Tired of wasting time.. what would you do? Help please**

[mandookimchi]

Hey everyone,
I need some legit reality check/advice from you guys.

I am currently a post-grad who graduated last year from college and has been working full time at a non-dental related job to save up some money. After realizing that I truly want to pursue a career in dentistry, I am going to give it my all. Please respond by giving me realistic situations and what you would do if you were in my shoes. Thank you very much.

Undergraduate school: University of California, Riverside
Undergrad Overall GPA: 3.24 (but on my official transcript it says 3.32)
Science GPA: 3.15
** overall gpa and science gpa are a little bit off because I have failed gen chem once (F) due to personal reasons but got an A+ the following quarter.

Extracurricular Activities:
- Volunteered 150 hours at a non-profit Dental Clinic nearby
- Volunteered 236 hours at a nearby hospital
- Active member in dental club during college (not board position)
- Leader for two years in a non-profit organization for dance/singing
- Tutoring SAT and science related subjects to high school students

Internship/shadowing Experience:
- Unpaid internship from a local dentist throughout two summers (240 hours)
- Shadowed an oral/max. surgeon 12 hours
- Went to a medical mission trip to S.America in the summer of '16 (with a general dentist and oral/max. surgeon).

Job Experience:
- Unregistered Dental Assistant for 6 months (under supervision under a dentist in CA)

DAT score:
18AA/20PAT/18TS/15(reading) i effed up

I haven't applied for dental school yet. I am planning to start applying to different post-bacc/or masters programs.
Thank you guys.

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[887194]

Question: What do you mean by unregistered dental assistant for 6 months? if you were working and treating patients without the proper training, this may set off a ton of red flags for schools and result in an instant rejection by them. Moving on, it seems to me you're struggling on the DAT. You need to have a solid strategy for tackling the DAT and change your approach. Also, perhaps you can consider completing a post- bac to raise that GPA. If you need any help with the DAT I can try to point you in the right direction. I also suggest you read some breakdowns of top scorers on this forum. Realistically your chances are quite low at this point but it doesn't mean you should give up. Feel free to pm me.

 

[mariobrosdoctor]

Question: What do you mean by unregistered dental assistant for 6 months? if you were working and treating patients without the proper training, this may set off a ton of red flags for schools and result in an instant rejection by them. Moving on, it seems to me you're struggling on the DAT. You need to have a solid strategy for tackling the DAT and change your approach. Also, perhaps you can consider completing a post- bac to raise that GPA. If you need any help with the DAT I can try to point you in the right direction. I also suggest you read some breakdowns of top scorers on this forum. Realistically your chances are quite low at this point but it doesn't mean you should give up. Feel free to pm me.

You can work under the supervision of a dentist in California

 

[mandookimchi]

Question: What do you mean by unregistered dental assistant for 6 months? if you were working and treating patients without the proper training, this may set off a ton of red flags for schools and result in an instant rejection by them. Moving on, it seems to me you're struggling on the DAT. You need to have a solid strategy for tackling the DAT and change your approach. Also, perhaps you can consider completing a post- bac to raise that GPA. If you need any help with the DAT I can try to point you in the right direction. I also suggest you read some breakdowns of top scorers on this forum. Realistically your chances are quite low at this point but it doesn't mean you should give up. Feel free to pm me.

I worked under the supervision of a dentist in CA.

 

[acemason]

Very similar situation, PM’d you.

 

[887194]

You can work under the supervision of a dentist in California

Ah, okay. Different country/ states have different laws. Thanks for clarifying.

 

[Sweet_Tooth]

No need to specify whether the dental assistant position was registered or not, assisting is assisting.

Honestly the only major red flag I see here is the DAT, but there is no reason to not do well because of all the resources that are available, for that you can head over to the DAT discussions section, for me, reading breakdowns was super helpful, as is the entire website of DAT bootcamp. I also had to take my exam twice so don't worry about if that will look bad, a lot of people take it at least twice--what's important is that you learn from your first attempt (what worked and what didn't work) and improve your score in all the sections. You should do well as long as you utilize the available resources and aim for the highest score possible.

With regards to GPA, I applied broadly and got three interviews with a 3.27 sGPA. As long as you have an upward trend you still have a chance. If you want to bring the sGPA to at least a 3.2/3.3 range I would recommend a diy postbac of sorts, where you could enroll as a guest student at some university, like your alma mater, and take upper level science courses and do well in them. Idk how many credits you've already taken but I think that even getting A's in those courses can push your GPA up a point or two.

If you're truly brave/willing to give it your best and want to stop wasting time, I suggest applying this summer! The application opens June 1st, you still have plenty of time to prepare. You could begin studying for the DAT some time now, taking it sometime around May, and enrolling in some upper level sciences for the summer/spring semester (idk how it is at your university but here, Winter semester is from January to April and you can take accelerated Spring courses from May-June or accelerated summer courses from July-August, or nonaccelerated/extended summer courses from May-August).

Because your volunteer and shadowing/dental experiences are honestly great, if you could just buckle down and focus on the academics, you got this! And as long as your GPA is above a 3.0 I don't think you need a master's you would just need to apply broadly (10-15 schools minimum!) and apply early, try to secure some strong letters of rec, write a strong PS, then you should be set--best of luck!

 

[Medin2017]

Hey everyone,
I need some legit reality check/advice from you guys.

I am currently a post-grad who graduated last year from college and has been working full time at a non-dental related job to save up some money. After realizing that I truly want to pursue a career in dentistry, I am going to give it my all. Please respond by giving me realistic situations and what you would do if you were in my shoes. Thank you very much.

Undergraduate school: University of California, Riverside
Undergrad Overall GPA: 3.24 (but on my official transcript it says 3.32)
Science GPA: 3.15
** overall gpa and science gpa are a little bit off because I have failed gen chem once (F) due to personal reasons but got an A+ the following quarter.

Extracurricular Activities:
- Volunteered 150 hours at a non-profit Dental Clinic nearby
- Volunteered 236 hours at a nearby hospital
- Active member in dental club during college (not board position)
- Leader for two years in a non-profit organization for dance/singing
- Tutoring SAT and science related subjects to high school students

Internship/shadowing Experience:
- Unpaid internship from a local dentist throughout two summers (240 hours)
- Shadowed an oral/max. surgeon 12 hours
- Went to a medical mission trip to S.America in the summer of '16 (with a general dentist and oral/max. surgeon).

Job Experience:
- Unregistered Dental Assistant for 6 months (under supervision under a dentist in CA)

DAT score:
18AA/20PAT/18TS/15(reading) i effed up

I haven't applied for dental school yet. I am planning to start applying to different post-bacc/or masters programs.
Thank you guys.

,

 

[ssdent18]

In your shoes - I'd do a post-bacc and retake the DAT. Take the DAT soon, and if you do Super well (like 23+) then you can just not do the post bacc and apply asap. If you get a good but not stand out score, then do the post bacc, raise your GPA, and continue your dental experiences

 

[mandookimchi]

Thank you everybody who responded. Currently, I have started studying for the DAT with Biology