Considering dental school, but is it possible?

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.

virtuoso735

Full Member
10+ Year Member
Joined
Apr 21, 2011
Messages
1,034
Reaction score
3
Hi guys, I'm graduating from college this year, and have put a lot of thought into what I want to do in the future. I want to have a career that is fulfilling, and at the same time, financially stable. Throughout my college career, I thought I was going to go to grad school for a Ph.D. in biology, but I've rethought that due to the poor job prospects for Ph.D.'s. I really like biology, so I thought it would be great if my career had some aspect of biology to it. Dentistry seems like a career that would be a good fit for me, but I'm not sure if I can get in since I haven't done anything connected to dentistry.

I will graduate next month with a B.S. in biology from Yale, but my GPA is pretty bad (3.37 overall GPA, 3.25 science GPA). I'm interviewing for a few jobs right now, but I don't have a good feeling about them since they do not have anything to do with biology. I have research experience in biology (some molecular, evolution projects), but no dental or medical shadowing or volunteering experience. I haven't studied for the DAT, or even finished all the prereqs for dental school.

I have a few questions regarding my situation. Can I take the rest of my prereqs at a community college? Would dental schools hold that against me? By going to CC to complete my requirements, I'd save a boatload of money, and it would be less stressful than taking the courses at a 4-year college/university. Finishing the prereqs would take at most 2 semesters, or 1 year of additional schooling.

Secondly, what are the chances of getting into dental school without any experience in the field? Should I try to do some interning while finishing up coursework? It would help me a get a relevant recommendation as well, I suppose...

Thanks for any input!

Members don't see this ad.
 
Hi guys, I'm graduating from college this year, and have put a lot of thought into what I want to do in the future. I want to have a career that is fulfilling, and at the same time, financially stable. Throughout my college career, I thought I was going to go to grad school for a Ph.D. in biology, but I've rethought that due to the poor job prospects for Ph.D.'s. I really like biology, so I thought it would be great if my career had some aspect of biology to it. Dentistry seems like a career that would be a good fit for me, but I'm not sure if I can get in since I haven't done anything connected to dentistry.

I will graduate next month with a B.S. in biology from Yale, but my GPA is pretty bad (3.37 overall GPA, 3.25 science GPA). I'm interviewing for a few jobs right now, but I don't have a good feeling about them since they do not have anything to do with biology. I have research experience in biology (some molecular, evolution projects), but no dental or medical shadowing or volunteering experience. I haven't studied for the DAT, or even finished all the prereqs for dental school.

I have a few questions regarding my situation. Can I take the rest of my prereqs at a community college? Would dental schools hold that against me? By going to CC to complete my requirements, I'd save a boatload of money, and it would be less stressful than taking the courses at a 4-year college/university. Finishing the prereqs would take at most 2 semesters, or 1 year of additional schooling.

Secondly, what are the chances of getting into dental school without any experience in the field? Should I try to do some interning while finishing up coursework? It would help me a get a relevant recommendation as well, I suppose...

Thanks for any input!

Take your pre-reqs at a 4-year uni unless you dont mind some schools not considering you due to CC credits ( such as BU and Tufts, im sure there are others but im not positive on them). As for can you do it, yes you go to YALE and have a ok gpa , and you are a BIO MAJOR. All you need is to take orgo,gen chem, and physics, and have about a 100 hrs of shadowing a dentist. GL
 
You don't need too much experience with dentistry to gain acceptances. I was in a similar situation as you (wanted research prior to graduation, realized research is miserable somewhere along the line, and didn't know what to do after graduation). I had about 30 hours shadowing a GP and that's literally it. I think the bigger question admissions committees have is "Can you handle dental school?". No one can really tell whether or not they would enjoy career as a dentist regardless of shadowing experience and without actually being entrenched in the field.
 
Members don't see this ad :)
Hi guys, I'm graduating from college this year, and have put a lot of thought into what I want to do in the future. I want to have a career that is fulfilling, and at the same time, financially stable. Throughout my college career, I thought I was going to go to grad school for a Ph.D. in biology, but I've rethought that due to the poor job prospects for Ph.D.'s. I really like biology, so I thought it would be great if my career had some aspect of biology to it. Dentistry seems like a career that would be a good fit for me, but I'm not sure if I can get in since I haven't done anything connected to dentistry.

