Sub 3.0 Needing Positive Outlook!

[Teeth4Life1234]

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So I know there are many cases out there with below 3.0 GPA but I would like some feedback on my personal case.

I live in AZ and just graduated from ASU with pretty low GPA.

GPA - 2.75
sGPA - 2.6

300 hrs+ shadowing/assisting at multiple clinics
Traveled to Honduras for 2 weeks to volunteer at a medical/dental clinic
I'm a DJ and I volunteered my services to multiple charities (not relating to dentistry)

I haven't taken my DAT's yet but assuming I score average (19 - 20) what are my chances?

I've scoured the forums and honestly I have been really disheartened. I have no one to blame but myself lol

Any help would be GREATLY appreciated. Much thanks in advance!

 

[Doc Smile]

So I know there are many cases out there with below 3.0 GPA but I would like some feedback on my personal case.

I live in AZ and just graduated from ASU with pretty low GPA.

GPA - 2.75
sGPA - 2.6

300 hrs+ shadowing/assisting at multiple clinics
Traveled to Honduras for 2 weeks to volunteer at a medical/dental clinic
I'm a DJ and I volunteered my services to multiple charities (not relating to dentistry)

I haven't taken my DAT's yet but assuming I score average (19 - 20) what are my chances?

I've scoured the forums and honestly I have been really disheartened. I have no one to blame but myself lol

Any help would be GREATLY appreciated. Much thanks in advance!

Say hello to a 1 year, non-thesis driven master's program in biology!

 

[THRILLOFDAFILL]

start working at the asdoh clinic. make sure you get ur name around. Sometimes they take people with your stats. They care a lot about volunteering and all that good stuff. While your doing that, take a few (12) postbacc classes and ace them all. I think asdoh is your best shot, and i would try midwestern too but they are not that big on community service and it is mostly ur gpa and grades.

You are owning up to your sub-par grades. Some people never do that.

Good luck.

 

[UCSD1984]

So I know there are many cases out there with below 3.0 GPA but I would like some feedback on my personal case.

I live in AZ and just graduated from ASU with pretty low GPA.

GPA - 2.75
sGPA - 2.6

300 hrs+ shadowing/assisting at multiple clinics
Traveled to Honduras for 2 weeks to volunteer at a medical/dental clinic
I'm a DJ and I volunteered my services to multiple charities (not relating to dentistry)

I haven't taken my DAT's yet but assuming I score average (19 - 20) what are my chances?

I've scoured the forums and honestly I have been really disheartened. I have no one to blame but myself lol

Any help would be GREATLY appreciated. Much thanks in advance!

Hey man, just wanted to post a quick reply and let you know that I'm in the same exact situation as you. My GPA is roughly the same, and I've talked to a lot of incredibly helpful people on these forums. General consensus towards our situation is a post-bacc program. I'm personally starting an informal post-bacc this Fall which will consist of 16-19 units per quarter, all courses being upper-division Biology.

If you can ace all those classes (literally, ace...don't aim for a hair lower), and considering your great volunteering background, you should have a pretty decent shot assuming you do well on the DATs. You're actually a more competitive applicant than I am right now considering I currently have much fewer volunteer/shadowing/clinical hours. However, I'm going to be getting on that hardcore this next coming year.

Don't feel disheartened, you're not in an impossible rut. But in order for you to prove to the AdComs that you are capable of handling Dental School coursework, you need to show them a massive upward trend in GPA in the next 1-1.5 years of post-bacc. You also have the option of doing a Masters or a formal post-bacc, but that all depends on what you prefer. Generally, from what I've learned on this great forum, is to consider a post-bacc before considering a Masters.

Anywho, I hope this was helpful. It's not impossible, it'll just be difficult...and I'm in the same boat as you. If you have any questions, feel free to PM me or just post on the boards. You'll be surprised how friendly and helpful this forum is.

Best of luck, God Bless.

 

[Teeth4Life1234]

Thank you guys for the input. It really helps!

If possible, I would like to hear more from people who were in my situation and what they did.

Once again, thank you Doc, bdarvish, and UCSD!

 

[Teeth4Life1234]

Hey man, just wanted to post a quick reply and let you know that I'm in the same exact situation as you. My GPA is roughly the same, and I've talked to a lot of incredibly helpful people on these forums. General consensus towards our situation is a post-bacc program. I'm personally starting an informal post-bacc this Fall which will consist of 16-19 units per quarter, all courses being upper-division Biology.

If you can ace all those classes (literally, ace...don't aim for a hair lower), and considering your great volunteering background, you should have a pretty decent shot assuming you do well on the DATs. You're actually a more competitive applicant than I am right now considering I currently have much fewer volunteer/shadowing/clinical hours. However, I'm going to be getting on that hardcore this next coming year.

