My Journey to Dental School Part 1: Low GPA and DAT. How I’m now a Dental Student!
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- Опубликовано: 7 сен 2024
- Part 1 in My Journey to Dental School. I’m currently a D2 Student at Loma Linda School of Dentistry. I graduated undergrad with a 3.0 GPA and a 19AA with my lowest score being a 16 in Ochem. I ended up bringing up my gpa to a 3.4 and a 22AA DAT. I made this video to help encourage others who need hope!
Feel free to follow me on Instagram @dental.babe.brook!! I plan to upload other videos soon over DAT prep, Admission Prep, and other questions. Comment what you’d like me to make a video over! :)
My dental school jeremiad, mid-1980s, somewhere in Texas. I attempted dental school and it really, really, next level sucked! My educational credits: BS Biology (1983) GPA 2.99. MBA Marketing (1990) GPA 3.42…Dental school 3rd year GPA 2.05. Nine years US Air Force medic.
During the third year of dental school, I came down with fulminating ulcerative colitis & ended up with a permanent ileostomy. I didn’t want to, but I had to quit. My H&H values dropped below 10. I was done. I received a 2-unit blood transfusion and cannot ever donate blood. It took me 2 years to recover from the surgery.
Post-surgery Problems: loss of body function, loss of body image, phantom limb, phantom pain, the Kubler-Ross five stages of grief…Tears, lots of tears…I only survived with my wife’s support and love.
What doesn’t kill me makes me stronger!..Nietzsche & Kelly Clarkson
To my surprise, the dean wanted me to return. Condition: Back to day one of the 2nd year. Thanks, but No Thanks. Not only No, but Hell No! I was tired of the opportunity cost incurred thus far. Five years of spacetime wasted without making any money nor getting ahead in my career. Don’t forget the hole on my side!
When you enter dental school you enter a different learning universe. Spacetime is contracted and energy-matter tends toward zero. Dental curriculum behaves totally different than in the “real” academic world of, for example, the humanities or math theory…is math invented or discovered? What is the message in “ Lord of the Flies”?
Handskills: No scientific method needed, just haptic learning. Watch the video. Perform hand-skills 5,000 times until your brainstem gets the idea. Just do it!
Didactic: No dental school class was particularly difficult. It was not difficult like solving an NP problem difficult, nor solving differential equations. There was just too much information - too many classes. There was no time to review, reflect nor internalize - just memorization for the next exam. Don’t worry about the Feynman Learning Technique. What you really need is a photographic memory with instant recall. You cannot learn at your own pace! So, put on your war face and rely on game theory. When in doubt, go with “B.”
Did you know there are correct answers and MORE correct answers. So, dental exams, besides incorrect answers, also contain both correct answers and MORE correct answers in quantum superposition...?
Spacetime wasters: A HUGE & very difficult, but fun, spacetime waster was gross anatomy. (You only really need head-and-neck anatomy, which I “aced.”) On the plus side, you do get murder toys! to play with! on your cadaver! Let’s Party! Other wasters included statistics (stochastic events anyone?), dental history (no one cares who invented the face-bow), and dental materials (you are not going to make the dental materials you use).
It was difficult to accept “Ds” when, during undergrad, you are used to making “As, Bs…and a few Cs.” I did have to remediate second-year crown-and-bridge. But I was a Wiz in endo and ortho! Call me if you need your wires bent!
I had learned a lot, but my grades did not reflect this. My dental knowledge was like an iceberg. (Or maybe dark energy / dark matter.) Ninety percent of my knowledge would never be tested, only that pesky 10 percent that was an obscure and obtuse faculty favorite. I was competent at the bench and didn’t kill anyone during clinical.
Since my grades hovered around GPA 2.0, I was placed on the dean’s “anti-list.” I didn’t even know this until a professor approached me in the hallway. He said I was taken off the list because my hand skills and grades had satisfactorily improved. So, the faculty is watching you from afar.
Dental school grades are “curved down” by one standard deviation. But grades are irrational or imaginary numbers, or both. After all, I was performing relatively well during the 3rd year. On the other hand, my ileostomy remains very real…
After my disfiguring surgery, I returned to retrieve my instruments and to bid classmates goodbye. I was surprised at the comments: “You are so brave, I can’t drop out because of the shame.” “My gran paid my tuition.” “I hate this school / dentistry.” “I am not learning, just memorizing.” OMG! My first roommate contemplated suicide after totally flunking out the 2nd year. He had quit a well-paying mid-level engineering job at NASA. Ouch! His father-in-law wanted him to join his dental practice. No Bueno!
