What do you guys think of a Minor in business administration?

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My schedule for next year would pretty much force me to take more science electives to stay classified as full time so i was just thinking why don't I do a minor in business administration instead? Will that make me look like a more well rounded applicant. I honestly feel minor's are bs but I'm wondering how someone reviewing my application would feel about it?

It would definitely come in handy when you're setting up your practice! Accounting, finance, speaking, psychology, budgeting, management, and education are important topics in dentistry that people often skimp on.

You should also minor in something that will A. boost your GPA B. something that you enjoy

Don't make it all about academics and science! Minor in horticulture if that's what you enjoy

A minor in business administration would boost my GPA and I love business, ultimately the reason why I decided to go into dentistry vs any of the other professional schools. I just don't want all of this to be for nothing, there's a lot of pressure on me from my family to save money and not take anything that isn't really required or won't help me get into dental school. So I agree it would come in handy but does it also look good on an application, make me stand out (even a little bit)? Or they don't really care?

As far as admissions to D-school, minors and majors aren't really considered all that much. They say they want a "diversity" of majors represented in D-school, but realistically adcom just wants to see if you can preform in high level science courses. Your minor will help you personally out of D-school when establishing a practice. It won't really set you apart that much. Major in a science and a minor in business is far more common than you might guess.

So, if your GPA needs work and you need to complete a minor anyway, then go ahead and do a minor in business. It may be cheaper and easier than starting an SMP.

If you don't mind me asking, where are you from?

Originally Posted by ataha

A minor in business administration would boost my GPA and I love business, ultimately the reason why I decided to go into dentistry vs any of the other professional schools. I just don't want all of this to be for nothing, there's a lot of pressure on me from my family to save money and not take anything that isn't really required or won't help me get into dental school. So I agree it would come in handy but does it also look good on an application, make me stand out (even a little bit)? Or they don't really care?

Not going to affect your science GPA, which is what they really care about. I don't think they're going to give a hoot either way. If you double majored, that would be significant, but a minor is really nothing.

I agree its nothing its like 5 classes... I'm still going to go for it for personal gain though. Thanks.

I'm ethnically Lebanese but I've lived my life in florida so im an american born citizen lol... i visit every other year to stay fluent in arabic though.

But my GPA is ~3.5 science and possibly 3.7~ overall

Originally Posted by Seahawk

Not going to affect your science GPA, which is what they really care about. I don't think they're going to give a hoot either way. If you double majored, that would be significant, but a minor is really nothing.

Don't they also look at your Overall GPA?

As far as GPAs go:
Most schools told me they look at BCP ,sGPA, cGPA, non-sci GPA. In that order.
Your GPAs are good as it is, so the business courses will make you more well-rounded as long as you keep up the cGPA.

Originally Posted by ataha

Don't they also look at your Overall GPA?

Of course.

But again, it's not as important.

Is cGPA the same as overall? I think my non science gpa is a 3.9 or something

A minor in BA would be OK. I would recommend a basic accounting course, marketing course, and a management course. Everything other than that is not terribly useful for owning your own business. That said, more business classes would not hurt haha.

I was going to minor in entrepreneurship but then I realized it would cost me an extra semester pretty much and I would forget most of the **** I learned in those classes after 4 years of dental school

Originally Posted by Bereno

A minor in BA would be OK. I would recommend a basic accounting course, marketing course, and a management course. Everything other than that is not terribly useful for owning your own business. That said, more business classes would not hurt haha.

Noted. Thanks!

Originally Posted by Dgeorg6

I was going to minor in entrepreneurship but then I realized it would cost me an extra semester pretty much and I would forget most of the **** I learned in those classes after 4 years of dental school

I don't think the problem is you'd really forget what you've learned, more so, is it worth giving up a semester's worth of time? The answer I think is no, but in my case, I'll be there the same amount of time, it will just push me into full time instead of 8 credits a semester...

Originally Posted by ataha

Is cGPA the same as overall? I think my non science gpa is a 3.9 or something

Yes. If the "c" means cumulative GPA.

Looks good

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Do it!! But leave the poker stuff out of the application

Assuming you have some natural business intuition, you aren't going to learn anything from a minor in business unless it involves some type of externship. I can't believe how little practical knowledge I gained from a business finance degree. I learned more in 1 month of working professionally than 4 years of school. If you want to do it purely out of interest that is fine but don't expect to walk away with any new practical skills.

