- Joined
- Mar 12, 2013
- Messages
- 12,062
- Reaction score
- 8,031
First off, thank you for your service!Hello everyone!
Looking for some advice here. I am a prospective non traditional student. I am currently an Active Duty Marine with a little over 10 years of service. I have decided to transition out of the military and pursue my dreams of becoming a Dentist
I will be transitioning out of the military in a year with the intent of applying to Dental School in 2023. I earned a BA in Psychology from Ashford in 2014 with a GPA of 2.7. Not my proudest performance however between working full time and life it was a difficult achievement that has led me to where and who I am today.
I have done lengthy research on schools and their requirements and have come to the conclusion that my best option to boost my GPA and become more competitive is to earn a second Bachelor's Degree. If I perform well, I will be able to boost my cGPA to a 3.4 and since I have minimal pre-requisites completed, my cGPA will more than likely be higher than my oGPA. I have not taken the DAT however plan on taking the DAT as soon as I have a few more of the pre-reqs under my belt.
I am currently enrolled in classes at my local community college and have earned A's. I've read that a lot of Dental Schools prefer pre-requisites from 4 year institutions so I am planning on applying to my local 4 year institution. Once I transition out of the service, I'd like to focus heavily on shadowing.
A few questions;
1.) Will my GPA in my first undergrad weigh heavily?
2.) Would it be beneficial to apply for a Master's Program after a second undergrad?
Any and all recommendations are welcome!
I appreciate your time
-J
Now to your questions, I think you would benefit from a DIY post-bac. Basically, you take a year (at least) of courses and show that you have changed and can succeed in courses. You will need to do extremely well for ADCOM to look over your original GPA, but it can be done. I don't think you necessarily need a master's program. It would be a good idea to take courses at a 4-year if possible.
Also, make sure you save yourself enough time to do well on the DAT. Make sure you are ready and are scoring in range of your goal on practice exams.
Good luck!