Don't feel disheartened, you're not in an impossible rut. But in order for you to prove to the AdComs that you are capable of handling Dental School coursework, you need to show them a massive upward trend in GPA in the next 1-1.5 years of post-bacc. You also have the option of doing a Masters or a formal post-bacc, but that all depends on what you prefer. Generally, from what I've learned on this great forum, is to consider a post-bacc before considering a Masters.

Anywho, I hope this was helpful. It's not impossible, it'll just be difficult...and I'm in the same boat as you. If you have any questions, feel free to PM me or just post on the boards. You'll be surprised how friendly and helpful this forum is.

Best of luck, God Bless.

Thanks, your info helped a lot. I'm very new to all this since I just switched to being a pre-dent major a couple of years ago. What exactly is post-bacc? Is it just taking extra science courses?

 

[dentalWorks]

So I know there are many cases out there with below 3.0 GPA but I would like some feedback on my personal case.

I live in AZ and just graduated from ASU with pretty low GPA.

GPA - 2.75
sGPA - 2.6

300 hrs+ shadowing/assisting at multiple clinics
Traveled to Honduras for 2 weeks to volunteer at a medical/dental clinic
I'm a DJ and I volunteered my services to multiple charities (not relating to dentistry)

I haven't taken my DAT's yet but assuming I score average (19 - 20) what are my chances?

I've scoured the forums and honestly I have been really disheartened. I have no one to blame but myself lol

Any help would be GREATLY appreciated. Much thanks in advance!

very slim to non.

Don't take the DAT until you've fixed your stats (or done post-bacc / masters).

 

[UBERlowGPA]

Thank you guys for the input. It really helps!

If possible, I would like to hear more from people who were in my situation and what they did.

Once again, thank you Doc, bdarvish, and UCSD!

I'm all for the postbac route. Take full science courseloads and do well in them and you should see your undergrad GPA rise. Depending on how many units/credits you have already completed, trying to raise your GPA may seem difficult. I took me a little under two years of postbac work getting stellar grades to raise my GPA BARELY over a 3. Don't let that dishearten you though. ADCOMS love to see trends, and by you taking FULL courseloads and doing well, you should be ok as long as you also do well on your DAT and the other aspects of you application.

I personally repeated a few courses I didn't do well in, but mostly took upper division science classes. I'd focus on anatomy, physio, biochem, microbio, and histology.

I'd say the two most important things are to 1) figure out why your GPA was so low in the first place so that you can make the appropriate changes in you behavior/study habits, and 2) speak with specific dental schools about your case in order to come up with a plan during your postbac work and to keep yourself on their radar when it comes time to apply.

Lots of people told me it couldn't be done, but I did it. I'm sure you can too. Good luck.

 

[Teeth4Life1234]

very slim to non.

Don't take the DAT until you've fixed your stats (or done post-bacc / masters).

Why is it better to wait to take the DAT until after I fixed my stats?

Also, is there any chance at all of getting in currently with my situation assuming I do amazing on the DAT? Would doing more community service, clinic work, etc help at all?

 

[dentalWorks]

Why is it better to wait to take the DAT until after I fixed my stats?

Also, is there any chance at all of getting in currently with my situation assuming I do amazing on the DAT? Would doing more community service, clinic work, etc help at all?

Well... DAT has expiration date (most schools is 24-36 months). I don't think you'll be ready by next year. So taking the DAT this summer is (IMO) setting you up for a future retake.

When you say amazing on the DAT...I am guessing your referring to 25+, yes that would look impressive, but most people walk into the testing center and don't walk out with a 25. By most, I mean 99%...

If you got that kinda confidence in your DAT skills, then by all means, give it a try, otherwise, the more logical/obtainable option is go with the slower post-bacc and slowly climb up the GPAs

 

[dentalbuzz]

Why is it better to wait to take the DAT until after I fixed my stats?

Also, is there any chance at all of getting in currently with my situation assuming I do amazing on the DAT? Would doing more community service, clinic work, etc help at all?

No, unfortunately not. Your gpa is way too low. There are so many other applicants with far better stats than yours for adcoms to choose from, and getting into dental school is becoming more competitive each year.

In short, don't waste your money applying this year. Take post bacc classes (it'll probably take you a few years or more to get your gpa up to an acceptable level depending on how many credits you already have) and ACE all your science courses. Adcoms want to see that you can handle it...your current gpa wont inspire any confidence. Also, ROCK the DAT.

Good luck.

