What should I do?

[SCTROJANS]

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Hey everyone,

I'm in a tough situtation and I know a few people on this forum may have been in the same position. So depending upon one of my grades I will have a 3.40 or 3.42 GPA including two community college courses in which I recieved A's if that makes a difference. I'm taking the DAT in three weeks but I honestly dont see myself scoring above 20...realistically about an 18 or 19 TS/AA. I was planning on applying this upcoming cycle and was wondering where I would stand with an 18 or 19 AA/TS. My GPA should stay around the same after this spring semester. Thanks!

I was planning on applying to BU, NYU, Tufts, USC, UOP, Western, Midwestern, UCLA, UCSF, Temple, Louisville and about 10 more schools If I get a somewhat decent (18/19) DAT.

Thanks!

 

[jmt1984]

Hey everyone,

I'm in a tough situtation and I know a few people on this forum may have been in the same position. So depending upon one of my grades I will have a 3.40 or 3.42 GPA including two community college courses in which I recieved A's if that makes a difference. I'm taking the DAT in three weeks but I honestly dont see myself scoring above 20...realistically about an 18 or 19 TS/AA. I was planning on applying this upcoming cycle and was wondering where I would stand with an 18 or 19 AA/TS. My GPA should stay around the same after this spring semester. Thanks!

I was planning on applying to BU, NYU, Tufts, USC, UOP, Western, Midwestern, UCLA, UCSF, Temple, Louisville and about 10 more schools If I get a somewhat decent (18/19) DAT.

Thanks!

I think there are a couple threads around by a Doc toothache that has a bunch of information from the ADEA book. Also, one of the stickies has information that you would find interesting. Lastly, you could check www.predents.com and sort by the different criteria that you are interested in.

 

[json896]

Hey everyone,

I'm in a tough situtation and I know a few people on this forum may have been in the same position. So depending upon one of my grades I will have a 3.40 or 3.42 GPA including two community college courses in which I recieved A's if that makes a difference. I'm taking the DAT in three weeks but I honestly dont see myself scoring above 20...realistically about an 18 or 19 TS/AA. I was planning on applying this upcoming cycle and was wondering where I would stand with an 18 or 19 AA/TS. My GPA should stay around the same after this spring semester. Thanks!

I was planning on applying to BU, NYU, Tufts, USC, UOP, Western, Midwestern, UCLA, UCSF, Temple, Louisville and about 10 more schools If I get a somewhat decent (18/19) DAT.

Thanks!

Those are fine stats to get into a dental school, but you will need to be more informed about the schools you are applying for. 18/19 and a 3.44, you will be hard pressed to get into schools like UCLA and UCSF. BUt should have a good shot at NYU and Tufts. I would just research the schools you are applying for and what you think your chances would honestly be. And extra curricular go a long way.. research, volunteering, mission work. But if i had your stats i would apply NYU, Tufts, Temple, BU, UMDNJ, Meharry as insurance and couple others that would be your ideals, like louisville where your about average.

But dont be discourages by your stats, although not great. If you write a good letter and have good recommendations and interview well. then you should be able to get into a dental school, just maybe not your first choice

 

[SCTROJANS]

Wow really I would be more than happy to just get into any school no matter which school it is haha. I'm definitely discouraged by my stats also knowing that I still have to take the DAT and get a decent score, I've gone through predents and everyone who gets into the schools I have a shot at seem to have 3.5 + and 20+ DAT scores even though the average stats are way lower according to the dental schools themselves. Thanks!

 

[NAVY DDS 2010]

Wow really I would be more than happy to just get into any school no matter which school it is haha. I'm definitely discouraged by my stats also knowing that I still have to take the DAT and get a decent score, I've gone through predents and everyone who gets into the schools I have a shot at seem to have 3.5 + and 20+ DAT scores even though the average stats are way lower according to the dental schools themselves. Thanks!

If you read through the pre-dent form, you will see hundreds of threads just like yours. You are going to get the same responses. Some people say you don't have a chance. Others will say do this and others say do that. My advice, don't listen to them. Do the best you can. Apply to where you want. Have faith in yourself. And hope for the best. If you are meant to get in and be a dentist, you will!

