An interesting trajectory of mine to medicine...or dentistry?!

Pre-Med & Medical School Careers in Medicine
1

Hello,
So…I’ve always had a passion for the medical and dental sciences and all the similarities that fall between them. More specifically I initially had an interest in neuroscience, hence my degree in it. However that interest in neuroscience evolved into an interest in public health and more so patient care.
I have a biology degree from a community college - a human neuroscience and development degree from an ivy league school and currently working on my master’s in a public health related domain at an ivy league school. Tons of research experience and volunteer experience all in either neuroscience, biology, medicine, and pharmacology. Although those ECs seem very different - they all have a common direction towards the medical sciences and public health.
That being said - the plan has always pointed towards medicine as you can see via my academic, research, and volunteer experiences. However, I never done well with standardized tests. Excelled in my science classes, however the MCAT is something I am unable to defeat. When I took it I scored so low it was as if I didn’t study, however I took a semester’s worth & an online kaplan class to study. I am scheduled to retake it, but it’s still not looking good. I haven’t taken biochemistry, but I don’t think that’s the problem - it’s the way the questions are framed with the passages.
I however looked at the DAT and found it along the lines of how I study/take exams. I found the questions, although some difficult more straight forward. As well as a math/quantitative section that I can shine in.
I have always had an interest in primary care, facial reconstruction surgery, and the neurological sciences (neurosurg and neurology). So in a nutshell I seem to be giving up on medicine due to their gating process of the MCAT. In other words, I might have had a shot if the MCAT wasn’t a factor. I still want to stay in the healthcare realm. Dentistry seems like a good option.
Hence, if I was to do well on the DAT do I have a shot at dental school?
Applying to med school this cycle doesn’t even seem likely - what should I do for another gap year? (my master’s served as a gap year)

Associates in Bio - 3.9
BS in Human neuro / development - 3.0 (yes my GPA took a dive due to a transition process to the new school my first semester - upward trend there after)
Master’s - currently 3.6+

2

Well, first of all–you’re shooting yourself in the foot by taking the MCAT if you feel you’re not ready to excel on it. Med schools average all your attempts. Plus AMCAS has new rules about how many time you’re allowed to take the MCAT (both lifetime and in a single year). Cancel your seat if you’re not prepare to go blow the doors off the exam.

Also not having biochem before taking the new MCAT is a very bad idea. Nearly 1/3 of the BB section questions are biochem questions.


As for dental school-- you really haven't provided enough information to get an answer.

What is your undergrad GPA? What is your undergrad sGPA? (Include all your coursework in your calculations, don't separate it out by schools)

How strong was your upward trend at your 4 year school? (If you were only earning mostly Bs by your senior year, that's not going to be good enough....TBH, your great CC GPA is not going to carry much weigh with professional school adcoms especially since you couldn't maintain it when you went against stronger competition.)

And until you have a DAT score, any speculation to whether you could get admitted is pretty pointless.

~~~

If you're seriously interested in dental school, you need:

---check admission requirements and take missing pre-reqs. (Nearly all programs require biochemistry, Many also require A&P and/or microbiology)

--Get involved with shadowing and clinical volunteering at  dental practices. Dental school expect both. A few programs require a LOR from a dentist you've worked with.
3

You should have done a lot of Mcat or dat prep tests before even attempt to take the real tests. What is your average prep tests results?