What should I do to improve?

[ghn3922]

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Right now I'm a sophomore, didn't realize I wanted to go into dentistry until last summer, and I got even more passionate when I started volunteering. My grades are what are worrying me. I still haven't taken the DAT, I'm planning on this summer, and I'm starting to study now. My grades so far are:

Gen Chem I & II: C, C and a C in Lab I and a B in Lab II
Gen Bio is split up into 3 classes in my school I got a B+ for Concepts, a C+ for Ecology and Evolution (a B+ for the lab), and an A for Cell and Molecular (A for its lab)
Orgo I last semester I got a C and I'm taking Orgo II now and it's lab. My GPA currently is 3.0, but it's very possible I can get it up to a 3.5 by next spring when I need to send out applications.

Should I retake Gen Chem? And what minimum DAT sore do you think I need to get?

Thanks in advance!

 

[teethfordays]

Most schools will accept C's for pre-reqs (they usually require a retake for C-'s). If you are confident in your abilities to earn a 3.5 sgpa by the time apps open up, a solid DAT score would be 19+. If you are still hovering around a 3.0 sgpa by that time, I would suggest 22+ DAT.

 

[Bobby Fischer]

Should I retake Gen Chem? And what minimum DAT sore do you think I need to get?

Thanks in advance!

I'm not going to kid you: you've got a long, steep road ahead of you in terms of pulling up your GPA and explaining sub par grades in the sciences. You make it sound like its something to trifle with.

Retake Gen Chem? sort of a mixed bag of answers you'll get. The consensus might be you should just take upper level sciences. I'd recommend you do retake because it will do two things for you first if you can pull an A by retaking you'll show obvious upward trend, second retaking gen chem will be like studying for the DAT at the same time.

What score for DAT? see list below, links to all this info are at the top of the predental forum, with better formatting. First column is a list of school's average AA DAT scores. Quick answer: shoot for at least a 19 or higher. With crappy GPA you'll need a 21 or higher to compensate (and even then...)

2011 Ranking Of Dental Schools

Source: ADEA Official Guide to Dental Schools 2012

AA

1 Harvard 23.00
2 Columbia 22.59
3 UCLA 22.00
4 UOP 21.00
5 NOVA 21.00
6 SUNY SB 21.00
7 Penn 21.00
8 Pitt 20.32
9 Ohio 20.30
10 Wash 20.26
11 UCSF 20.00
12 USC 20.00
13 Conn 20.00
14 Florida 20.00
15 Maryland 20.00
16 Tufts 20.00
17 Mercy 20.00
18 NY 20.00
19 N Carolina 20.00
20 Case 20.00
21 UT-SA 20.00
22 Loma L 19.80
23 Oklahoma 19.79
24 UMDNJ 19.72
25 Boston 19.70
26 Temple 19.70
27 Minnesota 19.66
28 Baylor 19.60
29 Michigan 19.58
30 SUNY Buf 19.47
31 Midwest 19.41
32 Illinois 19.40
33 UT Hou 19.40
34 Nevada 19.38
35 Oregon 19.31
36 Western 19.20
37 E Carolina 19.17
38 S. Illinois 19.10
39 Creighton 19.01
40 Alabama 19.00
41 Colorado 19.00
42 Midw Il 19.00
43 Ilndiana 19.00
44 Iowa 19.00
45 Louisville 19.00
46 Nebraska 19.00
47 S Carolina 19.00
48 Roseman 19.00
49 Virginia 19.00
50 Georgia 18.90
51 Louisiana 18.90
52 Marquette 18.79
53 Misso KC 18.75
54 Miss 18.50
55 Arizona 18.21
56 Kentucky 18.00
57 Tenn 18.00
58 W Va 18.00
59 Howard 17.74
60 Meharry 17.00
61 Puerto R 16.00

GPA sci

1 Harvard 3.88
2 Nebraska 3.79
3 UCLA 3.66
4 NOVA 3.66
5 Ohio 3.66
6 Oregon 3.62
7 Colorado 3.61
8 Conn 3.60
9 Iowa 3.60
10 Miss 3.60
11 Case 3.60
12 Virginia 3.59
13 UT Hou 3.58
14 Misso KC 3.57
15 S Carolina 3.57
16 SUNY SB 3.56
17 Marquette 3.56
18 Georgia 3.55
19 Penn 3.55
20 UT-SA 3.55
21 S. Illinois 3.54
22 Minnesota 3.54
23 Columbia 3.54
24 Pitt 3.54
25 Ilndiana 3.53
26 Tenn 3.52
27 Louisville 3.51
28 Creighton 3.51
29 Alabama 3.50
30 Florida 3.50
31 Louisiana 3.50
32 UCSF 3.49
33 Oklahoma 3.49
34 W Va 3.49
35 SUNY Buf 3.48
36 Temple 3.48
37 Baylor 3.48
38 Wash 3.48
39 Midwest 3.47
40 Mercy 3.46
41 Puerto R 3.46
42 N Carolina 3.42
43 Michigan 3.41
44 Loma L 3.40
45 UOP 3.40
46 Illinois 3.40
47 Maryland 3.40
48 Kentucky 3.39
49 UMDNJ 3.38
50 Western 3.34
51 Boston 3.34
52 Tufts 3.34
53 Midw Il 3.31
54 Nevada 3.31
55 USC 3.30
56 NY 3.29
57 E Carolina 3.28
58 Arizona 3.22
59 Roseman 3.22
60 Meharry 3.09
61 Howard 2.94

 

[ghn3922]

Thank you so much for all the feedback! Those stats help a lot. I'm actually part of the honors program at my university, so I know because of my low GPA it may seem like I don't care about my grades, but that's not true. I had very harsh family financial circumstances in one semester were my grades were not up to my usual standards at all, and I will have no problem explaining that to schools at interviews (if granted the opportunity of course). But I know, excuses, excuses. I need to prove myself to these schools and I'm willing to do whatever it takes. These stats and this feedback so far really did help.