I will graduate next month with a B.S. in biology from Yale, but my GPA is pretty bad (3.37 overall GPA, 3.25 science GPA). I'm interviewing for a few jobs right now, but I don't have a good feeling about them since they do not have anything to do with biology. I have research experience in biology (some molecular, evolution projects), but no dental or medical shadowing or volunteering experience. I haven't studied for the DAT, or even finished all the prereqs for dental school.

I have a few questions regarding my situation. Can I take the rest of my prereqs at a community college? Would dental schools hold that against me? By going to CC to complete my requirements, I'd save a boatload of money, and it would be less stressful than taking the courses at a 4-year college/university. Finishing the prereqs would take at most 2 semesters, or 1 year of additional schooling.

Secondly, what are the chances of getting into dental school without any experience in the field? Should I try to do some interning while finishing up coursework? It would help me a get a relevant recommendation as well, I suppose...

Thanks for any input!

I have 65 credit hours from a community college and I got accepted my first time applying. With the economy in the state it's in right now...I think dental schools are beginning to be more understanding. Obviously, you can survive at Yale and you've pretty much proved yourself IMO. But, as a poster above has noted, you should be aware of some schools not accepting CC credits. If you do not plan on attending these schools, by all means save yourself some money. I'm not too sure which schools do not accept them, there should be a data sheet floating around here somewhere that could possibly help. Search for a post by "dr toothache," he's constantly putting accurate data up for these type of questions. It's your responsibility to research all of the schools you'd like to apply to and meet their requirements. Also, lots of dental schools have different pre-reqs, so be careful to make sure you fulfill them at the schools you desire going to most.

Yes, you should try shadowing a dentist. It's a great learning experience...you will see really fast that lots of dentists have trouble juggling the business side of running a practice (most of the time) more than the actual dental side of the work. It would be optimal if you can find someone who recently graduated and knows the ropes a little better because their debt will be closer to what you'll have when getting out than, say a dentist who's been out ~25 years or so.

That name alone will help you a lot (Yale). I wouldn't personally worry too much about taking classes at a CC. I'm pretty sure that the schools, for the most part, that DO NOT take CC credits are in the Northeast. Anywho, you have a wonderful shot...just make sure you go shadow a dentist. Most schools know you do not have lots of time to waste, so I'd say around 100 hours would be enough. Also, try to shadow different specialties...i.e., Prosthos, Oral & Maxillofacial Surgeons, Orthos, Perios, etc...

Good luck!
 
Hi guys, I'm graduating from college this year, and have put a lot of thought into what I want to do in the future. I want to have a career that is fulfilling, and at the same time, financially stable. Throughout my college career, I thought I was going to go to grad school for a Ph.D. in biology, but I've rethought that due to the poor job prospects for Ph.D.'s. I really like biology, so I thought it would be great if my career had some aspect of biology to it. Dentistry seems like a career that would be a good fit for me, but I'm not sure if I can get in since I haven't done anything connected to dentistry.

I will graduate next month with a B.S. in biology from Yale, but my GPA is pretty bad (3.37 overall GPA, 3.25 science GPA). I'm interviewing for a few jobs right now, but I don't have a good feeling about them since they do not have anything to do with biology. I have research experience in biology (some molecular, evolution projects), but no dental or medical shadowing or volunteering experience. I haven't studied for the DAT, or even finished all the prereqs for dental school.

I have a few questions regarding my situation. Can I take the rest of my prereqs at a community college? Would dental schools hold that against me? By going to CC to complete my requirements, I'd save a boatload of money, and it would be less stressful than taking the courses at a 4-year college/university. Finishing the prereqs would take at most 2 semesters, or 1 year of additional schooling.

Secondly, what are the chances of getting into dental school without any experience in the field? Should I try to do some interning while finishing up coursework? It would help me a get a relevant recommendation as well, I suppose...

