Hello, I am currently a junior majoring in Biology B.A. I have a 3.24 cumulative gpa and I am struggling to maintain. I have tons of extracurriculars and community service involvement but my grades are suffering and I'm going downhill badly. My grades for prerequisite courses range from B's to C's and I even have a 3 W's on transcript. Overall I'm not showing any progress and I know that will kill my chances of getting into dental school. I've been considering transferring over to a new school and starting all over like as a freshman again, to build my gpa back up and start fresh. Most of my peers that I've discussed this with think that I'm crazy for having this idea but I truly feel like this is what's best and they just don't understand because they aren't pursuing a career in the medical/dental field. If there is anyone who may have experienced something similar or started over fresh and could give me some advice I would greatly appreciate it. I've emailed my advisor from my school and then the admissions office of the school I am looking to transfer to, I'm just waiting on their responses...
Starting Over
- Thread starter Ijbr929
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your GPA will not go away from your first 3 years. Are you currently at a state school? will changing schools mean you have to pay a lot more in tuition/living costs? all questions to consider prior to starting
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You will still have to report both GPAs on your application so changing schools does nothing. I had to report a CC class I took when I was in high school back in 2016, so no changing schools not be starting over. On your application it will say GPA from X school then GPA from Y school and then the combined cumulative GPA.
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agreed. Only thing I can think is that it could possibly give you a psychological boost to 'start over' at a new school. but it could also be way worse as it usually takes some time to adapt and change your habits, and you don't have time to spend a semester 'adjusting' and getting mediocre grades. You need to up your GPA pretty much immediately and hit the ground running.
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Why would you “start over” as a “freshman” the a new school when you have the option of doing a masters program? A 3.2 isn’t all that uncommon and honestly as long as you can maintain that you should be fine and I’d just do your best in a masters program. There are people who have been accepted with a 3.2 undergrad without a masters but there are many who have a sub 3.0 gpa and then got a 3.8+ in a masters program and have gone on to dental.. just try your best to maintain that gpa and see where it takes you. Being a junior in college, you’d have to take a lot of courses to make up for the ones you haven't done well in.
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Just do well in the remaining classes, do a postbac if needed but don't start over. It's not worth the time or effort.
You definitely just need to complete your degree, get a strong DAT score, and possibly do a MS program. The AADSAS will make you report all your school’s and grades as the others have already mentioned. There’s no hiding what’s already been done. At some point you just have to start the uphill trend, so just get to working on that and let it be today. Don’t worry with switching schools and “redoing” a degree becasue that’s costly in both time and money.
