Your daily dose of idiocy

[NitrousPudding]

Yay first post!

So I repeated/am repeating my 6th course now.
Just because I was blinded by my Uni's "we take the higher grade in your GPA calc, and the first attempt shows as No Credit Retained on your transcript" policy.
Somehow I figured it's better this way...
I'm actually trying to petition 2 of those off with appeal and everything, because that was a pretty drastic year for my fam in term of events, so I figured if I just had 4 in total, it's not so bad.

After finishing my application to ADEA ADSAAS tonight, I read up that they actually take all your grades, and yes now I feel like a complete idiot but what's done is done.

So realistically, are they going to automatically reject me?

For those interested, the courses are:
Orgo 1 and 2, where I originally had D+ and E, and raised to B+ and C+
Biochem and Cell bio, where I originally had D and D+, and raised to C+ and B+
Animal Phys I, where I originally had D, and now I have A
And Chem 1 which I'm currently retaking, originally have a C on the transcript.

And I'm trying to petition Orgo 2 and Cell bio - taken in the same semester. Might consider petitioning Chem 1 for "first year leniency" which I recently found out after like 4 years that it's viable crap at my Uni.

Thanks for all nature of responses!

EDIT: I am a CANADIAN student

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[Panis et Circenses]

Depends on your overall GPA, but I would say the schools may give rejections considering the D's..
You are also applying a little late. Doesn't hurt to try though. I wish you the best of luck, and there are things you can do to help out your application in the future.

Good luck

 

[dyesht]

Sorry about your situation! What happens when you petition a grade, do they just drop the lower of the two?

 

[deleted740991]

Exhibit A on why college advising as it relates to professional school is embarrassing. They should have helped you during this situation. The only smart move pre-dents should make if they don't want a GPA effect is to take a W. A credit W does not get calculated into calculation on professional school portals.

Sorry, but you have an extremely long and competitive road ahead to improve your chances at admission. Assuming you're a junior or senior, you have virtually no chance this cycle, and potentially < 1% chance next cycle without major academic improvements. I'd say a minimum 2 years of GPA improvement post-graduation leading into a Year 3 application, along with other parts of your profile you must accomplish to display, to even have a competitive chance. That means you'd enter dental school 4 years from now after you graduate from your B.S.

AADSAS takes into effect all grades posted for calculation, and at best you will have averages between those grades to show. You have no A's listed there except in one. You have shown nothing to admissions committee on any positive level.

Do yourself a favor, take a step back, and don't waste any time or money applying to dental schools. Start by re-taking your pre-reqs and get near A's in all of them (Year 1). Then, go for either an extra year in your B.S. to take upper level sciences and get A's (assuming you can delay a year or graduation), or go for a one-year M.S. after you graduate and do extremely well (Year 2). Then, you will need a minimum 22 or 23 DAT (Summer Year 2), not to mention other fantastic aspects to your profile in volunteering, shadowing, research, and leadership.

There you go. Start working.

 

[DMDDDSHopeful]

Exhibit A on why college advising as it relates to professional school is embarrassing. They should have helped you during this situation. The only smart move pre-dents should make if they don't want a GPA effect is to take a W. A credit W does not get calculated into calculation on professional school portals.

Sorry, but you have an extremely long and competitive road ahead to improve your chances at admission. Assuming you're a junior or senior, you have virtually no chance this cycle, and potentially < 1% chance next cycle without major academic improvements. I'd say a minimum 2 years of GPA improvement post-graduation leading into a Year 3 application, along with other parts of your profile you must accomplish to display, to even have a competitive chance. That means you'd enter dental school 4 years from now after you graduate from your B.S.

AADSAS takes into effect all grades posted for calculation, and at best you will have averages between those grades to show. You have no A's listed there except in one. You have shown nothing to admissions committee on any positive level.

Do yourself a favor, take a step back, and don't waste any time or money applying to dental schools. Start by re-taking your pre-reqs and get near A's in all of them (Year 1). Then, go for either an extra year in your B.S. to take upper level sciences and get A's (assuming you can delay a year or graduation), or go for a one-year M.S. after you graduate and do extremely well (Year 2). Then, you will need a minimum 22 or 23 DAT (Summer Year 2), not to mention other fantastic aspects to your profile in volunteering, shadowing, research, and leadership.

There you go. Start working.

Well said! I agree with everything in this response except retaking your pre-reqs. It sounds like you've done some retaking already. Move on. Do a postbacc and/or Masters, earn A's, score well on the DAT, and do other things to help your overall app.

