I am very worried about getting into dental school...?

Right now I am a sophmore in high school and my grades are pretty bad because of my freshman year. I got a 2.9 and a 3.4 my freshman year and for the first semester of sophmore year I got a 3.7. I'm trying to work harder to get my gpa up, but my cumulative gpa is still only 3.343.





Will I be able to make it into dental school with atleast a 3.4-3.5 gpa in high school? I'm planning on going to IU and then the IU dental school. Will the dental school be looking mostly at my college grades? How hard is it to get into the dental school and will my high school gpa be holding me back?





Also my great uncle is a dentist and so is his son and his son's wife, so does that mean I have a bigger chance? I'm also Indian and my friend said that increases my chance.

I am very worried about getting into dental school...?
nope
Reply:ASK WILL I BE ABLE TO GET INTO A REGULAR COLLEGE FIRST?


DENTAL SCHOOL IS AFTER COLLEGE. YOUR FAMILY BACKGROUND HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH WHETHER YOU WILL BE ACCEPTED INTO DENTAL SCHOOL, NOR YOUR RACE.
Reply:High school marks have a bearing on what college you can and can't get into. They aren't considered for dental school as far as I know. The dental school will be looking at your GPA for the pre-dental course that you have to take. And they will be looking at your DAT score.


Yes, I believe that having family members who are already dentists can help your chances. Because you will have people you can go and talk to when you can't sleep at night because your ortho cases are giving you nightmares, and that veneer case you did 6 months ago is coming in to see you tomorrow because 2 veneers have broken.


Being Native probably helps....at least in Canadian schools I believe that Native applicants have seats open to them even if they have GPA's and DAT scores lower than other applicants.


Keep on going. It is a lot of hard work. Some dentists love the patient management and the practice management and they make great money, while other dentist don't. Just make sure this is for sure what you really want to do for 8 hours a day for 25 years. And God help you.
Reply:I am worried about dental school too...i am finishing dental assisting school, and going back to college to finish my bachelors degree...I did research for myself so i can tell u what i know...Alot of dental schools want at least a 19 on the DAT, and a 3.2 average on all science related coursework in college...They prefer you get a bachelors degree in some type of science (biology,etc)