WAMC will my undergrad performance hurt me?

[Pre Dental Rev]

---

Members do not see this ad.

Date of submission: 08/01/2025
Overall GPA: 3.2 undergrad, 3.9 SMP
Science GPA: 3.1 undergrad, 3.9 SMP
Bio-Chem-Physics GPA: 3.1 undergrad, 3.9 SMP
DAT score (include AA and all sections): AA 480(23) / TS 480(23) / PAT 510(23) / QR 460(22) / RC 520(26) / Bio 560 (27) / GC 410(19) / OC 470 (22)
State of Residence: Georgia

Major: Biology(undergrad) / Medical Physiology(SMP)
Minority? No (Asian)
Reapplicant? Maybe? Applied to one school to verify app last year but never took the DAT (decided to do my SMP first instead of applying)
Nontrad? No

Shadowing Experience: 120 hours at a general dentist
Volunteering Experience: 120 hours most of which at my church, the rest with a soup kitchen
Employment: 4000 hours as a dental assistant
Research: 150 hours in healthcare disparities
Other Extracurriculars: Nothing notable
Have you volunteered/shadowed/attended events at any dental schools? No
Relevant Honors or Awards: None
LOR type and strength: 1 strong one from SMP, 1 good one from dentist, and 2 good ones from my DIY post bacc
Misc Info/Things not stated elsewhere/Red Flags: Failed 2 classes and 5 W's in undergrad. No positive trend in undergrad. Only started doing good in post bacc and SMP. My 2 F's are Orgo 1 and Orgo 2. Orgo 1 retook for a B, Orgo 2 retook for an A.
School list: I have a big list because even though I did good in my SMP and DAT, I'm still worried about my poor performance, 2 F's, and lack of ECs in undergrad.
Dental College of Georgia (first pick)
Michigan (reach school)
Boston
Creighton
Lecom
Lyon
NYU
Midwestern IL
Neomed
Nova
Roseman
Temple
Touro
Tufts
Louisville
Kentucky
Maryland
VCU
Western

 

[macsak]

Date of submission: 08/01/2025
Overall GPA: 3.2 undergrad, 3.9 SMP
Science GPA: 3.1 undergrad, 3.9 SMP
Bio-Chem-Physics GPA: 3.1 undergrad, 3.9 SMP
DAT score (include AA and all sections): AA 480(23) / TS 480(23) / PAT 510(23) / QR 460(22) / RC 520(26) / Bio 560 (27) / GC 410(19) / OC 470 (22)
State of Residence: Georgia

Major: Biology(undergrad) / Medical Physiology(SMP)
Minority? No (Asian)
Reapplicant? Maybe? Applied to one school to verify app last year but never took the DAT (decided to do my SMP first instead of applying)
Nontrad? No

Shadowing Experience: 120 hours at a general dentist
Volunteering Experience: 120 hours most of which at my church, the rest with a soup kitchen
Employment: 4000 hours as a dental assistant
Research: 150 hours in healthcare disparities
Other Extracurriculars: Nothing notable
Have you volunteered/shadowed/attended events at any dental schools? No
Relevant Honors or Awards: None
LOR type and strength: 1 strong one from SMP, 1 good one from dentist, and 2 good ones from my DIY post bacc
Misc Info/Things not stated elsewhere/Red Flags: Failed 2 classes and 5 W's in undergrad. No positive trend in undergrad. Only started doing good in post bacc and SMP. My 2 F's are Orgo 1 and Orgo 2. Orgo 1 retook for a B, Orgo 2 retook for an A.
School list: I have a big list because even though I did good in my SMP and DAT, I'm still worried about my poor performance, 2 F's, and lack of ECs in undergrad.
Dental College of Georgia (first pick)
Michigan (reach school)
Boston
Creighton
Lecom
Lyon
NYU
Midwestern IL
Neomed
Nova
Roseman
Temple
Touro
Tufts
Louisville
Kentucky
Maryland
VCU
Western

have you completed your SMP?
congrats on your success with the SMP/DAT
what were your postbacc credits/GPA?

 

[Mr.Smile12]

What answers have your predental/SMP advisors given you to your question (title)? What schools/programs have they suggested?

I can probably tell you didn't get any help from your SMP faculty about your list. Remember, their letters are probably the most critical ones that will help admissions committees be more comfortable putting weight on your SMP and not on your undergrad.