Edit: I feel that SMP Masters offers the best chance to get into dental, but it is no guarantee. If you want to pursue a Masters that you can fall back on if dentistry doesn't work out, you can go for the traditional route. I would make sure to pick a thesis option. That's the advice I received from one adcom: the Masters must be accompanied by a thesis option. Every school is different though.

 

[NitrousPudding]

Depends on your overall GPA, but I would say the schools may give rejections considering the D's..
You are also applying a little late. Doesn't hurt to try though. I wish you the best of luck, and there are things you can do to help out your application in the future.

Good luck

Thank you for your reply!
My oGPA as calculated by my current Uni is ~3.1. I am aware this is on the low end, but at least it meets the cut-off for most schools I am applying to.
That being said, I haven't received anything lower than a B in my last 2 years, and I was kind of hoping they would give those years more value.

I also have more than 100 hours shadowing at a dentist's office, both GD and Ortho.
Really the only reason I am applying kind of late is because I was waiting on those petitions, and they ended up being rejected. So I am in the process of appealing.

 

[NitrousPudding]

Sorry about your situation! What happens when you petition a grade, do they just drop the lower of the two?

Thank you!
I am trying to just get the first attempts at those 2 courses off, so if I can do it successfully, it'll be as if I never took them twice (from my understanding).
However, right now I am having a hard time getting past the late aspect, since I submitted this petition past the deadline. In reality, I was completely clueless that you can even petition a course due to a vehicular accident, so if you have any suggestions of what to say regarding a late petition and how to overcome it, please let me know!

 

[NitrousPudding]

Exhibit A on why college advising as it relates to professional school is embarrassing. They should have helped you during this situation. The only smart move pre-dents should make if they don't want a GPA effect is to take a W. A credit W does not get calculated into calculation on professional school portals.

Sorry, but you have an extremely long and competitive road ahead to improve your chances at admission. Assuming you're a junior or senior, you have virtually no chance this cycle, and potentially < 1% chance next cycle without major academic improvements. I'd say a minimum 2 years of GPA improvement post-graduation leading into a Year 3 application, along with other parts of your profile you must accomplish to display, to even have a competitive chance. That means you'd enter dental school 4 years from now after you graduate from your B.S.

AADSAS takes into effect all grades posted for calculation, and at best you will have averages between those grades to show. You have no A's listed there except in one. You have shown nothing to admissions committee on any positive level.

Do yourself a favor, take a step back, and don't waste any time or money applying to dental schools. Start by re-taking your pre-reqs and get near A's in all of them (Year 1). Then, go for either an extra year in your B.S. to take upper level sciences and get A's (assuming you can delay a year or graduation), or go for a one-year M.S. after you graduate and do extremely well (Year 2). Then, you will need a minimum 22 or 23 DAT (Summer Year 2), not to mention other fantastic aspects to your profile in volunteering, shadowing, research, and leadership.

There you go. Start working.

Thank you for your honest reply.

Unfortunately, my Uni just got the W option this 2016 year. So previously, to drop a course past the deadline meant you either stick with the grade, or you try petition it off with some good excuse.
I agree, college advising is terrible, no one seems to know anything about how to get into med and dental, even the students who have allegedly tried.

Again, thank you for really giving me an honest perspective on the situation.

 

[NitrousPudding]

Well said! I agree with everything in this response except retaking your pre-reqs. It sounds like you've done some retaking already. Move on. Do a postbacc and/or Masters, earn A's, score well on the DAT, and do other things to help your overall app.

Edit: I feel that SMP Masters offers the best chance to get into dental, but it is no guarantee. If you want to pursue a Masters that you can fall back on if dentistry doesn't work out, you can go for the traditional route. I would make sure to pick a thesis option. That's the advice I received from one adcom: the Masters must be accompanied by a thesis option. Every school is different though.

I have just looked into the post-bacc option, and it's nice to know that things are not completely hopeless!
Honestly though, I'd rather take a Masters. However, in terms of thesis, I haven't taken a 4th level thesis course, and I was wondering if that would affect my application at all? I do have some research experience for a prof at my Uni though, but it was a work/study, not for credit/thesis.
Also, are there any Master's programs available to undergrads that somewhat relate to Dentistry? I really wouldn't wanna take a Master's in some random, unrelated biological discipline because it just doesn't interest me. I don't tend to do well then, and after all, I'd be taking a Master's to improve my GPA and chances.

