UPenn

[drpduck]

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Well the assistant dean of admissions from Penn (Dr. Emling) came to talk at my school today. I didn't know much about Penn.....but after hearing about it and doing some research...this school sounds awesome! (International Externships, Selectives for 2nd and 3rd yr students!). All until I hear the mean gpa for the class of '06 is 3.50!!!!!! Anyone have any good stories of less then average gpa's getting in? (IE-~3.0-3.1 range) My rather sad looking gpa has no chance against a 3.5🙄

 

[johndental]

Dont get discouraged.

Raise your gpa to say a 3.2 and then try and do real well on the DAT ( if you try you CAN do well on this test ) and remember one little thing: 3.5 is the average so penn has plenty of 3.2's in their incoming class.

I would be more worried about where in the hell I am going to come up with the 45K in first year tuition costs or whatever madness it is. Look to STATE schools unless you have wealthy parents who are willing to foot the bill. I wouldnt want to struggle under that kind of debt my first year out. Dentists have to worry about so more than most MD's when it comes to starting a practice and you dont want to dig yourself a big whole right off the bat.

Also: ten years ago it was a joke getting in. Five years ago it was quite a bit easier than it is now. Five years in the future I would bet you might see a lull depending on how the economy is doing. If the economy is healthy the number of applications will decline.

These things go in cycles. Dont get discouraged. If you want to be a Dentist you will find a way.

 

[Rezdawg]

For every 3.9 gpa, there is a 3.1 gpa.

 

[drpduck]

Yea....the $ is a bit much....especially since i'm a Maryland resident, so thus UMaryland is my state school. Guess I would just like to get in somewhere!!!!!

 

[scandalouslj]

hey Drpduck,
I am a first year class of 07 at Penn, and our GPA is actually higher with a 3.6 average. But things like DAT scores weigh in very heavily, so if you can get a good score, they can overlook the bad GPA. Things like upward trends in scores if you had a bad start will also overlok a bad GPA. The interivew is also very important, as are the undergrad classes you take. I thought I had no chance in hell getting in as I had a 3.5 gpa, but only pretty average DAT scores, and was alppying after 3 years. but after talking to the admissions commitee one of the reasons i got in was the decent gpa and all the undergrad classes I took (genetics, micro, human physiology, anatomy, biochem, plus all the normal intro classes), plus a lot of dentistry experience..aka shadowing and working at a dental lab over the summer.

The schools is by far one of the best in the country as you can see by resdiency matching rates, using manneuin heads in GRD instead of articulators (makes it way harder, becuase you cant move the head around like you can an articulator, but way better at it, becuase you arent going to be able to move a patients head around that much either), it is absolutly beautiful, the social life is awsome, and so are most of the teachers. You get an Alumni, 2nd year, and starting next year, a faculty mentor. The only downside I can see is that is is very expensive, and we are constantly *itching, but fir me the added fact that I want to specialize, and have a better chance of doing it was worth the money. It came down to te last day between Indiana and Penn last year, becuase Indiana also has a high matching rate for a state school (like 8 in ortho last year), but Penn has 12 go into ortho and it would be all the money in the world if I was in those last 4 spots at Penn and got in vs paying less byu going to Indiana but not getting in, so you nned to see what you want to do.. If you just want to do GP I woulndt recommend coming here becuase it is too expensive, but if saying I graduated from an Ivy league school is something you like, becuase Ivy league connections are insane when it comes to this school, then apply.