Taking 2 Gap Years. Need help.

[AnonyDream]

Hello SDN, I (22 M) am a recent university graduate, and my stats suck. I have a 3.13 GPA (sGPA: 3.0), 2 years of drug-related research (published in 1 paper), 200+ hours of shadowing a dentist, 100 hours in hospice volunteering, and a few clubs I stayed in for 3-4 years. My GPA sucks and I've been studying for the DAT this past week. My DAT is in Aug. 5 and I only studied for 7 days (VERY stupid). I scored 19 AA in both practice tests from bootcamp. My GPA sucks and my practice DATs aren't even average, so I decided that I will skip my DAT on Monday. I need to fix my bad habits with procrastination and time management and better my priorities, which you can see through my GPA and DAT studying, and I have mediocre stats. Thus, I decided to apply next cycle.

Since I graduated this year and am applying next year, I am taking two gap years. I honestly don't know how to improve my application. I have 4 great LORs from professors and a dentist, and I know I can do MUCH better on the DAT with a month or two of studying to make me more competitive. For bad GPAs, I hear that people take Masters programs, post-baccs, or SMPs to improve it, but it's August and the programs I looked at are past the deadline for this Fall. I also don't know if it's worth spending thousands to tens of thousands of dollars for a program if I do well in the DAT.

The dentist I shadowed offered me to work for him, and I will try to find research opportunities/dental programs around me during this time. What else can I do? Do you think a good DAT (21+) with my ECs and mediocre GPA are enough? I know skipping my test is ill-advised, but I want to take it once and do great in it instead of doing bad and then good (since all schools will see my DAT). Any advice?

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[Bigjt1420]

You almost sound exactly like I was a few years back -- I had almost the exact GPA and had troubles with procrastination as well. Glad you seem to understand and are sorting it out.

2 year Gap year isn't bad. I took 3 years off actually between graduating and actually starting dental school. I ended up doing a masters program and I do believe that helped me get into school -- both through raising my GPA and also through just learning how to study and how to approach an extremely heavy courseload. Dental school (and graduate school in general) is such a different monster to undergrad, so I'm actually super happy I did the Master's program to learn how to juggle so much material at once.

That said, you probably don't have to do a Master's if you didn't want to. Your application is just strong enough it seems to get interviews IF you do well on the DAT. It was a smart decision postponing your DAT on Monday, you NEED to do well on this exam to have any chance whatsoever. I got a 24 AA on my DAT, with a 24 in Sciences and 29 in Reading Comprehension, and I only got 2 interviews when I applied (And 2 acceptances, but I'm also pretty sociable so that was a contributing factor). To have a shot at schools, you're going to need an extremely high DAT score, something like a 23+, in my opinion. This is because, to me, schools need to be able to have that one statistic, be it GPA or DAT or preferably both, where they can point to and say "see, this student has the numbers we are looking for." Almost like justifying why they decided to interview/accept you. I might be wrong, but that's kind of how I see things. So to offset your low GPA, like what I had to too, you must score high on the DAT. I know it's a lot of pressure, but it's the situation we put ourselves in.

When I took my DAT, I studied for 3 straight months, 6 days a week for about 5 hours a day. Overkill for most people, but I'm not a brain like a lot of people on this site or in dental school in general. So I would suggest you take this exam seriously and do the same. Study like crazy, give it a real honest try, crush the DAT in say what November/December of this year, and then get all your things together for applying in the first half of next June. Have all your letter of recs and grades and transcripts and DAT's and what not accounted for and ready to go.

I know it's stressful, I was in your shoes not too long ago. Just stick to a plan and try your best and whatever happens will be for a reason. BTW, I'm doing very well in Dental School and am 2 weeks away from finishing my first year -- so once you get in, don't worry. If you work hard you'll do well too. Good luck!

 

[AnonyDream]

You almost sound exactly like I was a few years back -- I had almost the exact GPA and had troubles with procrastination as well. Glad you seem to understand and are sorting it out.

2 year Gap year isn't bad. I took 3 years off actually between graduating and actually starting dental school. I ended up doing a masters program and I do believe that helped me get into school -- both through raising my GPA and also through just learning how to study and how to approach an extremely heavy courseload. Dental school (and graduate school in general) is such a different monster to undergrad, so I'm actually super happy I did the Master's program to learn how to juggle so much material at once.

That said, you probably don't have to do a Master's if you didn't want to. Your application is just strong enough it seems to get interviews IF you do well on the DAT. It was a smart decision postponing your DAT on Monday, you NEED to do well on this exam to have any chance whatsoever. I got a 24 AA on my DAT, with a 24 in Sciences and 29 in Reading Comprehension, and I only got 2 interviews when I applied (And 2 acceptances, but I'm also pretty sociable so that was a contributing factor). To have a shot at schools, you're going to need an extremely high DAT score, something like a 23+, in my opinion. This is because, to me, schools need to be able to have that one statistic, be it GPA or DAT or preferably both, where they can point to and say "see, this student has the numbers we are looking for." Almost like justifying why they decided to interview/accept you. I might be wrong, but that's kind of how I see things. So to offset your low GPA, like what I had to too, you must score high on the DAT. I know it's a lot of pressure, but it's the situation we put ourselves in.

When I took my DAT, I studied for 3 straight months, 6 days a week for about 5 hours a day. Overkill for most people, but I'm not a brain like a lot of people on this site or in dental school in general. So I would suggest you take this exam seriously and do the same. Study like crazy, give it a real honest try, crush the DAT in say what November/December of this year, and then get all your things together for applying in the first half of next June. Have all your letter of recs and grades and transcripts and DAT's and what not accounted for and ready to go.

I know it's stressful, I was in your shoes not too long ago. Just stick to a plan and try your best and whatever happens will be for a reason. BTW, I'm doing very well in Dental School and am 2 weeks away from finishing my first year -- so once you get in, don't worry. If you work hard you'll do well too. Good luck!

Thanks for the superb advice and motivation! I'm glad to hear that you didn't regret your decision, and congratulations on almost finishing your first year! I plan to take my DAT on December-ish, which gives me much more time for studying than before. If you don't mind me asking, how many schools did you apply to and how broad?

 

[Bigjt1420]

Thanks for the superb advice and motivation! I'm glad to hear that you didn't regret your decision, and congratulations on almost finishing your first year! I plan to take my DAT on December-ish, which gives me much more time for studying than before. If you don't mind me asking, how many schools did you apply to and how broad?

Thank you! That's a good plan I think. I applied to 20 schools basically all over the country. I looked at the ones with the "lowest stats" when it came to acceptances and also applied to programs I could see myself wanting to go to. It just so happened that I got into one that was a good price and closer to home, so I was thrilled. I got lucky in that regard. But yeah definitely apply to 15+ (I know it's a lot of money but we need to cast our net wide) and don't apply to schools you absolutely could not see yourself going to. Personally, I wouldn't (and didn't) apply to schools like NYU and USC that literally cost $450K for dental school, before interest. I just don't think it'd be worth it at that price.