Thanks!

 

[Likkriue]

I did your gpa calculations and according to those grades you have a 1.98 GPA. Retaking will NOT help at all. Even if you get As again in every subject, it comes out to sub 3.0 anyways.
You will need to do a masters and even then as a canadian applicant, you have a HUGE disadvantage. I suggest doing a traditional masters as well.
Have you taking the dat/cdat yet?(I recommend the DAT).

 

[DMDDDSHopeful]

I have just looked into the post-bacc option, and it's nice to know that things are not completely hopeless!
Honestly though, I'd rather take a Masters. However, in terms of thesis, I haven't taken a 4th level thesis course, and I was wondering if that would affect my application at all? I do have some research experience for a prof at my Uni though, but it was a work/study, not for credit/thesis.
Also, are there any Master's programs available to undergrads that somewhat relate to Dentistry? I really wouldn't wanna take a Master's in some random, unrelated biological discipline because it just doesn't interest me. I don't tend to do well then, and after all, I'd be taking a Master's to improve my GPA and chances.

Thanks!

What do you mean by 4th level thesis course? There are a few Masters out there that are very related to dentistry, but you don't need one that reads, "Oral Biology" to do research in dentistry. In fact, some would argue that getting a general Masters or PhD in some Molecular or Microbial or Bioscience would offer you the flexibility and options to take courses like Embryology, Pathology, Toxicology, Medical Physiology, etc. Then you can apply whatever you learn or whatever Professor is available to start considering how you can use your resources into developing novel studies into dentistry. You have options. If you get A's in those courses above, with a good DAT, some extracurricular and leadership activities, then I think you will be fine.

 

[NitrousPudding]

What do you mean by 4th level thesis course? There are a few Masters out there that are very related to dentistry, but you don't need one that reads, "Oral Biology" to do research in dentistry. In fact, some would argue that getting a general Masters or PhD in some Molecular or Microbial or Bioscience would offer you the flexibility and options to take courses like Embryology, Pathology, Toxicology, Medical Physiology, etc. Then you can apply whatever you learn or whatever Professor is available to start considering how you can use your resources into developing novel studies into dentistry. You have options. If you get A's in those courses above, with a good DAT, some extracurricular and leadership activities, then I think you will be fine.

Sorry, what I meant is that I am in the Honors Biology program, and we have the option of completing an Honors Thesis in our 4th year. I haven't done this, but does it mean I'm still able to apply to a Master's program with a thesis option? Like would I be accepted or not even considered?
What would you generally recommend as a Master's for someone pursuing dentistry? Or if you took a Master's, what was your focus?

Thanks again!

 

[DMDDDSHopeful]

Sorry, what I meant is that I am in the Honors Biology program, and we have the option of completing an Honors Thesis in our 4th year. I haven't done this, but does it mean I'm still able to apply to a Master's program with a thesis option? Like would I be accepted or not even considered?
What would you generally recommend as a Master's for someone pursuing dentistry? Or if you took a Master's, what was your focus?

Thanks again!

Yeah you don't need to have done that as an undergraduate to do that for a Masters. Same concept goes for PhD as well--just to give you an analogy. I would recommend whatever you are interested in and that provides you with options that get you excited and motivated to start each day! This is all about you. Think about what programs interest you, what the costs are, what the options in it are, who are the professors there and what are they working on, do they offer support for starting your own projects, and how long it'll take to complete. You can make this a savvy financial and academic investment and decision by looking into options that provide scholarships and stipends. There are a lot of Masters and PhD programs out there that offer scholarships and a lot that don't which will cost money.

 

[NitrousPudding]

I did your gpa calculations and according to those grades you have a 1.98 GPA. Retaking will NOT help at all. Even if you get As again in every subject, it comes out to sub 3.0 anyways.
You will need to do a masters and even then as a canadian applicant, you have a HUGE disadvantage. I suggest doing a traditional masters as well.
Have you taking the dat/cdat yet?(I recommend the DAT).

I took the cDAT in February 2016.
Why is it that you recommend the American DAT?
Thanks

 

[Likkriue]

I took the cDAT in February 2016.
Why is it that you recommend the American DAT?
Thanks

Not all schools take the cdat, gives more options.

 

[PrincessDAT]

did you end up applying?

 

[Panis et Circenses]

For those interested, the courses are:
Orgo 1 and 2, where I originally had D+ and E, and raised to B+ and C+

Wtf? Canada gives E?