Other crap: All written exams were multiple-multiple guess, so cheating was rampant. Low-paid clerks were bribed for test copies; if not at the department, then at the print shop. Nowadays students just go to the dark web. Am I right? The office of academic integrity flagged my class three times, but only once were we compelled to retake an exam. After exams, I would find classmates vomiting in the restroom.
One student, who was a dental tech, had to repeat Year 1. Fifty students failed the microbiology final exam. During the 2nd year, two classmates were caught cheating during a bench exam (3-unit bridge). They were dismissed, lawyered-up, and returned the next year. From my bay alone, 2 female classmates were sexually harassed by male faculty.
Regrets: I wish I had never, ever pursued STEM, especially health science. Dentistry has ruined my health forever and I really regret it. As an Air Force medic, I was über interested in health science and believed I should use my knowledge in aid of humanity. If I had a do-over, I would go into motorcycle sales and service. People pay tons of money for something they really, really want, but actually don’t need - just the opposite of dentistry.
In spite of all the crap I learned in dental school, it’s a wonder I can think at all…(Simon & Garfunkel)
I happily changed my major to business and am very glad I was able to earn my MBA from a “top 20” university. It was vindication that I was not a “D” student after all. Do I recommend dentistry?- not on your Life! OMG, go to B-school! My son’s best friend went to UPenn/Wharton and now makes over $250k with only a BBA.
While researching data for an MBA finance term paper, I chanced upon yearly state per capita funding for graduate students - $40,000. This funding, plus student tuition, is crucial to the dental school budget. It seems this state funding has decreased and that burden has been shifted to the dental students. So, the dean just really wanted the money I represented!
I do hope dental school is less stressful in 2022! Step back and curve your enthusiasm!
I'm so glad to hear about your experience! I've been waitlisted from all the schools I interviewed with so far and I'm trying to be hopeful but honestly it was a hit to my self esteem and I'm still a little lost as to what I'm gonna do but this really gave me an extra push to keep going. Thank you so much 💓
THIS IS ME!!! Please please please make more videos… I haven’t gotten an interview and my DAT and GPA are low.. I don’t know what to do and I’m not getting any guidance from the school…
Hi! I just posted a video on what I did the second time around in terms of studying for the DAT. I'll make another video on what I did my gap year next.
Can you tell us what kind of questions come and what should we do to go faster learn and how many paragraphs come in English comprehension how you did it
I'd recommend watching my video I just posted over studying for the DAT!
Brooklyn. Great video. Perserverence, determination and grit. That’s what it takes. Good luck to you in all of your future endeavors. 👍🏼. I’m coaching a high school student who is interested in dental school. It’s been awhile since I was in high school, college, etc. Do you have any recommendations for high school students who are interested in dental school?
Okay, so I am currently a sophomore Bio major with a 3.3 GPA, and lower science GPA. I am NERVOUS! I just decided this is the route I want to take (I was very depressed before and wasn't focusing on school, that's the reason for the low GPA), but I'm wondering if I should change my major. I excel and am passionate about English, and I think switching would pick up my overall GPA and give me some relief from the back to back science and math classes that I feel slightly overwhelmed by. Would you recommend this? Would me switching be a red flag to dental schools?
Great video… very informative
thanks for your transparency! you should be proud of yourself!
Thank you! The whole point of this channel is to be real and help others.
Great Video!!
Dreams do come true!!
I was wondering about your different school transcripts from high school upper courses, community college courses, and University of Texas courses did you send them all transcripts separately when you were applying for dental school?
Hi! Yes I sent them all in when I applied. The application service then verifies them all and makes a master transcript for the schools to see. I'll make a video soon. :)
@@brooklynnvanwinkledentalst6342 Please do so! Because I took courses from three different community colleges before I transfered to UND and I just want to know the process of submitting the transcripts....
Can you make a video about how you manage to increase ur DAT score. What did u do differently ?
Hi! I just posted one. Let me know if you have any further questions :)
Great content and subscribed! Would love hear what you think of our grad school channel. Thanks!
Comment any questions you’d like me to answer 🤩
Can you make a video about GPA repair? It's about repairing your GPA after bachelor degree
I'm making a video on what I did for my gap year next! Be on the lookout.
Sorry everyone! I just saw all of these comments. I’ll be making some more videos :) in the meantime I post dental things on my Instagram more often @brooklynnvanwinkle