Thanks for any input!

You see, you are already at a disadvantage when it comes to community college. Assuming you go to CC and 4.0 every class, it doesn't look all that impressive since your college GPA is 3.3, they might think you had an easy CC curriculum..... Ofc all this non-sense can be whipped off if you cleaned house on the DAT, but, I am giving my opinion based on you scoring well (20) and not exceptional (22+)

You will need some shadowing thats for sure. Or else, your going to have a difficult time convincing anyone you've thought this thing through especially when the "Why do you want to be a dentist?" question is thrown first thing in the interview.

By the way, 3.37 with 3.25 science are good starting GPAs for post-bacc.... I think all you'll need are General chems 1 and 2, Orgo 1 and 2, and Physics 1 and 2 (and all labs ofc).... Just stay in your current school (or if your moving, attend another 4-year university) and finish those pre-reqs.... If you can 4.0 (or close to it) everything from now on, you'll be able to bring that sGPA to more respectable levels.
 
Your GPA is not all that bad. I know universities can get expensive but CC credits doesn't hold the weight as compared to the classes you'd take at a 4-year college. I'd say graduate from Yale and find a 4-year college with moderate tuition and finish up all your pre-req there while getting some shadowing experience. Ofc 4-year college will mean more work than CC but It will also give you some solid base for DAT if you stay dedicated. Good luck.
 
You don't need too much experience with dentistry to gain acceptances. I was in a similar situation as you (wanted research prior to graduation, realized research is miserable somewhere along the line, and didn't know what to do after graduation). I had about 30 hours shadowing a GP and that's literally it. I think the bigger question admissions committees have is "Can you handle dental school?". No one can really tell whether or not they would enjoy career as a dentist regardless of shadowing experience and without actually being entrenched in the field.

Before getting to the "bigger question" that you are suggesting, the much "bigger question" is whether or not an applicant has a clue about the field he/she is applying, which cannot be answered in the affirmative in the absence of any shadowing experience .
 
So from the posts, I'm getting the feeling that I should go to a 4-year university to finish my prerequisites. I suppose I could do that, but I honestly don't know where I'd get the money for that. I would have graduated already by that point, so I'm not sure how I can take out loans.

So, based on prereqs I've looked up, I still need to take Physics lab, the second half of organic chemistry with lab, (maybe) biochemistry, and (maybe) anatomy and physiology. Not too bad. I could easily finish that within a year with a light courseload, and get some shadowing/interning done on the side.

Where would one find shadowing opportunities? And does prestige of the dental school matter at all?
 
So from the posts, I'm getting the feeling that I should go to a 4-year university to finish my prerequisites. I suppose I could do that, but I honestly don't know where I'd get the money for that. I would have graduated already by that point, so I'm not sure how I can take out loans.

So, based on prereqs I've looked up, I still need to take Physics lab, the second half of organic chemistry with lab, (maybe) biochemistry, and (maybe) anatomy and physiology. Not too bad. I could easily finish that within a year with a light courseload, and get some shadowing/interning done on the side.

Where would one find shadowing opportunities? And does prestige of the dental school matter at all?

Find a community health dentistry office in your area. Also volunteer with your local Oral Health Coalition, and you can network with some dentists. Cold-Calling dentist offices didn't work out too well for me. Ask around, maybe some of your close friends know dentists, or dental assistants. I was talking to a bunch of co-workers about how I was trying to find a dentist to shadow, and one of my co-workers had a cousin who was a dentist and I got setup shadowing him.

Good Luck
 
So from the posts, I'm getting the feeling that I should go to a 4-year university to finish my prerequisites. I suppose I could do that, but I honestly don't know where I'd get the money for that. I would have graduated already by that point, so I'm not sure how I can take out loans.

So, based on prereqs I've looked up, I still need to take Physics lab, the second half of organic chemistry with lab, (maybe) biochemistry, and (maybe) anatomy and physiology. Not too bad. I could easily finish that within a year with a light courseload, and get some shadowing/interning done on the side.

Where would one find shadowing opportunities? And does prestige of the dental school matter at all?

