WAMC- poor gpa, decent dat, good upward trend

[Rvting]

Date of submission: 5/30
Overall GPA: 3.12
Grad oGPA: 3.74
Science GPA: 2.95
Grad sGPA: 3.74
Bio-Chem-Physics GPA: 3.12
Grad bcpGPA: 3.74
DAT score (include AA and all sections): 19 1st attempt, 20 2nd and last (20 across the board)
State of Residence: Mi

Undergrad Attended: Detroit mercy
Major: Bio
Minority? nope, but ORM multiracial
Reapplicant? Yes, 3rd attempt
Nontrad? Nope

Shadowing Experience:

1. 60 hours in one practice (however, the dentist is now retired)
2. 72 in another

Volunteering Experience:

1. 20 hours working at a church in detroit for a food drive and continuing
2. ~60 dental assisting in a clinic
3. 100 hours dental assisting in detroit

Employment: 1000+ hours working on golf course, 50 hours working as a park guard
Research: Hours and type; any publications or presentations? How many?
Other Extracurriculars: leadership class, a few pre-dental club activities
Relevant Honors or Awards:
LOR type and strength: 1 from a dentist, 3 from STEM professors
Misc Info/Things not stated elsewhere/Red Flags: Have 2 associate degrees. My latter half of credits comes to an oGPA of 3.36, and my last quarter comes to 3.59.

School list:
A.T Still Miss
Case Western
Nova Southeastern
New England
Roseman
Midwestern- ILL
Touro (but waiting on grad letter)
colorado
maryland
Nevada

I wanted to apply to detroit mercy but I choose not to for two reasons:
1. I literally can't apply to them because my science gpa is sub 3.0.
2. I can't trust my mother won't bug me while I'm studying.
Also, on the side note: I'm just noticing this but AADSAS is not registering some of my winter semester grad classes so perhaps my gpa is slightly higher. I'm checking this out now.

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[Ryxndek]

Just out of curiosity what have you done for this cycle that’s different from the previous? I’m assuming the second DAT and masters program?

Is your masters an SMP? Are you able to elaborate a little bit more in that. As well as your DAT, what was your TS and PAT? It can be hard to give advice with not enough information

 

[Rvting]

Just out of curiosity what have you done for this cycle that’s different from the previous? I’m assuming the second DAT and masters program?

Is your masters an SMP? Are you able to elaborate a little bit more in that. As well as your DAT, what was your TS and PAT? It can be hard to give advice with not enough information

pretty much, also increased my hours of volunteer dental assisting, church food drive volunteering, and working.
it isn't an SMP, its a masters of arts in bio (which had a lot of pre-med and pre-dent funny enough). TS and PAT are both 20

 

[Ryxndek]

pretty much, also increased my hours of volunteering dental assisting, church food drive volunteering, and working.
it isn't an SMP, its a masters of arts in bio (which had a lot of pre-med and pre-dent funny enough). TS and PAT are both 20

Hm, I’m unsure how schools will look at the masters since it isn’t a formal SMP. But the gpa increase will hopefully be noticed. Did you receive any interviews from your previous application cycles?

 

[Rvting]

Hm, I’m unsure how schools will look at the masters since it isn’t a formal SMP. But the gpa increase will hopefully be noticed. Did you receive any interviews from your previous application cycles?

no interviews before.

All I can say is that I'm taking high-level bio classes and a few other pre-dents in my classes seem to have gotten in for their 22-23 cycle. One got into roseman.

 

[Ryxndek]

no interviews before.

All I can say is that I'm taking high-level bio classes and a few other pre-dents in my classes seem to have gotten in for their 22-23 cycle. One got into roseman.

Will that’s definitely good news to hear! Hoping for good news this cycle for you!

 

[Rvting]

Will that’s definitely good news to hear! Hoping for good news this cycle for you!

I'm just stressed out. I don't know what my background can really be applied to for finding a job.

 

[Ryxndek]

I'm just stressed out. I don't know what my background can really be applied to for finding a job.

I guess that’s one downside in pursuing biological sciences. You could try getting an entry level job in industry or academic research labs. You’ll have a masters so there’s that at least, it’s better than a bachelors.

 

[macsak]

I guess that’s one downside in pursuing biological sciences. You could try getting an entry level job in industry or academic research labs. You’ll have a masters so there’s that at least, it’s better than a bachelors.

masters of arts, most industry positions would prefer a masters of science in bio...

 

[Mr.Smile12]

I would need to look at the transcript. Did you talk to the admissions team at UDM? How would they look at your coursework? I would be fine with either a MA or MS (which usually requires a thesis).

What sticks out to me is volunteering. Most of it seems to be clinic oriented with 20 hours so far in direct service to those affected (food distribution). I usually like to see 100 hours at least.

You want to ask schools about taking nontraditional applicants like yourself. I am curious that your list has that many OOS privates that I don't think are nontraditional friendly. What are your year by year science/BCP GPAs? How many credits of science did you take in each year?

At some point you have to stand up for yourself in spite of your mother's best interests. No one will take you seriously if you talk about how your mom interrupts your studies and is responsible for your bad academic record that won't get you into dental school.

 

[Rvting]

I would need to look at the transcript. Did you talk to the admissions team at UDM? How would they look at your coursework? I would be fine with either a MA or MS (which usually requires a thesis).

What sticks out to me is volunteering. Most of it seems to be clinic oriented with 20 hours so far in direct service to those affected (food distribution). I usually like to see 100 hours at least.

You want to ask schools about taking nontraditional applicants like yourself. I am curious that your list has that many OOS privates that I don't think are nontraditional friendly. What are your year by year science/BCP GPAs? How many credits of science did you take in each year?

At some point you have to stand up for yourself in spite of your mother's best interests. No one will take you seriously if you talk about how your mom interrupts your studies and is responsible for your bad academic record that won't get you into dental school.

A problem I have is that I have lots of community college credits so a few other colleges at the lower percentile won't accept me.

For the science classes I have written down its:
Undergrad
Fall '20- 4 out of 6 STEM classes coming to 3.0
Winter '21- 3/6 comes to 3.0 (but retook a class later on)
Summer '21- 3/3 comes to 2.8
Fall '21 4/5 comes 3.6 (back in-person)
Winter '22 5/5 comes to 3.45

Grad
Fall '22 2/2 3.85
Winter '23 2/2 3.5
Summer '23 1/1 4.0

"Interrupts" is a very soft way of communicating the conundrum. There is an Iceberg of problems.

edit: also another thing. I discussed my application with UDM's dental admissions team. Yeah, the problems mostly lies on low gpa and not diverse enough experiences.

 

[Rvting]

masters of arts, most industry positions would prefer a masters of science in bio...

It was hard to pick between the two for me. I was suggested to pick MA simply because its loaded with more classes thus I have more opportunities to increase my GPA.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

A problem I have is that I have lots of community college credits so a few other colleges at the lower percentile won't accept me. ...

edit: also another thing. I discussed my application with UDM's dental admissions team. Yeah, the problems mostly lies on low gpa and not diverse enough experiences.

I can agree with the lack of sufficient experience. Low GPA will be a challenge to get over the screens. Did you talk with all the schools where you applied before your sent in an application? You want to see if any will focus at last 30-60 credits of science.

 

[Rvting]

I can agree with the lack of sufficient experience. Low GPA will be a challenge to get over the screens. Did you talk with all the schools where you applied before your sent in an application? You want to see if any will focus at last 30-60 credits of science.

What would you say is a sufficient amount of experience for me? I talked to a few; some schools like UDM want to look at everything, a few others I believe did say they have a focus on my trends.