Native American Pre-Dent. Low GPA Advice Please!

[FutureDDS93]

Hey everyone, I am a first generation native student from a rural area who recently graduated with my B.S. in Cellular and Molecular Biology along with a couple minors. I am currently in the process of applying to dental school but I am extremely worried about my gpa. Long story short, I was unsuccessful at my first undergrad institution and ended up failing and retaking a handful of courses (Not knowing how much it would impact me at this point).

While I ended up transferring and recently graduated with a near 3.0 gpa, my BCP overall gpa is a 2.04 and my Science and Math gpa is a 2.13. I am currently in a summer program/pipeline in which I’m preparing for the DAT with the in-person Kaplan and my practice scores are above ~17. My goal is to be able to score at least above a 21.

My question is really seeking advice from this point as far as what institutions I should be looking at as far as dental school or what post-bac/masters programs I should consider. My extra and co-curricular activities rank pretty high (I was also SGA President). Also, by the time I graduated this year I had ~180 attempted credit hours.

Do you think I should even apply for dental school this cycle? (I will either way but looking for thoughts)

What DDS programs would you suggest I look into?

Do you know of post-bac programs that are better than others? (Currently looking at UC Denver’s)

Would a Master’s program be better?

I also should mention that I was an IHS Scholarship recipient for my senior year of undergrad, which I am still in good standing for as I transition to dental school.

Thanks in advance for any advice you are able to give, as I feel as if I am navigating most of this on my own.

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[TheDentalSchoolCoach]

Given that your sGPA is really low, you should strongly consider doing a post-bac or masters. In terms of which you want to do will really depend on you. If you do a masters, you can easily transition into some other professional jobs if dentistry does not work out for you. IF you are really focused on dentistry, then do a structured post-bac program.

If I were in your shoes, I'd do a Masters and try to get at least a 3.7 - 3.8 GPA.

 

[sobertiger]

Don't apply this cycle. Your BCP GPA is just too low, and it is the most important GPA for ADCOMs. Maybe apply if you had a really strong upward trend for the past year. But even then it would be a long shot.

If you really must apply, maybe just Howard and Meharry since they are URM friendly. After you raise your GPA, aim for private schools with lower average GPAs.

I would recommend a post-bac unless you're feeling really confident. SMPs are pretty difficult.