Sophomore Undergrad needs advice!

[tlynguyen]

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Hi. I'm new to this and was just hoping to find some help. I'm currently a sophomore at the University of Michigan. I'm doing fairly alright, not excellent. I've taken gen chem, gen bio, calc I & II, and orgo I already. Right now, my overall gpa is 3.3 and my science gpa is about a 3.0. I'm involved in a few clubs, have gotten a couple leadership positions, done some volunteer work, doing research right now, and have shadowed a dentist over the summer. I had just a few questions and would greatly appreciate it if some people could help me out! 🙂

1) What else should I be doing to get a better chance of getting into a school?
2) What is the average gpa, science gpa, and DAT scores that you need to get into a decent dental school?
3) What classes does your science gpa actually include?
4) When should I take the DAT? What books are good at preparing you for them? What score should I aim for?
5) What classes should I have completed before taking the DAT?
6) How many letters of recommendation do I need? Should I ask for them from my professors while I am currently taking the course, or should I wait until I need them?
7) Also, I don't know many dentists to shadow from where I'm from, and was just wondering if anyone had any experience or knew a good approach in getting volunteering and shadowing opportunities?

THANNKKS. 🙂

-Trang

 

[Danny0230]

1 – The number one thing I would say right now is to concentrate on your GPA. A 3.3 is on the lower end, but since you're a sophomore you have a good opportunity to raise it quickly since you only have 1.5 semesters of credits. The rest of your sophomore and junior year you should really focus on raising your GPA. Getting it to 3.5 or 3.6 would be pretty competitive.
2 – A competitive gpa is probably 3.5 for cum and sci, competitive DAT probably about 20. With these stats you would probably be guaranteed some interviews, but 18's and 19's and lower gpa's often get you interviews too. There's really no set number, its about being a complete applicant.
3 – Basically everything science, I think maths, but I'm not sure. I think there's a few threads abot this a couple pages back.
4 – Aim for late June after junior year. You should have taken all the pre reqs and have a few months after exams to finish up studying. Keep in mind you should register for a late June exam maybe in Feb or March to make sure you get the date you want. Look at the DAT discussion section for good books, aim 20+, but you can get in with less.
5 – gen bios, chms, organic 1 and 2, but take as much science as you can to prepare. Lots of info on this in the DAT discussion section.
6 – varies school to school, getting 2 bio, 1 chm, 1 physics, and 1 dentist you shadowed should cover you. I'd wait to ask until beginning junior year, unless you think they'll forget you.
7 – Try calling a few offices, probably start with gen dents. Tell the receptionist you're a predent looking to shadow a dentist, have her leave a message for the denstist. Or ask your own dentist if you can go in or if he has any connections.

Good luck, let me know if you have any more ?'s.

 

[jigabodo]

Hi. I'm new to this and was just hoping to find some help. I'm currently a sophomore at the University of Michigan. I'm doing fairly alright, not excellent. I've taken gen chem, gen bio, calc I & II, and orgo I already. Right now, my overall gpa is 3.3 and my science gpa is about a 3.0. I'm involved in a few clubs, have gotten a couple leadership positions, done some volunteer work, doing research right now, and have shadowed a dentist over the summer. I had just a few questions and would greatly appreciate it if some people could help me out! 🙂

1) What else should I be doing to get a better chance of getting into a school?
2) What is the average gpa, science gpa, and DAT scores that you need to get into a decent dental school?
3) What classes does your science gpa actually include?
4) When should I take the DAT? What books are good at preparing you for them? What score should I aim for?
5) What classes should I have completed before taking the DAT?
6) How many letters of recommendation do I need? Should I ask for them from my professors while I am currently taking the course, or should I wait until I need them?
7) Also, I don't know many dentists to shadow from where I'm from, and was just wondering if anyone had any experience or knew a good approach in getting volunteering and shadowing opportunities?

THANNKKS. 🙂

-Trang

1. Raise your GPA in the mean time. Try to get it as high as possible. Preferably 3.4+.
2. There is no official ranking for dental schools. All accredited schools will offer you an excellent dental education. Last year, the avg. GPA for enrollee is 3.5 for overall, and 3.4 for science. DAT score is probably somewhere between 18 and 19.
4. A lot of people opt to take it during early summer. You should take it when you feel well prepared - aim for at least a 20, I'd say.
5. Finish your prereqs would help. Otherwise, topics in Cell bio, physio, anatomy, biochem and evolution would also appear on DAT.
6. You should get at least 3 letters. One from a science, one from non-science, and one from a dentist.

 

[dubbers]

I am just finishing up at UofM so I might be of some help. The advice of those before me is great, but here may be some stuff specific to UM that I found helpful:

As far as classes to take before the DAT, first finish up your orgo. The other bio classes I found most helpful were biochem and animal phys, but any mid or upper level bio's would definately help. I also thought PChem was REALLY helpful on the genchem part of DAT, so try to fit in chem 230 or 260 somewhere.

As for the LORs, you can get them anytime during your 3 yrs before you apply, just make sure you go to office hours a lot and get to know them personally. I recommend doing one bio prof and one chem prof in addition to whatever other letters you need because some schools (eg. Maryland among others) require them specifically from bio and chem. I said you can get them anytime cause you can open up a file at the career center and have your letters forwarded there and then just have them sent out when you apply. This may be easier than having them sent at the time of applying cause getting them in on time can be a bitch if your profs are busy or just simply too slow. Hope this helps!

Best of luck!

 

[blankguy]

Take any physiology and anatomy courses! I think dental school is going to be a lot of rote memorization. In undergrad if you are having trouble they can coach you with how to handle this type of info. Once in dental school they won't have as much time to help you because they have an aggressive schedule to cover a lot of material. As others have said raise GPA and take the DAT as soon as you are done with the prereqs. Plan on applying over the summer between junior and senior year if you want to go to dental school right after graduation.

 

[Frederico Albin]

just one questions... people with most pre-reqs and 90 credits by the time they finish their junior year can apply in their sophmore year right?