If you are on a tight budget, then just take the required classes, especially if you already have a BIO degree. If can always take BIOCHEM after you get accepted to a school that requires it, so you save that money incase you did not get into a school that requires it.
 
So from the posts, I'm getting the feeling that I should go to a 4-year university to finish my prerequisites. I suppose I could do that, but I honestly don't know where I'd get the money for that. I would have graduated already by that point, so I'm not sure how I can take out loans.

So, based on prereqs I've looked up, I still need to take Physics lab, the second half of organic chemistry with lab, (maybe) biochemistry, and (maybe) anatomy and physiology. Not too bad. I could easily finish that within a year with a light courseload, and get some shadowing/interning done on the side.

Where would one find shadowing opportunities? And does prestige of the dental school matter at all?

the classes you named above, can be taken at a state college at about $300-400 a credit. Assuming those classes add up to 15 credits, thats $4500-6000.... Add taxes and text books and you got yourself $6000-7000+ worth of post-bacc.... yes its expensive, obviously, if you can't get additional loans (or you don't have the money), then you have no other choice but to do CC irrespective of how "bad" it might look.... cause the alternative would be to quit pre-dental all together (bad option)

Prestige of dental school doesn't matter. Its the degree that grants you the income, and not the name of the institute.

Shadowing can be obtained by asking dental offices (either in person or by calling). The easiest place is to ask your normal dentist (if you have one). Don't be discouraged if you see yourself asking 10 offices before you hear someone say "yes".
 
Before getting to the "bigger question" that you are suggesting, the much "bigger question" is whether or not an applicant has a clue about the field he/she is applying, which cannot be answered in the affirmative in the absence of any shadowing experience .

I didn't state anything that suggested that shadowing isn't absolutely necessary. Just simply stating that it's importance in admissions may be overstated and suggesting that it is a rather unsuccessful method by which one determines their affinity for the dental field. Although, as a pre-dent it's the best method you've got.
 
Last edited:
I would advise people to take CC before going to a university bc you can just take upper division science classes. Saves you a ton of moolah.

But to graduate and take a lot of CC courses would probably be frowned upon. A few would be okay, but not the majority.

Also, CC credits greatly limit where you can apply (esp the schools with gigantic classes like BU and Tufts).
 
You don't need too much experience with dentistry to gain acceptances. I was in a similar situation as you (wanted research prior to graduation, realized research is miserable somewhere along the line, and didn't know what to do after graduation). I had about 30 hours shadowing a GP and that's literally it. I think the bigger question admissions committees have is "Can you handle dental school?". No one can really tell whether or not they would enjoy career as a dentist regardless of shadowing experience and without actually being entrenched in the field.

I didn't state anything that suggested that shadowing isn't absolutely necessary. Just simply stating that it's importance in admissions may be overstated and suggesting that it is a rather unsuccessful method by which one determines their affinity for the dental field. Although, as a pre-dent it's the best method you've got.

I strongly strongly disagree with you. Shadowing is a must... no question. How else are you going to know dentistry is right for you? I learned so much from shadowing- it reassured me that dentistry was right for me and it even attracted me to the field. In fact, since I shadowed I was able to move up the ladder and obtain a dental assistant job. Since you haven't experienced many hours of shadowing yourself, I will just assume you wouldn't know how much you can learn.

Sorry if I am coming off too strong lol... but I just have a different opinion and the two dentists that I shadow are really more like role models to me. It's amazing to see them change peoples lives and to hear their stories about mission trips to S. America and Africa. Even to read articles in the newspaper about them saying that they treated over 150 children free of charge in undeserved areas. Shadowing them gets you that much closer. Again, I am not trying to start an argument or anything. It's just my 2 cents.
 
Last edited:
I strongly strongly disagree with you. Shadowing is a must... no question. How else are you going to know dentistry is right for you? I learned so much from shadowing- it reassured me that dentistry was right for me and it even attracted me to the field. In fact, since I shadowed I was able to move up the ladder and obtain a dental assistant job. Since you haven't experienced many hours of shadowing yourself, I will just assume you wouldn't know how much you can learn.

