Screwed up freshmen year

[ketone]

Freshmen year, I had a gpa of 2.2.

My gpa dramatically changed sophomore year... I changed my study habits; both semesters around a 3.6. I'm a junior now and I'm making A's and high B's so far in my science courses.

I know my overall gpa is low because of freshmen year. Will dental school overlook this? If I keep this up, will there be a chance of me getting into dental school? (gpa wise)

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[KittySquared]

Most definitely. Just don't fall short of a 3.5 from now on and make sure your cumulative is above a 3.4. You may have to explain what happened your Freshman year during interviews, but if you continue the upward trend and do well on the DATs, gain lots of ECs, you'll be fine.

 

[hungrydentist]

Most definitely. Just don't fall short of a 3.5 from now on and make sure your cumulative is above a 3.4. You may have to explain what happened your Freshman year during interviews, but if you continue the upward trend and do well on the DATs, gain lots of ECs, you'll be fine.

+1. A solid upper trend is always a positive. Not sure of your cumulative GPA now, but if need be, you might need to bring up your GPA above a 3.0 with post-bac courses later. backed with a solid DAT score, you'll get in.

 

[ketone]

Okay this is a stupid question and I've seen multiple comments regarding them, but what are post-bac courses? -_-

 

[Menthol]

Okay this is a stupid question and I've seen multiple comments regarding them, but what are post-bac courses? -_-

post= after
bac= bachelor
ring a bell ?

 

[Msmouth]

Yes my freshman year I got a pathetic 1.67....that was many many years ago and I'm a different student/person now. I have an interview coming up next month ( :

Just work hard!

 

[Zbtb7]

Freshmen year, I had a gpa of 2.2.

My gpa dramatically changed sophomore year... I changed my study habits; both semesters around a 3.6. I'm a junior now and I'm making A's and high B's so far in my science courses.

I know my overall gpa is low because of freshmen year. Will dental school overlook this? If I keep this up, will there be a chance of me getting into dental school? (gpa wise)

What's your overall and science gpa now?

If you have to mess up a year, it's best to do it during your freshman year. Teachers (the type of people who are on adcoms) understand that US high schools vary in quality and college can represent a steep increase in difficulty for many. A low freshman year gpa is understandable; an upward trend is better than a downward one.

Dental schools won't overlook this though and a low gpa will still hurt you because your application has to get past academic screens first. All other things equal, adcoms will rather take a chance on a student that never messed up in their academic career rather than one that did mess up and improved.

 

[toastybread]

.

 

[wcombs]

You'll probably be fine, but I would refrain from feeling too comfortable with it. I blew my first year but I've had a 4.0 ever since, and everyone on SDN told me I would be fine especially with my DAT. But here I am, almost November, with a big fat zero interviews. My case was more severe than yours though; I had a 1.6 and then dropped out for a year, so you're already doing better than me.

I fell into a false sense of confidence after my DAT and thought it would show them I wasn't the failure from my freshman year. If I could go back I would have done a lot more. I really should have gotten involved more and pursued leadership positions to complement my great upward trend and really make myself stand out.

Just realize that you're at a disadvantage now compared to the rest of the applicant pool; you have a bombed first year but are cool otherwise. Everyone else doesn't have a bombed first year and are cool otherwise. Why should a school pick you over the other applicants when seats are so limited as it is? The answer is that you need to give them a reason to pick you by really shining in both academics and extracurriculars from now on. Just work hard and don't stop until you get where you want and things will work out