wanting to apply for dental school... need advise

[872caar]

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Hello everyone,

I just wanted to get your advise on how to improve my application for dental school. Im planning to apply next year.. I currently have a 3.1 gpa and I'm not sure what my science gpa is, but I'm estimating that it should be around the same.. I know it does not sound good, but I did not do well during my first couple semesters because I had to work full-time and was constantly worrying about a place to live.. I'm finally starting to have something stable and I have gotten straight A's on my upper level bio and physics classes for the last 3 semesters which brought up my gpa a little, but I have a a lot of C's. I have not applied for graduation yet because I'm trying to figure out if I should just keep taking upper level classes to raise my gpa or try to get into a 1 year master's program. I do have volunteer hours with habitat for humanity and I also got to travel to the Philippines for 1 month to help out with facial surgeries for children with cleft lip.. I've been studying really hard on the DAT and I know that I will do well.. I'm just wondering what else I can do to strengthen my application or if you have been through the same rough patch, what did you do to reach your goal of getting into dental school? Would it be wise to ask local dentists if I can shadow them? I don't really have any connections to dentists.. Where would you suggest that I volunteer?

Thank you.

 

[Likkriue]

Shadowing is a de facto requirement. Cold call some offices and ask.

 

[872caar]

Shadowing is a de facto requirement. Cold call some offices and ask.

Thanks and congrats on your DAT score! I saw the link attached to your response and you breaking down the books you used to study helps a lot. For now, I am using DAT destroyer and the AP biology cliff notes. Im going to give Chad's videos a try. Sorry for all the questions, but how many hours did you shadow a dentist for? is there a minimum amount?

 

[Likkriue]

Thanks and congrats on your DAT score! I saw the link attached to your response and you breaking down the books you used to study helps a lot. For now, I am using DAT destroyer and the AP biology cliff notes. Im going to give Chad's videos a try. Sorry for all the questions, but how many hours did you shadow a dentist for? is there a minimum amount?

It is reccomended to do about 100. Some schools prefer multiple places. You have to look up each school and see what they write.

 

[okiedokeartichoke]

I'm in the same boat as you. I have a pretty low GPA as well, but I made up for it by somewhat doing well on the DAT. I also took some post-bacc classes unofficially during my gap year while working as a dental assistant and shadowing. I have zero connections to dentists, and you don't need to in order to shadow or even work in the field. Just call around some offices in your area to see if they'll allow you to come in for some shadowing. Not all are willing, but hopefully someone will help you out! It took me a number of tries to find someone, so don't be discouraged at first when many say no to your request. I've applied this cycle, so if you're interested in hearing more about my background since our stats are fairly similar, feel free to PM me with any questions!