Example: Accounting Course you will learn very basics of accounting but you will not be able to do your own accounting. You will have to hire the accounting out. You may learn some vocab and a very basic understanding of accounting, but you could have picked that up reading online in 3 or 4 hours. You will forget all of this course by the time you are done w/ D-school

Marketing: you won't learn anything that wasn't already common sense to you unless you are taking higher level marketing courses

Management: You will learn generalities towards business management, but the strategies will be so broad that many/most won't apply to running a dental office. Management is specific to individuals. You will learn far more working part time in an office setting through interactions with people. Being an employee helps you learn what motivates people and how you liked to be managed. No intro to management class is going to help you in a practical way if you have any common sense. Also, dental shadowing should give you a sense of managing employees, some dentists are great at it and some have no clue...you should be able to pick up on this pretty quickly in an office.

Dentists have told me that business classes are a waste of time. You learn how to run a practice in dental school.


The only thing I have heard helps from UG for dental school or dentistry is taking anatomy and biochem. Dental students have told me it makes it a bit less overwhelming if you have been exposed already.

Originally Posted by sacapuntas

Assuming you have some natural business intuition, you aren't going to learn anything from a minor in business unless it involves some type of externship. I can't believe how little practical knowledge I gained from a business finance degree. I learned more in 1 month of working professionally than 4 years of school. If you want to do it purely out of interest that is fine but don't expect to walk away with any new practical skills.

Example: Accounting Course you will learn very basics of accounting but you will not be able to do your own accounting. You will have to hire the accounting out. You may learn some vocab and a very basic understanding of accounting, but you could have picked that up reading online in 3 or 4 hours. You will forget all of this course by the time you are done w/ D-school

Marketing: you won't learn anything that wasn't already common sense to you unless you are taking higher level marketing courses

Management: You will learn generalities towards business management, but the strategies will be so broad that many/most won't apply to running a dental office. Management is specific to individuals. You will learn far more working part time in an office setting through interactions with people. Being an employee helps you learn what motivates people and how you liked to be managed. No intro to management class is going to help you in a practical way if you have any common sense. Also, dental shadowing should give you a sense of managing employees, some dentists are great at it and some have no clue...you should be able to pick up on this pretty quickly in an office.

Okay honestly thats exactly what I was thinking.... so what do you think i should do? like I can only take like 9 credits a semester towards my degree, anything else would be extra and i would graduate with a lot more credits than needed... should I do that instead? Would it look bad to take less than a full time load? I don't want to waste money on courses i don't need I thought a business minor would look good on an app, the only reason i was going to pursue it.

With the added time I would have i could spend time strengthening my application with volunteer hours, working or studying for the DAT

Originally Posted by ataha

Okay honestly thats exactly what I was thinking.... so what do you think i should do? like I can only take like 9 credits a semester towards my degree, anything else would be extra and i would graduate with a lot more credits than needed... should I do that instead? Would it look bad to take less than a full time load? I don't want to waste money on courses i don't need I thought a business minor would look good on an app, the only reason i was going to pursue it.

Just take what classes you like.

It's just a waste of time I think, the only thing I like is business, and I spend some time at my local library reading books on stocks and real estate that I personally feel the intro business classes would be tedious... does taking less than a full time load look bad?

Yes....With respect to certain circumstances.

Originally Posted by ataha

It's just a waste of time I think, the only thing I like is business, and I spend some time at my local library reading books on stocks and real estate that I personally feel the intro business classes would be tedious... does taking less than a full time load look bad?

I would cherry pick specific classes you might be interested in and not worry about getting a minor.

Does your school offer an entrepreneurship class? If you have a really good professor for that (meaning someone who has been or currently is a successful entrepreneur) you can learn some practical skills. I would take that class only if you know the professor is good.

You also may find an economics class more interesting than intro to business courses. Economics can be very difficult depending on the school. Take the one that is for economics majors, it will likely be divided into micro and macro each semester. Don't get in one for non-majors as you will be bored and unchallenged.

Lastly, you could look at different law class offerings. I took a business law and a commercial real estate law class in my first degree that were both very interesting and probably more applicable to your future than an intro business administration course.