Your GPA is at about the average ACCEPTANCE gpa of a few schools. A DAT of 18-19 is at or just below the average AACEPTANCE DAT at some schools. With that said, even if you oly get a 19, you are still in the running to get into some schools. You would be surprised what schools will accept. There are people who get accepted into d-schools with under 3.0 gpas and under 20's on the DAT. Now, they are few, but they do happen. You just have to stop trying to compare your stats to those who you see here on SDN and the PREDENTS website. The people you see posting here and there only represent a very small portion of the total applicant pool and acceptances into dental schools. You don't get to see the thousands of others who are accepted and see those who are accepted from those thousands who have stats that are comparable to yours.

Just relax. Study hard and efficiently for the DAT. Stop thinking negatively about how you are only going to get and 18 or 19. You never know how you are going to do. I only took the Kaplan book DAT exams and scored 17s to 20's. I ended up getting 21's to 23's on everything on the real DAT. You just never know how you are going to do until you take the real DAT.

 

[HarCho]

Hey everyone,

I honestly dont see myself scoring above 20...realistically about an 18 or 19 TS/AA.

I don't see why you should just resign yourself to that score? You have three weeks, which is a ridiculously long time. Just study like your life depends on it, you can kill the DAT if you really want to.

 

[Palmetto914]

Just look at my DAT scores...I'll be the first to admit they're not amazing, and I didn't think I'd get in (do a search for my posts, and see what everyone told me after I took the DAT.) And yet I got accepted. Just be sure you take the info you get on these boards cautiously.

 

[AskJeeves]

In my humble opinion, the optimal thing to do is: apply to a foreign school and then apply back to a US dental school. Your chances of getting into a foreign dental school are pretty good. It will be easier than doing a masters or Post-Bac because those programs are getting pretty competitive and there is not guarantee you will succeed. A lot of schools have a lot of open slots for dental students in foreign schools.

 

[huk1985]

Honestly, you don't have a good chance, maybe 20~30% chance of acceptance to first 4 schools you've mentioned and almost no chance to other schools.. Your GPA is 3.4 with CC credits... unless you get 21+ you probably won't get in to any other schools than the first four..

 

[TurkTurkleton]

lol what? I don't get some of the comments in here. The OP's stats (with TWO cc courses) aren't THAT bad.

OP, what's your science GPA? And what year are you in? A 3.4 is a little low, but it's not awful. One possibility is waiting to apply until end of senior year so that schools have an extra year of grades to look at. Taking an extra year and doing well in those classes can only help your GPA and overall application.

Also, doing well on the DAT may help make up for the GPA. It's completely doable, so stop thinking negatively. The questions on the DAT are not that hard. IMO, the hardest part is (1) trying to figure out a study schedule so that you're not cramming but not taking so long that you forget stuff and (2) timing and pacing yourself through a 5 hour test. Read the DAT forums and the breakdown threads. You'll get ideas of what level of difficulty to expect, what the best resources are, and some study tips. Study now, aim for high scores, delay your test if you need more time. It's still early even if you're applying next cycle. If you take your first test sometime between now and spring break, you'll still have time to study and retake in June or July if you're not happy with the score.

If the rest of your application is solid (good LORs, consistent ECs, shadowing, so on) then I don't see why you wouldn't get in somewhere. Study the schools to make sure you're picking ones that maximize your chances, and then APPLY EARLY.

 

[json896]

Dont be discouraged by stats of current acceptances. As first round is the cream of the crop. They are the top tier of applicants and many have gotten multiple acceptances. Over the next sixth months or so people will have to make decisions and spots open up at many schools. Then they go for additional people, by the time they actually fill their class the stats may be alot lower than what you see on predents for current acceptance pool. Also have to look that those stats were from a few years ago for average gpa and stuff and the field is getting more competitive every year. but you stand a 5/12 shot of getting in as there are ~120000 apps for ~5000 spots in the U.S every year.

But agree do what your want to do.. You will never know unless you try. Just member average about 200 bucks per school just to apply between AADSAS, DAT scores and specific school fees.

 

[kapmann]

Do it! Those were the ballpark of my stats... I got in my 2nd time applying. Do lots of Shadowing and Volunteering, learn about the schools you really care about, and pursue the hell out of it!