24yrd old non-science degree looking to pursue Dentistry

[RollTigs5]

Hello,

I just turned 24 and received a degree in Economics from a solid liberal arts school. My GPA was 3.0, played football, and was active in my fraternity. My dad is a dentist so I grew up with that path always on my mind. I have been working as an Analyst for a financial technology company since graduating about two years ago. While I enjoy it, I have been strongly considering pursuing dentistry for the past year. I did not take any science courses during college. Therefore, I need to take all pre-reqs (Chem, Bio, Phys) in order to apply to dental school. Just wanted to ask a few questions regarding my current situation.

-I'm looking to enroll in a Post-Bacc Program to complete all Pre-Reqs in about 12-15 months Full-Time. Would this give me a better chance when applying as opposed to continuing my full-time job and taking classes part-time?
-How important is it to have some type of medical/dental experience before applying? How often do dental schools see people in Finance apply? Would my experience in Finance help me in any way other than showing I haven't been sitting on the couch since graduation?
-Regarding my 3.0 GPA with Econ major, I have heard this might not be a terrible thing since I have not taken any science courses/ gives me a clean slate for my sGPA but I need to do extremely well obviously, how will that weigh out? Any thoughts?
-From all my research, doesn't seem like me being 24 is a huge factor, any thoughts on this considering I still need to complete my Pre-reqs?
-More of a question for the future but I heard if you join the Navy, they will cover your dental school tuition while you serve for 3 years I believe? How many people apply to this? How competitive is it? And do you get to choose your location?

I know this is very long so I apologize. Truly any thoughts or advice at any time is much appreciated. Thank you very much

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[Cali20002]

If you do the military scholarship, you have to complete year for year payback + 1 year. So for the 4 year HPSP, you have 5 years payback. You do get a hefty stipend while in school and you get paid while serving in the military.

 

[blablabla1]

Hello,

I just turned 24 and received a degree in Economics from a solid liberal arts school. My GPA was 3.0, played football, and was active in my fraternity. My dad is a dentist so I grew up with that path always on my mind. I have been working as an Analyst for a financial technology company since graduating about two years ago. While I enjoy it, I have been strongly considering pursuing dentistry for the past year. I did not take any science courses during college. Therefore, I need to take all pre-reqs (Chem, Bio, Phys) in order to apply to dental school. Just wanted to ask a few questions regarding my current situation.

-I'm looking to enroll in a Post-Bacc Program to complete all Pre-Reqs in about 12-15 months Full-Time. Would this give me a better chance when applying as opposed to continuing my full-time job and taking classes part-time?
-How important is it to have some type of medical/dental experience before applying? How often do dental schools see people in Finance apply? Would my experience in Finance help me in any way other than showing I haven't been sitting on the couch since graduation?
-Regarding my 3.0 GPA with Econ major, I have heard this might not be a terrible thing since I have not taken any science courses/ gives me a clean slate for my sGPA but I need to do extremely well obviously, how will that weigh out? Any thoughts?
-From all my research, doesn't seem like me being 24 is a huge factor, any thoughts on this considering I still need to complete my Pre-reqs?
-More of a question for the future but I heard if you join the Navy, they will cover your dental school tuition while you serve for 3 years I believe? How many people apply to this? How competitive is it? And do you get to choose your location?

I know this is very long so I apologize. Truly any thoughts or advice at any time is much appreciated. Thank you very much

1. Since you already have real world work experience, I would do the full time post bacc. I would make sure to do a post-bacc made for people who have no prior experience with the sciences, otherwise you'll end up with a post bacc that makes you take very advanced science classes that you'll struggle with it

2. Very important to have dental experience prior to applying. I would get 100 hours of shadowing a general dentist before applying. Any additional hours would be a bonus and can only help you as it will give you stories to talk about during interviews

3. Can't really say, but I would definitely focus all my time in on the post bacc classes and make sure your science GPA is as close to a 4.0 as possible. Keep in mind dental schools count math classes as science classes so any math classes you took for your econ major (statistics, calculus, etc) would count into your science GPA.

4. Nope, your age won't matter at all, in fact it may give you an advantage since you will be seen as someone with more maturity and experience than people going to D school straight out of college.

5. Can't say anything about Navy HPSP, @Incis0r would be more of help on that subject

 

[Incis0r]

-More of a question for the future but I heard if you join the Navy, they will cover your dental school tuition while you serve for 3 years I believe? How many people apply to this? How competitive is it? And do you get to choose your location?

Obligation is 1 yr for 1 yr for the Navy/Army, and if you do the Air Force, you are required to apply for and accept the 1-year AEGD if offered (so 1 yr for each year of scholarship + 1 year, as @maga1994 noted).

Scholarships are extremely competitive and only getting harder to get. This year, the Army stopped taking applications as early as October/November (usually they go into the Spring). Navy has "professionally recommended" many people for the scholarship, but there are far fewer final select letters, so several people have found themselves on the waitlist. Air Force had 12 4-year scholarships this year. To give you an idea of how much harder it has gotten, it used to be that if you had a 3.5/19, you were automatically guaranteed the scholarship by matrix qualification. That system no longer exists.

GPA/DAT are only part of the package. I know people with 3.9/21 who were rejected, and people with 3.5/19 who were selected. Your extracurriculars, motivational statement, interview scores with military dentists, letters of recommendation, etc. all play a major role.

As far as locations, you get a wishlist and you get to rank your choices, but needs of your service come first. There are no guarantees. Check out the military dentistry forum for a wealth of info here: Military Dentistry

 

[RollTigs5]

Thank you all very much for this info! Greatly appreciated