Do I need really to finish my second undergraduate degree?

[Lego]

Hi everyone, 

I’ve looked for a post that answered my questions in fear of being repetitive, but I always left with more questions than I entered with. So I’ll ask my questions here with hopes that I can finally have my concerns cleared. 

I just completed an Honours Bachelor of Health Sciences at uOttawa with a pretty low GPA (7/10 or ~3.4), but with okay DAT scores on the second try [Academic Avg: 23, Total Sci: 20 — (RC: 29 + BIO: 19 + CHEM: 22 + PAT: 21) — Manual dexterity: 17]. These scores are significantly better than my first DAT, which had an AA of 20, RC 23, PAT 16 and dexterity 8 lol. 

 

After applying to many school last cycle with hopes that they could overlook my low GPA given my passion and final year’s GPA (lol I know, I know), I now understand that my only chance at realistically getting into a dental school is by doing a second degree and keeping that focus on dental school from day ONE to day ACCEPTED.  

A dentist I spoke to really emphasized the need to get into a competitive undergrad with a strong reputation/program, and that this would help me immensely - not only in terms of the schools seeing that, but also in terms of the mindset of the other students around me. So my questions now are:

 

1. what are some of the best/most competitive undergrad programs known to you, with high percentage of students accepted to professionals schools? An example would be McMaster’s Health Science, but they unfortunately don’t allow it to be taken as a second undergrad (according to their website)
2. How many years do I generally need to complete before I can reapply to dental schools? The dentist I spoke to did one semester of Kinesiology before he got accepted, but that was at University of Montreal. McGill I know requires 4 years of undergrad before you can apply. I don’t want to complete the whole 4 years of a second undergrad as I feel like that truly would take too much time - is there nowhere that takes students in their second year, or after all prereqs are completed?

 

What would schools think about a second degree taken online?

 

also, I’ve just recently made this decision, are there any schools or undergrad programs that you know are still accepting applications now (June 7th)? 

 

I’ve tried doing a lot of research concerning these questions, but hearing what you guys know would also help me immensely in trying to figure my current situation out at the moment. 

 

Thank you so much <3

[BernieMac]

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[Lego]

I considered doing a Master’s for a while,  but people do say that it doesn’t help significantly if your GPA is already low. 

What other options do I have other than taking a second degree? I can’t apply to international schools like Australia, US or Ireland at the moment due to personal reasons, so my limits are all within Canada. 

Anything else? Or were you referring more to the ‘competitiveness’ of the programs lol?

[BernieMac]

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[toothurty]

Reputation really does not matter, GPA does. Go wherever will allow you to complete the pre-requisites of each school and get a high GPA. I'd recommend finding an easy kin program somewhere (no hate to kin students lol). As for not wanting to do a whole other degree it all depends how much you really want dentistry and if it's worth that much time commitment. Western looks at your best 2 years GPA but requires 4 years to be completed and UofT allows you to apply after 3 years so theres those options. 

It all depends how much you want it. There's one guy in our class who did 2 undergrads and applied twice before he got in. It can be done. 

[Chaxon]

What would happen if you dropped your lowest year in your GPA calculation? If 4 or more years are done schools usually drop the year with the lowest GPA in the calculation. Given it’s not the most recent year.

If you have a decent GPA in the remaining 3 years, you can just boost it with a bunch of electives. Taken online or at Uni.