Sorry if I am coming off too strong lol... but I just have a different opinion and the two dentists that I shadow are really more like role models to me. It's amazing to see them change peoples lives and to hear their stories about mission trips to S. America and Africa. Even to read articles in the newspaper about them saying that they treated over 150 children free of charge in undeserved areas. Shadowing them gets you that much closer. Again, I am not trying to start an argument or anything. It's just my 2 cents.

Ha no it's perfectly fine. My stance/opinion/whatever isn't that shadowing isn't important. It is. And it is absolutely necessary to determine whether or not one could see themselves in the dental field.

Rather, I'm just presenting that the idea of shadowing as it's presented on SDN seems to be misconstrued. Very often I see on here recommendations to pre-dents to do "100 hours and possibly multiple specialties" (e.g.). If that's what is necessary for one to determine whether or not they like dentistry then by all means absolutely go for it. If that's what someone wants to do then of course I'm not going to discourage them. What I am stating in this thread is that such large amounts of shadowing isn't necessary for dental admissions, which is validated by the fact that the majority of dental schools set their requirements for shadowing hours much lower than 100 hours. Furthermore, it is my opinion that the average applicant can get an idea of the dental field with much less hours than 100. This opinion is based on my own anecdotal evidence but moreso on the shadowing hours requirement that schools have. I'm just assuming that "Minimum required shadowing hours" translates to "Minimum number of shadowing hours we deem sufficient for the applicant to gauge sincere interest in dentistry".

Just musings. I'm not trying to discourage shadowing. Absolutely not. It's vital. Not trying to start arguments either. This is the internetz.
 
Quick question for OP.
If you are a bio major, you should have most of the pre-req for dental school.
You'll need: One year english, one year math, one year physics w/ labs, one year gen. chem w/ labs, one year organic chemistry w/ labs.

Your GPA is not too bad. If you score a 20+ on DAT and write a good personal statement, you will definitely get some interviews.

As for the experience, start shadowing this summer and you should be fine. I would recommend at least 100 hrs. at general dentistry.
 
Thanks for the input everyone.

I took one semester of Calc II and one semester to intro stats. Would that count as the math requirement? I also took Linear Algebra, but I took it with a Credit/Fail option, so I don't think that would count towards the requirement. Hopefully the calc + stats will be good enough.

I've taken a semester of English, but I wonder if dental schools will look at AP scores from high school? They probably don't, but it might be worth asking about.

Also, I have been looking over my transcript, and realize how poorly I performed in the prerequisite classes. Pretty much B's across the board. The average for my prereqs can't be more than 3.1. :( I'm not sure why I did so poorly, but I think lack of motivation may have been a part of it. I thought grades wouldn't matter so much in college anymore, but I'm realizing now that they do.
 
Calc. II and stats will do. Just start shadowing a dentist and if you like it make the arrangements to take the DAT.
 
I agree with mugsy, i only did 25 hours of shadowing though I feel like they were quality hours as the dentist i shadowed really took me in.

didnt stop me from getting in or knowing why I like dentistry.

I feel like doing 100+ hrs of unpaid shadowing is ridiculous
 
So from the posts, I'm getting the feeling that I should go to a 4-year university to finish my prerequisites. I suppose I could do that, but I honestly don't know where I'd get the money for that. I would have graduated already by that point, so I'm not sure how I can take out loans.

So, based on prereqs I've looked up, I still need to take Physics lab, the second half of organic chemistry with lab, (maybe) biochemistry, and (maybe) anatomy and physiology. Not too bad. I could easily finish that within a year with a light courseload, and get some shadowing/interning done on the side.

Where would one find shadowing opportunities? And does prestige of the dental school matter at all?

Some schools offer "gateway to dentistry". It gives you a taste of what dental school and dentistry is all about.
Good luck!
 
I was wondering if I could apply to enter dental school in the Fall of 2012. Do my prereqs have to be completed by the time I apply, or by the time I start? I don't want to waste another year if I can apply for Fall of 2012...
 
Top