4 vs 5 courses status...

[digitalfortress]

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I know GPA doesn't count if you take courses with part-time status, and I understand that dental schools want to see if you can handle 5 courses per term since the schedule will cram even further once you're in... under the assumption that you're in. Dentistry was part of my option as I wasn't sure if I could make it financially but now that I have a guarantee, I'm going to take a shot at it. The thing is, for about a year and half, I've been taking 4 courses cause my family were making up for the financial loss we had (cause it won't get any better, so might as well do it while the economy's not falling apart). I'm wondering how much of an impact it would have on my application. I know there won't be straight-forward answer, but I'm just fishing out thoughts and see what I should expect prior to sending the application. My goal is to apply in 3 years (so that's about a year and half), and pray that I'd make it before the end of 4 years, under the assumption that I'd keep my performance consistent with DAT and the courses I haven't taken yet.

Oh, and I'm aware that there will be penalties for not taking 5 courses. The website don't really go in detail about the severity of the penalties involved... which is understandable since most candidates wouldn't have issues with 5 courses. 🙁

 

[jeffity]

I'm going to put aside everything else you said there and hit the question at hand.

GPA doesn't count with part-time? Of course it does. And there are no penalties for not taking 5. I'm not sure where that number is even coming from. A heavier load is ideal, but there are many, many factors they look at before looking at course load. You know....like GPA, DAT. There's seems to be a little too much panic around these parts if you're not taking a massive load. If you're taking 1 class per semester, it will be noticeable. If you're taking 1 science and 5 elective courses like yoga, pottery, and modern women in poetry, it will be noticeable. Just keep it regular to high and do your best. A good GPA form those courses is much more important than the quantity of courses you're taking.

 

[toastybread]

That's not true, there aren't penalties for taking 4 courses. It depends on the university.

 

[digitalfortress]

Guess it's kinda pointless to know about it now. In schools like University of Western Ontario, it does say 4 course load would have small penalties under course load requirements.

https://www.schulich.uwo.ca/dentistry/ddsadmissions#Prerequisiterequirements

But what's done is done. I'll worry about it when I apply, and hope that GPA and DAT along with other activities would let that slide... it's a lot of ifs but oh well.