soaring-sun Posted April 23, 2009 Report Share Posted April 23, 2009 Hello. My name is Brian and I am a dentist-so-wanna be. I have been watching this forum for some time and found it very helpful, thus decided to join. Well, before I post my question, congratulations to all who got accepted or closely waitlisted. I was just wondering if I have any shot at dentistry myself. I really want to become a dentist but unsure about my chances in Canadian dental schools. Currently I am in 3rd year at U of T, in Biology. My cGPA is garbage, as it is at 3.6/4.0. If I drop my first year (which is the worst one), I would have 3.85/4.0. Here are my marks for the last 2 years. 2nd year fall: 86,85,87,80,77 :3.8GPA 2nd year spring: 89,88,82,77,85: 3.8GPA 2nd year summer: 88,85: 4.0 GPA 3rd year fall: 86,89,90,88: 4.0 GPA 3rd year winter: 86,88,77,82: 3.75GPA ---- notice in 3rd year, I only took 4 courses in each semester as I was taking nightschool at the same time. I know some schools will penalize me for it, but don't reall know how much. Cumulative for the 2 years including summer: 3.85/4.0 GPA. I am currently working with 3 professor and all of them will write me decent RL. Other then that I am just involved in a small club and nothing else. I know UofT dent has cut off 3.92. Does this mean I have no shot at UT? Also, do they look at your summer marks it falls between the 2 years that are being counted? I have not taken DAT yet. Planning to study my @ss off this summer and take it in november. Let me know what you guys think. Any advice is appreciated. Thank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mare Posted April 23, 2009 Report Share Posted April 23, 2009 I think you'd have a decent shot at a lot of the Canadian schools, including U of T. (I'm not sure how severely the schools penalize for a bad first year average or taking less than a full course load at a time though). If your pre-reqs were good, I think you'd be likely to get interviews. Do well on the DAT and interviews and you'll be all set! Good luck M Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soaring-sun Posted April 23, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 23, 2009 thanks for the reply. Do dental schools look at your summer marks if it is between the 2 years that are being counted? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
juba Posted April 23, 2009 Report Share Posted April 23, 2009 I think that you have a really good shot at Canadian schools. Your first year is not that bad, mine was wayyy worse. If you are going to take a year off to write the DATs, I would suggest doing a master's. You will definitely get in with a master's on top of those marks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sj88 Posted April 23, 2009 Report Share Posted April 23, 2009 hey ! you definitely have a shot at Ontario dental schools - -For U of T they will actually drop your lowest year, so don't worry about that: "The worst academic year will be dropped from the calculation of an applicant's cumulative grade point average provided that (a) the applicant has completed four or more years of university education by May 31st of the proposed year of entry, and ( the year with the lowest grades is not the applicant's most recently completed year of study." -U of T does look at summer courses, however Western does not -In addition, the cutoff is not actually 3.92 for U of T, those who received an interview this year had an average of 3.83 as their GPA (but, the final class does usually have around 3.9 average) -In addition, both schools actually don't accept reference letters; however if you have good experiences, that can help you during the interview (the interview is MAJOR determinant of who will get in or not) -So, if you get >/= 20 on all sections of the DAT (besides carving, both schools don't look at carving), then you will definitely have a good shot! Good Luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dentss Posted April 23, 2009 Report Share Posted April 23, 2009 hey ! you definitely have a shot at Ontario dental schools - -For U of T they will actually drop your lowest year, so don't worry about that: "The worst academic year will be dropped from the calculation of an applicant's cumulative grade point average provided that (a) the applicant has completed four or more years of university education by May 31st of the proposed year of entry, and ( the year with the lowest grades is not the applicant's most recently completed year of study." -U of T does look at summer courses, however Western does not -In addition, the cutoff is not actually 3.92 for U of T, those who received an interview this year had an average of 3.83 as their GPA (but, the final class does usually have around 3.9 average) -In addition, both schools actually don't accept reference letters; however if you have good experiences, that can help you during the interview (the interview is MAJOR determinant of who will get in or not) -So, if you get >/= 20 on all sections of the DAT (besides carving, both schools don't look at carving), then you will definitely have a good shot! Good Luck! what about 19 on all sections Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sj88 Posted April 23, 2009 Report Share Posted April 23, 2009 what about 19 on all sections oo don't worry, those are good scores too - 20 is not the cutoff or anything ! just based on stats of previous years, usually the AA and PAT sections have averages of about 20, and of course some people get higher, some lower the DAT is also the smallest part of the application process - keep up the good grades and rock the interview Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Synlar Posted April 23, 2009 Report Share Posted April 23, 2009 Hey, first of all, welcome to the forums! Sorry to break it to you, but dental schools use the OMSAS format... so 85-89 is 3.9 gpa and 90+ is 4.0... But if you keep up your good marks for next year as well, western takes your current year into account, and I think they look at percent averages rather than gpa (though not too sure), and if you apply to many places including out of province, your marks seem competitive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soaring-sun Posted April 23, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 23, 2009 Hi, So what is a competitive GPA in OMSAS for canadian dental schools? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Synlar Posted April 23, 2009 Report Share Posted April 23, 2009 3.85ish and a good interview can get you in; mine was 3.865 and got waitlisted, but I blame my interviewers for giving me a hard time Keep up your hard work, and since UofT and Western don't look at what type of courses you take, just try enrolling into the courses you think you can get the highest marks in From your marks you seem hard working enough, so just keep your marks up as you're doing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soaring-sun Posted April 24, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 24, 2009 sigh i just did calculation and i am at 3.8 OMSAS GPA. fakk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Synlar Posted April 26, 2009 Report Share Posted April 26, 2009 Western takes best 2 years including your current year, and I think they look at % grades instead of GPA, so as long as you ace the current year or the next yr, and do fine on the interview, you got yourself a good shot. I'd prefer UofT and Western because they don't require credits in English or too much chemistry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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