Hey, thanks for asking! I think a post bac through one of the dental schools is a great way to prove to them what you’ve got. You may have found a contact info, but if not, contact Sandra Bolivar, J.D. at bolivar@usc.edu. She’s the assistant dean of admissions for minority students. Oh yeah, that reminds me… the post bac program is not necessarily a minority only program, but a disadvantaged students program. In other words, you have to show that you are/were disadvantaged in order to qualify.
Since I attended the Loma Linda dental school post bac, I know more about it than USC’s, so their program may be different. Usually, these programs are offered to pre-dental students who have applied and were rejected. Therefore you may need to take your DAT (with a strong score) and apply to both programs at the same time (DDS and post-bac).
One more thing; I haven’t heard all the details, but since these programs are state funded, there is concern as to how long they will continue to be offered due to the terrible economy. That’s another point you may want to discuss with Sandra Bolivar. Hope this helps and good luck!

Hi back and thank you for your kind words! I am always happy to help.

My typical school day during undergrad was a little too OCD I admit, but it was the best thing I’ve done to boost my GPA and also, prepare me for the DAT.

I had classes from 8-noon usually, with an occasional class in the afternoon. I also TA’d Histology and Physiology on my light days. After class, I would go straight to the library and studied the material presented that same day, followed by reviewing my older notes.

I was a slow studier; meaning that I spent about 2 hrs on each lecture I had that day. Then I simply re-read my old notes to stay fresh. By the time the section exam came I was scoring 95-100 almost always.

So, about 4-6 hours was spent in class and about 6-8 hours studying with the remaining few hours on breaks, eating and gym. Oh, and I was an officer for pre-dent ASDA for my last 2 yrs, which also ate up some time.

Avoiding distractions was much easier back then since I had no laptop and no iPhone :) All my notes were on paper and organized. Many of my friends studied elsewhere and much less, so I rarely saw them. Every now and then, I would go to another school’s library to change up the scenery. It was 2 years of being very lonely unfortunately.

Then on weekends I would party :) and would not study a drop until Monday.

Dental school takes up much more time in the day. The 1st year we were at school from 8-5pm every day except Friday. I studied the same way my entire 1st year as I did in undergrad. It paid off!

The 2nd year tapers off in classes, but makes up for it with more dental labs. We’re in class from 8-noon, with afternoon labs twice a week until 5pm. Then on afternoons “off”, we either have it completely off or we have clinic time. The problem the 2nd year is that there’s not enough time to finish all our lab work during scheduled labs, so we’re in lab after school anywhere from 2-6 hours. Then we can go study.

Second year is a difficult transition. You need to study a little less than 1st year, but more than what they give you time for. Now, we’re studying for boards part 1, we have an extra lab (3 instead of 2), patients and class study. It’s killing us. I haven’t worked out at all since starting dental school, but there is time for it. It’s just that I prefer/need to use that 1-2 hrs for catching up. It seems I’m always behind on lab.

Dental school is definitely more intense from a time management pov in addition to loads of material to learn in 1/3 the time of undergrad (we’re on quarter system). The only way I’ve maintained my sanity is to focus on one day at a time preparing for the next day. I also take Saturdays off.

This is a bit long, but I hope that answers your questions. Thanks again!

Hi Roula, and thanks for asking!
Please look over my previous post about the LLU post-bac program.

In short, there’s not too much one can do to boost their GPA unfortunately. I postponed my graduation another 2 years just to bring it up from 2.5 to 2.8 with nearly straight A’s.

The good thing about the post-bac is that if accepted into it, you have an opportunity to show them what you’ve got over one year. I believe you can apply for the post-bac before applying to dental school, but normally all the students who get into the post-bac applied to the dentistry program and were declined.

In your case, if you score 20+ on the DAT, it will make them think twice about you. I think you should apply for both the post-bac and dental school with a DAT above 20.

If neither of that works, you may have to do a master’s, which will let you start over with your GPA in a sense. They will still look at your undergrad, but with a master’s you can prove what you’ve got just like the post-bac.

I hope that helps and best of luck!