Go talk to an adviser at a Dental School if you haven't already. The adviser at the school where I was accepted was fantastic and really helped reassure what I was thinking or bluntly corrected my thinking. Your obviously committed to this, as is apparent by the investment of your savings or you just really hated banking. Get in contact with the adviser at your in state dental school. I know dentistry is very competitive and not everyone has the best chances of getting into their in-state school but in my opinion it should be your first choice and is probably the least competitive of the schools you will apply, as many state schools, if not all, choose to take care of their residents first. However, if your stats aren't strong then that changes everything. The hardest classes for me were the lower level bios and chem's as I hadn't been in school for 9years (I worked in construction, yea, if I could do it you can) but as I progressed things became much easier due to the coursework building on itself, at least for the bio/chem classes, physics..... was what it was.
Don't dropout of the program, finish it and retake the classes, if you can try to get B- or B's so you don't have to retake them. Returning to school is tough and as it's your first time back you were a little rusty but as the adcom can see by your future transcripts you had to make some changes to afford yourself more time to commit to the process. Try not to work if it's possible, you need to commit a great deal of time protecting your gpa. I stopped working all together and focused on keeping my grades high. You can retake those classes and you'll be fine but do everything you can to prevent that from happening, it would suck having to pay for those classes again. One or two less than ideal grades won't kill you, just do really well in that area on the DAT. Orgo II I got a C+, DAT 28, of course Orgo on the DAT is really easy.... and I would think that having got a 28.
I don't know that I would do the community college route but that would be a great question for an adviser at the school you want to attend. Just ask them what makes you most competitive.If you did do the cc route I would keep working at least part-time preferably full time. My experience with cc was that it was far easier. The DAT in a way is a good equalizer, if you go to a community college and score great on the DAT what does it matter where you took your prereqs. There is a great deal of debate about cc vs. Universities and how you would stack up compared to someone who got the same grades as you but in a "harder" program. Just do what you need to do and don't worry comparing yourself to everyone else and by that I mean there are different paths to a great gpa, for some it includes retaking classes and others retaking everything... hopefully not but you know. I would just try to stick it out but if it really sucks as you say it does then find a different program but keeping going.
Again, ask an adviser they'll tell you, better yet find a professor with a great reputation of being a...being very blunt. For example, I met with a professor who had a reputation of telling students interested in medicine that they had better choose a different career path, it wasn't uncommon for this professor to ask people what ever made them think they could do med school with transcripts like theirs. When I met with him he told me not to get anymore W's he said anymore than three and your app goes into the pile closer to the trash. Of course, this isn't true for everyone but then again those people that think they are special are the ones that don't get in. I liked your statement about having no excuses going into the interview but remember this is a process that includes you learning what your limits are and overcoming setbacks to achieve what you want. It's all about how you present it, I got bad grades because my professors were really really bad sounds like an excuse but I got bad grades because, unfortunately, due to work commitments, I was not able to devote the time necessary to complete the courses at a level I know I could have, is yea, still an excuse but it is Life and yes so is having really really bad professors but would you agree that if you had a lot more time you would be doing much better? Just don't make it someone else's fault and I know you aren't, your more or less just crazy frustrated with your situation, been there. keep going and stop working, working is no fun, of course you are broke but whatever, you are preparing for life as a dental student, being broke.