To that end, your list is too long and unreasonable without better mission fit. Dental admissions is highly regional, so I'm uncertain of any of the schools outside your region unless they are privates. I need to know what your purpose is as a future dentist and what you want to accomplish as a dental student by the time you graduate.

I'll give you Michigan and DCG for now. I don't know what your affinity is with Michigan with little research or other extracurriculars. If you've lived in Georgia all of your life, Michigan might be very different for you (living in a college city). In my mind, you thrive as a Wolverine on the plethora of EC's the University has, so having no important EC's makes me wary that you can do well there.

By extension, what attracts you to the big cities where COA is going to be rather high: Boston, NYU, Temple, Touro, Tufts, Western? Do you think you can pass the Roseman 3-year curriculum? What do you know about Lyon's clinical curriculum given that they are relatively new? Did you grow up in Chicago (Midwestern) or Appalachian Ohio (NEOMED)?

That's 10 of your 19 schools where I need a lot of convincing about these possible donations.

 

[Pre Dental Rev]

have you completed your SMP?
congrats on your success with the SMP/DAT
what were your postbacc credits/GPA?

I finished my SMP. My postbacc was only for 10 credits for some prereqs I was missing and I got a 4.0 in them.

 

[Pre Dental Rev]

What answers have your predental/SMP advisors given you to your question (title)? What schools/programs have they suggested?

I did call my state's dental school to talk to their advisor and she said that it wasn't good that I did poorly in undergrad but it is good that I did good in my SMP. She didn't exactly mention if my SMP helps or not, but she did say that they combine all of the grades from both undergrad and my SMP to look at them as a combined GPA.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

I did call my state's dental school to talk to their advisor and she said that it wasn't good that I did poorly in undergrad but it is good that I did good in my SMP. She didn't exactly mention if my SMP helps or not, but she did say that they combine all of the grades from both undergrad and my SMP to look at them as a combined GPA.

Some schools spotlight your last 45 credit hours in holistic review. So if you took an SMP for 30 credits plus your postbac for 10, you might be in a good spot on the academic metric side for some schools.

But you didn't say you had input from your faculty about your list. They should have experience with schools that they have been successful placing predents into.

 

[Pre Dental Rev]

Some schools spotlight your last 45 credit hours in holistic review. So if you took an SMP for 30 credits plus your postbac for 10, you might be in a good spot on the academic metric side for some schools.

But you didn't say you had input from your faculty about your list. They should have experience with schools that they have been successful placing predents into.

I took my SMP at Medical College of Georgia which is associated with Dental College of Georgia. My SMP faculty don't really have much experience with helping pre-dental students because its a program designed for pre-meds and pretty much all of my classmates were pre-meds. I decided to make my list myself based off of past data of schools that accept students with Masters degrees and also looking at which schools have historically accepted students from my state.

I decided to take my SMP there because it's a lot cheaper than all the alternatives and I thought it would give me the best chance of making it to DCG since it's the same university even if there's no direct link from the SMP to DCG.

 

[macsak]

I finished my SMP. My postbacc was only for 10 credits for some prereqs I was missing and I got a 4.0 in them.

noice
there are many programs that will be impressed by your postbacc/smp/dat success
you have a broad list, so you just have to wait and see how it works out

best of luck to you...

 

[macsak]

I took my SMP at Medical College of Georgia which is associated with Dental College of Georgia. My SMP faculty don't really have much experience with helping pre-dental students because its a program designed for pre-meds and pretty much all of my classmates were pre-meds. I decided to make my list myself based off of past data of schools that accept students with Masters degrees and also looking at which schools have historically accepted students from my state.

I decided to take my SMP there because it's a lot cheaper than all the alternatives and I thought it would give me the best chance of making it to DCG since it's the same university even if there's no direct link from the SMP to DCG.

so throughout your undergrad/postbacc/SMP you never once reached out to DCG Dental faculty/students/staff?

 

[Pre Dental Rev]

so throughout your undergrad/postbacc/SMP you never once reached out to DCG Dental faculty/students/staff?

I did talk to DCG faculty and students, but only about applying to DCG and what I could do to improve my chances of making it there. It felt weird to ask them about applying to other schools so I never did.

 

[mattDstudent]

Great work with the SMP, will be interesting to see where things land with this. If you want any advice for interviews just DM me, I interviewed at a lot of the schools on your list!