positions.

I do not, however, have ANY research (lack of interest) or internship (applied to many but was denied) experience? Should I get on that ASAP for the summer?
I'm freaking out a bit because I know I have to score higher than 21AA to even have a chance. Would research/internship significantly give me a boost or should I just focus on my DAT studying? I got As on all my intro bio/chem/orgo classes but started to decline in my GPA once I started taking upper division classes (horrible, horrible, I know) due to a lot of personal medical problems.

Any and all advice would be great! Thanks!

 

[Dentalguy8621]

Hi guys,

I'm a junior hoping to take the DAT this summer with pretty average GPAs. I have lots of shadowing and volunteer hours under my belt as well as a couple of leadership positions.

I do not, however, have ANY research (lack of interest) or internship (applied to many but was denied) experience? Should I get on that ASAP for the summer?
I'm freaking out a bit because I know I have to score higher than 21AA to even have a chance. Would research/internship significantly give me a boost or should I just focus on my DAT studying? I got As on all my intro bio/chem/orgo classes but started to decline in my GPA once I started taking upper division classes (horrible, horrible, I know) due to a lot of personal medical problems.

Any and all advice would be great! Thanks!

How is your GPA? Below 3.0? I mean research helps (medical schools really helps) but I think you should focus on extracurriculars that you like to do and try to do well in your classes. I've been through the same deal with personal/medical issues affecting school. I collected 2 W's so my GPA wouldn't slide. Can you tone down the level of coursework? Regardless, the school I'm hopeful for wants to see involvement in extracurriculars that we like to do. I did research/thesis in college because I was genuinely interested in. Are there any specific research areas you like? Dental research specifically?

 

[umrk]

@Dentalguy8621 My GPA around 3.3-3.4 (both oGPA and sGPA) so its pretty average. I applied to lots of dental research opportunities because many of them did interest me but unfortunately, wasn't chosen for any of them. I'm planning on either taking the DAT this June or if I'm not ready, taking it in September and applying for the c/o 2020 cycle. Not really sure what else to do at this point. It's a bit late to apply for internships and research this summer 🙁

 

[Dentalguy8621]

@Dentalguy8621 My GPA around 3.3-3.4 (both oGPA and sGPA) so its pretty average. I applied to lots of dental research opportunities because many of them did interest me but unfortunately, wasn't chosen for any of them. I'm planning on either taking the DAT this June or if I'm not ready, taking it in September and applying for the c/o 2020 cycle. Not really sure what else to do at this point. It's a bit late to apply for internships and research this summer 🙁

Is your university involved in research? I simply emailed professors who I wanted to do research with and asked if I could with their lab.