Hey guys.
Junior pre-dent here. I am a investigative medical science major. Not sure if anyone's ever heard of this, but it's a clinical health sciences major that a lot of pre-med, pre-PA, and medical laboratory scientists pursue. It involves classes like immunology, research methods, etc. I have took all the basics: Bio, Chem, MCB, Cell Bio, Calc, English. I had some health troubles last set me back last year so I decided to take a "W" in organic and give myself a little less stress to get adjusted to a new thyroid medication that I now have to take daily. As of now, I only have one "W" in that course and a "Pass" I took for a urinalysis course that I didn't think mattered much.
I think I did pretty well, all things considered. However, I've got a lot of Bs going on. I got a B+ in Bio I and MCB, a B in Bio II, Cell Bio, and Chem I. Got an A in calc, statistics, and all my labs. I only have one C+ in gen chem II. I got good grades in all of my other classes and got As. So I have a 3.6 overall GPA and a 3.4 sGPA right now. I am doing pretty well this year in orgo and physics so I'm expecting to see a raise.
I have done a few semesters of research (two studying in the microbiology lab with biofilm inhibition and spent a brief time before quarantine studying the effects of ADHD on oral healthcare in children). I have had a bunch of leadership roles in housing and residence life (mentor, liaison, conference chair) and I'm currently VP of our pre-dental club. I've also done a lot of volunteer work, I've got at least 200 hours.
I only have 45 hours of shadowing because I couldn't find people to shadow as soon as quarantine started up. I got picked to do an internship with shadowing at my school but it got cancelled with everything going on. I'm going to try to get more, but as of now my plan is to spend all of our extended winter break studying for the DAT and then take it in March/April time range.
I'm going through our school's committee process this fall and have gotten teachers to evaluate me, three external letters from a research mentor and a few dentists I've gotten close with. Also wrote a personal statement.
I'm hoping to score above an 18 on my DAT, but all things considered I guess I'm wondering if I even have a good shot. Everything feels pretty solid, but all of my "Bs" are definitely a hole in my application. As well as the fact that I haven't been able to find more shadowing since COVID started. I'm planning to use DAT bootcamp this winter to focus my studying
I really want to go to dental school straight out of undergrad if possible, any feedback is really appreciated
Thank you!