 

[iralex801]

You have shown Adcoms that you have the desire to help people/become a dentist but you haven't shown them that you are capable of handling the rigors of dental school to become a dentist. Unless your confident you can do really well on the DAT or you have severe personal circumstances that distracted you from your academics, I would take dentalworks advice and don't take DAT until you bring up GPA b/c it can expire.

 

[Winter Wind]

very slim to non.

Don't take the DAT until you've fixed your stats (or done post-bacc / masters).

👍

 

[bing12]

well... Dat has expiration date (most schools is 24-36 months). I don't think you'll be ready by next year. So taking the dat this summer is (imo) setting you up for a future retake.

When you say amazing on the dat...i am guessing your referring to 25+, yes that would look impressive, but most people walk into the testing center and don't walk out with a 25. By most, i mean 99%...

If you got that kinda confidence in your dat skills, then by all means, give it a try, otherwise, the more logical/obtainable option is go with the slower post-bacc and slowly climb up the gpas

+1

 

[duvaldentist]

You have shown Adcoms that you have the desire to help people/become a dentist but you haven't shown them that you are capable of handling the rigors of dental school to become a dentist. Unless your confident you can do really well on the DAT or you have severe personal circumstances that distracted you from your academics, I would take dentalworks advice and don't take DAT until you bring up GPA b/c it can expire.

Sorry to butt in on the conversation, but im somewhat in the same boat. My GPA is a little better and i have been slaving over DAT material for the past 2 months and plan to take the DAT in a little over a month. So if i were to hypotheticaly score lets a say a 24 and i do have the mentioned severe personal cicumstances and a good amount of voulnteer/shadowing do i have any shot?

 

[DentToBeCont]

Sorry to butt in on the conversation, but im somewhat in the same boat. My GPA is a little better and i have been slaving over DAT material for the past 2 months and plan to take the DAT in a little over a month. So if i were to hypotheticaly score lets a say a 24 and i do have the mentioned severe personal cicumstances and a good amount of voulnteer/shadowing do i have any shot?

You could have a shot.. but keep in mind you cant explain your "severe personal cicumstances" unless you have an interview.

 

[dds86]

I would recommend doing the DAT first, the post-bac won't really help you much with raising your DAT scores, just mainly your biology section if anything. I personally took the DAT in undergrad and did well on it, but not well enough to get in the first time I applied (during my first semester of post-bacc, not a single interview). Most schools will not really consider you seriously until you have at least a semester of the post-bacc under your belt, so I would recommend waiting to apply after you have taken the DAT and have at least one semester behind you of whatever post bac program you choose to do. I applied right after the 2nd semester of my post-bacc and got 6 interviews and multiple acceptances, so definitely don't give up hope. Just realize that it might take awhile for you to get in.

 

[duvaldentist]

You could have a shot.. but keep in mind you cant explain your "severe personal cicumstances" unless you have an interview.

Well I am going to include it in my personal statement, so i hope they will read my PS. Do you think all schools review the 'entire' aplication or are there certain weed out things like GPA and DAT that may prevent an individual from having there entire aplication reviewd.

 

[molar3]

Well I am going to include it in my personal statement, so i hope they will read my PS. Do you think all schools review the 'entire' aplication or are there certain weed out things like GPA and DAT that may prevent an individual from having there entire aplication reviewd.

haha youre aim'ing for a 24?! arent we all. that rarely happens, but who knows maybe you could pull it off, it seems uve been studying hard. anyway,
i think it depends on the school. some schools have cutoffs, if you have like a 2.6 sci/bcp some schools will see that & reject u based on that alone & not look at your app (despite u having say, a 24DAT)
some schools review every application--(supposidly?) but theyre still gonna wonder why u have a 2.6 gpa
so yea, hmmmm no one knows if youll get in with your stats but i dont think you should put all your hope in your DAT for getting you accepted. thats just 1 part of your app & may or may not carry you to an acceptance, depending. id work on your gpa as well.

 

[duvaldentist]

haha youre aim'ing for a 24?! arent we all. that rarely happens, but who knows maybe you could pull it off, it seems uve been studying hard. anyway,
i think it depends on the school. some schools have cutoffs, if you have like a 2.6 sci/bcp some schools will see that & reject u based on that alone & not look at your app (despite u having say, a 24DAT)
some schools review every application--(supposidly?) but theyre still gonna wonder why u have a 2.6 gpa
so yea, hmmmm no one knows if youll get in with your stats but i dont think you should put all your hope in your DAT for getting you accepted. thats just 1 part of your app & may or may not carry you to an acceptance, depending. id work on your gpa as well.

Yes I totaly agree, I just figured it was worth a shot to try. But deffinantly after i take my DAT it will be time to work on boosting up the GPA.